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Invasion of Martinique (1809)
Encyclopedia
The invasion of Martinique of 1809 was a successful British amphibious operation against the French West Indian island of Martinique
that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars
. Martinique, like nearby Guadeloupe
, was a major threat to British trade in the Caribbean, providing a sheltered base from which privateer
s and French Navy
warships could raid British shipping and disrupt the trade routes that maintained the British economy. The islands also provided a focus for larger scale French operations in the region and in the autumn of 1808, following the Spanish alliance with Britain, the Admiralty
decided to order a British squadron to neutralise the threat, beginning with Martinique.
The British mustered an overwhelming force under Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
and Lieutenant-General George Beckwith
, who collected 29 ships and 10,000 men – almost four times the number of French regular forces garrisoning Martinique. Landing in force on both the southern and northern coasts of the island, British troops pushed inland, defeating French regulars in the central highlands and routing local militia units in the south of the island. By 9 February, the entire island was in British hands except Fort Desaix
, a powerful position intended to protect the capital Fort-de-France
, which had been bypassed during the British advance. In a siege lasting 15 days the Fort was constantly bombarded, the French suffering 200 casualties before finally surrendering.
The capture of the island was a significant blow to French power in the region, eliminating an important naval base and denying safe harbours to French shipping in the region. The consequences of losing Martinique were so severe, that the French Navy sent a battle squadron to reinforce the garrison during the invasion. Arriving much too late to affect the outcome, these reinforcements were intercepted off the islands and scattered during the Action of 14–17 April 1809: half the force failed to return to France. With Martinique defeated, British attention in the region turned against Guadeloupe, which was captured the following year.
, the British Royal Navy
was charged with limiting the passage and operations of the French Navy
, French merchant ships and French privateers. To achieve this objective, the Royal Navy imposed a system of blockades on French ports, especially the major naval bases at Toulon
and Brest
. This stranglehold on French movement off their own coastline seriously affected the French colonies, including those in the West Indies, as their produce could not reach France and supplies and reinforcements could not reach them without the risk of British interception and seizure. These islands provided excellent bases for French ships to raid the British trade routes through the Caribbean Sea
: in previous conflicts, the British had countered the threat posed by French West Indian colonies by seizing them through force, such as Martinique
, which had been previously captured by armed invasion in 1762 and 1794. An attempt in 1780 was defeated by a French battle squadron at the Battle of Martinique
. By 1808 there were no French squadrons at sea: any that left port were eliminated or driven back in a series of battles, culminating at the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805. The fleet that was destroyed at Trafalgar had visited Martinique the year before and was the last full scale French fleet to visit the Caribbean for the rest of the war.
With the bulk of the French Navy confined to port, the British were able to strike directly at French colonies, although their reach was limited by the significant resources required in blockading the French coast and so the size and quality of operations varied widely. In 1804, Haiti
fell to an nationalist uprising
supported by the Royal Navy, and in 1806 British forces secured most of the northern coast of South America from its Dutch owners. In 1807 the Danish West Indies
were invaded and in 1808 Spain changed sides and allied with Britain, while Cayenne
fell to an improvised force under Captain James Lucas Yeo
in January 1809. The damage done to the Martinique economy during this period was severe, as British frigates raided coastal towns and shipping, and merchant vessels were prevented from trading Martinique's produce with France or allied islands. Disaffection grew on the island, especially among the recently emancipated black majority, and during the summer of 1808 the island's governor, Vice-Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse
, sent urgent messages back to France requesting supplies and reinforcements. Some of these messages were intercepted by British ships and the low morale on Martinique was brought to the attention of the Admiralty
, who ordered their commander on the West Indian Station, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
, to raise an expeditionary force from the ships and garrisons available to him and invade the island.
During the winter of 1808–1809, Cochrane gathered his forces off Carlisle Bay, Barbados
, accumulating 29 ships and 10,000 soldiers under the command of Lieutenant-General George Beckwith
. Landings were planned on the island's southern and northern coasts, with the forces ordered to converge on the capital Fort-de-France
. The soldiers would be supported and supplied by the Royal Navy force, which would shadow their advance offshore. Beckwith's army was more than twice the size of the French garrison, half of which was composed of an untrained and irregular black militia which could not be relied on in combat. News of the poor state of Martinique's defences also reached France during the autumn of 1808. Attempts were made to despatch reinforcements and urgently needed food supplies, but on 30 October 1808 Circe
captured the 16-gun French Curieux class brig Palinure
. The British then captured the frigate Thétis
in the Bay of Biscay
at the Action of 10 November 1808
. Another relief attempt was destroyed in December off the Leeward Islands
and HMS Aimable captured the corvette Iris, carrying flour to Martinique, off the Dutch coast on 2 January 1809. Only the frigate Amphitrite
, whose stores and reinforcements were insignificant compared to the forces under Cochrane and Beckwith, managed to reach Martinique.
on the southern coast and another off Le Robert
on the northern. The invasion began the same morning, 3,000 soldiers going ashore at Sainte-Luce under the command of Major-General Frederick Maitland
, supervised by Captain William Charles Fahie
, while 6,500 landed at Le Robert under Major-General Sir George Prevost
, supervised by Captain Philip Beaver
. Beckwith remained on Cochrane's flagship HMS Neptune
, to direct the campaign from offshore. A third force, under a Major Henderson and consisting entirely of 600 soldiers from the Royal York Rangers, landed at Cape Salomon near Les Anses-d'Arlet
on the southwestern peninsula to secure the entrance to Fort-de-France Bay
.
During the first day of the invasion, the two main forces made rapid progress inland, the militia troops sent against them retreating and deserting without offering resistance. Serious opposition to the British advance did not begin until 1 February, when French defenders on the heights of Desfourneaux and Surirey were attacked by Prevost's troops, under the direct command of Brigadier-General Daniel Hoghton
. Fighting was fierce throughout the next two days, as the outnumbered French used the fortified high ground to hold back a series of frontal assaults. The British lost 84 killed and 334 wounded to French losses of over 700 casualties, and by 3 February the French had been forced back, withdrawing to Fort Desaix
near the capital. Progress was also made at Cape Salomon, where the appearance of British troops panicked the French defenders into burning the naval brig
Carnation
and retreating to the small island, Ilot aux Ramiers, offshore. Henderson's men, assisted by a naval brigade under Captain George Cockburn
, set up batteries on the coast and by 4 February had bombarded the island into surrender, opening the principal harbour of Martinique to naval attack.
A small naval squadron, consisting of HMS Aeolus
, HMS Cleopatra
and the brig HMS Recruit
, advanced into Fort-de-France Bay on 5 February. This advance spread panic among the French militia defending the bay and Amphitrite and the other shipping anchored there were set on fire and destroyed, while the forts in the southern part of the island were abandoned. On 8 February, Maitland's force, which had not yet fired a shot, arrived on the western side of Fort Desaix and laid siege to it. Minor detachments spread across the remainder of the island: Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Barnes
captured Saint-Pierre
and another force occupied Fort-de-France and seized the corvette Diligente in the harbour. By 10 February, when Prevost's force linked up with Maitland's, Fort Desaix was the only remaining point of resistance.
For nine days, the British soldiers and sailors of the expeditionary force constructed gun batteries and trenches around the fort, bringing ashore large quantities of supplies and equipment in readiness for a lengthy siege. At 16:30 on 19 February the preparations were complete and the bombardment began, 14 heavy cannon
and 28 mortars
beginning a continuous attack on the fort which lasted for the next four days. French casualties in the overcrowded fort were severe, with 200 men killed or wounded. British casualties were minimal, with five killed and 11 wounded, principally in an explosion in an ammunition tent manned by sailors from HMS Amaranthe. At 12:00 on 23 February, Villaret de Joyeuse's trumpeter was sent to the British camp with a message proposing surrender terms. These were unacceptable to Beckwith and the bombardment resumed at 22:00, continuing until 09:00 the following morning when three white flags were raised over the fort and the French admiral surrendered unconditionally. The bombardment had cracked the roof of the fort's magazine, and there were fears that further shelling might have ignited the gunpowder and destroyed the building completely.
In Britain, both Houses of Parliament voted their thanks to Cochrane and Beckwith, who immediately began planning the invasion of Guadeloupe
, executed in January 1810. Financial and professional rewards were provided for the junior officers and enlisted men and in 1816 the battle honour
Martinique was awarded to the ships and regiments involved, with the date 1809 added in 1909 to distinguish the campaign from the earlier operations of 1762 and 1794. Four decades later the operation was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal and the Military General Service Medal
, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847. In France, the defeat was examined in a court martial in December 1809, at which Villaret de Joyeuse and a number of his subordinates were stripped of their commissions, honours and ranks for inadequately preparing for invasion, in particular the failure to properly strengthen and disperse the magazine at Fort Desaix.
