Action of 31 March 1800
Action of 31 March 1800 | |||||||
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Part of the Mediterranean campaign during the War of the Second Coalition | |||||||
Capture of the Guillaume Tell 31 March 1800, Nicholas Pocock | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Great Britain | France | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Manley Dixon | Denis Decrès | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2 ships of the line 1 frigate 2 brigs 1 bomb vessel | 1 ship of the line | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
128 killed and wounded |
200 killed and wounded 1 ship of the line captured |
The action of 31 March 1800 was a naval engagement of the
The British had maintained a blockade off Malta since the beginning of the siege, ostensibly led by Rear-Admiral
Background
In May 1798, a French fleet under General
When Villeneuve arrived at Malta in September 1798, the island was already in turmoil: the dissolution of the
Without Perrée's supplies, the garrison faced continued food shortages, and by March Vaubois and Villeneuve decided to send an urgent request for support to France. For this operation they chose the 80-gun Guillaume Tell under Captain Saulnier, partly because the condition and size of the ship enabled Vaubois to embark over 900 men aboard, many of whom were sick or wounded.[8] Contre-amiral Denis Decrès had command of the ship and Vaubois and Villeneuve confirmed the date of departure for 30 March. While the French prepared this expedition, the British maintained their blockade, although without their commander. Nelson, in defiance of specific orders from his commanding officer Lord Keith, had retired to Palermo on Sicily to be with Emma, Lady Hamilton, the wife of the British ambassador Sir William Hamilton with whom Nelson was conducting an adulterous affair.[9] In his absence, command had passed to Captain Sir Thomas Troubridge on HMS Culloden and then to Captain Manley Dixon on HMS Lion.[10]
Battle
At 23:00 on 30 March, with a strong wind from the south, Guillaume Tell sailed from Valletta, Decrès hoping to use the cover of darkness to escape the British blockade. Dixon had deployed his ships around the island, with Valletta watched by the frigate HMS Penelope under Captain Henry Blackwood.[8] At 23:55, Blackwood's lookouts spotted Guillaume Tell and the captain gave chase, ordering the brig HMS Minorca under Commander George Miller to convey the message to Dixon, whose ships were just visible in the distance.[11] Blackwood also attempted to signal his discovery to his commanding officer as Penelope gave chase.[12]
Blackwood rapidly gained on the ship of the line and by 00:30 the frigate was within range, pulling up under the stern of Guillaume Tell and beginning a steady fire to which Decrès could respond with only his stern-chasers, light cannon situated in the stern of the ship.[13] Decrès recognised that if he stopped to engage Penelope then the rest of Berry's squadron, visible on the horizon to the south, would soon overwhelm him. He therefore continued sailing to the northeast, hoping his heavy ship of the line could outrun the light and speedy frigate. However, Penelope was too fast, and Blackwood handled his ship with considerable skill, managing to pass Decrès' stern repeatedly and pour several raking broadsides into the French ship.[14]
Blackwood's attack was so successful that by dawn on 31 March Guillaume Tell had lost its main and mizen topmasts and its main yard, considerably reducing the speed at which Decrès could travel. The French ship had also suffered heavy casualties in the exchange, but Penelope had lost only one man killed and three wounded, and was almost undamaged.
For half an hour, Lion continued to fire into the larger Guillaume Tell, but Dixon was unable to keep his ship completely out of range of the French broadsides and by 05:30 the subsequent damage showed an effect, Lion dropping back and falling behind the French vessel, although remaining within range alongside Penelope.
By 06:30 the badly outnumbered French ship had lost both its main and mizen masts, Foudroyant returning to the battle in time to collapse the foremast by 08:00. At 08:20, with no means of making sail and with wreckage obscuring most of his gun decks, Decrès surrendered to spare any further, fruitless, loss of life.
Aftermath
Both Foudroyant and Lion were too battered to provide an effective tow to the dismasted French ship, and as a result Penelope was left to bring the shattered Guillaume Tell into
The British officers were praised for the capture of Guillaume Tell, the last surviving French ship of the line to escape the Battle of the Nile: Nelson, who by his absence had "missed what would indeed have been the crowning glory to his Mediterranean career", wrote to Berry that "Your conduct and character in the late glorious occasion stamps your fame beyond the reach of envy."[21] Despite Nelson's praise however, Berry in particular came in for subsequent criticism, especially from the historian William James, who wrote in his 1827 history of the conflict that:
"Had the Foudroyant, single-handed, met the Guillaume-Tell, the combat would have been between two of the most powerful ships that had ever so met; and, although the Foudroyant's slight inferiority of force, being chiefly in number of men, was not that of which a British captain would complain, still the chances were equal, that the Guillaume-Tell, so gallantly manned, and so ably commanded, came off the conqueror."
— William James, 1827, [18]
James instead attributed most of the praise for the victory to Blackwood and Dixon, whose ships were heavily outmatched by Guillaume Tell, but who successfully pressed their attacks with the intention of delaying the French retreat. He also highly praised Decrès for his conduct in the engagement, stating that "A more heroic defence than that of the Guillaume-Tell is not to be found among the records of naval actions".
Aboard Guillaume Tell, the British found evidence of the severity of the food shortages in Valletta: "the only thing found in La Guillaume Tell was the leg of a mule, hung for safety and his especial use of the admiral's stern-galley".[22] News of the capture of Guillaume Tell was immediately passed to Vaubois by the British besiegers, along with a demand that he surrender the island. The French general, despite dwindling food supplies, refused, stating "Cette place est en trop bon état, et je suis moi-même trop jaloux de bien servir mon pays et de conserver mon honneur, pour écouter vos propositions." ("This place is in too good a situation, and I am too conscious of the service of my country and my honour, to listen to your proposals"). Despite Vaubois' defiance, the garrison was rapidly starving, and although the French commander resisted until 4 September, he was eventually forced to surrender Valletta and all of its military equipment to the British.[23]
References
- ^ Adkins, p. 13
- ^ Mostert, p. 272
- ^ Clowes, p. 374
- ^ Gardiner, p. 67
- ^ James, Vol. 2, p. 189
- ^ Clowes, p. 418
- ^ Bradford, p. 247
- ^ a b c Gardiner, p. 69
- ^ Mostert, p. 365
- ^ Clowes, p. 420
- ^ a b c Clowes, p. 421
- ^ James, Vol. 3, p. 16
- ^ a b James, Vol. 3, p. 17
- ^ a b Woodman, p. 142
- ^ a b c James, Vol. 3, p. 18
- ^ Mostert, p. 366
- ^ Mostert, p. 367
- ^ a b c d James,Vol. 3, p. 19
- ^ a b Clowes, p. 422
- ^ Woodman, p. 143
- ^ Bradford, p. 248
- ^ Adkins, p. 69
- ^ James,Vol. 3, p. 20
Bibliography
- Adkins, Roy & Lesley (2006). The War for All the Oceans. Abacus. ISBN 0-349-11916-3.
- ISBN 1-84022-202-6.
- ISBN 1-86176-013-2.
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (2001) [1996]. Nelson Against Napoleon. Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-86176-026-4.
- ISBN 0-85177-906-9.
- ISBN 0-85177-907-7.
- Mostert, Noel (2007). The Line upon a Wind: The Greatest War Fought at Sea Under Sail 1793 – 1815. Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-7126-0927-2.
- ISBN 1-84119-183-3.