1804 map of Guadeloupe, illustrating the locations of the island's principal settlements. The action on 18 December 1809 took place in Anse à la Barque, a small bay to the east of Sainte-Anne
Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean was an unsuccessful operation by a French naval squadron to transport supplies to Guadeloupe in December 1809 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. Over the previous year, British Royal Navy squadrons had isolated and defeated the French Caribbean colonies one by one, until by the autumn Guadeloupe was the only colony remaining in French hands. Cut off from the rest of the world by British blockade squadrons that intercepted all ships coming to or from the island, Guadeloupe was in a desperate situation, facing economic collapse, food shortages and social upheaval, as well as the impending threat of British invasion. In an effort to reinforce and resupply the colony, the French government sent four vessels to the West Indies in November 1809 under Commodore François Roquebert. Two of the ships were 20-gun flûtes carrying supplies and troops. The two others were 40-gun frigates, ordered to protect the storeships on their journey from the British forces operating off both the French and Guadeloupe coasts.
The squadron almost reached the Caribbean without encountering any of patrolling British warships sent to watch for French reinforcements, but was spotted and intercepted by the frigate HMSJunon on 13 December. Junon's captain did not realise the size of the French squadron until it was too late and, despite fierce resistance, his ship was captured and he was mortally wounded. Destroying the badly damaged Junon and continuing with the mission, Roquebert successfully delivered the flûtes Loire and Seine to within sight of Guadeloupe and then left them, his frigates making their way back to France without ensuring the safe arrival of their convoy. On 15 December, the small British brigHMS Observateur, which had witnessed the defeat of Junon, brought news of the French arrival to the blockade squadron anchored off Basse-Terre. Summoning ships from the surrounding region, the British commander, Captain Volant Vashon Ballard amassed a significant squadron and forced the French flûtes to anchor in a protected bay at Anse à la Barque, on the southeastern coast of Guadeloupe.
Ineffectual efforts were made to capture the flûtes, but it was not until the arrival of the 74-gun HMSSceptre under Captain Samuel James Ballard that an attack was made in earnest. As small ships engaged the batteries on shore, two frigates entered the bay and attacked the flûtes, causing both to surrender in an hour-long engagement. Both French ships were badly damaged and a fire started during the engagement was able to rapidly spread through them, destroying both ships in succession. Many of the French crew escaped ashore from the wrecks, while others were picked up by British ships. The blockade of Guadeloupe was successfully maintained, and the island was captured in a coordinated invasion a month later. Roquebert's remaining ships were intercepted on 16 January by a patrolling British frigate, but successfully escaped pursuit and eventually returned undamaged to France.
Background
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy rapidly and decisively seized control of the war at sea, driving French ships into protected harbours and laying heavy blockades on ports held by the French Empire and her allies to strangle communications and overseas trade.[1] This had a devastating effect on the French West Indian colonies, particularly the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. With trade impossible, their economies stagnated while social upheaval and limited food supplies reduced their ability to resist invasion by the large British forces maintained in the region. In the summer of 1808, desperate messages were sent to France from the islands, prompting a succession of French efforts to supply food, reinforcements and trading opportunities during the latter part of 1808 and the first months of 1809.[2] These efforts were entirely unsuccessful: the few ships that did safely reach the Caribbean Sea and successfully landed supplies were all intercepted and captured on the return journey, costing the French four frigates and numerous smaller ships by the end of February 1809.[3]