There was a subsequent French effort to reach Martinique, launched in February 1809 before news of the British invasion had reached Europe. Three ships of the line and two disarmed frigates were sent with soldiers and supplies towards the island, but learned of Villaret de Joyeuse's surrender in late March and instead took shelter in the Îles des Saintes
, blockaded by Cochrane's squadron. On 14 April, Cochrane seized the Saintes and the French fled, the three ships of the line drawing away Cochrane's forces so that the frigates could slip away and reach Guadeloupe. During the ensuing Action of 14–17 April 1809, the French flagship D'Hautpoult was chased down and captured, but two escaped and the frigates reached Guadeloupe, although neither would ever return to France.
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during 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...
. Martinique, like nearby Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
, was a major threat to British trade in the Caribbean, providing a sheltered base from which 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...
s and French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
warships could raid British shipping and disrupt the trade routes that maintained the British economy. The islands also provided a focus for larger scale French operations in the region and in the autumn of 1808, following the Spanish alliance with Britain, 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...
decided to order a British squadron to neutralise the threat, beginning with Martinique.
The British mustered an overwhelming force under Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
and Lieutenant-General George Beckwith
George Beckwith (British Army officer)
General Sir George Beckwith KB was a British Army officer.-Military career:Beckwith was commissioned into the 37th Regiment of Foot in 1771. He distinguished himself as a regimental officer in the American Revolutionary War, where he was assistant to Major Oliver Delancey responsible for British...
, who collected 29 ships and 10,000 men – almost four times the number of French regular forces garrisoning Martinique. Landing in force on both the southern and northern coasts of the island, British troops pushed inland, defeating French regulars in the central highlands and routing local militia units in the south of the island. By 9 February, the entire island was in British hands except Fort Desaix
Fort Desaix
Fort Desaix is a Vauban fort and one of four forts that protects Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique. The fort was built from 1768 to 1772 and sits on a hill, Morne Garnier, overlooking what was then Fort Royal...
, a powerful position intended to protect the capital Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France is the capital of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Exports include sugar, rum, tinned fruit, and cacao.-Geography:...
, which had been bypassed during the British advance. In a siege lasting 15 days the Fort was constantly bombarded, the French suffering 200 casualties before finally surrendering.
The capture of the island was a significant blow to French power in the region, eliminating an important naval base and denying safe harbours to French shipping in the region. The consequences of losing Martinique were so severe, that the French Navy sent a battle squadron to reinforce the garrison during the invasion. Arriving much too late to affect the outcome, these reinforcements were intercepted off the islands and scattered during the Action of 14–17 April 1809: half the force failed to return to France. With Martinique defeated, British attention in the region turned against Guadeloupe, which was captured the following year.
Background
During the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic 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...
, the British 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...
was charged with limiting the passage and operations of the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
, French merchant ships and French privateers. To achieve this objective, the Royal Navy imposed a system of blockades on French ports, especially the major naval bases at Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
and 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...
. This stranglehold on French movement off their own coastline seriously affected the French colonies, including those in the West Indies, as their produce could not reach France and supplies and reinforcements could not reach them without the risk of British interception and seizure. These islands provided excellent bases for French ships to raid the British trade routes through the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
: in previous conflicts, the British had countered the threat posed by French West Indian colonies by seizing them through force, such as Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
, which had been previously captured by armed invasion in 1762 and 1794. An attempt in 1780 was defeated by a French battle squadron at the Battle of Martinique
Battle of Martinique (1780)
The Battle of Martinique, also Combat de la Dominique, took place on April 17, 1780 during the American War of Independence in the West Indies between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy.-Origins:...
. By 1808 there were no French squadrons at sea: any that left port were eliminated or driven back in a series of battles, culminating at the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805. The fleet that was destroyed at Trafalgar had visited Martinique the year before and was the last full scale French fleet to visit the Caribbean for the rest of the war.
With the bulk of the French Navy confined to port, the British were able to strike directly at French colonies, although their reach was limited by the significant resources required in blockading the French coast and so the size and quality of operations varied widely. In 1804, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
fell to an nationalist uprising
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic...
supported by the Royal Navy, and in 1806 British forces secured most of the northern coast of South America from its Dutch owners. In 1807 the Danish West Indies
Danish West Indies
The Danish West Indies or "Danish Antilles", were a colony of Denmark-Norway and later Denmark in the Caribbean. They were sold to the United States in 1916 in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies and became the United States Virgin Islands in 1917...
were invaded and in 1808 Spain changed sides and allied with Britain, while Cayenne
Cayenne
Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "Ferit Aurum Industria" which means "Work brings wealth"...
