Blockade of Saint-Domingue
Blockade of Saint-Domingue | |||||||
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Part of the Haitian Revolution and Napoleonic Wars | |||||||
A painting of the campaign by Louis-Philippe Crépin | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United Kingdom Armée Indigène | France | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
John Duckworth John Loring Jean-Jacques Dessalines | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
7 ships of the line 5 frigates 2 brigs |
7,000 2 ships of the line 6 frigates 35 other ships | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown |
6,000 captured 1 ship of the line captured 4 frigates captured 31 other ships captured | ||||||
6 American merchantmen captured 2 Danish merchantmen captured |
The blockade of Saint-Domingue was a naval campaign fought during the first months of the Napoleonic Wars in which a series of British Royal Navy squadrons blockaded the French-held ports of Cap-Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas on the northern coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue, soon to become Haiti, after the conclusion of the Haitian Revolution on 1 January 1804. In the summer of 1803, when war broke out between the United Kingdom and the French Consulate, Saint-Domingue had been almost completely overrun by Haitian Armée Indigène troops led by Jean-Jacques Dessalines. In the north of the country, the French forces were isolated in the two large ports of Cap-Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas and a few smaller settlements, all supplied by a French naval force based primarily at Cap-Français.
At the outbreak of war on 18 May 1803, the Royal Navy immediately despatched a squadron under Sir John Duckworth from Jamaica to cruise in the region, seeking to eliminate communication between the French outposts and to capture or destroy the French warships based in the colony. On 28 June, the squadron encountered a French convoy from Les Cayes off Môle-Saint-Nicolas, capturing one ship although the other escaped. Two days later, an independently-sailing French frigate was chased down and captured in the same waters. On 24 July, another British squadron intercepted the main French squadron from Cap-Français, which was attempting to break past the blockade and reach France. The British, led by Commodore John Loring gave chase, but one French ship of the line and frigate escaped. Another ship of the line was trapped against the coast and captured after coming under fire from Haitian shore batteries. The remainder of the squadron was forced to fight two more actions on their return to Europe but eventually reached the Spanish port of Corunna.
On 3 November, the frigate
Background
During the
Leclerc's army had some initial success and Louverture was captured after signing a peace treaty with the French general, later dying in unclear circumstances in a French prison.
The blockade
The Royal Navy was well prepared for the renewed conflict, with a squadron of ships of the line and numerous frigates based at the
Actions off Môle-Saint-Nicolas
On 28 June, the squadron off Môle-Saint-Nicolas sighted two sails close to the Haitian shoreline and closed to investigate. These were revealed to be the French heavy 44-gun frigate
Bayntun had also ordered Lieutenant Hills to pursue Poursuivante, but Hercule suffered in the light winds, and Hills ordered Hercule's broadside to be fired much too early. This allowed Willaumez to pull much closer to Môle-Saint-Nicolas. When the much faster Hercule did find the wind, the ship of the line soon gained on the frigate and a sharp exchange of fire followed, in which both ships were damaged. Hercule was hit heavily in the sails and rigging, although casualties were limited to a few minor wounds, while Poursuivante was more severely damaged: the rigging, sails, masts and hull were all cut and battered with six men killed and 15 wounded.[13] During the brief battle, Willaumez had manoeuvered his ship close to the shoreline, and Hills, his ship less manageable due to damage, suffered a devastating raking broadside that forced him to pull off in fear that Hercule might be grounded in shallow water. Working through the shallows, Willaumez managed to bring his frigate safely to Môle-Saint-Nicolas and then subsequently to Rochefort, although Poursuivante was soon afterwards decommissioned due to age and poor condition. Hills was forced to retire with his ship to Jamaica for repairs, his ship's place taken in Bayntun's squadron by Vanguard.[14]
Two days after the engagement between Hercule and Poursuivante, Vanguard and Cumberland were cruising off the northern coast of Haiti to the east of Môle-Saint-Nicolas when another strange ship was sighted attempting to enter the nearby port of
Flight of Touffet
In the month following the capture of Créole there was little further movement from the French naval forces on the island, the yellow fever raging in the harbours and Loring's blockade squadron at sea constraining operations. The only action of any note during this period was fought off Léogâne in the Gulf of Gonâve on the afternoon of 11 July when the 10-gun French brig Lodi was intercepted by the 18-gun British brig HMS Racoon under Austen Bissell, and forced to surrender after an action lasting 40 minutes in which the British ship had one man wounded and the French one killed and 14 wounded.[16]
