Action of 10 April 1795

Last updated

Action of 10 April 1795
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
HMS Astraea and Gloire.jpg
Capture of La Gloire April 10th 1795, Thomas Whitcombe
Date10–11 April 1795
Location
Western Approaches, Atlantic Ocean
49°30′N10°46′W / 49.500°N 10.767°W / 49.500; -10.767
Result British victory
Belligerents
Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg  Great Britain Flag of France official.svg France
Commanders and leaders
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svg John Colpoys Flag of France official.svg Captain Beenst [1] [2]
Strength
5 ships of the line
2 frigates		 3 frigates
Casualties and losses
8 killed and wounded 40 killed and wounded
2 frigates captured

The action of 10 April 1795 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars in which a squadron of French Navy frigates was intercepted by a British battle squadron under Rear-Admiral John Colpoys which formed part of the blockade of the French naval base of Brest in Brittany. The French squadron split up in the face of superior British numbers, the three vessels seeking to divide and outrun the British pursuit. One frigate, Gloire was followed by the British frigate HMS Astraea and was ultimately brought to battle in a closely fought engagement. Although the ships were roughly equal in size, the British ship was easily able to defeat the French in an engagement lasting just under an hour.

Contents

The other French ships were pursued by British ships of the line and the chase lasted much longer, into the morning of 11 April when HMS Hannibal caught the frigate Gentille. Hannibal was far larger than its opponent and the French captain surrendered immediately rather than fight a futile engagement. The third French frigate, Fraternité successfully escaped. After refitting in Portsmouth, Colpoys' ships returned to their station off Brest, the blockade remaining in place for the remainder of the year.

Background

Great Britain and France had been at war for more than two years by April 1795, and British dominance at sea was well established, with the Royal Navy maintaining substantial blockade fleets off all of the principal French naval ports. [3] The biggest port on the French Atlantic coast was at Brest in Brittany, from which French raiders could attack British shipping in the English Channel and Western Atlantic. The most efficient commerce raiders were frigates, light and fast warships that could strike rapidly and with devastating effect if left unopposed. One of the major roles of the British blockade squadrons was the detection and elimination of French frigates as they emerged from their bases. [3]

In April 1795, the inshore squadron of the British blockade at Brest was commanded by Rear-Admiral John Colpoys, who had at his command five ships of the line: HMS London, HMS Valiant, HMS Colossus, HMS Hannibal and HMS Robust and frigates HMS Astraea and HMS Thalia. Colpoys' ships had formed an effective blockade: on 29 March they had taken the French corvette Jean Bart and the following day recaptured a lost British merchant ship. At 10:00 on 10 April, the British squadron was cruising off the approaches to Brest when three ships were spotted to the west. [4]

Colpoys immediately ordered his squadron to give chase and at 12:00 the strange ships were identified as a squadron of French frigates. The French ships were the 32-gun Gloire, under Captain Beenst the Elder, Gentille, under Lieutenant Canon, and Fraternité, under Florinville, [5] led by Captain Beenst of Gloire and on a three-month raiding cruise from Brest in the Bay of Biscay that had so-far been uneventful: the only prize taken had been a small Spanish merchant brig. [4] Beenst quickly discovered the danger his squadron was in, and gave orders for them to sail westwards away from the British squadron. However, the wind favoured Colpoys and his vastly superior squadron rapidly gained on the French frigates. The first British ship to come within range was the 74-gun HMS Colossus under Captain John Monkton, which managed to exchange distant gunfire with the rearmost French ship before the gap widened once more. [6]

Battle

Seeing that his ships were in danger of being caught by the much larger British ships of the line, Captain Beenst gave orders for the squadron to separate. Gentille and Fraternité splitting from Gloire to the west with the ships of the line HMS Hannibal and HMS Robust in close pursuit while Gloire swung northwest, eluding most of the British squadron except for the 32-gun frigate HMS Astraea under Captain Lord Henry Paulet, which managed to stay in contact throughout the afternoon. [4]

