by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 9, 2021 | 1795, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Sir William Sidney Smith and the Brest Fleet’s Winter Cruise – January 1795 On Christmas Eve 1794, after several false starts, the Brest fleet of thirty-five sail of the line, thirteen frigates and sixteen smaller men of war under the command of...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 26, 2021 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
1794 Overview At the beginning of the year Britain had eighty sail of the line in commission, and with Parliament voting to pay for eighty-five thousand men it ensured that the equivalent of roughly one per cent of the population would be available for...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 26, 2021 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Mutiny on the Culloden – 4 December 1794 On 18 November, the Channel Fleet was at anchor off St. Helens when a gale swept in and drove the dilapidated Culloden 74, Captain Thomas Troubridge, onto the rocks, unshipping her rudder. Over the next four days...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 12, 2021 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Alexander is captured by Admiral Nielly’s Squadron – 6 November 1794 In the early hours of 6 November, the Alexander 74, Captain Richard Rodney Bligh, and the Canada 74, Captain Charles Powell Hamilton, were homeward bound after escorting a...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 31, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Centurion v Cybele – 22 October 1794 – and the Unwarranted Dismissal of Captain Mathew Smith At the end of August 1794, and having taken on six months provisions and water, the British men-of-war Centurion 50, Captain Samuel Osborn, and Diomede 44,...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 2, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Artois v Revolutionnaire – 21 October 1794 On 18 October the frigate Artois 38, Captain Edmund Nagle, part of Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren’s crack raiding squadron, anchored in Cawsand Bay, Plymouth, having completed a refit, and the next day she put...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 18, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Commodore Warren’s Squadron destroys the Volontaire – 23 August 1794 During the early days of August 1794, reports began to appear in the British Press that a force of up to a dozen French frigates was at large in the Channel, and that it had...
by Richard Hiscocks | Oct 30, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Captain Essington of the Aurora accused of Murder – 19 July 1794 As the French Revolutionary War intensified so the recruitment of men to crew the ever expanding British Navy became ever more onerous, and the measures that the individual captains took to...
by Richard Hiscocks | Sep 30, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Romney v Sibylle – 17 June 1794 On 1 June a convoy of seven Dutch and one English merchantmen departed Naples Bay for Smyrna, the modern-day Izmir in Turkey, under the orders of Captain Augustus Montgomery of the Inconstant 36, who also had in company the...
by Richard Hiscocks | Sep 14, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Lord Hood and Admiral Martin in the Golfe Juan – 12 June 1794 Following his withdrawal from Toulon at the end of 1793, Admiral Lord Hood had waged a campaign against the French Republicans in Corsica at the invitation of the rebel leader, Pasquale Paoli,...
by Richard Hiscocks | Aug 15, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Saumarez Retreat off Guernsey – 8 June 1794 On 7 June a small squadron commanded by Captain Sir James Saumarez of the Crescent 36, and otherwise consisting of the Druid 32, Captain Joseph Ellison, the Eurydice 24, Captain Francis Cole, and five...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jul 1, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802, Uncategorized
The Capture of Port-au-Prince, Saint-Domingue – 4 June 1794 During 1793 Commodore John Ford, the commander-in-chief of the Jamaican station, had assisted French Royalist forces in capturing the town of Jérémie and the excellent harbour of St. Nicholas...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jun 16, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Battle of the Glorious First of June – 1 June 1794 As a consequence of a poor harvest in 1793 and the turmoil created by the Revolution, there was a desperate need for the new French Republic to obtain food supplies, and to this effect a convoy of nearly...
by Richard Hiscocks | May 21, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Carysfort retakes the Castor – 29 May 1794 On 10 May, having recently collected a convoy of victualling ships from the Channel Islands for Newfoundland, the frigate Castor 32, Captain Thomas Troubridge, had the misfortune to fall in with Rear-Admiral...
