by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 17, 2023 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Jupiter and Medea v Triton – 20 October 1778 The Jupiter 50, Captain Francis Reynolds, and the Medea 28, Captain James Montagu, were on a cruise in the Bay of Biscay, when at one o’clock on the afternoon of 20 October, and with the wind in the west, a...
by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 4, 2019 | 1778, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Capture of St. Pierre and Miquelon – 14 September 1778 When the Treaty of Paris brought a conclusion to the Seven Years War in 1763, France lost all her territories in North America bar the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which lay about fourteen...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 24, 2019 | 1781, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
?Enjoying a fresh breeze and in fine weather, the Ulysses 44, Captain John Thomas, was cruising to the north of Saint-Domingue, some six or seven miles from the North Caicos in the Turks and Caicos Islands, when at six o?clock on the evening of 5 June two sail were...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 19, 2019 | 1777, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
?On 10 June the Admiralty wrote to Lieutenant Thomas Gaborian of the cutter Sherbourne 6, based at Dartmouth, ordering him to put to sea and cruise between the ?le de Batz and ?le de Br?hat on the northern coast of Brittany to seek out a small American schooner...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 11, 2019 | 1776, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
?In the bitterly frozen early weeks of March 1776 the two-decked Roebuck 44, Captain Andrew Snape Hamond, detached her small tender Lord Howe to cruise off Lewes at the mouth of Delaware Bay adjacent to Cape Henlopen, and within a matter of days this vessel discovered...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 22, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
On 20 January Britain, France and Spain ceased hostilities, although the war between Britain and the Netherlands continued , whilst that with the Americans only formally ended on 3 September. As a result of the ensuing peace treaty Britain retained Canada, all...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 25, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Magicienne v Sibylle – 2 January 1783 An escorted British convoy of thirty-eight vessels carrying troops, displaced loyalist families from the Carolinas, and over four thousand negroes belonging to the latter, was in passage to Jamaica when on the morning...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 25, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Leander v Mystery Ship of the Line – 19 January 1783 Captain John Willett Payne had been in command of the Leander 52 for but a few short weeks when at 1 p.m. on 18 January, whilst escorting a cartel in the Leeward Islands, a larger vessel was seen...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 4, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Hussar v Sibylle – 22 January 1783 The British sloop Hussar 20, Captain Thomas Macnamara Russell, was cruising off the mouth of the Chesapeake in a fresh gale when through the haze she spotted a jury-rigged frigate steering in a westerly direction on the...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 6, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Mutiny on the Janus and Disaffection at Portsmouth – March 1783 ? Following the ending in January of hostilities with all of Britain?s enemies bar the Netherlands, a significant number of ships returned to port with crews who were looking forward to being paid...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 22, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Following the change of government in April 1782 many of the admirals who had refused to serve under the previous administration had returned to duty, and amongst them was the 67 year-old hereditary baronet Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker. Sir Hyde was a crusty...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 20, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
In the early summer of 1783 the newspapers were gripped by the trial of a lieutenant of Marines, Charles Bourne, late of the Warrior 74, on the prosecution of her former captain, Sir James Wallace, the officer who had been so active in the American...
by Richard Hiscocks | Feb 11, 2018 | 1783, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The failure to recover the port of Trincomale in Ceylon during September 1782 had resulted in Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes? fleet entering Madras in October before retiring to Bombay to refit, there being no port on the Coromandel Coast of eastern India which...
by Richard Hiscocks | Oct 13, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Following the surrender of Lieutenant-General Lord Cornwallis? army at Yorktown in October 1781 American independence was all but granted by the debt-ridden British, who now took steps to assume an ascendancy over the French before peace could be negotiated. To...
by Richard Hiscocks | Oct 13, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Battle of St. Kitts – 25/26 January 1782 Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, the acting commander-in-chief in the Leeward Islands, had only recently returned to Barbados from North America with eighteen sail of the line when he received intelligence from the...
