Battle of the Hyères Islands
Battle of the Hyères Islands | |||||||
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Part of the naval operations during the War of the First Coalition | |||||||
![]() Map of the Western Mediterranean Location of the battle. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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![]() France | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
![]() Horatio Nelson |
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Strength | |||||||
23 ships of the line 2 frigates 1 corvette 3 brigs 1 cutter (OOB) |
19 ships of the line 7 frigates 1 corvette 4 brigs (OOB) | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
11 killed 28 wounded |
c. 300 killed and wounded 1 ship of the line destroyed |
The Battle of the Hyères Islands was a naval engagement fought between a combined
During the spring Martin and Hotham both received reinforcements from their respective Atlantic Fleets, the British admiral sailing off
Alcide had caught fire during the action and blew up shortly afterwards with heavy loss of life. Hotham was in a position to attack the surviving French fleet but declined, to the frustration of his officers and the criticism of later historians. The British retained their blockade, and Martin did not contest it again for the remainder of the year. This was the last fleet action in the Mediterranean before the British fleet was forced to withdraw in late 1796 – the next major engagement in the region was the Battle of the Nile in 1798.
Background
Early in the
Although the French fleet, under the command of Contre-amiral Pierre Martin, made a brief sally from port in June 1794, it was not until March 1795 that it had the strength necessary for a large scale cruise.[4] Sailing from Toulon on 3 March, the fleet encountered and captured the British ship HMS Berwick off Cap Corse,[5] but was then pursued by a joint British-Neapolitan fleet in the Gulf of Genoa. Retreating towards Toulon, the French were unable to evade the British fleet, under Vice-Admiral William Hotham, and on 13 March at the Battle of Genoa the rearmost ship was cut off and badly damaged.[6] The following day this ship, the Ça Ira, and its companion Censeur, were forced to surrender as Martin and the remainder of his ships escaped to the west.[7]
Hotham sailed to an anchorage off
The French had been unable to sail for most of the spring; Martin was initially preoccupied with gathering his ships and conducting repairs in his anchorage at the Îles d'Hyères off the French coast.[11] He sent his most damaged ships back to Toulon, and they were joined there on 4 April by a reinforcement of six ships of the line under Contre-amiral Jean François Renaudin, sent from Brest on 22 February. Martin joined this force soon afterwards, but in May his fleet was struck by a significant mutiny. The sailors of Martin's fleet, although not of Renaudin's recently arrived squadron, refused further service, and it was only the efforts of Représentant en mission Joseph Niou which persuaded the rebellious seamen to return to duty, Niou making them promise "to wash their crime in the blood of the enemies of the [French] republic."[9]
Pursuit
At Niou's urging Martin took his fleet to sea once more on 7 June, his force comprising 17 ships of the line and six frigates.
At 16:00 on 7 July off Cape del Melle, Nelson's force discovered the French fleet. Martin had visited Genoa, where
For four days Hotham searched for the French against the wind coming from the southwest. Late on 12 July, approximately 24 nautical miles (44 km) east of
At 03:45 Hotham gave orders to form his ships up and sailed to
Battle
Recognising that the French might now escape, Hotham gave orders for a general chase, allowing his fastest ships the opportunity to come up with the French to the best of their ability.[19] By noon the French were 0.75 nautical miles (1.39 km) ahead of the British to the northeast, with Hotham's fleet scattered across 8 nautical miles (15 km) of sea.[21] At 12:30 a wind shift from southwest to the north brought the French about so that the broadsides of the last three French ships could bear on the approaching British. The leading British ships, HMS Culloden, HMS Cumberland and HMS Victory all came under fire.[20]
The shift in wind favoured the British, allowing them to gain rapidly on the French.