fell to an improvised force under Captain James Lucas Yeo
James Lucas Yeo
Sir James Lucas Yeo KCB was a British naval commander who served in the War of 1812.Yeo was born in Southampton on 7 October 1782, and joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman at the age of 10. He first saw action as a lieutenant aboard a brig in the Adriatic Sea, and distinguished himself during the...
in January 1809. The damage done to the Martinique economy during this period was severe, as British frigates raided coastal towns and shipping, and merchant vessels were prevented from trading Martinique's produce with France or allied islands. Disaffection grew on the island, especially among the recently emancipated black majority, and during the summer of 1808 the island's governor, Vice-Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse
Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse
Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse was a French admiral.-Early career:Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse was born in Auch, in the heart of Gascony. The Villaret de Joyeuse family figured among the minor nobility from Languedoc...
, sent urgent messages back to France requesting supplies and reinforcements. Some of these messages were intercepted by British ships and the low morale on Martinique was brought to the attention of 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...
, who ordered their commander on the West Indian Station, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
, to raise an expeditionary force from the ships and garrisons available to him and invade the island.
During the winter of 1808–1809, Cochrane gathered his forces off Carlisle Bay, Barbados
Carlisle Bay, Barbados
Carlisle Bay is a small natural harbor located in the southwest region of Barbados. The island nation's capital, Bridgetown, is situated on this bay, which has been turned into a marine park. Carlisle Bay's marine park is a popular spot on the island for scuba diving...
, accumulating 29 ships and 10,000 soldiers under the command of Lieutenant-General George Beckwith
George Beckwith (British Army officer)
General Sir George Beckwith KB was a British Army officer.-Military career:Beckwith was commissioned into the 37th Regiment of Foot in 1771. He distinguished himself as a regimental officer in the American Revolutionary War, where he was assistant to Major Oliver Delancey responsible for British...
. Landings were planned on the island's southern and northern coasts, with the forces ordered to converge on the capital Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France is the capital of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Exports include sugar, rum, tinned fruit, and cacao.-Geography:...
. The soldiers would be supported and supplied by the Royal Navy force, which would shadow their advance offshore. Beckwith's army was more than twice the size of the French garrison, half of which was composed of an untrained and irregular black militia which could not be relied on in combat. News of the poor state of Martinique's defences also reached France during the autumn of 1808. Attempts were made to despatch reinforcements and urgently needed food supplies, but on 30 October 1808 Circe
HMS Circe (1804)
HMS Circe was a Royal Navy 32-gun fifth-rate Thames-class frigate, built by Master Shipwright Joseph Tucker at Plymouth Dockyard, and launched in 1804. She served in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars, and participated in an action and a campaign for which in 1847 in the Admiralty authorized...
captured the 16-gun French Curieux class brig Palinure
French brig Palinure (1804)
Palinure was a Palinure-class 16-gun brig of the French Navy, built by Caudan at Lorient and launched in 1804. In French service she captured before captured her in turn. Taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Snap, she participated in two campaigns that qualified for the Naval General Service Medal...
. The British then captured the frigate Thétis
French frigate Thétis (1788)
Thétis was a 40-gun Nymphe-class frigate frigate of the French Navy.From 1790, she served in various diplomatic missions in the Indian Ocean, before returning for a refit in Brest in 1793. From 1795, she was shuttled from France to Guadeloupe...
in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
at the Action of 10 November 1808
Action of 10 November 1808
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...
. Another relief attempt was destroyed in December off the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
and HMS Aimable captured the corvette Iris, carrying flour to Martinique, off the Dutch coast on 2 January 1809. Only the frigate Amphitrite
French frigate Amphitrite (1808)
The Amphitrite was a 44-gun Armide class frigate of the French Navy.Amphitrite, under frigate captain Trobriand, departed Cherbourg for Martinique on 10 November 1808, along with Vénus, Junon, Cygne and Papillon, under contre-amiral Hamelin...
, whose stores and reinforcements were insignificant compared to the forces under Cochrane and Beckwith, managed to reach Martinique.