In late July the strategic situation altered when orders arrived from France demanding the return of the French squadron, primarily based at Cap-Français under Contre-Admiral Latouche Tréville.[17] Command of the returning squadron was given to Commodore Quérangal in the Duquesne, a 74-gun ship. Consolidating enough healthy sailors to crew three of his ships, Latouche Tréville gave orders for Duquesne, the 74-gun ship Duguay-Trouin under Captain Claude Touffet that following a recent accident only carried 54 guns,[18] and the 40-gun frigate Guerrière under Captain Louis-Alex Beaudoin to sail from Cap-Français when it became possible.[Note A] On the afternoon of 24 July, a rain squall drove the blockade force away from the post and Quérangal's ships slipped out of the harbour, initially sailing westwards with the prevailing wind. All were in a weakened state, none with full crews and all carrying large numbers of sick passengers aboard.[18]
The French ships were sighted almost immediately by the frigates of Loring's blockade squadron, which began pursuit. At 21:00, Quérangal took advantage of the darkness to divide his ships, Duguay-Trouin tacking to the east while Duquesne continued following the shoreline to the west. In response, Loring ordered Dundas in Elephant to chase Duguay-Trouin while he remained in pursuit of Duquesne with Aeolus and Tartar.[19] During the night both British pursuits gained significant ground on their targets, Loring joined by Theseus and Vanguard. At 07:00 on 15 July, Quérangal's ship was sighted by a Haitian battery on shore and came under fire, Loring sending Theseus to investigate the gunfire and arriving on the scene himself soon afterwards, Tartar and Vanguard leading the squadron. Perkins was the first to come within range of the French ship, opening fire at 15:30, followed soon afterwards by Walker. Quérangal returned fire briefly, but his ship was too weak to face the British force, having only 275 crewmen aboard of whom only 215 were fit for duty.[18] Duquesne was so poorly-manned that only 12 guns could be crewed at any one time, although one shot did strike Vanguard, killing one man and wounding another. Before the British ships could take up more effective firing positions however, Quérangal surrendered. His ship was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Duquesne, but was broken up in 1804 following damage in an accident at Morant Cays.[12]
The second pursuit, that of Dundas in Elephant and Touffet in Duguay-Trouin continued throughout the night, the British ship coming within range of the French at 06:00 on 25 July. Touffet opened fire on Elephant with his stern-mounted guns, striking the British ship several times, although without serious effect. Dundas was able, despite the French fire, to pull up at some distance from the French starboard quarter, firing broadsides although at such long range that they too had little effect. The action was decided soon afterwards by the arrival of two ships, the 18-gun British sloop HMS Snake under Commander William Roberts to the northwest and the absent Guerrière from the opposite direction. Dundas considered that the arrival of the frigate favoured the French too much, and dropped back allowing both ships to combine and escape.[12] This was a serious miscalculation: historian William Laird Clowes notes that the French ships were both desperately under-armed and undermanned and even if they fought alongside one another they would have been unable to match Dundas's weight or rate of shot. By the time night fell, the French ships had reached open water in preparation for the journey across the Atlantic.[18]
Touffet's voyage was however far from over: on 29 August while in the Eastern Atlantic close to the Bay of Biscay, they were spotted by the independently cruising 38-gun frigate
At Ferrol, a British battle squadron cruised off the port under the command of Commodore
Surrender of Cap-Français
With the removal of the ships of the line from the squadron at Saint-Domingue, the only remaining force of any significance was based at Cap-Français, consisting mainly of the frigates Surveillante, Clorinde and Vertu. In September, the southern port of Les Cayes surrendered, the garrison capitulating to the British brig HMS Pelican, while in the north Captain Bligh in Theseus bombarded Fort Labouque at the harbour of Fort Dauphin, an important anchorage for small craft resupplying the garrison of Cap-Français, on 8 September. The fort rapidly surrendered, as did a 20-gun corvette Sagesse, which was at anchor nearby but with only 75 men aboard. Fort Dauphin also capitulated later in the day, the French prisoners requesting that Bligh intercede with the Haitian forces nearby which had captured a number of soldiers including General Dumont and were intending to execute them. Bligh successfully obtained the release of Dumont and transported all of the prisoners, including many suffering from yellow fever, to Cap-Français.[22] While Loring remained off Northern Saint-Domingue, the brig Raccoon was active against ships travelling between Saint-Domingue and Cuba, destroying two small convoys in September and October.[23]
In October, Latouche-Tréville obtained free passage from the British due to his poor health, and returned to France
On 17 November Rochambeau sent a message to Loring's squadron requesting that he be allowed to safely evacuate the port and return with his men to France. Loring refused, and so on 20 November the French general instead concluded a peace treaty with Dessalines, the terms of which insisted that the French garrison and population had to evacuate the port within ten days.
