Scale model on display at the Musée de la Marine in Toulon |
|
| Career (France) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Vestale |
| Namesake: | Vestal Virgin |
| Builder: | Le Havre, plans by Jean-Joseph Ginoux |
| Launched: | 1756 |
| Captured: | by Britain, 8 January 1761 |
| Career (UK) | |
| Name: | HMS Flora |
| Acquired: | 1800 |
| Fate: | Scuttled 8 August 1778 |
| Career (France) | |
| Name: | Flore américaine |
| Acquired: | 1794 |
| Captured: | By Britain, 7 September 1798 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Blonde class |
| Armament: |
30 guns:
|
| Armour: | Timber |
The Vestale was a Blonde class 30-gun frigate of the French Navy.
She was captured by HMS Unicorn at the Battle of Quiberon Bay, 8 January 1761, and recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Flora. She was scuttled by the British on 8 August 1778, as they left Rhode Island.
She was refloated, repaired and sold to the French Navy in 1784, where she was known as Flore américaine, to distinguish her from another Flore built since. She was used as a commerce raider from 1794. On 7 September 1798, she was captured by HMS Phaeton and sold for scrap.
A model is on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris, and another in the naval museum in Toulon.