Invasion
Cochrane's fleet sailed from Carlisle Bay on 28 January, arriving off Martinique early on 30 January. The force was then divided, one squadron anchoring off Sainte-LuceSainte-Luce, Martinique
Sainte-Luce is a town and commune in the French overseas department of Martinique.It contains the village of Trois-Rivieres.-External links:*...
on the southern coast and another off Le Robert
Le Robert
Le Robert is a town and the third-largest commune in the French overseas department of Martinique. It is located in the northeastern side of the island of Martinique. It contains the Sainte Rose-delima church, Club Nautique Wind Force club, Stade Municipal du Robert and a sportsground. The village...
on the northern. The invasion began the same morning, 3,000 soldiers going ashore at Sainte-Luce under the command of Major-General Frederick Maitland
Frederick Maitland
General Frederick Maitland was the youngest son of the hon. Sir Alexander Maitland Baronet and Penelope, daughter of Martin Madan and Judith Madan the poet...
, supervised by Captain William Charles Fahie
William Charles Fahie
Vice-Admiral Sir William Charles Fahie KCB was a prominent British Royal Navy officer during the American War of Independence, French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Unusually, Fahie's service was almost entirely spent in the West Indies, where he had been born and where he lived during...
, while 6,500 landed at Le Robert under Major-General Sir George Prevost
George Prevost
Sir George Prévost, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and colonial administrator. Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the eldest son of Swiss French Augustine Prévost, he joined the British Army as a youth and became a captain in 1784. Prévost served in the West Indies during the French Revolutionary...
, supervised by Captain Philip Beaver
Philip Beaver
Philip Beaver was an officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries...
. Beckwith remained on Cochrane's flagship HMS Neptune
HMS Neptune (1797)
HMS Neptune was a 98-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She served on a number of stations during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805....
, to direct the campaign from offshore. A third force, under a Major Henderson and consisting entirely of 600 soldiers from the Royal York Rangers, landed at Cape Salomon near Les Anses-d'Arlet
Les Anses-d'Arlet
Les Anses-d'Arlet is a town and commune in the French overseas department of Martinique.-External links:* *...
on the southwestern peninsula to secure the entrance to Fort-de-France Bay
Fort-de-France Bay
Fort-de-France Bay is a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Martinique. It is named after Martinique's capital, Fort-de-France, the chief town on the bay....
.
During the first day of the invasion, the two main forces made rapid progress inland, the militia troops sent against them retreating and deserting without offering resistance. Serious opposition to the British advance did not begin until 1 February, when French defenders on the heights of Desfourneaux and Surirey were attacked by Prevost's troops, under the direct command of Brigadier-General Daniel Hoghton
Daniel Hoghton
Major-General Daniel Hoghton was a talented and experienced British Army officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars with distinction until his death during combat with the French at the Battle of Albuera in the Peninsula War...
. Fighting was fierce throughout the next two days, as the outnumbered French used the fortified high ground to hold back a series of frontal assaults. The British lost 84 killed and 334 wounded to French losses of over 700 casualties, and by 3 February the French had been forced back, withdrawing to Fort Desaix
Fort Desaix
Fort Desaix is a Vauban fort and one of four forts that protects Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique. The fort was built from 1768 to 1772 and sits on a hill, Morne Garnier, overlooking what was then Fort Royal...
near the capital. Progress was also made at Cape Salomon, where the appearance of British troops panicked the French defenders into burning the 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...
Carnation
HMS Carnation (1807)
HMS Carnation was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop built by Taylor at Bideford and launched in 1807. After the French brig Palinure captured her, she was burned by the French to prevent her recapture.-Career:...
and retreating to the small island, Ilot aux Ramiers, offshore. Henderson's men, assisted by a naval brigade under Captain George Cockburn
George Cockburn
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet GCB was a British naval commander of the late 18th through the mid-19th centuries. He held important commands during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and eventually rose to become Admiral of the Fleet and First Sea Lord.-Naval...
, set up batteries on the coast and by 4 February had bombarded the island into surrender, opening the principal harbour of Martinique to naval attack.
A small naval squadron, consisting of HMS Aeolus
HMS Aeolus (1801)
HMS Aeolus was a 32-gun Amphion-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1801 and served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812....
, HMS Cleopatra
HMS Cleopatra (1779)
HMS Cleopatra was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had a long career, seeing service during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During the latter wars she fought two notable engagements with larger French opponents...
and the brig HMS Recruit
HMS Recruit (1806)
HMS Recruit was an 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Sandwich, Kent. She is best known for an act of pique by Cmdr. Warwick Lake, who marooned a seaman, and for an inconclusive but hard fought ship action under Cmdr. Charles John Napier against the French...
