HMS Neptune (1757)

The Fishery by Woollett after Wright
History
UK
Name:	HMS Neptune
Ordered:	12 July 1750
Builder:	Portsmouth Dockyard
Launched:	17 July 1757
Fate:	Broken up, 1816
General characteristics
Class and type:	1750 amendments 90-gun second rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1798
Length:	171 ft (52.1 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 6 in (14.8 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 6 in (6.2 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	90 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs Middle gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 12 pdrs Quarterdeck: 10 × 6 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs

HMS Neptune was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment as amended in 1750, and launched on 17 July 1757.

The Neptune was the flagship for Vice-Admiral Charles Knowles in 1757. One of Neptune's midshipmen at this time was John Hunter, later to become an admiral and the second Governor of New South Wales.

Neptune was converted to serve as a sheer hulk in 1784, and continued in this role until she was broken up in 1816.

Neptune has been identified as the subject of a 1764 prize-winning painting by Liverpool marine artist Richard Wright, subsequently engraved by William Woollett entitled The Fishery.