At 18:00, with the rest of the pursuit far behind, Paulet succeeded in bringing Gloire within range of the cannon on his ship's quarterdeck. Opening fire with these guns brought a response from Beenst's sternchaser guns, the frigates exchanging cannon shot for four and a half hours as Astraea slowly caught up with its elusive opponent. [6] At 22:30, Paulet was finally close enough to lay Astraea alongside Gloire and the two frigates exchanged fire at close range for the next 58 minutes, Paulet concentrating his gunnery on the hull of the French ship while Beenst's ordered his men to disable the British ship's rigging and masts. The battle was fiercely contested: Beenst suffered a head injury and all three of Astraea's topmasts taking serious damage, so much so that the main topmast collapsed in the aftermath of the action. [7] However at 23:28, with two British ships of the line visible in the distance, Beenst surrendered his ship to Paulet. [8]

Both ships had suffered damage, with the injuries to Astraea's masts requiring urgent repairs while Gloire had also suffered damage to its rigging and sails. The French ship had also taken heavy casualties, with 40 men killed or wounded, including the captain. In contrast, Astraea had not lost a single man, although one of the eight wounded subsequently died. Paulet effected repairs to both ships and gave temporary command of Gloire to Lieutenant John Talbot, who was subsequently promoted. He then brought both ships to the Portsmouth, where Colpoys was reconstituting his scattered squadron. [7]

Aftermath

It was while sailing off the Isle of Wight that Colpoys learned from Captain Edward Thornbrough of Robust that Hannibal had succeeded in catching the French frigate Gentille early on the morning of 11 April. [7] The French captain surrendering without a fight before the overwhelming British force that he faced, shocked that his frigate had been caught by a ship of the line in open waters. In response, Hannibal's captain, John Markham, proudly claimed that "Hannibal sails like a witch". Hannibal subsequently joined Robust in the chase of Fraternité, succeeding in firing several shot at the French ship before falling behind in a period of calm weather. After a chase of several days, Fraternité's captain lightened his ship by throwing guns and stores overboard and ultimately escaped pursuit, later rejoining the Brest fleet and participating in a number of subsequent campaigns. [9] Both Gloire and Gentille were purchased for the Royal Navy, the entirety of Colpoy's squadron sharing in the prize money by prior arrangement. [10] Neither ship was in particularly good condition however and neither had long service in the British fleet. Colpoys returned to the inshore blockade of Brest with his squadron following a brief refit at Portsmouth, remaining off the port for the remainder of the year. [11]

Lieutenant Canon received the customary was court-martial following the loss of his ship, and was acquitted of all charges. [12]

Notes

  1. ↑ Roche (2005), p. 226.
  2. ↑ Archives nationales (2011), p. 96.
  3. 1 2 Gardiner, p. 140
  4. 1 2 3 "No. 13770". The London Gazette . 14 April 1795. p. 339.
  5. ↑ "Le récit de sa capture". BOUTEILLER, le marin prisonnier. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  6. 1 2 James, p. 284
  7. 1 2 3 James, p. 285
  8. ↑ Clowes, p. 491
  9. ↑ Markham, p. 111–112
  10. ↑ "No. 13851". The London Gazette . 19 September 1795. p. 974.
  11. ↑ Colpoys, Sir John, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , J. K. Laughton, (subscription required), Retrieved 26 March 2012
  12. ↑ Troude (1867), p. 444.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Astraea</i> (1781) British Royal Navy frigate

HMS Astraea was a 32-gun fifth rate Active-class frigate of the Royal Navy. Fabian at E. Cowes launched her in 1781, and she saw action in the American War of Independence as well as during the Napoleonic Wars. She is best known for her capture of the larger French frigate Gloire in a battle on 10 April 1795, while under the command of Captain Lord Henry Paulet. She was wrecked on 23 March 1808 off the coast of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 25 September 1806</span> Minor naval engagement during the Napoleonic Wars

The action of 25 September 1806 was a naval battle fought during the Napoleonic Wars off the French Biscay port of Rochefort. A French squadron comprising five frigates and two corvettes, sailing to the French West Indies with supplies and reinforcements, was intercepted by a British squadron of six ships of the line that was keeping a close blockade of the port as part of the Atlantic campaign of 1806. The British ships, under the command of Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, spotted the French convoy early in the morning of 25 September, just a few hours after the French had left port, and immediately gave chase. Although the French ships tried to escape, they were heavily laden with troops and stores, and the strong winds favoured the larger ships of the line, which caught the French convoy after a five-hour pursuit, although they had become separated from one another during the chase.