, advanced into Fort-de-France Bay on 5 February. This advance spread panic among the French militia defending the bay and Amphitrite and the other shipping anchored there were set on fire and destroyed, while the forts in the southern part of the island were abandoned. On 8 February, Maitland's force, which had not yet fired a shot, arrived on the western side of Fort Desaix and laid siege to it. Minor detachments spread across the remainder of the island: Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Barnes
Edward Barnes (British Army officer)
Lieutenant General Sir Edward Barnes, GCB was a British soldier who became governor of Ceylon.-Military career:Barnes joined the 47th Regiment of Foot in 1792, and quickly rose to field rank. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1807, serving in the Invasion of Martinique in 1809, and colonel...
captured Saint-Pierre
Saint-Pierre, Martinique
Saint-Pierre is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre in 1902 by a volcanic eruption, it was the most important city of Martinique culturally and economically, being known...
and another force occupied Fort-de-France and seized the corvette Diligente in the harbour. By 10 February, when Prevost's force linked up with Maitland's, Fort Desaix was the only remaining point of resistance.
For nine days, the British soldiers and sailors of the expeditionary force constructed gun batteries and trenches around the fort, bringing ashore large quantities of supplies and equipment in readiness for a lengthy siege. At 16:30 on 19 February the preparations were complete and the bombardment began, 14 heavy 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,...
and 28 mortars
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
beginning a continuous attack on the fort which lasted for the next four days. French casualties in the overcrowded fort were severe, with 200 men killed or wounded. British casualties were minimal, with five killed and 11 wounded, principally in an explosion in an ammunition tent manned by sailors from HMS Amaranthe. At 12:00 on 23 February, Villaret de Joyeuse's trumpeter was sent to the British camp with a message proposing surrender terms. These were unacceptable to Beckwith and the bombardment resumed at 22:00, continuing until 09:00 the following morning when three white flags were raised over the fort and the French admiral surrendered unconditionally. The bombardment had cracked the roof of the fort's magazine, and there were fears that further shelling might have ignited the gunpowder and destroyed the building completely.
Aftermath
With the surrender of Fort Desaix, British forces solidified their occupation of the island of Martinique. The remaining shipping and military supplies were seized and the regular soldiers of the garrison taken as prisoners of war. The militia were disbanded and Martinique became a British colony, remaining under British command until the restoration of the French monarchy in 1814, when it was returned to French control. British losses in the campaign were heavy, with 97 killed, 365 wounded and 18 missing. French total losses are uncertain but the garrison suffered at least 900 casualties, principally in the fighting in the central highlands on 1 and 2 February and during the siege of Fort Desaix.In Britain, both Houses of Parliament voted their thanks to Cochrane and Beckwith, who immediately began planning the invasion of Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
, executed in January 1810. Financial and professional rewards were provided for the junior officers and enlisted men and in 1816 the battle honour
Battle honour
A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....
Martinique was awarded to the ships and regiments involved, with the date 1809 added in 1909 to distinguish the campaign from the earlier operations of 1762 and 1794. Four decades later the operation was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal and the Military General Service Medal
Military General Service Medal
The Military General Service Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1847, for issue to officers and men of the British Army.The MGSM was approved on 1 June 1847 as a retrospective award for various military actions from 1793–1814; a period encompassing the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic...
, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847. In France, the defeat was examined in a court martial in December 1809, at which Villaret de Joyeuse and a number of his subordinates were stripped of their commissions, honours and ranks for inadequately preparing for invasion, in particular the failure to properly strengthen and disperse the magazine at Fort Desaix.
There was a subsequent French effort to reach Martinique, launched in February 1809 before news of the British invasion had reached Europe. Three ships of the line and two disarmed frigates were sent with soldiers and supplies towards the island, but learned of Villaret de Joyeuse's surrender in late March and instead took shelter in the Îles des Saintes
Îles des Saintes
The Îles des Saintes , also called simply Les Saintes , is a small archipelago of French Antilles located in the South of Basse-Terre Island, on the West of Marie-Galante and in the North of Dominica in the arc of Lesser Antilles...
, blockaded by Cochrane's squadron. On 14 April, Cochrane seized the Saintes and the French fled, the three ships of the line drawing away Cochrane's forces so that the frigates could slip away and reach Guadeloupe. During the ensuing Action of 14–17 April 1809, the French flagship D'Hautpoult was chased down and captured, but two escaped and the frigates reached Guadeloupe, although neither would ever return to France.
