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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 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 | Mar 15, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
?Although the War of the First Coalition between Republican France and the Austro / Prussian alliance had been raging throughout Europe since the previous April, it was not until the second day of 1793 that the first shots of the conflict involving Britain were...
by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 25, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Admiralty responds to Revolutionary France’s Declaration of War – February 1793 Throughout the month of January 1793, as it became apparent that the long-expected war with the revolutionary National Convention of France was imminent, His...
by Richard Hiscocks | Apr 3, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Admiral Gardner’s Leeward Islands Campaign – March to October 1793 ? On 26 March, twenty days after hoisting his flag at Spithead, Rear-Admiral Alan Gardner, the newly appointed commander-in-chief in the Leeward Islands in succession to Vice-Admiral Sir...
by Richard Hiscocks | Apr 18, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Capture of the General Dumourier and St. Jago – 14 April 1793 On 5 April Rear-Admiral John Gell departed St. Helens with six sail of the line and a frigate in escort of an East India convoy of ten ships which he had orders to see to a safe latitude,...
by Richard Hiscocks | Apr 27, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Venus v Semillante – 27 May 1793 On 19 May the twelve-pounder frigates Nymphe 36, Captain Edward Pellew, and Venus 32, Captain Jonathan Faulknor, departed Portsmouth with orders to act against the various French cruisers that were playing havoc...
by Richard Hiscocks | May 17, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
The Capture of the Hyaena and the Peril to her crew on Haiti – 27 May 1793 On 26 May, whilst on reconnaissance off Cape Tiburon, Haiti, the spar-decked ship Hyaena 24, Captain William Hargood, discovered a strange squadron to windward, and in...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jun 13, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
?At daybreak on the glorious morning of Wednesday 19 June, some twenty miles south of Start Point, Devon, the Nymphe 36, commanded by Captain Edward Pellew, and two days out of his home port of Falmouth bound for Spithead, found herself in the company of the one...
by Richard Hiscocks | Jul 31, 2019 | 1793, The French Revolutionary War 1793-1802
Lord Hood’s Cunning Plan Confuses Captain Lumsdaine – July 1793 When the Mediterranean fleet was anchored off Gibraltar prior to sailing for the blockade of Toulon, the commander-in-chief, Vice-Admiral Lord Hood, formulated a devious plan that was...
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....
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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 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...