The British blockade squadrons had intercepted a number of the messages sent from the islands during 1808, and a large expeditionary force was built up on Barbados with orders to invade and capture the French colonies as swiftly as possible. Their first target was Martinique, which was invaded and captured during February 1809.[4] Outlying islands were captured over the next few months and a major French reinforcement squadron was trapped and then defeated near the Îles des Saintes in April: the French lost a ship of the line, and two more frigates were captured in June and July as they tried to return to France.[5] With such heavy losses, the French took time preparing their next effort while the British were distracted by the Reconquista in Santo Domingo, a Spanish campaign to drive the French out of the island of Hispaniola that was eventually concluded in July 1809 with British naval assistance.[6] By the autumn of 1809, the British commander, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, was again developing an expeditionary force, this time aimed at Guadeloupe. He had strengthened the blockade squadron off the island's principal port Basse-Terre, and placed heavier forces at Martinique in case they were required. Individual ships were dispersed in the approaches to the French island, ready to intercept any approaching reinforcement. Other ships operated against ships already anchored off Guadeloupe: one squadron seized the corvetteNisus from Deshaies on 12 December.[7]
In the months since Troude's failure, the French had only sent small supply ships to Guadeloupe, while carefully preparing a major expedition at Nantes. Two French flûtes, Loire, under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Joseph Normand-Kergré, and Seine, under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Bernard Vincent, took on board large quantities of food supplies and over 200 military reinforcements each. To protect these ships two frigates were detailed to escort the convoy to Guadeloupe: Renommée, under Commodore François Roquebert, and Clorinde, under Captain Jacques Saint-Cricq.[8] The force departed on 15 November 1809 and made rapid progress across the Atlantic, avoiding all contact with British warships. Of the small ships despatched around the same time, none reached Guadeloupe; all were captured in the Western Atlantic or Caribbean by warships sent by Cochrane to patrol for approaching French reinforcements.[8]
Destruction of HMS Junon
Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean: Action of 13 December 1809
Among the ships despatched by Cochrane was the 40-gun frigate HMSJunon under Captain John Shortland. Junon had been captured from the French less than a year earlier at the action of 10 February 1809, following an unsuccessful attempt to return to France from Guadeloupe.[9] Hastily repaired, she had been commissioned into the Royal Navy and added to Cochrane's fleet, from where Cochrane had ordered her to patrol to the east of Antigua for ships attempting to evade the British blockade. On 13 December, Shortland, in company with the 16-gun brigHMS Observateur under Captain Frederick Wetherall, stopped an American merchant ship and boarded her in search of contraband.[8] As he was engaged in the search, four sails appeared to the north. Shortland immediately gave chase, and by 16:00 realised his quarry was a squadron of four frigates. Firing warning shots in an effort to force the frigates to identify themselves, the strange ships raised Spanish colours. Initially unconvinced, Shortland raised the recognition signal for Spanish vessels and received the correct reply from the lead frigate. Closing with the ships during the afternoon, Junon was only a short distance from the lead ship at 17:30 when French colours replaced the Spanish and Roquebert ordered his ships to open fire.[7]
Roquebert had learned the correct signals for Spanish shipping from captured Spanish merchant ships and, having lured Junon within range, opened a destructive fire from Renommée that caused severe damage to Junon's rigging.[10] Unable to manoeuvre away from the French due to the damage suffered in the opening broadside, Shortland returned fire as best he could while closing with Renommée to inflict maximum damage. As Junon closed with the flagship, Clorinde attacked her from the other side and the flûtes took up stations fore and aft, repeatedly raking the British ship.[lower-alpha 1]Observateur had been some distance behind Junon when the action began, and was thus not directly engaged by any of the French ships. Wetherall initially fired at Clorinde from extreme range, but soon recognised that he could do nothing to aid Junon in the face of overwhelming French numbers and so sailed westward to find and warn other British ships of the approaching French squadron.[13] As Observateur escaped, Junon was pounded from all sides, Roquebert's ship coming so close to the British frigate that their rigging tangled and they collided, inflicting further damage. The French squadron was so close to Junon that the soldiers carried aboard for the garrison on Guadeloupe were able to fire their muskets at the British top deck, killing many of the sailors manning the guns.[10]
Within ten minutes of the first shot, Junon's top deck was almost completely cleared and Shortland had been taken below, his leg broken by grapeshot and his body pierced by several large wooden splinters. Lieutenant Samuel Bartlett Deecker assumed command, and successfully beat off a boarding attack from Clorinde.[10] Pulling Junon clear off the two full-strength French frigates, Deecker tried to escape but found his ship unresponsive. Within minutes, Roquebert and Saint-Cricq had regained their positions on either side of the British frigate and boarded simultaneously, forcing Deecker to surrender at 18:15.[6] The British had suffered heavy losses, with 20 killed and 40 wounded, including Shortland. The prisoners were dispersed among the French squadron and rather than spare the men required to repair and crew the battered Junon, Roquebert had the frigate set on fire and abandoned. French losses were also severe, Renommée losing 15 killed and three wounded and Clorinde six killed and 15 wounded. Loire, Seine, and HMS Observateur suffered no losses at all.[14]
Operations off Guadeloupe
Although Junon had been destroyed, Observateur had escaped from the French squadron and immediately sought out the blockade force off Guadeloupe, the only place that the French squadron could be destined for. Arriving at Basse-Terre at 13:00 on 15 December, Captain Wetherall telegraphed the senior officer on the station, Captain Volant Vashon Ballard in the frigate HMS Blonde, of the impending arrival of Roquebert's squadron.[15] Ballard swiftly gathered his squadron, the frigate HMS Thetis under Captain George Miller and the sloopsHMSHazard and HMSCygnet, and positioned them in the channel between Guadeloupe and the Îles des Saintes, through which Roquebert's ships would have to pass.[13] Urgent messages were sent to all nearby ships and bases, and the following day the sloops HMSRingdove and HMSScorpion joined the squadron. Ballard placed Hazard and Ringdove to watch Basse-Terre while the rest of squadron patrolled to the south of the island.[15]
On the same day that Observateur arrived off Basse-Terre, the frigate HMS Castor under Captain William Roberts had recaptured the merchant brig Ariel near La Désirade, taken by Roquebert's squadron two weeks earlier. Roberts also discovered two other ships in the distance to the north and had closed to investigate, discovering the French convoy. Darkness fell soon afterwards and Castor separated from the French ships, as Roberts sailed westwards as fast as possible to notify Ballard of his sighting, arriving at 04:00 on 17 December.[15] In the aftermath of the destruction of Junon and the encounter with Castor, Roquebert decided to separate from the convoy and return to France, turning north with Clorinde and leaving the supply ships to make the journey to Guadeloupe independently. As a result, Loire and Seine were sailing unprotected straight towards Ballard's squadron.[16]
At daylight on 17 December, Blonde sighted the French flûtes approaching Basse-Terre from the northwest and Ballard advanced on them, blocking them from reaching Basse-Terre. Retreating northwest along the southern coastline of Guadeloupe, the flûtes entered a sheltered cove named Anse la Barque at 10:00, sheltering under two batteries on either side of the bay. Lieutenants Normand-Kergré and Vincent then anchored their ships parallel with the shore, so that they had the maximum number of cannon aimed at the entrance to the cove.[15] As Ballard's ships cruised along the coast in light winds, seeking a way into the well-protected anchorage, other batteries opened fire, one striking Ringdove off Pointe Lizard. Captain William Dowers of Ringdove then landed a shore party from his ship and stormed the battery, capturing it in 15 minutes. He demolished the position and withdrew to his ship, rejoining Ballard off Anse la Barque.[17] Ballard then tested the feasibility of an attack on the French ships, ordering the 12-gun schoonerHMSElizabeth to assess the depth of the entrance to the bay while he in Blonde attacked the batteries directly at 16:00. Discovering that the entrance was navigable. Blonde and Elizabeth withdrew out of range. Operations were then suspended for the evening to allow additional reinforcements to come up. During the night the frigate HMSFreya (or Freija) under Captain John Hayes joined Ballard's squadron.[18]
Destruction of Loire and Seine
Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean: Action of 18 December 1809
At 08:30 on the morning of 18 December, a small boat sailed from Anse la Barque with a message offering the British a temporary truce. Simultaneously the British ship of the lineHMS Sceptre arrived from Fort Royal on Martinique under the command of Captain Samuel James Ballard, who immediately assumed command of the diverse squadron assembled at the entrance to the bay.[17] Ballard dismissed the French negotiators and ordered an immediate attack on the anchored frigates. His plan was simple: Blonde and Thetis would enter the harbour and engage the flûtes directly, while Sceptre and Freija would engage the gun batteries to prevent them targeting the small brigs bringing up the rear. The brigs would be towing boats full of sailors and Royal Marines, who would storm the French ships and gun positions as they were engaged with the larger warships.[16]
The plan was initially frustrated by light winds, but by 14:25 Blonde and Thetis were within range of the gun batteries and fifteen minutes later they were able to open fire on the flûtes, although still at quite a distance. Becalmed in the bay, Blonde was forced to engage one of the forts instead, fire from the shore causing some damage but not enough to endanger the ship. Thetis was luckier, and Captain Miller was able to close with one of the French ships, although their identities during the engagement are uncertain in historical accounts and it is not clear which one was first into the action.[18] By 15:35, Thetis had dismasted her opponent, which surrendered. Moving against the second ship, Thetis was then also becalmed and was forced to engage the forts instead. As Sceptre led the remainder of the squadron into the bay, fire was seen spreading through the surrendered ship and, in the face of overwhelming opposition, the second flûte also surrendered at 16:20.[18]
By 17:10, Thetis and Blonde began to withdraw from the bay as the fire took hold of the first frigate. The rest of the British squadron, despite heavy cannon fire from a fort on shore, successfully landed their troops and stormed and captured the defences. There were heavy casualties in the storming parties, including Hugh Cameron, captain of Hazard, who was killed by grapeshot.[19] At 17:20, the fire reached the magazines of the burning flûte, and the ensuing explosion hurled burning wreckage across the bay. The British ships were largely untouched, but the second French flûte was struck by a large piece of flaming timber, which ignited her mainmast and destroyed her as well. The operations successfully completed, the British ships embarked their landing parties, who had demolished the fortifications around the bay, and returned to open water.[lower-alpha 2]
In total the British had lost eight killed and 16 wounded on Blonde, six wounded on Thetis, and an uncertain number lost in the amphibious operation, although casualty figures are not known. French losses in the engagement are also uncertain, although most of the crews of Loire and Seine were able to quite easily reach the shore.[17] Among those that did make land were a section of prisoners from Junon, including the grievously wounded Captain Shortland. Transported across the island on a wagon in the full glare of the sun, Shortland's condition rapidly worsened and he died on 21 January 1810 without regaining consciousness. He was buried at Basse-Terre with full military honours.[19] Four decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by the clasp "ANSE LA BARQUE 18 DECR. 1809" attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.[21]
Aftermath
Roquebert's remaining frigates turned north after parting from the storeships, sighting the British squadron in the distance and grounding on a sandbar off Antigua in their haste to escape. Throwing overboard their guns and stores, the ships were lightened enough to regain open water.[17] They then returned to European waters, avoiding all contact with British shipping until 16 January 1810 at position 40°50′N12°09′W / 40.833°N 12.150°W / 40.833; -12.150, approximately 200 nautical miles (370km) west of the Portuguese coast, when they encountered the frigate HMS Virginie under Captain Edward Brace. Brace shadowed the French frigates for two days, but was unable to close with them and Roquebert made no attempt to use his superior strength against the British frigate. Eventually, Roquebert outran Virginie and on 23 January reached Brest safely.[22] Within a year, Roquebert and Saint-Cricq would be despatched on another mission to resupply a French colony, sailing with the frigate Néréide to Île de France in December 1810. Unknown to the French authorities, a British expeditionary force had already captured the island, and Roquebert's squadron was ambushed in May 1811 and brought to battle off Tamatave in Madagascar. Néréide and Renomée were both captured and Roquebert killed in action. Clorinde only escaped by deserting the other ships in the middle of the engagement, fleeing north and eventually reaching France.[23]
In the West Indies, the failure of the main resupply effort resulted in a further drop in morale among the defenders of Guadeloupe. Other smaller ships sent with supplies were captured during the operations against Roquebert's squadron, including the brig Béarnais captured on 14 December and Papillion on 19 December. In January 1810, the blockade tightened: Scorpion captured the brig Oreste from inside the harbour at Basse-Terre and Freija seized several coastal vessels in Baie-Mahault.[8] By 27 January, Cochrane's preparations for the invasion of Guadeloupe were complete and 7,000 men were landed under Lieutenant-General George Beckwith. The French garrison largely deserted, and by 6 February all resistance was defeated and the governor, General Manuel Ernouf, surrendered. Over the rest of the month, the few remaining colonies belonging to France and the Netherlands were seized without opposition and the entire Caribbean was either under British or Spanish control, with the exception of the independent state of Haiti.[24]
Notes
↑ James, in his report on the engagement with Junon, reports that Loire and Seine both fired their guns at Junon, one from in front and one from behind the British frigate, and that the French soldiers discharged their small arms, almost sweeping Junon's deck.[11] Troude does not mention small arms, but insists that the two flûtes neither fired their guns nor received any cannon fire.[12] James also gives the two flûtes heavier guns than do French records.
↑ With respect to the engagement at Anse à la Barque, Troude reports that the French vessels started to unload their cargo. When the British attacked, Vincent, on Seine, cut her masts and opened her scuttles to flood her. The water did not enter fast enough, so he fired her guns into the hold. This had the effect of starting a fire that led to the explosion that destroyed her, and set fire to Loire, destroying her also. Troude also reports that the British landing party attacked Battery Choppard, of four guns, which repelled them.[20]
HMS Sceptre was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, built by Dudman of Deptford after a design by Sir William Rule, and launched in December 1802 at Deptford. She served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 before being broken up in 1821.
HMS Latona was a 36-gun, fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served during the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. Shortly after her launch in 1781, she participated in the Battle of Dogger Bank against a Dutch squadron in the North Sea. In September 1782, Latona took part in the relief of Gibraltar and was the first ship in the convoy to pass through the Straits, when Richard Howe sent her ahead, to spy on the condition of the Franco-Spanish fleet in Algeciras Bay.
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.
Clorinde was a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, designed by Sané. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1814 and renamed her HMS Aurora. After serving 19 years as a coal hulk she was eventually broken up in 1851.
The Junon was a Gloire class 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. Launched in 1806, she saw service during the Napoleonic Wars, escorting merchant convoys to France's besieged Caribbean colonies. In February 1809 she was captured at sea after a fierce engagement with four Royal Navy vessels.
Troude's expedition to the Caribbean was a naval operation by a French force under Commodore Amable-Gilles Troude during the Napoleonic Wars. The French squadron departed from Lorient in February 1809 in an attempt to reach and resupply the island colony of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea, then under invasion from a British expeditionary force. The force arrived much too late to affect the outcome of the successful invasion and took shelter from a British squadron in the Îles des Saintes, where they were blockaded by part of the British invasion fleet, led by Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane. Two weeks after the French ships arrived, British troops invaded and captured the Saintes, constructing mortar batteries to bombard the French squadron. With his position unsustainable, Commodore Troude decided to break out.
The action of 10 November 1808 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, in which a British frigate defeated and captured a French frigate in the Bay of Biscay. The action formed part of the blockade of the French Biscay ports during the war by the British Royal Navy, a strategy designed to prevent ships from entering or leaving French harbours, thus eliminating foreign trade with France and damaging the French economy as well as cutting France off from her overseas colonies. The French ship in the action, Thétis, was destined for the French held West Indian island of Martinique with a cargo of flour and military supplies, including over 100 soldiers to reinforce the island's garrison.
The action of 22 January 1809 was a minor naval engagement fought off the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe during the Napoleonic Wars. The action was fought as part of the blockade of Guadeloupe and neighbouring Martinique by a large British Royal Navy squadron, which was seeking to cut the islands off from contact and supplies from France by preventing the passage of shipping from Europe to the islands. The British blockade was part of their preparation for planned invasions during the next year.
The action of 10 February 1809 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, in which a British Royal Navy squadron chased and captured the French frigate Junon in the Caribbean Sea. Junon was on a mission to carry trade goods from the Îles des Saintes near Guadeloupe back to France and was part of a succession of French warships sent during 1808 and the early months of 1809 in an effort to break the British blockade of the French Caribbean, which was destroying the economies and morale of the islands. Having landed supplies, Junon's return cargo was intended to improve the economic situation on Guadeloupe with much needed oceanic trade.
Félicité was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. Captured by the British Royal Navy and sold to the State of Haiti, she entered Haitian service as Améthyste.
The Invasion of Guadeloupe was a British amphibious operation fought between 28 January and 6 February 1810 over control of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe during the Napoleonic Wars. The island was the final remaining French colony in the Americas, following the systematic invasion and capture of the others during 1809 by British forces. During the Napoleonic Wars, the French colonies had provided protected harbours for French privateers and warships, which could prey on the numerous British trade routes in the Caribbean and then return to the colonies before British warships could react. In response, the British instituted a blockade of the islands, stationing ships off every port and seizing any vessel that tried to enter or leave. With trade and communication made dangerous by the British blockade squadrons, the economies and morale of the French colonies began to collapse, and in the summer of 1808 desperate messages were sent to France requesting help.
The action of 3 February 1812 was an unusual minor naval engagement off the western coast of Haiti between a British frigate and a frigate manned by a loose coalition of Haitian rebels. The battle was fought against the background of the Napoleonic Wars and the collapse of government in Haiti in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution eight years earlier. After the French had been expelled from Haiti in 1804, the newly independent nation was first ruled by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who was murdered in 1806 and replaced by two of his advisors, Henri Christophe and Alexandre Pétion. These rulers divided the country between them and in the confused political situation that followed a number of minor fiefdoms appeared, including one led by Jérôme Maximilien Borgella in the south-west of the island called Sud. The small Haitian Navy defected to Borgella, who crewed the vessels with a collection of sailors from various countries, led by a notorious privateer named Gaspard.
Jean-François Lemaresquier was a French naval officer.
Jean-Léon Émeric was a French naval officer.
The action of 18 June 1799 was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought off Toulon in the wake of the Mediterranean campaign of 1798. A frigate squadron under Rear-admiral Perrée, returning to Toulon from Syria, met a 30-ship British fleet under Lord Keith. Three ships of the line and two frigates detached from the British squadron, and a 28-hour running battle ensued. When the British ships overhauled them, the French frigates and brigs had no choice but to surrender, given their opponents' overwhelming strength.
The French brig Observateur, which was launched in 1800 for the French Navy, was a Vigilant-class 16-gun brig, one of six built to a design by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait. The Royal Navy captured her in 1806 and took her into service as HMS Observateur. She participated in two actions, one for the French Navy and one for the Royal Navy, and one campaign before she was laid up in 1810. The Navy did not succeed in selling her until 1814.
HMS Pultusk was the American-built French privateer sloop Austerlitz, which had been launched in 1805 and which the Royal Navy captured in 1807 and took into service as HMS Pultusk. Pultusk served in three campaigns, two of which resulted, some four decades later, in the award of medals, and one boat action that too received a medal. She was broken up in 1810.
The Loire-class flûte was a French Navy class of two 20-gun flûtes that Louis, Antoine, and Marhurin Crucy, Basse Indre, built to a design by François-Louis Etesse, and under a contract dated 5 November 1802.
HMS Elizabeth was a French privateer schooner that the Royal Navy captured in 1805 and took into service under her existing name. She participated in an engagement and a campaign that earned her crews clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was lost with all hands in 1814 when she capsized in the West Indies.
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
Adkins, Roy & Lesley (2006). The War for All the Oceans. Abacus. ISBN0-349-11916-3.
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