A bit of further detail on my 'pet' subject.

A 98 of course was a 98 gun ship, a three-decked ship of the line. Ships of 100 or more guns were 'first-rate' ships, and so a 98 was a 'second-rate' ship. Britain built quite a few of these in preference to first rates and they were used as fleet and squadron flagships. The famous HMS Victory was for a time a 98. One advantage to the Admiralty was that the established complement of crew, the rate of wages for officers, warrant officer etc was slightly less on a second rate, so they were cheaper to run than a first rate, and just as effective (until you got to the 120 gun first rates).

Les Ward