of the four French ships called La Lutine captured or surrendered over a thirteen year period at the end of the eighteenth century, only the second became H.M.S. Lutine and it is her bell which hangs in Lloyds. Originally a frigate of 36 guns, she was launched at Toulon in 1785 and was one of a number surrenderd to Admiral Lord Hood in 1793 by French Royalists keen not to let them fall into the hands of the revolutionaries. After a refit in Gibraltar, she returned to England under the command of William Haggit and entered the Navy List as H.M.S. Lutine. Four years later and now under the command of Captain Lancelot Skynner, she sailed from the Yarmouth Roads laiden with merchants gold and coin for payment of British troops in Holland. Setting sail on the 8th October, a stong gale whipped up after midnight and she struck a sandbank between Terschelling and Vlieland and sank immediatley with all hands lost, save two who died shortly afterwards. Salvage attempts began almost immediatley with a fortune of over £55,000 being recovered over the next two years by local fisherman and boatman. The famous bell which now hangs in Lloyds and which is sounded every time one of their underwritten ships founders was brought up in 1859.