I posted the same question a few days ago but I didn’t get any responses.

But, I decided to do a little background research this time, but the only sources I could find were on Wikipedia, so I can’t trust it with 100% historical accuracy (here and here) so I’d like to see if anybody here can share more of what they know about what I found.

More specifically, from these two sources I’m keeping my focus on ship ranks in the first decade of 1700’s (more specifically 1707 - 1713). So, with what I found out from the links and listed below, corresponds to the ships that were launched between the 1690’s and the early years of the 1700’s (00’s).

• Vaisseaux de Premier Rang (First rank ships) - 3-decked vessels with around 80 to 100 guns

• Vaisseaux de Deuxième Rang (Second rank ships) - most were two-decked vessels with around 64 - 74 guns

• Vaisseaux de Troisième Rang (Third rank ships) - two-decked vessels with 64 or less

• Vaisseaux de Quatrième Rang (Fourth rank ships) - two-decked frégates (frigates) with around 40 - 44 guns

• vaisseaux de Cinquième Rang (Fifth rank ships) - two-decked frégates (frigates) with around 36 - 40 guns

• Frégates légères (light frigates, unranked vessels) - single-decked vessels with 20 - 24 guns

I think I have general understanding of how the French would’ve ranked their ships in the first decade of the 1700’s, but the big question I have is; did what I find is accurate?

Follow-up questions: were all unranked vessels with even the smallest number of guns classed as frégates légères? (I would find it odd classifying a 12-gun vessel as a frigate)

Would it be historically accurate for a sailor in, say, 1710 to see one of these ships on the high seas and say something like “Look, it’s a Vaisseaux de Troisième Rang!”