After meeting Captain Barré, Bligh obtained a signed treaty establishing Rochambeau's total surrender to the British blockade squadron. Under the terms, the French ships would sail from the port flying the
Disaster struck the operation however when the frigate Clorinde attempted to leave the harbour. Weighed down with 900 refugees and soldiers including General
Aware that the people on Clorinde would swamp his boat if he drew alongside the frigate, possibly drowning all concerned, Willoughby instead commandeered a
Aftermath
With the surrender of the main French city in Northern Haiti, the Haitian Revolution was almost at an end, only Môle-Saint-Nicolas remaining in French hands. On 2 December, Loring's squadron reached the port and offered the same terms to General
That evening however, Noailles made a desperate attempt to escape the port with six small vessels. The French convoy was sighted during the night of 5–6 December, and soon overrun, the Republic, Temeraire, Belle Louise, Active and Sally Warner all seized by the British warships.[25] Only one vessel, Noailles's flagship, escaped pursuit, although Noailles had apparently been mortally wounded as he died shortly after reaching Havana, Cuba as a result of his reported injuries.[31][Note B] French histories recount that Noailles's vessel was able to board and overpower a small British warship en route, but no British warships of any size were lost in these waters during 1803 and so the origin of this story is unknown.[32]
The fall of Môle-Saint-Nicolas marked the end of the Haitian Revolution and the collapse of French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue.[3] Although French troops remained in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, they were too few in number to contest with Dessalines' forces, which now controlled the western half of the island. Historian Christer Petley argued Dessalines' role in the campaign led to him becoming arguably the most successful military commander in the struggle against Napoleonic France.[33] On 1 January 1804, Dessailines proclaimed the foundation of the new nation of Haiti, the first independent Caribbean nation since the pre-Columbian era.[32]
Notes
- Jean-Marthe-Adrien L'Hermite.[17]L'Hermite was not in the Caribbean during this period, and Touffet was likely the officer in command.
References
- ^ a b Sepinwall p. 21
- ^ a b Granier, p. 246
- ^ a b Brenton, p. 294
- ^ Brenton, p. 274
- ^ Brenton, p. 275
- ^ a b c Woodman, p. 179
- ^ Brenton, p. 277
- ^ James, p. 186
- ^ Brenton, p. 278
- ^ James, p. 207
- ^ a b James, p. 187
- ^ a b c James, p. 192
- ^ a b Clowes, p. 317
- ^ a b c James, p. 188
- ^ Clowes, p. 318
- ^ a b "No. 15620". The London Gazette. 13 September 1803. pp. 1228–1229.
- ^ a b Clowes, p. 321
- ^ a b c d Clowes, p. 322
- ^ Brenton, p. 282
- ^ a b c James, p. 193
- ^ a b Clowes, p. 323
- ^ a b "No. 15654". The London Gazette. 8 December 1803. pp. 1724–1725.
- ^ Brenton, p. 287
- ^ Woodman, p. 183
- ^ a b c d e f "No. 15672". The London Gazette. 4 February 1804. pp. 163–168.
- ^ Brenton, p. 292
- ^ a b c Clowes, p. 57
- ^ Brenton, p. 293
- ^ James, p. 208
- ^ James, p. 209
- ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 722–723.
- ^ a b James, p. 210
- ^ Christer Petley, White Fury: A Jamaican Slaveholder and the Age of Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), p. 182.
- ^ James, p. 191
Bibliography
- Brenton, Edward Pelham (1837). The Naval History of Great Britain, Vol. III. London: C. Rice.
- ISBN 1-86176-014-0.
- ISBN 0-85177-907-7.
- Sepinwall, Alyssa Goldstein, ed. (2012). Haitian History: New Perspectives Rewriting Histories. Routledge. ISBN 9781135766559.
- ISBN 1-84119-183-3.