by Richard Hiscocks | May 2, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Orpheus v Duguay-Trouin – 5 May 1794 Towards the end of November 1793, the busy frigate Orpheus 32, flying the broad pennant of Commodore Henry Newcome, set sail from Portsmouth for the East Indies in company with the Centurion 50, Captain Samuel Osborn,...
by Richard Hiscocks | Apr 16, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Warren’s Squadron take the Pomone, Engageante and Babet – 23 April 1794 On 15 April a force of five frigates from Rear-Admiral John MacBride’s squadron, led by Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren, left Plymouth on Admiralty orders for its cruising...
by Richard Hiscocks | Apr 9, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Corsican Campaign – February to August 1794 Following the loss of Toulon to the French Republican forces in December 1793, there was an urgent need for the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Lord Hood, to find a base forward...
by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 20, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Captain Durham’s Hind escapes from five French Frigates – 13 January 1794 The frigate Hind 28, Captain Philip Durham, was returning from Guernsey on 13 January having escorted a fleet of transports delivering the 80th Regiment to that island from...
by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 7, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Captain Hood and the Juno escape from Toulon – 11 January 1794 On 3 January the twelve-pounder frigate Juno 32, Captain Samuel Hood, left Malta having embarked one hundred and fifty supernumeraries made up of forty-six officers and marines from the Romney...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 24, 2020 | 1794, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Admiral Jervis’ Leeward Islands Campaign – January – December 1794 Amongst the many disappointing campaigns undertaken by British arms in 1793, that in the Leeward Islands had been conspicuous for its failure to achieve anything of note...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 26, 2020 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
1793 Overview Following the execution of their King on 21 January, and in view of their designs on the Netherlands, a country that Britain wished to remain neutral, the National Convention of France declared war on Britain on 1 February. Twelve days later...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 23, 2020 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Channel Fleet’s Autumn Cruise – October to December 1793 On 12 October the Admiralty issued the commander-in-chief of the Channel fleet, Admiral Lord Howe, with new orders to the effect that as soon as he was joined by the Defence 74, Captain...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 16, 2020 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Thames v Uranie – 24 October 1793 At 9.30 on the misty morning of 24 October, the twelve-pounder frigate Thames 32, Captain James Cotes, cruising on a west south-westerly wind in the north-western reaches of the Bay of Biscay, about two hundred and fifty...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 5, 2020 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Crescent v Reunion – 20 October 1793 With war against France imminent, Captain James Saumarez was appointed to the eighteen pounder frigate Crescent 36 in January 1793, and after taking on volunteers from the Channel Islands and Exmouth to bring his crew...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 15, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Commodore Linzee attacks Forneilli, San Fiorenzo – 1 October 1793 Whilst Vice-Admiral Lord Hood was attempting to hold Toulon for the French royalists, a detachment of three sail of the line and two frigates under the command of Commodore Robert...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 2, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Occupation of Cape Nicolas Mole, Saint-Domingue – 23 September 1793 With the principles of the French Revolution spreading to her colonies in the Caribbean, there was great concern amongst the influential plantation owners as to their future, and...
by Richard Hiscocks | Oct 24, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
?Having been furnished on 2 June with news of the outbreak of war against France from George Baldwin, the consul-general at Alexandria, the British authorities at Madras under the governor, Sir Charles Oakely, immediately took steps to take possession of the French...
by Richard Hiscocks | Sep 27, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Occupation of Toulon – August to December 1793 Throughout the summer of 1793 there had been bitter factional disputes between those various groups seeking power in Revolutionary France, and when in June the Girondists found themselves expelled from...
by Richard Hiscocks | Sep 13, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Boston v Embuscade – 31 July 1793 During the early days of the war the French frigate Embuscade 36, Captain Jean BaptisteFrançois Bompart, had enjoyed a profitable run against the British shipping in North American waters, capturing some sixty-odd...
by Richard Hiscocks | Aug 5, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Channel Fleet’s Summer Cruise – July-August 1793 Conversant with Admiralty orders dated 3 July, the Channel fleet of fifteen sail of the line, seven frigates, a sloop, and a fireship under the command of Admiral Lord Howe put to sea from St....