British order of battle
| Admiral Cochrane's squadron | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Rate | Guns | Navy | Commander | Notes |
| HMS Neptune HMS Neptune (1797) HMS Neptune was a 98-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She served on a number of stations during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.... |
Second rate | 98 |  |
Rear-Admiral Hon. Sir Alexander Cochrane Alexander Cochrane Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:... Captain Charles Dilkes |
|
| HMS Pompee | Third rate | 74 | |
Commodore George Cockburn George Cockburn Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet GCB was a British naval commander of the late 18th through the mid-19th centuries. He held important commands during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and eventually rose to become Admiral of the Fleet and First Sea Lord.-Naval... |
|
| HMS York HMS York (1807) HMS York was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Rotherhithe by the contract firm Samuel & Daniel Brent, and launched on 7 July 1807. She saw service during the Napoleonic Wars, though is best known for her time spent as a prison ship... |
Third rate | 74 | |
Captain Robert Barton | |
| HMS Belleisle HMS Belleisle (1795) Lion was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the French Navy, which later served in the Royal Navy. She was built at Rochefort. She was later renamed Marat and then Formidable, with the changing fortunes of the French Revolution.... |
Third rate | 74 | |
Captain William Charles Fahie William Charles Fahie Vice-Admiral Sir William Charles Fahie KCB was a prominent British Royal Navy officer during the American War of Independence, French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Unusually, Fahie's service was almost entirely spent in the West Indies, where he had been born and where he lived during... |
|
| HMS Captain HMS Captain (1787) HMS Captain was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 26 November 1787 at Limehouse. She served during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars before being placed in harbour service in 1799... |
Third rate | 74 | |
Captain James Athol Wood James Athol Wood Sir James Athol Wood , British rear-admiral. Younger brother of Sir Sir Mark Wood, 1st Baronet. After serving on merchant ships for the East India Company from a young age, he entered the Royal Navy in 1774. Wood served in the navy for almost his whole life, and took part in several of the wars... |
|
| HMS Intrepid HMS Intrepid (1770) HMS Intrepid was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 December 1770 at Woolwich.In 1772 the Intrepid sailed to the Dutch East Indies... |
Third rate | 64 | |
Captain Christopher John Williams Nesham | |
| HMS Ulysses | Fifth rate | 44 | |
Captain Edward Woollcombe | |
| HMS Acasta HMS Acasta (1797) HMS Acasta was a 40-gun Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate. She saw service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as well as the War of 1812. Although she never took part in any notable single-ship actions nor saw action in a major battle though she was at the Battle of San Domingo, she... |
Fifth rate | 40 | |
Captain Philip Beaver Philip Beaver Philip Beaver was an officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries... |
|
| HMS Penelope HMS Penelope (1798) HMS Penelope was a fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1798 and wrecked in 1815.Under Sir Henry Blackwood, she took part in the battle of 30 March 1800 against the Guillaume Tell. Penelope was credited for engaging and dismantling the masts of Guillaume Tell with two raking broadsides... |
Fifth rate | 36 | |
Captain John Dick | |
| HMS Ethalion HMS Ethalion (1802) HMS Ethalion was a Royal Navy 36-gun frigate, launched in 1802 at Woolwich Dockyard.-Service:Ethalion entered service in 1807 under Captain Charles Stuart, operating in the North Sea. In May 1804 she captured the 16-gun Dutch brig Union off Bergen... |
Fifth rate | 38 | |
Captain Thomas John Cochrane Thomas John Cochrane Admiral of the Fleet Sir Thomas John Cochrane GCB was an English naval officer and colonial governor.-Naval career:... |
|
| HMS Aeolus HMS Aeolus (1801) HMS Aeolus was a 32-gun Amphion-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1801 and served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812.... |
Fifth rate | 32 | |
Captain Lord William Fitzroy | |
| HMS Circe HMS Circe (1804) HMS Circe was a Royal Navy 32-gun fifth-rate Thames-class frigate, built by Master Shipwright Joseph Tucker at Plymouth Dockyard, and launched in 1804. She served in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars, and participated in an action and a campaign for which in 1847 in the Admiralty authorized... |
Fifth rate | 32 | |
Captain Hugh Pigot | |
| HMS Cleopatra HMS Cleopatra (1779) HMS Cleopatra was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had a long career, seeing service during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During the latter wars she fought two notable engagements with larger French opponents... |
Fifth rate | 38 | |
Captain Samuel John Broke Pechell | |
| HMS Eurydice HMS Eurydice (1781) HMS Eurydice was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post ship of the Royal Navy built in 1781 and broken up in 1834. During her long career she saw service in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars... |
Sixth rate | 24 | |
Captain James Bradshaw | |
