A French privateer, from which twenty men were captured when she stranded on Romney Sands in bad weather. (1)(2)

The name of the vessel has additionally been given as MASQUETAIRE, since 'DE DUNKERQUE' may indicate its place of registration; this may in fact be an error for MOUSQUETAIRE, as in 'Les Trois Mousquetaires' (The Three Musketeers), which would be an apt name for a privateer; 'a' and 'o' are frequently misread in contemporary sources, particularly when reading handwriting of foreign origin. This form of the name has also been given to assist retrieval.

Master: Richardson (1)(2)
Crew: at least 20 (1)(2)

Date of Loss Qualifier: Reporting date of loss

Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles:
LL.21.01.1783 (no reference to this vessel found in this particular issue, and may be an error for a local newspaper; 21.02.1783 and 21.03.1783 were checked, as also were other adjoining issues before and after the relevant dates)

<1> United Kingdom shipwreck index, Page Nos. N/a (Bibliographic reference). SKE6340.

<2> Larn, Richard and Bridget, 1995, Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 2 : Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Sussex, Kent (Mainland), Kent (Downs), Goodwin Sands, Thames (Bibliographic reference). SKE31910.