HMS <i>Hannibal</i> (1786) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Hannibal was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1786, named after the Carthaginian general Hannibal. She is best known for having taken part in the Algeciras Campaign, and for having run aground during the First Battle of Algeciras on 5 July 1801, which resulted in her capture. She then served in the French Navy until she was broken up in 1824.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 6 November 1794</span> Naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars

The action of 6 November 1794 was a naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars. Two British ships of the line, HMS Alexander and HMS Canada were intercepted while returning to Britain through the Celtic Sea by a large French squadron. The French squadron had sailed from Brest in search of an inward bound British convoy in October, but instead encountered the two British ships returning from escorting an outward-bound convoy. There had been no warning of the French approach as the British force assigned to watch Brest was absent at Plymouth due to the policy of operating a distant blockade.

French frigate <i>Minerve</i> (1794)

Minerve was a 40-gun Minerve-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her twice and the French recaptured her once. She therefore served under four names before being broken up in 1814:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez</span>

Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez was a French naval officer and nobleman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Willaumez joined the French Navy at the age of 14, and proved to be a competent sailor. Having risen to the rank of pilot, he started studying navigation, attracting the attention of his superiors up to Louis XVI himself. Willaumez eventually became an officer and served under Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in his expedition to rescue Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse and explore the Indian Ocean and Oceania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Tory Island</span> 1798 naval action off the coast of Donegal, Ireland

The Battle of Tory Island was a naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on 12 October 1798 between French and British squadrons off the northwest coast of County Donegal, then in the Kingdom of Ireland. The last action of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Battle of Tory Island ended the final attempt by the French Navy to land substantial numbers of soldiers in Ireland during the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Colpoys</span>

Admiral Sir John Colpoys, was an officer of the British Royal Navy who served in three wars but is most notable for being one of the catalysts of the Spithead Mutiny in 1797 after ordering his marines to fire on a deputation of mutinous sailors. Although this event resulted in his removal from active duty, Colpoys was a capable administrator who remained heavily involved in staff duties ashore during the Napoleonic Wars and was later a Lord of the Admiralty, Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath and Governor of Greenwich Naval Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French expedition to Ireland (1796)</span> Expedition in the War of the First Coalition

The French expedition to Ireland, known in French as the Expédition d'Irlande, was an unsuccessful attempt by the French Republic to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican group, in their planned rebellion against British rule during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French intended to land a large expeditionary force in Ireland during the winter of 1796–1797 which would join with the United Irishmen and drive the British out of Ireland. The French anticipated that this would be a major blow to British morale, prestige and military effectiveness, and was also intended to possibly be the first stage of an eventual invasion of Great Britain itself. To this end, the Directory gathered a force of approximately 15,000 soldiers at Brest under General Lazare Hoche during late 1796, in readiness for a major landing at Bantry Bay in December.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Tamatave</span> 1811 battle fought during the Napoleonic Wars

The Battle of Tamatave was fought off Tamatave in Madagascar between British and French frigate squadrons during the Napoleonic Wars. The action was the final engagement of the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811, and it saw the destruction of the last French attempt to reinforce their garrison on Mauritius. Although the news had not reached Europe by February 1811 when the reinforcement squadron left Brest, Mauritius had been captured in December 1810 by a British invasion fleet, the French defences hampered by the lack of the supplies and troops carried aboard the frigate squadron under the command of Commodore Dominique Roquebert in Renommée. Roquebert's heavily laden ships reached Mauritius on 6 May and discovered that the island was in British hands the following day, narrowly escaping a trap laid by a squadron of British frigates ordered to hunt and destroy them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Dacres (Royal Navy officer)</span>

Sir Richard Dacres was an officer of the British Royal Navy who saw service during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. A member of a substantial naval dynasty, he eventually rose to the rank of vice admiral.

