Battle of Grand Turk

Last updated

Capture of The Turks and Caicos Islands
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Date9 March 1783
Location
Result French victory
Belligerents
Royal Standard of the King of France.svg  France Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg  Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Marquis de Grasse-Briançon
M. de Coujolles
unknown (defence)
Horatio Nelson (relief)
Strength
400 unknown (defence)
167 (relief)
2 brigs
Casualties and losses
None 9 wounded

The Battle of Grand Turk occurred on 9 March 1783 during the American Revolutionary War. France had seized the Turks and Caicos archipelago, [1] islets of rich salt works, taking the island of Grand Turk in February 1783. The British responded by deploying 28-gun frigate HMS Albemarle with a force of more than 100 men under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson. Although the mission failed, the islands were restored to Britain in the second Treaty of Paris that formally concluded the war six months later.

Contents

French capture

On 12 February 1783, a three-ship flotilla, headed by the 28-gun La Coquette under the command of the Marquis de Grasse-Briançon (nephew to Admiral Comte de Grasse) arrived at Grand Turk Island. [2] Disembarking about 400 men drawn from four regiments under the command of M. de Coujolles, the French took control of the island without resistance.

British recovery attempt

On 2 March 1783, the 44-gun HMS Resistance, under the command of Captain James King, while sailing in company with HMS Duguay Trouin, discovered two of the French ships anchored in Turks Island passage. [3] On being spotted the two ships cut their cables and stood to the southwest, upon which Resistance promptly gave chase. The rearmost ship, carrying 20 guns, sprang her main topmast, and surrendered after Resistance came up and fired a broadside. She then gave chase to the other, carrying 28 guns, and after enduring fire from their stern chasers, came alongside and the Frenchman promptly surrendered. [2] A few days later Resistance fell in with a small squadron under Captain Horatio Nelson, consisting of HMS Albemarle, HMS Tartar, HMS Drake and the armed ship Barrington. [2] Primary accounts differ on what exactly happened next.

Schomberg's account

King decided, on the basis of the information he had gathered from the taking of La Coquette to recover Turk's Island. The British landed some 350 seamen and marines under the command of Drake's Captain Charles Dixon, while the two brigs positioned themselves to cover the landing and fire on the town if necessary. However, two shore batteries (one of four 24-pounder guns and one of five 6-pounder guns) that the British had not expected opened fire on the brigs. Their fire wounded seven men on Drake and two on Barrington and forced the two brigs to withdraw. At the same time Dixon ran into a well-entrenched French force that outnumbered his landing party. He was able to extricate his force without casualties. King contemplated a second attack with the frigates, but the winds were not favorable and ultimately the British squadron withdrew. [4]

Nelson's account

Nelson in his letter of 9 March 1783, reports that he was in command of the squadron and the operation. Shortly after the squadron arrived at Turk's Island, Tartar left without explanation. Nelson states that he sent Dixon under a flag of truce to ask the French commander to surrender; the demand was refused. The British then landed 167 troops, under Dixon. Unexpectedly, a shore battery of three guns opened fire on the brigs. Drake's master was wounded, as were some seven men aboard the General Barrington. Dixon reported that seamen were manning the French guns and that the French troops had several field pieces. Nelson then decided to withdraw. [5] [2]

The Turks and Caicos Islands were returned to British control under the terms of Treaty of Paris, which was formally ratified later in 1783. [6]

Notes

  1. Rellie / Hayne p. 11
  2. 1 2 3 4 Duncan. The British Trident. p. 133.
  3. Duncan. The British Trident. p. 132.
  4. Schomberg (1802), Vol. 2, pp.136-7.
  5. Nelson (1845), Vol. 1, pp.72-3.
  6. Black p.182

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Pegasus</i> (1779) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Pegasus was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth rate. This frigate was launched in 1779 at Deptford and sold in 1816. Pegasus had a relatively uneventful career and is perhaps best known for the fact that her captain from 1786 to 1789 was Prince William Henry, the future King William IV. By 1811 Pegasus was a receiving ship at Chatham; she was sold in 1816.

HMS <i>Seahorse</i> (1748) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Seahorse was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1748. She is perhaps most famous as the ship on which a young Horatio Nelson served as a midshipman. She also participated in four battles off the coast of India between 1781 and 1783. The Royal Navy sold her in 1784 and she then became the mercantile Ravensworth. She made one voyage for the British East India Company (EIC) between 1786 and 1788. In 1789, she was sold to the French East India Company which had her refitted and renamed her Citoyen. In 1793 the French Navy purchased her and used her as a frigate. She was last listed in 1801.

<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 François 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">Charles Cunningham</span> Royal Navy rear-admiral (1755-1834)

Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Cunningham KCH was an officer of the Royal Navy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. He saw action during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of rear-admiral.

HMS Albemarle was a 28-gun sixth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built as the French merchantman Ménagère, which the French Navy purchased in 1779. A British squadron captured her in September and she was commissioned into service with the Royal Navy. Amongst her commanders in her short career was Captain Horatio Nelson, who would later win several famous victories over the French. The Navy sold her in 1784. She subsequently became a merchant vessel again. In 1791 she transported convicts to Port Jackson as part of the third fleet. She then sailed to India where she picked up a cargo on behalf of the British East India Company. As she was returning to England a French privateer captured her.