| HMS Cherub HMS Cherub (1806) HMS Cherub was an 18-gun Royal Navy Cormorant-class sloop built in Dover in 1806.-West Indies and Pacific service:Cherub was stationed in the West Indies and took part in the capture of Guadeloupe in 1810 and remained on the Leeward Islands station until 1812. That year she returned to England with... |
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... |
18 | |
Commander Thomas Tudor Tucker | |
| HMS Goree | 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... |
18 | |
Commander Joseph Spear | |
| HMS Star | 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... |
18 | |
Commander Francis Augustus Collier | |
| HMS Stork | 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... |
18 | |
Commander George Le Geyt | |
| HMS Amaranthe HMS Amaranthe (1804) HMS Amaranthe was an 18-gun Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Dudman at Deptford Wharf and launched in 1804. She served in the Caribbean, taking part in two actions that gained those members of her crew that survived until 1847 the Naval General Service Medal... |
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... |
18 | |
Commander Edward Pelham Brenton Edward Pelham Brenton Captain Edward Pelham Brenton was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who military career was relatively quiet, apart from involvement in the capture of Martinique in 1809... |
|
| HMS Forester HMS Forester (1806) HMS Forester was a Royal Navy 18-gun built by John King and launched in 1806 at Dover. After a relatively uneventful career she was sold in 1819.-Service:... |
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... |
18 | |
Commander John Richards | |
| HMS Frolic HMS Frolic (1806) HMS Frolic was a 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built by Boole, of Bridport and was launched on 9 February 1806. In 1812 the American sloop captured her after a fierce fight, but later that day the British recaptured Frolic and captured Wasp... |
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... |
18 | |
Commander Thomas Whinyates | |
| HMS Recruit HMS Recruit (1806) HMS Recruit was an 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Sandwich, Kent. She is best known for an act of pique by Cmdr. Warwick Lake, who marooned a seaman, and for an inconclusive but hard fought ship action under Cmdr. Charles John Napier against the French... |
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... |
18 | |
Commander Charles John Napier | |
| HMS Wolverine HMS Wolverine (1805) HMS Wolverine was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, launched in 1805 at Topsham, near Exeter. Early in her career she was involved in two fratricidal incidents, one involving a British frigate and then a newsworthy case in which she helped capture a British slave ship... |
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... |
18 | |
Commander John Simpson | |
| In addition, the invasion fleet included 21 smaller warships and a number of transports. The British Army British Army The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England... troops attached to the force included soldiers from the 7th Foot, 8th Foot, 23rd Foot, 13th Foot, 90th Foot 90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers) The 90th Regiment of Foot was a Scottish infantry regiment of the British Army, active from 1794 to 1881.The 90th was raised in 1794 for service during the French Revolutionary Wars, and later the Napoleonic Wars. In the post-war period the regiment saw action inSouth Africa, serving in the 7th... , 15th Foot, 60th Rifles, 63rd Foot 63rd Regiment of Foot The 63rd Regiment of Foot known as "The Bloodsuckers", was a British Army regiment in the 18th and 19th centuries.As part of the Childers Reforms, the 63rd and the 96th Regiments of Foot amalgamated in 1881 to form The Manchester Regiment the heritage continuing through to The King's Regiment in... , 25th Foot, 1st West India Regiment and the Royal York Rangers. The expeditionary force was commanded by Lieutenant-General George Beckwith George Beckwith (British Army officer) General Sir George Beckwith KB was a British Army officer.-Military career:Beckwith was commissioned into the 37th Regiment of Foot in 1771. He distinguished himself as a regimental officer in the American Revolutionary War, where he was assistant to Major Oliver Delancey responsible for British... who remained offshore. Direct command of the land campaign was given to Major-General Frederick Maitland Frederick Maitland General Frederick Maitland was the youngest son of the hon. Sir Alexander Maitland Baronet and Penelope, daughter of Martin Madan and Judith Madan the poet... and Major-General Sir George Prevost George Prevost Sir George Prévost, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and colonial administrator. Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the eldest son of Swiss French Augustine Prévost, he joined the British Army as a youth and became a captain in 1784. Prévost served in the West Indies during the French Revolutionary... , who delegated tactical command to Brigadier-General Daniel Hoghton Daniel Hoghton Major-General Daniel Hoghton was a talented and experienced British Army officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars with distinction until his death during combat with the French at the Battle of Albuera in the Peninsula War... . |
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| Sources: James Vol. 5, p. 206, Clowes, p. 283, Gambier, p. 77, Rodger, p. 36 | |||||