Mars vs. Hercule – 21 April 1798
In April 1798, a ferocious night engagement between the battle-hardened British sail of the line Mars 74 and the newly commissioned French ship Hercule 74 resulted in the capture of the latter vessel, but the death of Captain Alexander Hood, the cousin of Admirals Lord Hood and Lord Bridport.
On 12 April 1798, the Mars 74, Captain Alexander Hood, departed Spithead with Admiral Lord Bridport’s ten sail of the line and associated frigates, comprising part of the Channel Fleet. Nine days later, the force was off the Iroise Passage near Brest with the wind from the north-east when two unknown vessels were discovered some ten or so miles to windward. The closest British ships, the Mars, the Ramillies 74, Captain Bartholomew Rowley, and the Jason 38, Captain Charles Stirling, gave chase. They were just coming up with the strangers at 2 p.m. when another larger sail was spotted some fifteen miles away to the east south-east, so instead the three vessels set a course to intercept it. The new vessel would prove to be the recently commissioned French ship of the line Hercule 74, Captain Louis l’Héritier, attempting to get into Brest from Lorient with a detachment of soldiers aboard.
Over the course of the late afternoon and early evening the three British ships raced south across the Iroise in chase of the Hercule, but soon the Ramillies lost her foretopmast and she dropped away at 6.20, leaving Hood’s ship and the Jason to continue the pursuit. At this point the remainder of the Channel Fleet was out of sight some dozen miles or so to the west. By 7.30 p.m., the frigate had fallen well astern having been outsailed by the Mars; Hood’s ship was now about eight miles to the north-west of the Penmarks (on the south-west tip of the Breton peninsula) with Brest about twenty miles away to the north. Clearly the Hercule was seeking to reach the port through the Passage du Raz, but unfortunately for the French vessel both the current and the wind were against her. Thus at 8.30 her captain found it necessary to anchor with furled sails, and to await the Mars, which by now had put about on the starboard tack and was fast approaching in the gloom.
The Mars had been launched three and a half years earlier at Deptford and had spent all of her career with the Channel Fleet, being present at the Battle of Groix in June 1795. She carried twenty-eight 32-pounder cannons on her lower gun deck, thirty 24-pounders on her upper gun deck, sixteen nine-pounders on her quarterdeck and forecastle, two 32-pound carronades and six 24-pound carronades, giving her a broadside weight of metal of 1,016 pounds. Her crew numbered 634 hands, of whom a large proportion were either quota or pressed men. Captain Hood had joined her in February 1797 and had recently celebrated his 40th birthday. He was an experienced officer who had fought in three battles in the American Revolutionary War, and although he may have lacked the drive of his brother Samuel and cousins, the Viscounts Hood and Bridport, (perhaps because of a constitution that was far from robust), he was well-regarded by his fellow officers; however during the Spithead Mutiny a year earlier he had been sent ashore by his unhappy crew.
The Hercule had only been launched at Lorient in December 1797. She had twenty-eight French 32-pounders on her lower gun deck, thirty French 18-pounders on her upper gun deck, four French 36-pounder carronades on her quarterdeck, and an additional sixteen French 8-pounder cannons on her quarterdeck and forecastle, giving her an equivalent weight of broadside of 982 pounds. Her crew at this time was reported to have numbered 680 men, and the 50-year-old captain l’Héritier was an experienced seaman who had seen a great deal of service in both the French navy and merchant marine. He had already been a prisoner to the British, his ship the America having been captured at the Battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794.
Therefore, the two vessels were almost evenly matched in gunpower, but the crew of the Mars had the experience of three and a half years of arduous Channel service and had been proven in battle, while the Hercule was a brand-new ship on her first voyage with an untried crew.
Although he had lost sight of the Hercule in the darkness, Hood confidently steered for the point where the French ship must have anchored, and at 8.45 the Mars’ main sails were hauled up to slow the ship. Shortly after 9 p.m. she came up with the Hercule. In the shallow waters it was impossible for the two ships to manoeuvre, but the French ship had laid a spring on her cable, allowing her to swing to face her assailant. Hood’s initial plan was to cross the bow of the anchored ship, but the strong current made this impossible. Instead, he decided to lay her so close alongside as to (in the words of a lieutenant’s later dispatch) ‘unhinge some of the lower deck ports.’