By 14:42 more British ships, including Agamemnon, HMS Blenheim, HMS Captain and HMS Defence were now within long range and trading fire with the rearmost French ships Généreux, Berwick, Tyrannicide and Aquilon,[24] with which Cumberland was now heavily engaged.[23] Hotham then suddenly issued flag signals instructing his captains to discontinue the action and return to the flagship HMS Britannia. Hotham was at this point 8 nautical miles (15 km) from the action and unable to see that his ships were poised to attack the main French fleet, concerned that his dispersed ships were vulnerable to the fire from the French fleet and shore batteries.[13] Admiral Mann on Victory had to repeat the order twice before Rowley acknowledged and retired from combat.[23] At this point the battling ships were approximately 12 nautical miles (22 km) southeast of Cape Roux, towards which the French, having gained the weather gage by a shift in wind to the east, were now sailing.[22]
Fire had taken hold on the surrendered Alcide in the foretop, probably due to the detonation of a grenade.[17] By 14:15 it had spread out of control, sweeping the ship from end to end.[25] The crew threw themselves into the sea to escape the flames and approximately 300 were collected by boats from the passing British ships, but at least 300 are believed to have been killed when the ship's magazines detonated at 15:45.[26] Captain Leblond Saint-Hylaire was among the dead.[24]
Aftermath
Aside from the heavy loss of life on Alcide, French losses are not reported, although few other French ships were heavily engaged. British losses were mild, with 11 killed and 28 wounded across five ships. Cumberland, the most heavily engaged of the British fleet, suffered no casualties at all. Victory, Cumberland and Culloden had all been damaged in the sails and rigging, but none seriously.[25]
Martin led his surviving ships into the bay off
Hotham returned to San Fiorenzo and then to Leghorn. In August he briefly cruised off Toulon before retiring once more, although Nelson was detached with a squadron to operate against French Army movements on the Mediterranean Coast, attacking coastal positions near
Hotham was heavily criticised at the time for his conduct during the battle, a series of delays and hesitations allowing the French to escape when they might easily have been destroyed.[22] His second-in-command Samuel Goodall was said to have kicked his hat across the deck in fury at Hotham's order to withdraw.[32] Nelson wrote of the decision to withdraw that "In the forenoon we had every prospect of taking every Ship in the Fleet; and at noon it was almost certain we should have the six near ships." He was critical of Martin too, writing "The French Admiral, I am sure, is not a wise man, nor an Officer: he was undetermined whether to fight or run away."[17] Later historians have been scathing of Hotham's failure to bring Martin to action earlier and more vigorously; C. S. Forester wrote in reference to the sea battles of 1795 that "Once more a French fleet had got away through a lack of energy and diligence on the part of a British Admiral."[33] Historian Noel Mostert describes Hotham's indecision as "a disastrous failure" and links the missed opportunity to inflict a major defeat on the French directly to the British withdrawal from the Mediterranean the following year.[34] No major British naval force returned to the Mediterranean until the Mediterranean campaign of 1798.[35]
References
- ^ Ireland, p.178
- ^ Gardiner, p.105
- ^ Ireland, p.145
- ^ James, p.254
- ^ Clowes, p.267
- ^ Bennett, p.89
- ^ Forester, p.75
- ^ Clowes, p.273
- ^ a b c d e f James, p.266
- ^ James, p.289
- ^ James, p.265
- ^ "No. 13801". The London Gazette. 1 August 1795. pp. 804–805.
- ^ a b c d e Mostert, p.163
- ^ Troude, p.434
- ^ a b Clowes, p.274
- ^ James, p.267
- ^ a b c Bradford, p.118
- ^ Bennett, p.45
- ^ a b c "No. 13802". The London Gazette. 4 August 1795. p. 816.
- ^ a b Clowes, p.275
- ^ a b James, p.268
- ^ a b c Clowes, p.276
- ^ a b c James, p.269
- ^ a b c Troude, p.435
- ^ a b James, p.271
- ^ Clowes, p.277
- ^ a b c James, p.273
- ^ Bennett, p.46
- ^ James, p.275
- ^ Mostert, p.173
- ^ Mostert, p.188
- ^ Rodger, p.434
- ^ Forester, p.78
- ^ Mostert, p.164
- ^ Mostert, p.245
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-141391-29-4.
- ISBN 1-84022-202-6.
- ISBN 1-86176-012-4.
- ISBN 1-86176-178-3.
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (2001) [1996]. Fleet Battle and Blockade. London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-363-X.
- ISBN 0-3043-6726-5.
- ISBN 0-85177-905-0.
- Mostert, Noel (2007). The Line upon a Wind: The Greatest War Fought at Sea Under Sail 1793 – 1815. Vintage Books. ISBN 9-78071-260-9272.
- ISBN 0-71399-411-8.
- Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé. pp. 424–431.