Fanny off Hispaniola, sailing from Connecticut with a cargo of timber. On 22 August 1778, Minerva, under the command of Captain John Stott, and unaware that France had declared war on Britain met the French 32-gun frigate Concorde, under Capitaine Le Gardeur de Tilly. Stott, mistaking her for a harmless merchantman, approached to speak to her, but Concorde fired two broadsides into her before Minerva could reply. The British were caught off guard, and suffered further misfortune when a powder explosion under the half-deck dismounted three guns, and killed or wounded eighteen men. Captain Stott was also severely wounded in the head and was carried below. After two and a half hours, Minerva surrendered, her mizzen-mast having gone overboard and her other masts tottering, her wheel destroyed, and having lost her Captain and First Lieutenant. French career She was commissioned into the French Navy as Minerve, and commanded by Nicolas Henri de Grimouard. The 74-gun and recaptured her in the action of 4 January 1781. Second British career The Royal Navy recommissioned her under the name HMS Recovery, as another had been commissioned after she was lost. She was laid up in 1783 and sold the following year. Citations and references Citations References Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. . David Lyon, The Sailing Navy List, Conway Maritime Press, London 1993. . Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 to 1792, Seaforth Publishing, London 2007. . 1759 ships Ships built in Deptford Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy