HMS Dartmouth was a small frigate or fifth-rate ship, one of six ordered by the Council of State on 28 December 1654 and built in 1655. After a lengthy career in the Royal Navy, she was wrecked in the Sound of Mull on 9 October 1690, while on a mission to persuade the MacLeans of Duart to sign Articles of Allegiance to William and Mary. The wrecksite was identified in 1973 by divers from Bristol. The wrecksite was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 11 April 1974 and redesignated on 25 June 1992.