Vice-Admiral Lord Henry Paulet KCB was an officer in the Royal Navy who saw service in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Born into the British nobility as a younger son of the Marquess of Winchester, he rose through the ranks and had gained his own command by the early stages of the French Revolutionary Wars. He was involved in a number of famous engagements during his career, such as the capture of the French frigate Gloire in 1795, though he narrowly missed out on seeing direct action at two of the most significant naval battles of the wars with the French. The first was the Battle of Cape St Vincent, where he had left Jervis's fleet a few days previously, the second was the Battle of Copenhagen, where he remained with Sir Hyde Parker's reserve squadron. He nevertheless rose through the ranks to reach vice-admiral, despite an incident that saw him court-martialled and dismissed, only to be reinstated by the intervention of the King; and a tendency to eccentricity. He married towards the end of the wars with France, and had several children. Paulet served as one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty from 1813, and was installed as a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1815, but ill-health forced his retirement from active service shortly afterwards, and he would die of cancer in 1832.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornwallis's Retreat</span> 1795 naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars

Cornwallis's Retreat was a naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars in which a British Royal Navy squadron of five ships of the line and two frigates was attacked by a much larger French Navy fleet of 12 ships of the line and 11 frigates. The action took place in the waters off the west coast of Brittany on 16–17 June 1795.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Jobourg</span> Naval battle during the Napoleonic Wars

The Battle of Jobourg was a minor naval engagement between British and French frigate squadrons during the last weeks of the War of the Sixth Coalition in the 22nd and penultimate year of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. In October 1813 the French Navy, unable to challenge the Royal Navy's dominance at sea, sent two small squadrons of frigates to harass British trade in the Atlantic Ocean. One was brought to battle in January 1814 and defeated near the Canary Islands but the second, from Nantes and consisting of the frigates Etoile and Sultane, fought an inconclusive engagement against British frigate HMS Severn on 4 January in the mid-Atlantic and a furious battle against HMS Astrea and HMS Creole on 23 January near Maio in the Cape Verde Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Loring (Royal Navy officer, died 1808)</span>

John Loring was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

The Battle of the Levant Convoy was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought on 7 October 1795. During the battle, a powerful French squadron surprised a valuable British convoy from the Levant off Cape St Vincent on the coast of Portugal. The convoy was weakly defended, and although the small escort squadron tried to drive the French back, they were outmatched. In the ensuing action one of the British ships of the line and almost the entire convoy was overrun and captured. The French commander, Commodore Joseph de Richery, then retired to the neutral Spanish port of Cádiz, where he came under blockade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ganteaume's expedition of 1795</span>

Ganteaume's expedition of 1795 was a French naval operation in the Aegean Sea in the autumn of 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Commanded by Commodore Honoré Ganteaume in the ship of the line Républicain, with a squadron of four frigates and two corvettes, the French force was ordered to attack First Coalition shipping in the Aegean Sea. The principal target was the Ottoman city of Smyrna, the most significant trading port of the region, Ganteaume ordered to prey on merchant shipping sailing for European destinations and in particular a large convoy due to sail to Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richery's expedition</span>

Richery's expedition was a French naval operation during 1795 and 1796 as part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The operation was led by Commodore Joseph de Richery and comprised two separate cruises; the first was an operation off Cádiz in Southern Spain in which Richery attacked and defeated a large British merchant convoy with a weak escort, taking many prizes. Forced to anchor at Cádiz, the French squadron was subsequently blockaded in the port for almost a year. Richery was enabled to escape in August 1796 by a Spanish fleet, and went on to attack British fisheries off Newfoundland and Labrador before returning to France having inflicted severe damage to British Atlantic trade.

HMS <i>Triton</i> (1796) Experimental frigate of the Royal Navy in service 1796–1814/20

HMS Triton was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy designed by James Gambier and launched in 1796 at Deptford. Triton was an experimental ship and the only one built to that design; she was constructed out of fir due to wartime supply shortages of more traditional materials and had some unusual features such as no tumblehome. Her namesake was the Greek god Triton, a god of the sea. She was commissioned in June 1796 under Captain John Gore, with whom she would spend the majority of her active service, to serve in the Channel in the squadron of Sir John Warren.

Samuel Campbell Rowley was a politician and Royal Navy officer who was born in Ireland in 1774. Rowley attended the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth in 1785 and joined his first ship in March 1789, serving in the West Indies. He passed the lieutenant's examination in 1792 but was not promoted until January 1794, when he joined HMS Vengeance. In her, Rowley took part in the West Indies campaign under Sir John Jervis and Sir Charles Grey, and was present at the capture of Martinique, St Lucia and Guadeloupe. Rowley returned to England at the beginning of 1795 and shortly after, was appointed to the 32-gun HMS Astraea, serving in the English Channel, where, on 10 April 1795, he assisted in the taking of the French 42-gun frigate, Gloire.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.