by Richard Hiscocks | Oct 15, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Battle of Sadras – 17 February 1782 Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes had not long effected the successful reduction of Dutch Trincomale by taking the principle bastion Fort Oostenburg on 11 January with casualties of twenty-one killed and forty-two wounded,...
by Richard Hiscocks | Oct 19, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Success v Santa Catalina – 16 March 1782 Born to a prominent family, Captain Charles Morice Pole had risen quickly in the service with his early promotions taking place in the East Indies under the patronage of Commodores Sir Edward Hughes and Sir Edward...
by Richard Hiscocks | Oct 24, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
To the great relief of the navy and the country as a whole, the fall of Lord North?s government enabled the hitherto dissident Vice-Admiral Lord Howe to take command of the Channel Fleet on 2 April. At last the country?s most important line of defence had a...
by Richard Hiscocks | Oct 29, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Battle of Providien – 12 April 1782 After his earlier inconclusive battle with the Bailli de Suffren off Sadras, Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and his nine sail of the line had undertaken repairs at Trincomale before departing for Madras on 4 March in...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 9, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Battle of the Saintes – 12 April 1782 Shortly after daylight broke on 8 April over the British Leeward Islands fleet at anchor in Gros Islet Bay, St. Lucia, a message was rushed below to the commander-in-chief, Admiral Sir George Rodney, in the great...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 12, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The 12-pounder frigate Blonde 32 had been built in France during the mid 1750?s, but in February 1760 had been one of three French vessels captured in a stunning action off the Isle of Man by a British squadron commanded by Captain John Elliot. After service in...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 16, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Battle of Negapatam – 6 July 1782 Following the Battle of Providien in April, the British East Indian squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes had undertaken repairs at Trincomale whilst its adversary, the French squadron under Commodore...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 21, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Following the Battle of Providien in the East Indies on 12 April Captain George Talbot of the Worcester 64 had been relieved of his command by Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and been left to find his own way home to England. Later accounts would differ as to...
by Richard Hiscocks | Nov 24, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Sinking of the Royal George – 29 August 1782 On 17 March 1782 the Royal George 100, flagship of Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt, joined the Channel Fleet at Portsmouth following a comprehensive refit at Plymouth. A few weeks later she inherited a new...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 3, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Battle of Trincomale – 3 September 1782 Whilst the British East Indian squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes had licked its wounds at Madras in the weeks after the Battle of Negapatam on 6 July, the French squadron under Commodore...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 12, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
Rainbow v Hebe – 4 September 1782 In the spring of 1782, the thirty-five year-old two-decked British fifth rate Rainbow 44 was fitted out at Chatham with a battery of carronades consisting of twenty 68-pounders on her lower deck, twenty-two 42-pounders on...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 28, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The Central Atlantic Hurricane destroys Graves’ Convoy – September 1782 On 25 July Rear Admiral Thomas Graves with his flag aboard the aged Ramillies 74, Captain Sylverius Moriarty, departed Bluefields, Jamaica, for England in command of a small...
by Richard Hiscocks | Dec 17, 2017 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The leadership qualities and self-belief of Captain Roger Curtis had manifested themselves at an early age when as a young captain he had twice disobeyed orders from his admiral in the interests of the service, and had twice been complimented by Vice-Admiral...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 1, 2018 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
The capture of the Aigle and escape of the Gloire – 15 September 1782 Following their encounter with the disabled British prize Hector 74 on 4 September, the French frigates Aigle 40, commanded by the inspiring and well-connected 37-year-old Captain...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jan 11, 2018 | 1782, American Revolutionary War 1776-1783
London v Scipion – 17 October 1782 The British ships of the line Torbay 74, Captain John Lewis Gidoin, and London 90, Captain James Kempthorne, were cruising to the east of San Domingo in company with the sloop Badger 18, Commander Safry Hills, when at 9...
