D4569-1 - HMS Implacable The Dugay Trouin, 74 guns, was launched at Rochefort in France in 1800. She was involved in the Battle of Trafalgar but managed to evade the victorious British fleet. The Dugay Trouin's escape was short-lived and on 3 November 1805 a British squadron engaged her in the Bay of Biscay. In the ensuing battle, the captain of the Dugay Trouin was killed, her masts were shot away, and she was eventually captured after a gallant French defence. The ship was taken into the Royal Navy, renamed Implacable, and saw action in the Baltic in 1808-09 and off the Syrian coast in 1840. She became a training vessel for boy seamen at Devonport in 1855 and was finally placed on the navy's disposal list in 1908. The ship was handed over to Geoffrey Wheatley Cobb for preservation in 1912 and sufficient money was raised to carry out a series of repairs at Plymouth in the 1920s. E0192 - Figurehead of the HMS Implacable in Neptune Court

In 1932, HMS Implacable was towed to Portsmouth where she again served as a training establishment. The Admiralty requisitioned the vessel during the Second World War but it found the cost of her upkeep too great to bear and in 1947 it was decided to dispose of the Implacable. This move caused a furious public outcry but, despite an appeal to save her, she was scuttled in 1949.

The figurehead and stern carvings were preserved and presented to the Museum in 1950. The figurehead dates from her refit in Britain in 1805 and is a representation of the gorgon Medusa. Because of their scale, it was found impossible to display the stern carvings (which amount to some 160 objects) at the Museum and they were placed in store. However, with the opening of the redeveloped Neptune Court in 1999, both the stern and the figurehead of HMS Implacable have been brought together and can now be seen for the first time in 50 years. For more on the story of the Implacable and her remarkable career, see Implacable: A Trafalgar ship remembered (1999).