of Saint Cast. Captain Hughes left the vessel in December 1758 and was replaced three months later by Captain Herbert Sawyer. Active then joined Admiral Edward Boscawen's Mediterranean fleet and spent several uneventful months cruising off the French port of Toulon. In mid-1759 Boscawen's fleet put into Gibraltar for repairs, but returned to sea on 17 August when word reached the port that the French were nearby. As part of the fleet, Active played a supporting role in the British victory in the Battle of Lagos on the following day. She returned to England in December 1759, escorting a transport carrying cannons salvaged from wrecked French vessels after the Battle of Quiberon Bay. The voyage was a stormy one, with Active losing her mizzen mast in bad weather off the port of Plymouth. The frigate next saw action on 31 May 1762, when in company with she chased down and captured the Spanish treasure ship Hermione off Cape St Mary. Hermione was en route from Lima to Cadiz, carrying a cargo of dollars, gold coin, ingots of gold and silver, cocoa, and blocks of tin. Her crew were unaware that war had been declared between Spain and Britain, and swiftly surrendered when the British ships engaged her. Active, Favourite, and subsequently escorted Hermione and her cargo to London for remittance to the Crown. Contemporary accounts estimated the value of Hermiones cargo at £852,000. However, when the ship was condemned as a prize her cargo, hull, and fittings were eventually valued at £519,705 10s 0d, approximately £ at 2015 prices. This nonetheless represented the single richest capture from any naval action during the Seven Years' War. The captains of Active and Favourite each received £64,872 as prize money – a sum worth approximately £ at 2015 prices. Ordinary seamen on both ships received £480 each, equivalent to 33 years' wages. One of the crew purchased a gold watch and then melted it in a frying pan for the amusement of his crew mates. Later service In early 1763 as war with France was drawing to a close, the Navy declared Active surplus to requirements and returned her to Deptford Dockyard for decommissioning. After several months in port she returned to sea in August 1763 under Captain Robert Carkett and sailed for the Royal Navy's Jamaica station on 7 October. She remained there for the next four years until, battered by this