HMS Weymouth was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, built according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment

1719 Establishment

The 1719 Establishment was the first formal 'Establishment' laid down to govern the construction of all ships built or rebuilt down to those of 20 carriage guns, whether in the Royal Dockyards or by commercial contractors...

 of dimensions at Plymouth Dockyard, and launched on 31 March 1734.

Loss

On 17 February 1745, shortly before 01:00, Weymouth grounded after having sailed from English Harbour

English Harbour

English Harbour is a settlement on the island of Antigua, in the extreme south of the island. It takes its name from the nearby harbour in which the Royal Navy established its base of operations for the area during the eighteenth century. Its population is 759 .English Harbour is a centre of...

, Antigua

Antigua

Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

 on 13 February. All her guns and stores were removed, before Weymouth finally succumbed on 22 February. Her commanding officer, Captain Warwick Calmady, was court-martialed over the loss on 18—19 February, and acquitted. The pilot who was embarked on Weymouth was sentenced to two years at the Marshalsea

Marshalsea

The Marshalsea was a prison on the south bank of the River Thames in Southwark, now part of London. From the 14th century until it closed in 1842, it housed men under court martial for crimes at sea, including those accused of "unnatural crimes", political figures and intellectuals accused of...

prison.