Captain Charles Mears sailed Brilliant from Portsmouth, bound to India with troops, and to remain there. On 28 August she struck a rock off Johanna in the Comoro Islands and was lost. The majority of the crew survived the wreck but more than 100 soldiers and three officers from the 15th Hanoverian Regiment drowned. Legacy Naval historian William Clowes described the Venus-class frigates, including Brilliant, as "the best British fighting cruisers of the days before the accession of George III." Even so, they were slower than their French counterparts, having been built of much heavier timbers and with less flexible joints. This proved to be a substantial defect for a vessel designed for the chase; in 1759 Royal Navy captain William Hotham described a captured French frigate of equivalent size as having "quite the advantage on the Aeolus or Brilliant" in speed and maneuvreability. Admiralty generally regarded Brilliant and her sister ships as superior only as convoy escorts and in short-range engagements. The Admiralty Board also considered Brilliant too lightly armed for her size. She measured an additional 50 tons burthen over a standard 32-gun frigate but carried only four more cannon. For these reasons, Brilliant was the last vessel to be built in the Venus''-class. Subsequent generations of Royal Navy frigates preserved elements of her design, but with an extended hull to allow for additional gun ports and the carrying of larger weapons including the 18-pounder long gun. Notes, citations, and references Notes Citations References 1757 ships Ships built in Plymouth, Devon Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy Ships of the British East India Company Troop ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1782 Shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean