French ship Achille (1803)

Achille was a Téméraire-class 74-gun French ship of the line built at Rochefort in 1803 after plans by Jacques-Noël Sané. Under the command of Captain Louis Gabriel Deniéport, she sailed at the vanguard of the French Fleet on 20 October 1805, just before the Battle of Trafalgar, and she was the first Franco-Spanish ship to sight the English fleet, around 6 p.m. The fires eventually reached her magazine and she blew up spectacularly at 5:45 p.m., taking 480 with her, and foundered quickly, her colours high, marking the end of the battle. An officer serving in HMS Defence wrote:

French ship Achille (1803)

Achille was a Téméraire-class 74-gun French ship of the line built at Rochefort in 1803 after plans by Jacques-Noël Sané. Under the command of Captain Louis Gabriel Deniéport, she sailed at the vanguard of the French Fleet on 20 October 1805, just before the Battle of Trafalgar, and she was the first Franco-Spanish ship to sight the English fleet, around 6 p.m. The fires eventually reached her magazine and she blew up spectacularly at 5:45 p.m., taking 480 with her, and foundered quickly, her colours high, marking the end of the battle. An officer serving in HMS Defence wrote: