Action of 13 January 1797
Encyclopedia
The Action of 13 January 1797 was a small naval battle fought between a French ship of the line
and two British frigate
s off the coast of Brittany
during the French Revolutionary Wars
. During the action the frigates successfully outmanoeuvred the much larger French vessel and drove it on shore in heavy seas, resulting in the death of over 900 of the 1,300 persons aboard. One of the British frigates was also lost in the engagement, running onto a sandbank after failing to escape a lee shore
.
The French 74-gun ship Droits de l'Homme
had been part of the Expédition d'Irlande
, a disastrous attempt by a French expeditionary force to invade Ireland
. During the operation, the French fleet was beset by poor coordination and violent weather, eventually being compelled to return to France without landing a single soldier. Two British frigates, the 44-gun HMS Indefatigable
and the 36-gun HMS Amazon
, had been ordered to patrol the seas off Ushant
in an attempt to intercept the returning French force and sighted Droits de l'Homme on the afternoon of 13 January.
The engagement lasted for more than 15 hours, in an increasing gale and the constant presence of the rocky Breton coast. The seas were so violent that the French ship was unable to open her lower gun ports during the action and as a result could only fire with her upper deck guns, significantly reducing the advantage that a ship of the line would normally have over the smaller frigates. The damage the more manoeuvrable British vessels inflicted on the French ship was so severe that as the winds increased, the French crew lost control and Droits de l'Homme was swept onto a sandbar and destroyed.
, a French force departed from Brest
on an expedition to invade Ireland
. This army of 18,000 French soldiers was intended to link up with a secret organisation of Irish nationalists
known as the United Irishmen and provoke a widespread uprising throughout the island. It was hoped that the resulting war would force Britain to make peace with the French Republic or risk losing Ireland altogether. Led by Vice-Admiral Morard de Galles
, General Lazare Hoche
and leader of the United Irishmen Wolfe Tone, the invasion fleet included 17 ships of the line, 27 other warships and transports and carried extensive field artillery
, cavalry and military stores to equip the Irish forces they hoped to raise.
under cover of darkness, on the night of 15–16 December. The British Channel Fleet
normally maintained a squadron off Brest to blockade the port, but its commander, Rear-Admiral John Colpoys
, had withdrawn his force from its usual station 20 nautical miles (37 km) offshore to 40 nautical miles (74.1 km) northwest of Brest offshore due to the severe Atlantic winter gales. The only British ships within sight of Brest were an inshore squadron of frigates under Sir Edward Pellew
in , accompanied by , , and the lugger
HMS Duke of York. Pellew was already renowned, having been the first British officer of the war to capture a French frigate: the Cléopâtre
in 1793. He later captured the frigates Pomone
and Virginie in 1794 and 1796, and saved 500 lives following the shipwreck of the East Indiaman Dutton in January 1796. For these actions he had first been knighted
and then raised to a baronetcy. Indefatigable was a razee
, one of the largest frigates in the Royal Navy
, originally constructed as a 64-gun third rate and cut down to 44-guns in 1795 to make her fast and powerful enough to catch and fight the largest of French frigates. Armed with 24-pounder cannon
s on the main decks and 42-pounder carronade
s on the quarter deck, she had a stronger armament than any equivalent French frigate.
Observing the French fleet's departure from the harbour at dusk, Pellew immediately dispatched Phoebe to Colpoys and Amazon to the main fleet at Portsmouth
with warnings, before approaching the entrance to Brest in Indefatigable with the intention of disrupting French movements. Believing that the frigates in the bay must be the forerunners of a larger British force, Morard de Galles attempted to pass his fleet through the Raz de Sein. This channel was a narrow, rocky and dangerous passage, and de Galles used corvettes as temporary light ships that shone blue lights and fired fireworks to direct his main fleet through the channel. Pellew observed this, and sailed the Indefatigable right through the French fleet, launching rockets and shining lights at random. This confused the French officers, causing the Séduisant
to strike the Grand Stevenent rock and sink with the loss of over 680 men from her complement of 1,300. Séduisant' s distress flares added to the confusion and delayed the fleet's passage until dawn. His task of observing the enemy completed, Pellew took his remaining squadron to Falmouth
, sent a report to the Admiralty
by semaphore telegraph, and refitted his ships.
, carrying de Galles and Hoche, was separated from the fleet and missed the rendezvous at Mizen Head
. Admiral Bouvet
and General Grouchy decided to attempt the landing at Bantry Bay
without their commanders, but severe weather made any landing impossible. For more than a week the fleet waited for a break in the storm, until Bouvet abandoned the invasion on 29 December and, after a brief and unsuccessful effort to land at the mouth of the River Shannon
, ordered his scattered ships to return to Brest. During the operation and subsequent retreat a further 11 ships were wrecked or captured, with the loss of thousands of soldiers and sailors.
By 13 January most of the survivors of the fleet had limped back to France in a state of disrepair. One ship of the line that remained at sea, the 74-gun Droits de l'Homme
, was commanded by Commodore Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse
and carried over 1,300 men, 700–800 of them soldiers including General Jean Humbert
. Detached from the main body of the fleet during the retreat from Bantry Bay, Lacrosse made his way to the mouth of the Shannon alone. Recognising that the weather was still too violent for a landing to be made, Lacrosse acknowledged the failure of the operation and ordered the ship to return to France, capturing the British privateer
Cumberland en route.
. While the rest of the Channel Fleet had been in unsuccessful pursuit of the French, Pellew had had his ships refitted and resupplied at Falmouth so that both frigates were at full complement, well armed and prepared for action. At 13:00 on 13 January, the British ships were approaching the island of Ushant
in a heavy fog
when they spied another ship through the gloom ahead. This ship, clearly much larger than either of the British vessels, was the Droits de l'Homme. At the same time, lookouts on the French ship spotted the British, and Lacrosse was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to engage the enemy. He knew that his ship was far larger than either of his opponents, but had earlier spotted sails to westwards he believed to be British and thus considered himself outnumbered and possibly surrounded. British records show that no other British vessels were in the vicinity at the time and it is likely that Lacrosse had seen the French ships Révolution
and Fraternité returning to Brest from Bantry Bay. In addition, Lacrosse was concerned by the increasing gale and rocky shoreline, which posed considerable threats to his over-laden vessel, which was already damaged from its winter voyage and carried a regiment of the French Army
and General Humbert, neither of which could be placed at risk in an inconsequential naval action.
Determined to avoid battle, Lacrosse turned south east, hoping to use his wider spread of sail to outrun his opponent in the strong winds. Pellew, however, manoeuvred to cut the Droits de l'Homme off from the French coast, at this stage still unsure of the nature of his opponent. As the chase developed, the weather, which had been violent for the entire preceding month, worsened. An Atlantic gale
swept the Ushant headland, driving a blizzard eastwards and whipping the sea into a turbulent state, making steering and aiming more difficult. At 16:15, two of Droits de l'Homme' s topmasts broke in the strong winds. This dramatically slowed the French ship and allowed Pellew, who had recognised his opponent as a French ship of the line, to close with the Droits de l'Homme.
To the surprise of Lacrosse and his officers, Indefatigable did not retreat from the ship of the line, nor did she pass the ship of the line at long-range to leeward
as expected. Instead, at 17:30, Pellew closed with the stern of the Droits de l'Homme and raked
her. Lacrosse turned to meet the threat and opened fire with the guns on the upper deck accompanied by a heavy volley of musket
fire from the soldiers on board. Pellew then attempted to pull ahead of Droits de l'Homme and rake her bow, to which Lacrosse responded by attempting to ram Indefatigable. Neither manoeuvre was successful, as Droits de l'Homme raked the British ship but caused little damage as most of her shot scattered into the ocean.
Indefatigable and Droits de l'Homme manoeuvred around one another, exchanging fire when possible until 18:45, when Amazon arrived. During this exchange, one of Droits de l'Homme' s cannon
burst, causing heavy casualties on her packed deck. Approaching the larger French ship with all sail spread, Reynolds closed to within pistol shot before raking the Droits de l'Homme. Lacrosse responded to this new threat by manoeuvring to bring both British ships to face the westward side of his ship, avoiding becoming trapped in a crossfire
. The battle continued until 19:30, when both Amazon and Indefatigable pulled away from their opponent to make hasty repairs. By 20:30 the frigates had returned to the much slower French ship and began weaving in front of the Droits de l'Homme' s bow, repeatedly raking her. Lacrosse's increasingly desperate attempts to ram the British ships were all unsuccessful and what little cannon fire he did manage to deploy was ineffectual, as the rolling of the ship of the line prevented reliable aiming.
By 22:30, the Droits de l'Homme was in severe difficulties, with heavy casualties among her crew and passengers and the loss of her mizzenmast
to British fire. Observing the battered state of their opponent, Pellew and Reynolds closed on the stern quarters of the French ship, maintaining a high rate of fire that was sporadically returned by Droits de l'Homme. Having exhausted the 4,000 cannon balls available, Lacrosse was forced to use shell
s against the frigates. In the high winds, these proved even less effective than solid shot but did drive the frigates to a further distance. With their opponent almost immobilised, the British frigates were able to remain outside her arc of fire, effect repairs when necessary and secure guns that had broken loose in the heavy seas. For the rest of the night the three battered ships remained locked in a close range duel, until suddenly, at 04:20, land was spotted just 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) to leeward by Lieutenant George Bell of the Indefatigable.
pilot
, to the south. Initially it was believed that the land spotted was the island of Ushant
, which would have given the ships plenty of sea-room in which to manoeuvre. However at 06:30, with the sky lightening, it became apparent on the Indefatigable that there were breakers to the south and east, indicating that the three ships had drifted during the night into Audierne
Bay. On discovering his situation, Pellew determined to bring his ship westwards, attempting to fight his ship out of danger against the wind. Hasty repairs had to be made to the damaged rigging before it was safe to alter course. Due to her northwards turn, Amazon had even less room to manoeuvre than Indefatigable and by 05:00 she had struck upright on a sandbank. Efforts to bring her off failed and at 08:00 Reynolds ordered his men to prepare to abandon the ship.
Droits de l'Homme had been more seriously damaged than the British frigates, and closer to shore at the time land was spotted. As Lacrosse's crew made desperate efforts to turn southwards, the ship's foremast and bowsprit
collapsed under the pressure of the wind. With the ship virtually unmanageable, Lacrosse ordered anchors lowered in an attempt to hold the ship in position until repairs could be made. This effort was futile, as all but two anchors had been lost during efforts to hold position in Bantry Bay, and British gunfire had snapped one of the remaining anchor's cables and rendered it useless. The final anchor was deployed, but it failed to restrain the ship and at 07:00 (according to the French account), the Droits de l'Homme struck a sandbank close to the town of Plozévet
. This broke off the remaining mast and caused the ship to heel over onto her side.
By the morning of 16 January, hunger and panic had taken over on the wreck, and when a large raft carrying the wounded, two women and six children was launched during a lull in the weather, over 120 unwounded men scrambled to board it. This severely overloaded the craft and within minutes a large wave struck the heavy raft and capsized it, drowning all aboard. By the evening the survivors, without food or fresh water, began to succumb to exposure and at least one officer drowned in a desperate attempt to swim to shore. Through the night, the survivors gathered on the less exposed parts of the hull, and in the hope of staving off death by dehydration, drank sea water, urine, or vinegar from a small barrel that had floated up from the hold. The morning of 17 January finally saw a reduction in the storm and the arrival of a small French naval brig
, the Arrogante. This ship could not come too close without risk of grounding but sent her boats to the wreck in the hope of bringing off survivors. The brig was joined later in the day by the cutter Aiguille.
On the Droits de l'Homme, many survivors were too weak to make the dangerous attempt to reach the boats and a number of men fell from the hull and drowned in the attempt. Many more could not find room in the small boats, and only 150 were rescued on 17 January. The following morning, when the boats returned, they found just another 140 survivors, at least as many again having died during the night. The last people to leave the ship were Jean Humbert and Jean-Baptiste Lacrosse. Taken to Brest, the survivors were fed and clothed and given medical treatment. All the surviving prisoners from the Cumberland were returned to Britain, in recognition of their efforts to save lives from the shipwreck.
Reynolds and his officers were exchanged for French prisoners some weeks later and in the routine court-martial investigating the loss of their ship were honourably acquitted "with every sentiment of the court's highest approbation." Reynolds was subsequently appointed to the large frigate HMS Pomone. The senior lieutenants of each frigate were promoted to commander and head money (prize money
based on the number of the enemy's crew and awarded when the defeated ship was destroyed) was distributed among the crews. Pellew remained in command of Indefatigable off Brest for another year and seized a number of French merchant ships. He was later promoted several times and by the end of the Napoleonic Wars
in 1815 had become Lord Exmouth, Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. Reynolds did not survive the war, dying in the wreck of HMS St George
in 1811. Lacrosse and Humbert were not censured for the loss of their ship: the commodore was promoted to admiral and later became ambassador to Spain, while Humbert led the next and equally unsuccessful attempt to invade Ireland, surrendering at the Battle of Ballinamuck
in 1798.
In Britain, the action was lauded at the time and since: First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Spencer
described the operation as "an exploit which has not I believe ever before graced our naval Annals". Historian James Henderson says of the action: "It was a feat of arms and seamanship such as had never been done before, and never was done again," and Richard Woodman
calls it "a dazzling display of seamanship by all concerned in the alternating darkness and moonlight of a boisterous night". Five decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by the Naval General Service Medal, with clasps "Indefatigable 13 Jany. 1797" and "Amazon 13 Jany. 1797", awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
and two British frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s off the coast of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
during the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
. During the action the frigates successfully outmanoeuvred the much larger French vessel and drove it on shore in heavy seas, resulting in the death of over 900 of the 1,300 persons aboard. One of the British frigates was also lost in the engagement, running onto a sandbank after failing to escape a lee shore
Lee shore
The terms lee shore and windweather or ward shore are nautical terms used to describe a stretch of shoreline. A lee shore is one that is to the lee side of a vessel - meaning the wind is blowing towards it. A weather shore has the wind blowing from inland over it out to sea...
.
The French 74-gun ship Droits de l'Homme
French ship Droits de l'Homme (1794)
The Droits de l'Homme was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy during the French Revolution.The Droits de l'Homme, was involved in the Action of 6 November 1794, chasing the British 74s Canada and Alexander...
had been part of the Expédition d'Irlande
Expédition d'Irlande
The Expédition d'Irlande was an unsuccessful attempt by the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican group, in their planned rebellion against British rule...
, a disastrous attempt by a French expeditionary force to invade Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. During the operation, the French fleet was beset by poor coordination and violent weather, eventually being compelled to return to France without landing a single soldier. Two British frigates, the 44-gun HMS Indefatigable
HMS Indefatigable (1784)
HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars...
and the 36-gun HMS Amazon
HMS Amazon (1795)
HMS Amazon, was a 36-gun frigate, built at Rotherhithe by Wells & Co. in 1795 to a design by Sir William Rule. She was the first of a class of four frigates....
, had been ordered to patrol the seas off Ushant
Ushant
Ushant is an island at the south-western end of the English Channel which marks the north-westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and is in the traditional region of Bro-Leon. Administratively, Ushant is a commune in the Finistère department...
in an attempt to intercept the returning French force and sighted Droits de l'Homme on the afternoon of 13 January.
The engagement lasted for more than 15 hours, in an increasing gale and the constant presence of the rocky Breton coast. The seas were so violent that the French ship was unable to open her lower gun ports during the action and as a result could only fire with her upper deck guns, significantly reducing the advantage that a ship of the line would normally have over the smaller frigates. The damage the more manoeuvrable British vessels inflicted on the French ship was so severe that as the winds increased, the French crew lost control and Droits de l'Homme was swept onto a sandbar and destroyed.
Background
In December 1796, during the French Revolutionary WarsFrench Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, a French force departed from Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
on an expedition to invade Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. This army of 18,000 French soldiers was intended to link up with a secret organisation of Irish nationalists
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
known as the United Irishmen and provoke a widespread uprising throughout the island. It was hoped that the resulting war would force Britain to make peace with the French Republic or risk losing Ireland altogether. Led by Vice-Admiral Morard de Galles
Justin Bonaventure Morard de Galles
Justin-Bonaventure Morard de Galles was a French admiral.-Family:de Galles was the issue of a noble family from Dauphiné whose origins stretched right back to the end of the 11th century...
, General Lazare Hoche
Lazare Hoche
Louis Lazare Hoche was a French soldier who rose to be general of the Revolutionary army.Born of poor parents near Versailles, he enlisted at sixteen as a private soldier in the Gardes Françaises...
and leader of the United Irishmen Wolfe Tone, the invasion fleet included 17 ships of the line, 27 other warships and transports and carried extensive field artillery
Field artillery
Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
, cavalry and military stores to equip the Irish forces they hoped to raise.
Departure from Brest
Morard de Galles was planning to sail his fleet from the French naval fortress of BrestBrest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
under cover of darkness, on the night of 15–16 December. The British Channel Fleet
Channel Fleet
The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...
normally maintained a squadron off Brest to blockade the port, but its commander, Rear-Admiral John Colpoys
John Colpoys
Admiral Sir John Colpoys, GCB 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...
, had withdrawn his force from its usual station 20 nautical miles (37 km) offshore to 40 nautical miles (74.1 km) northwest of Brest offshore due to the severe Atlantic winter gales. The only British ships within sight of Brest were an inshore squadron of frigates under Sir Edward Pellew
Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary, and the Napoleonic Wars...
in , accompanied by , , and the lugger
Lugger
A lugger is a class of boats, widely used as traditional fishing boats, particularly off the coasts of France, Scotland and England. It is a small sailing vessel with lugsails set on two or more masts and perhaps lug topsails.-Defining the rig:...
HMS Duke of York. Pellew was already renowned, having been the first British officer of the war to capture a French frigate: the Cléopâtre
French frigate Cléopâtre
The Cléopâtre was a 32-gun Vénus class frigate of the French Navy. She was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, and had a coppered hull.She took part in the taking of Cuddalore in 1782....
in 1793. He later captured the frigates Pomone
French frigate Pomone (1787)
Pomone was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy built in 1783. The British captured her, along with Babet and Engageante, off the Île de Batz during the Action of 23 April 1794....
and Virginie in 1794 and 1796, and saved 500 lives following the shipwreck of the East Indiaman Dutton in January 1796. For these actions he had first been knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
and then raised to a baronetcy. Indefatigable was a razee
Razee
A razee or razée is a sailing ship that has been cut down to reduce the number of decks. The word is derived from the French vaisseau rasé, meaning a razed ship.-Sixteenth century:...
, one of the largest frigates in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, originally constructed as a 64-gun third rate and cut down to 44-guns in 1795 to make her fast and powerful enough to catch and fight the largest of French frigates. Armed with 24-pounder cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
s on the main decks and 42-pounder carronade
Carronade
The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...
s on the quarter deck, she had a stronger armament than any equivalent French frigate.
Observing the French fleet's departure from the harbour at dusk, Pellew immediately dispatched Phoebe to Colpoys and Amazon to the main fleet at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
with warnings, before approaching the entrance to Brest in Indefatigable with the intention of disrupting French movements. Believing that the frigates in the bay must be the forerunners of a larger British force, Morard de Galles attempted to pass his fleet through the Raz de Sein. This channel was a narrow, rocky and dangerous passage, and de Galles used corvettes as temporary light ships that shone blue lights and fired fireworks to direct his main fleet through the channel. Pellew observed this, and sailed the Indefatigable right through the French fleet, launching rockets and shining lights at random. This confused the French officers, causing the Séduisant
French ship Séduisant (1783)
Séduisant was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.She was renamed Pelletier on 30 September 1793, in honour of Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau. Under Savary, she was one of the last ships of the line at the Glorious First of June.On 30 May 1795 her name...
to strike the Grand Stevenent rock and sink with the loss of over 680 men from her complement of 1,300. Séduisant
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
, sent a report to the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
by semaphore telegraph, and refitted his ships.
Failure of the Expédition d'Irlande
During December 1796 and early January 1797, the French fleet repeatedly attempted to land in Ireland. Early in the voyage, the frigate FraternitéFrench frigate Aglaé (1788)
The Aglaé was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy.During the Revolutionary wars, she was used to ferry troops to the Caribbean, and spent two years on station at Saint Domingue...
, carrying de Galles and Hoche, was separated from the fleet and missed the rendezvous at Mizen Head
Mizen Head
Mizen Head , is located at the extremity of a peninsula in the district of Carbery in County Cork, Ireland. It is one of the extreme points of the island of Ireland and is a major tourist attraction, noted for its dramatic cliff scenery...
. Admiral Bouvet
François Joseph Bouvet
- Early life :Son of a captain in the service of the French East India Company, he went to sea at the age of twelve with his father aboard the Villevault in 1765. In 1780, Bouvet served in the East Indies in the famous campaign of 1781–83 under the command of Suffren...
and General Grouchy decided to attempt the landing at Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay is a bay located in County Cork, southwest Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km wide at the head and wide at the entrance....
without their commanders, but severe weather made any landing impossible. For more than a week the fleet waited for a break in the storm, until Bouvet abandoned the invasion on 29 December and, after a brief and unsuccessful effort to land at the mouth of the River Shannon
River Shannon
The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland at . It divides the west of Ireland from the east and south . County Clare, being west of the Shannon but part of the province of Munster, is the major exception...
, ordered his scattered ships to return to Brest. During the operation and subsequent retreat a further 11 ships were wrecked or captured, with the loss of thousands of soldiers and sailors.
By 13 January most of the survivors of the fleet had limped back to France in a state of disrepair. One ship of the line that remained at sea, the 74-gun Droits de l'Homme
French ship Droits de l'Homme (1794)
The Droits de l'Homme was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy during the French Revolution.The Droits de l'Homme, was involved in the Action of 6 November 1794, chasing the British 74s Canada and Alexander...
, was commanded by Commodore Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse
Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse
Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse was a French sailor and admiral, hero of the French Revolutionary Wars.Raymond de Lacrosse joined the Navy in 1779 as a Garde marine...
and carried over 1,300 men, 700–800 of them soldiers including General Jean Humbert
Jean Joseph Amable Humbert
General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert was a French soldier, a participant in the French Revolution, who led a failed invasion of Ireland to assist Irish rebels in 1798....
. Detached from the main body of the fleet during the retreat from Bantry Bay, Lacrosse made his way to the mouth of the Shannon alone. Recognising that the weather was still too violent for a landing to be made, Lacrosse acknowledged the failure of the operation and ordered the ship to return to France, capturing the British privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
Cumberland en route.
Chase
Pellew too was on his way back to Brest in Indefatigable, accompanied by Amazon under the command of Captain Robert Carthew ReynoldsRobert Carthew Reynolds
Rear-Admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds was a long serving and widely respected officer of the British Royal Navy who served in four separate major wars in a 52 year career...
. While the rest of the Channel Fleet had been in unsuccessful pursuit of the French, Pellew had had his ships refitted and resupplied at Falmouth so that both frigates were at full complement, well armed and prepared for action. At 13:00 on 13 January, the British ships were approaching the island of Ushant
Ushant
Ushant is an island at the south-western end of the English Channel which marks the north-westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and is in the traditional region of Bro-Leon. Administratively, Ushant is a commune in the Finistère department...
in a heavy fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
when they spied another ship through the gloom ahead. This ship, clearly much larger than either of the British vessels, was the Droits de l'Homme. At the same time, lookouts on the French ship spotted the British, and Lacrosse was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to engage the enemy. He knew that his ship was far larger than either of his opponents, but had earlier spotted sails to westwards he believed to be British and thus considered himself outnumbered and possibly surrounded. British records show that no other British vessels were in the vicinity at the time and it is likely that Lacrosse had seen the French ships Révolution
French ship Thésée (1790)
The Thésée was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. As Révolution, she took part in the Expédition d'Irlande under Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley.- External links :*...
and Fraternité returning to Brest from Bantry Bay. In addition, Lacrosse was concerned by the increasing gale and rocky shoreline, which posed considerable threats to his over-laden vessel, which was already damaged from its winter voyage and carried a regiment of the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
and General Humbert, neither of which could be placed at risk in an inconsequential naval action.
Determined to avoid battle, Lacrosse turned south east, hoping to use his wider spread of sail to outrun his opponent in the strong winds. Pellew, however, manoeuvred to cut the Droits de l'Homme off from the French coast, at this stage still unsure of the nature of his opponent. As the chase developed, the weather, which had been violent for the entire preceding month, worsened. An Atlantic gale
Gale
A gale is a very strong wind. There are conflicting definitions of how strong a wind must be to be considered a gale. The U.S. government's National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots of sustained surface winds. Forecasters typically issue gale warnings when winds of this strength are...
swept the Ushant headland, driving a blizzard eastwards and whipping the sea into a turbulent state, making steering and aiming more difficult. At 16:15, two of Droits de l'Homme
Battle
Pellew was aware that his frigate was heavily outclassed by his much larger opponent, and that Amazon, which was 8 nautical miles (14.8 km) distant, was not large enough to redress the balance when she did arrive. He correctly assumed, however, that the ocean was too rough to allow Lacrosse to open his lower gunports without the risk that heavy waves would enter them and cause the Droits de l'Homme to founder. In fact the French ship was totally unable to open her lower deck gunports during the action: an unusual design feature had the ports 14 inches (35.6 cm) lower than was normal and as a result the sea poured in at any attempt to open them, preventing any gunnery at all from the lower deck and halving the ship's firepower. Although this reduced the number of available guns on the French vessel, Lacrosse still held the advantage in terms of size, weight of shot and manpower. The situation was worsened by the loss of the topmasts: this reduced the stability of the French ship, and caused her to roll so severely in the high winds that it was far more difficult to both steer the ship and aim the cannon than on the British vessels.Windward and leeward
Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward is its lee side. If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will be the "lower side"...
as expected. Instead, at 17:30, Pellew closed with the stern of the Droits de l'Homme and raked
Raking fire
In naval warfare, raking fire is fire directed parallel to the long axis of an enemy ship. Although each shot is directed against a smaller target profile than by shooting broadside and thus more likely to miss the target ship to one side or the other, an individual cannon shot that hits will pass...
her. Lacrosse turned to meet the threat and opened fire with the guns on the upper deck accompanied by a heavy volley of musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
fire from the soldiers on board. Pellew then attempted to pull ahead of Droits de l'Homme and rake her bow, to which Lacrosse responded by attempting to ram Indefatigable. Neither manoeuvre was successful, as Droits de l'Homme raked the British ship but caused little damage as most of her shot scattered into the ocean.
Indefatigable and Droits de l'Homme manoeuvred around one another, exchanging fire when possible until 18:45, when Amazon arrived. During this exchange, one of Droits de l'Homme
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
burst, causing heavy casualties on her packed deck. Approaching the larger French ship with all sail spread, Reynolds closed to within pistol shot before raking the Droits de l'Homme. Lacrosse responded to this new threat by manoeuvring to bring both British ships to face the westward side of his ship, avoiding becoming trapped in a crossfire
Crossfire
A crossfire is a military term for the siting of weapons so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I....
. The battle continued until 19:30, when both Amazon and Indefatigable pulled away from their opponent to make hasty repairs. By 20:30 the frigates had returned to the much slower French ship and began weaving in front of the Droits de l'Homme
By 22:30, the Droits de l'Homme was in severe difficulties, with heavy casualties among her crew and passengers and the loss of her mizzenmast
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...
to British fire. Observing the battered state of their opponent, Pellew and Reynolds closed on the stern quarters of the French ship, maintaining a high rate of fire that was sporadically returned by Droits de l'Homme. Having exhausted the 4,000 cannon balls available, Lacrosse was forced to use shell
Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
s against the frigates. In the high winds, these proved even less effective than solid shot but did drive the frigates to a further distance. With their opponent almost immobilised, the British frigates were able to remain outside her arc of fire, effect repairs when necessary and secure guns that had broken loose in the heavy seas. For the rest of the night the three battered ships remained locked in a close range duel, until suddenly, at 04:20, land was spotted just 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) to leeward by Lieutenant George Bell of the Indefatigable.
Shipwrecks
Pellew immediately turned seawards in an effort to escape the shore and signalled Reynolds to follow suit. Although both ships had suffered severe damage from the battle and weather, they were able to make the turn away from land, Amazon to the north and Indefatigable, at the insistence of its BretonBreton people
The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...
pilot
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
, to the south. Initially it was believed that the land spotted was the island of Ushant
Ushant
Ushant is an island at the south-western end of the English Channel which marks the north-westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and is in the traditional region of Bro-Leon. Administratively, Ushant is a commune in the Finistère department...
, which would have given the ships plenty of sea-room in which to manoeuvre. However at 06:30, with the sky lightening, it became apparent on the Indefatigable that there were breakers to the south and east, indicating that the three ships had drifted during the night into Audierne
Audierne
Audierne is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.The town lies on a peninsula at the mouth of the Goyen river and for centuries was a fishing village, with a wide sandy beach. Visitors can take a boat from Audierne's port of Esquibien to the Île de Sein.The...
Bay. On discovering his situation, Pellew determined to bring his ship westwards, attempting to fight his ship out of danger against the wind. Hasty repairs had to be made to the damaged rigging before it was safe to alter course. Due to her northwards turn, Amazon had even less room to manoeuvre than Indefatigable and by 05:00 she had struck upright on a sandbank. Efforts to bring her off failed and at 08:00 Reynolds ordered his men to prepare to abandon the ship.
Droits de l'Homme had been more seriously damaged than the British frigates, and closer to shore at the time land was spotted. As Lacrosse's crew made desperate efforts to turn southwards, the ship's foremast and bowsprit
Bowsprit
The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a pole extending forward from the vessel's prow. It provides an anchor point for the forestay, allowing the fore-mast to be stepped farther forward on the hull.-Origin:...
collapsed under the pressure of the wind. With the ship virtually unmanageable, Lacrosse ordered anchors lowered in an attempt to hold the ship in position until repairs could be made. This effort was futile, as all but two anchors had been lost during efforts to hold position in Bantry Bay, and British gunfire had snapped one of the remaining anchor's cables and rendered it useless. The final anchor was deployed, but it failed to restrain the ship and at 07:00 (according to the French account), the Droits de l'Homme struck a sandbank close to the town of Plozévet
Plozévet
Plozévet is a commune in the Finistère department in Bretagne in northwestern France.-Breton language:The municipality launched a linguistic plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on November 23, 2007....
. This broke off the remaining mast and caused the ship to heel over onto her side.
HMS Amazon
As daylight broke over Audierne Bay, crowds of locals gathered on the beach. The Droits de l'Homme lay on her side directly opposite the town of Plozévet, with large waves breaking over her hull; 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) to the north, Amazon stood upright on a sandbar, her crew launching boats in an effort to reach the shore, while Indefatigable was the only ship still afloat, rounding the Penmarck Rocks at the southern edge of the bay at 11:00. On board the Amazon, Reynolds maintained discipline and only six men disobeyed his orders to launch the boats in an orderly fashion and build rafts in which to bring the entire crew safely off. These six stole a launch and attempted to reach the shore alone but were swept away. Their boat was capsized by the waves, and all six drowned. The remaining crew, including those wounded in the previous night's action, were safely brought ashore by 09:00, where they were made prisoners of war by the French authorities.Droits de l'Homme
Droits de l'Homme was irreparably damaged. Each successive wave swept more men into the water and desperate attempts to launch boats failed when the small craft were swept away by the waves and broken in the surf. Rafts were constructed, but several were swamped in attempts to carry a rope to the shore and the men on the raft that remained upright were forced to cut the rope to prevent them from foundering in the heavy seas. Some of the men on this raft reached the beach, the first survivors of the wreck. Subsequent attempts were made by men to swim to shore with ropes, but they were either drowned or driven back to the ship by the force of the sea. With no aid possible from the shore, night fell on 14 January with most of the crew and passengers still aboard. During the night, the waves stove in the stern of the ship, flooding much of the interior. On the morning of 15 January, a small boat carrying nine British prisoners from the Cumberland managed to reach shore, which prompted a mass launching of small rafts from the wreck in hopes of gaining the beach. However the waves increased once more, and not one of these small craft survived the passage.By the morning of 16 January, hunger and panic had taken over on the wreck, and when a large raft carrying the wounded, two women and six children was launched during a lull in the weather, over 120 unwounded men scrambled to board it. This severely overloaded the craft and within minutes a large wave struck the heavy raft and capsized it, drowning all aboard. By the evening the survivors, without food or fresh water, began to succumb to exposure and at least one officer drowned in a desperate attempt to swim to shore. Through the night, the survivors gathered on the less exposed parts of the hull, and in the hope of staving off death by dehydration, drank sea water, urine, or vinegar from a small barrel that had floated up from the hold. The morning of 17 January finally saw a reduction in the storm and the arrival of a small French naval brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
, the Arrogante. This ship could not come too close without risk of grounding but sent her boats to the wreck in the hope of bringing off survivors. The brig was joined later in the day by the cutter Aiguille.
On the Droits de l'Homme, many survivors were too weak to make the dangerous attempt to reach the boats and a number of men fell from the hull and drowned in the attempt. Many more could not find room in the small boats, and only 150 were rescued on 17 January. The following morning, when the boats returned, they found just another 140 survivors, at least as many again having died during the night. The last people to leave the ship were Jean Humbert and Jean-Baptiste Lacrosse. Taken to Brest, the survivors were fed and clothed and given medical treatment. All the surviving prisoners from the Cumberland were returned to Britain, in recognition of their efforts to save lives from the shipwreck.
Aftermath
Exact French casualties are hard to calculate, but of the 1,300 aboard Droits de l'Homme, 103 are known to have died in the battle and just over 300 were saved from the wreck, indicating the deaths of approximately 900 men on the French ship between the morning of 14 January and the morning of 18 January. Amazon lost three in the battle and six in her wreck, with 15 wounded, while Indefatigable did not lose a single man killed, suffering only 18 wounded. The discrepancy in losses during the action is likely due to the extreme difficulty the French crew had in aiming their guns given their ship's instability in heavy seas.Reynolds and his officers were exchanged for French prisoners some weeks later and in the routine court-martial investigating the loss of their ship were honourably acquitted "with every sentiment of the court's highest approbation." Reynolds was subsequently appointed to the large frigate HMS Pomone. The senior lieutenants of each frigate were promoted to commander and head money (prize money
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...
based on the number of the enemy's crew and awarded when the defeated ship was destroyed) was distributed among the crews. Pellew remained in command of Indefatigable off Brest for another year and seized a number of French merchant ships. He was later promoted several times and by the end of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
in 1815 had become Lord Exmouth, Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. Reynolds did not survive the war, dying in the wreck of HMS St George
HMS St George (1785)
HMS St George was a 98-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 October 1785 at Portsmouth. In 1793 she captured one of the richest prizes ever. She then participated in the Naval Battle of Hyères Islands in 1795 and took part in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801...
in 1811. Lacrosse and Humbert were not censured for the loss of their ship: the commodore was promoted to admiral and later became ambassador to Spain, while Humbert led the next and equally unsuccessful attempt to invade Ireland, surrendering at the Battle of Ballinamuck
Battle of Ballinamuck
The Battle of Ballinamuck marked the defeat of the main force of the French incursion during the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland.- Background :The victory of General Humbert at Castlebar, despite gaining him c. 5,000 Irish recruits had not led to a renewed outbreak of the rebellion as hoped...
in 1798.
In Britain, the action was lauded at the time and since: First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Spencer
George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer KG PC FRS FSA , styled Viscount Althorp from 1765 to 1783, was a British Whig politician...
described the operation as "an exploit which has not I believe ever before graced our naval Annals". Historian James Henderson says of the action: "It was a feat of arms and seamanship such as had never been done before, and never was done again," and Richard Woodman
Richard Woodman
Richard Woodman is an English novelist and naval historian who retired in 1997 from a 37 year nautical career, mainly working for Trinity House, to write full time. His main work is 14 volumes about the career of Nathaniel Drinkwater, and shorter series about James Dunbar and William Kite, but he...
calls it "a dazzling display of seamanship by all concerned in the alternating darkness and moonlight of a boisterous night". Five decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by the Naval General Service Medal, with clasps "Indefatigable 13 Jany. 1797" and "Amazon 13 Jany. 1797", awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.