HMS Boreas (1757) after periods at sea, averaging £1,573 in repairs for each year of service compared with £1,261 for comparable vessels built from oak. The frigate was named after Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind and bringer of winter. The naming followed a trend initiated in 1748 by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, in his capacity as First Lord of the Admiralty, of using figures from classical antiquity as descriptors for naval vessels. A total of six "Coventry"-class vessels were named in this manner; a further ten were named after geographic features including regions, English or Irish rivers, or
Greek mythology Petrarch, Boccaccio and Dante in Italy. In Northern Europe, Greek mythology never took the same hold of the visual arts, but its effect was very obvious on literature. The English imagination was fired by Greek mythology starting with Chaucer and John Milton and continuing through Shakespeare to Robert Bridges in the 20th century. Racine in France and Goethe in Germany revived Greek drama, reworking the ancient myths. Although during the Enlightenment of the 18th century reaction against Greek myth spread throughout Europe, the myths continued to provide an important source of raw material for dramatists, including those who wrote the