Destruction of the French Frigate Confiante – 31 May 1798
In May 1798 a mis-matched engagement between the British frigate Hydra 38 and the French frigate Confiante 36 saw the latter driven ashore – she was later burned under fire by the Hydra’s lieutenants.
At dawn on 30 May 1798, a detachment of Captain Sir Richard Strachan’s squadron on the Normandy coast consisting of the frigate Hydra 38, Captain Sir Francis Laforey, cutter Trial 12, Lieutenant Henry Garrett, and bomb-ketch Vesuvius 8, Commander Robert Lewis Fitzgerald, were close-hauled on the larboard tack patrolling off Le Havre with the wind in the east north-east, when two ships were seen approaching from windward on the starboard tack. These vessels were the French 12-pounder frigate Confiante 36, Captain Étienne Pevrieux, and the 9-pounder corvette Vésuve 16, Captain Jean-Baptiste Louis Lecolier, accompanied by a cutter. The French vessels had left Le Havre on the previous evening and were heading westwards along the coast for Cherbourg .
Upon sighting the British squadron, the French came about on the larboard tack and ran close inshore before tacking again. At this point the Vésuve fired at the Hydra, which was ahead and to windward of her consorts. Laforey’s frigate returned shot before putting about on the starboard tack, and in response the two French vessels tacked once more. At around 6:00 a.m., now about two miles offshore, the French ships passed on opposing courses on either side of the Hydra and exchanged broadsides with her. Unsurprisingly, the Hydra’s heavier fire proved far the more effective, and forced the Vésuve to put before the wind and head for the shore. At 6:30 a.m. with the enemy vessels separating., Laforey ordered the Vesuvius and Trial to chase the Vésuve, while his ship, the Hydra, tacked once more in pursuit of the Confiante as she raced back towards Le Havre.
The Hydra had only been in commission for just over a year and Sir Francis Laforey was her first commander. She carried twenty-eight 18-pounder cannons on her upper gun deck and fourteen 32-pounder carronades on her quarterdeck and forecastle, giving her a broadside weight of metal of 476 pounds . She also carried two 9-pounder ‘chase’ cannons on her forecastle. Her nominal crew was 284 men, and the 30-year-old Captain Laforey, who had recently inherited a baronetcy from his father, Admiral Sir John Laforey, was a post-captain of almost five years seniority. A popular and esteemed officer, his current claim to fame was his easy recapture of the British frigate Castor 32 in 1794 whilst commanding the Carysfort 28.
The Confiante, although described as a corvette in some French historical records, was (according to Captain Laforey’s officers who were to later board her) a frigate carrying thirty-six 12-pounder cannons. Even allowing for the fact that she might have also carried six 6-pounder cannons on her quarterdeck and forecastle, her broadside weight of metal was less than half that of the Hydra. Documents later found aboard her suggested that her crew numbered 300 men. Her commander, Captain Pevrieux, had already lost one frigate to the British, his Proserpine 40 having been captured by the Dryad 36, Captain Lord Amelius Beauclerk, off Cape Clear in June 1796 when attempting to flee what should have been an equally matched duel.
Catching up with the French ship, for some fifty minutes the Hydra sent broadside after broadside into the Confiante. At 7:15 the tide was at its highest, and it carried the French frigate ashore on the sands near Breazeal, to the east of the River Dives, and still some ten miles from Le Havre. Closing in to musket range, the Hydra battered her opponent until about 9:30, knocking over her mizzenmast yet receiving little fire in return. When the tide ebbed it took the Hydra out to sea, and shortly afterwards the Trial and Vesuvius were recalled from the mouth of the nearby River Dives, where they had been attacking the Vésuve. The corvette had initially grounded on the beach and then had gone aground again attempting to evade the two British vessels by drifting down to the Orne Estuary on the rising tide .
Once the tide allowed, the Trial was despatched by Laforey to check on the state of the Confiante, and despite being fired upon she returned with news that a force of troops was assembling on the beach and land above to protect the French frigate, which by now had been hauled further inshore. Resolving to destroy the Confiante, Laforey patrolled close inshore though the rest of the day and ensuing night.
By the next morning, the 31st, it was clear that many of the Confiante’s crew had been removed from the ship, and Laforey decided it was now time to act. At 10:00 a.m. Lieutenants George Acklom and William Joseph Symons, assisted by Lieutenant Blanch of the marines, commanded the ships’ boats as they headed for the French frigate, under protection of the Trial and the Hydra, which took advantage of the high tide to get in close and provide covering fire. At about 12:45, after a long row, the men in the boats managed to get aboard the Confiante, which had now been totally abandoned. French infantry and cavalry and the frigate’s late crew plied the British with musketry from the beach and the higher ground above, but this did not prevent the lieutenants from setting fire to the Confiante – she was fully ablaze by 1:30. Within another hour the boarding party had returned to Laforey’s squadron, their mission successfully completed with no casualties.
For her part the Vésuve, was kedged off on the rising tide while the boats were occupied in attacking the Confiante, and she was manoeuvred to safety in the River Dives. Gunboats at Sallenelles under the command of Captain Muskein, (the recent unsuccessful assailant of the St. Marcou islands), defended her with the support of a hastily constructed battery. Appearing off the river on 1 June to take command of the British force, Captain Strachan decided that any further attack was impractical, and the Vésuve eventually made it to Le Havre.
Laforey’s letter to Captain Strachan, dated 1 June off Le Havre, reached the Admiralty office eight days later. In it he speculated that the losses among the Confiante’s 300-man crew must have been severe, whilst confirming that the Hydra had suffered no casualties and only minor damage to her rigging and mainmast.
French historians criticised Captain Pevrieux for failing to utilise the combined firepower of the Confiante and Vésuve against the Hydra, but a court-martial decided that he was blameless. Captain Laforey enjoyed a long career in the Navy, commanding the Spartiate 74 at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 where his dull-sailing ship nevertheless contributed to the victory, and ending his career in the last years of the Napoleonic War as the commander-in-chief in the Leeward Islands. Lieutenant Acklom also fought at the Battle of Trafalgar (as the first lieutenant of the Neptune 98, Captain Thomas Fremantle), and he was eventually promoted captain in January 1812. The Hydra remained fully employed through the French wars without ever surpassing the distinction gained by her destruction of the Confiante, and after being laid up at the end of 1817, she was sold out of the service.