Choosing a third rate to carry across five centuries

Which third-rate ship would you take back to 1450 and keep in use until 1900?

HMS Africa is the preferred choice, although the centuries of replacement needed to preserve her would create a Ship of Theseus problem.

The preferred choice is the 64-gun HMS Africa, partly because Agamemnon already enjoys fame through Nelson. Bellerophon is identified as a 74-gun third rate, and the alternatives include HMS Excellent, which became a gunnery school, and HMS Elephant. A French survivor is suggested for its longevity, although the discussion does not identify it by name. Elephant's builder is named as George Parsons, with only a tentative suggestion of a family link to the turbine engineer. Keeping a wooden warship from 1450 to 1900 raises a Ship of Theseus problem: repeated replacement would complicate what it means to retain the same ship.