Barrington Dacres was an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He eventually rose to the rank of Post-Captain. He did not see action in many significant engagements, and is chiefly remembered for the accidental loss of his ship to the French, and for the unsuccessful chase of two French ships in the English Channel. He did command a number of ships of the line under several of the leading naval commanders of his time. His early death, however, prevented him from achieving the same seniority and degree of fame as his relatives did.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Pringle (Royal Navy officer)</span> Royal Navy admiral (died 1803)

Vice-Admiral Thomas Pringle was a British officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

HMS <i>Lowestoffe</i> (1761) British fifth-rate frigate

HMS Lowestoffe was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Built during the latter part of the Seven Years' War, she went on to see action in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary War, and served often in the Caribbean. A young Horatio Nelson served aboard her shortly after passing his lieutenant's examination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 31 March 1800</span> Naval battle of the War of the Second Coalition

The action of 31 March 1800 was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought between a Royal Navy squadron and a French Navy ship of the line off Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. By March 1800 Valletta, the Maltese capital, had been under siege for eighteen months and food supplies were severely depleted, a problem exacerbated by the interception and defeat of a French replenishment convoy in mid-February. In an effort to simultaneously obtain help from France and reduce the number of personnel maintained in the city, the naval commander on the island, Contre-amiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, ordered his subordinate Contre-amiral Denis Decrès to put to sea with the large ship of the line Guillaume Tell, which had arrived in the port shortly before the siege began in September 1798. Over 900 men were carried aboard the ship, which was to sail for Toulon under cover of darkness on 30 March.

Sir George Eyre was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Red.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Perkins (Royal Navy officer)</span> British Royal Navy officer (died 1812)

John Perkins, nicknamed Jack Punch, was a British Royal Navy officer. Perkins was perhaps the first mixed race commissioned officer in the Royal Navy. He rose from obscurity to be a successful ship's captain in the Georgian Royal Navy. He captained a 10-gun schooner during the American War of Independence and in a two-year period captured at least 315 enemy ships.

HMS Drake was a 14-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was bought from a commercial builder during the early years of the American War of Independence, and went on to support operations in the English Channel and the Caribbean. At one stage she assisted an attack on a French-held island, an expedition commanded by a young Horatio Nelson. Laid up for a time after the end of the American War of Independence, she returned to service shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Drake spent most of her time in Caribbean waters, until being declared unfit for service in 1800 and deleted from the navy lists.

HMS <i>Concorde</i> (1783) Lead frigate of French Concorde-class

Concorde was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. Built in Rochefort in 1777, she entered service with the French early in the American War of Independence and was soon in action, capturing HMS Minerva in the West Indies. She survived almost until near the end of the war when HMS Magnificent captured her in 1783. Not immediately brought into service due to the draw-down in the navy after the end of the war, Concorde underwent repairs and returned to active service with the outbreak of war with France in 1793 as the fifth-rate HMS Concorde.

HMS <i>Mediator</i> (1782) Fifth-rate of the Royal Navy

HMS Mediator was a Roebuck-class 44-gun fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She was built and served during the American War of Independence, but was reduced to a storeship and renamed HMS Camel in 1788. She spent the French Revolutionary and part of the Napoleonic Wars in this capacity before being broken up in 1810.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courtenay Boyle</span>

Sir Courtenay Boyle, KCH was an officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1807 he served as a Member of Parliament for Bandon.

HMS Duguay-Trouin was an 18-gun French privateer sloop launched in 1779 at Le Havre. Surprise captured her in 1780 and the British Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name. It sold Duguay-Trouin on 30 October 1783. She then became the West Indiaman Christopher. She captured several French merchant vessels. Later she became a Liverpool-based slave ship, making five voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was lost at Charleston in September 1804 in a hurricane.

HMS <i>Narcissus</i> (1801) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Narcissus was the lead ship of the Royal Navy Narcissus-class 32-gun fifth-rate frigates, launched in 1801. She participated in the War of 1812.

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.

HMS <i>Sylph</i> (1795) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, in service 1795-1811

HMS Sylph was a 16-gun Albatross-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy designed by William Rule and launched in 1795 at Deptford Dockyard. Her namesake was the air spirit sylph. She commissioned in August 1795 under Commander John Chambers White, who would have her until the end of 1799. She was later commanded by Charles Dashwood.

HMS <i>Resistance</i> (1782) Fifth-rate of the Royal Navy

HMS Resistance was a 44-gun fifth-rate Roebuck-class ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1782. Based on the design of HMS Roebuck, the class was built for use off the coast of North America during the American Revolutionary War. Commissioned by Captain James King, Resistance served on the West Indies Station for the rest of the war. She captured the 24-gun corvette La Coquette on 2 March 1783 and then went on in the same day to participate in the unsuccessful Battle of Grand Turk alongside Horatio Nelson. Resistance then went for a refit in Jamaica, during which time King fell ill and was replaced by Captain Edward O'Bryen. O'Bryen commanded Resistance until March 1784 when she was paid off. In 1791 she was recommissioned as a troop ship, but was converted back into a warship in 1793 at the start of the French Revolutionary War, under Captain Edward Pakenham.

References

21°28′N71°08′W / 21.467°N 71.133°W / 21.467; -71.133