At 9.15 both ships began pouring broadsides into each other. As the Mars manoeuvred alongside the Frenchman, so her larboard anchor hooked onto the starboard bow of her enemy and the two ships ground into each other. The third lieutenant, 30-year-old George Argles, lashed the Mars to the Hercule’s cathead – in this position the guns could not be run out, so they were fired from inboard. The resulting murderous cannon fire continued for over an hour, with the Hercule suffering horrendous casualties, although this did not prevent her from retaliating effectively with combustibles and musketry. One shot brought down Captain Hood, who was wounded twenty minutes into the action when a musket ball entered his thigh and severed his femoral artery. His first lieutenant, William Butterfield, then took command of the ship.
The only hope for the French was to board the Mars and capture her. Twice they attempted to do so -more British officers fell in the bitter fighting that turned the French back, including the marine captain, Joseph White, who was killed, and Lieutenant George Arnauld Ford, wounded. It fell to the boatswain to inspire the defenders until the gunnery of the Mars crushed the French attack. At 10.30 a boarding party headed by the second lieutenant, 28-year-old Irishman John Bowker, and a junior lieutenant, William Bowden, fought their way into the Hercule through her gun ports. After initially appearing to seek quarter, the enemy rallied with sixty men, and Bowker found himself fighting the French second captain, before over-balancing when making a pike thrust and tumbling from the quarterdeck down as far as the orlop. Eventually, the boarders from the Mars overpowered the defenders.
After his colours were hauled down, the wounded French captain’s sword was handed over to the Mars’ chaplain, the Reverend Morgan, a veteran of the Battle of the Glorious First of June. It was then taken to Captain Hood who had been bleeding to death for the best part of an hour; he clung to life just long enough to silently grasp the sword signifying his victory. As all the other British officers were either killed, wounded, or engaged in extinguishing the three separate fires aboard the Hercule, it fell to Morgan to carry the tidings of the victory to Captain Stirling of the Jason, which had by now arrived on the scene. Stirling’s first action was to send men aboard both ships of the line to help extinguish the fires that had broken out. Once secured, the Hercule was then conducted to the Channel fleet under Lieutenant Bowker’s command.
Captain Hood was one of the 30 killed men aboard the Mars. An additional 60 men were wounded including Lieutenant Argles, who despite his severe injuries had never left the deck, and there were up to 290 casualties reported by the officers of the Hercule. When the Mars and her prize reached the rest of the Channel Fleet offshore, Lord Bridport gave Lieutenant Butterfield the honour of carrying the Hercule into Plymouth, while acting Captain George James Shirley took over the Mars. The two ships travelled in company with the Jason, which was carrying 200 of the captured French crew. On reaching Plymouth on 27 April, Butterfield wrote a detailed report to the Admiralty, and he was immediately promoted commander with seniority from 26 April.
Such had been the severity of the battle that the Hercule’s hull was described as a honeycomb, with multiple gunports knocked into one, and her larboard side scorched by the flashes of gunfire. Her opponent was also damaged, primarily in her sails and rigging but these were soon repaired at Plymouth. Captain Hood’s body had been preserved in 87 gallons of brandy, and at midday on 1 May it was conveyed ashore at Plymouth before all of the captains and officers present in the port. A guard of marines and troops lined the streets as the coffin was borne in procession through the town before being taken to his family home at Butleigh in Somerset for interment. The crew of the Mars contributed to a monument for two of their fallen shipmates (James Hinde and John Fitter) at Stoke, near Plymouth. Twenty-six of their number (including Chaplain Morgan) lived long enough to claim the Naval General Service medal awarded in 1847 for their victory.
Bought into the Navy at a cost of 12,500 guineas, the Hercule retained her French name, seeing much service in the West Indies before eventually being broken up in 1810. The Mars remained in service until 1810 and was prominent at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 where her captain, George Duff, lost his life.
Commander Butterfield died an admiral in 1842 having held several commands in the last years of the Napoleonic War. Lieutenant Argles also rose to post rank, achieving his step at the end of the French Revolutionary War, however after service in the Napoleonic War he fell victim to depression and committed suicide in 1831, aged 64. Lieutenant Bowker had to wait longer (until August 1811) for his promotion, and he ended his life in the 1850’s as a captain of Greenwich Hospital.
For his part, Captain l’Héritier, who had been wounded in the head by a sabre cut and also wounded in the leg, was lauded both in Britain and France for his untrained ship’s bold resistance. Once he was exchanged, he was deservedly acquitted of any blame for her loss and promoted into a larger ship. He eventually retired as a rear-admiral after the restoration of the French monarchy in 1815.