Rear-Admiral Man ‘deserts’ the Mediterranean Fleet – October

On 8 October Spain allied with France and declared war against Britain, and at once the position of Admiral Sir John Jervis’ Mediterranean Fleet became insecure, for being outnumbered by the enemy, he could not plausibly retain his base at Corsica, nor patrol his station without fear of being brought to battle by a superior force. Recognising the severity of Jervis’s predicament, the Government sent out orders instructing him to evacuate Corsica and to retreat down the Mediterranean.

The situation on Jervis’ station had been worsening for some months, and in June, Captain Thomas Fremantle of the Inconstant 36 had been ordered to evacuate the British residents and property from Leghorn under fire from the encroaching French. Then on 4 August, with the Franco-Spanish alliance nearing ratification, a Spanish fleet commanded by Admiral Don Juan de Langara had escorted Rear-Admiral Joseph de Richery’s Newfoundland-bound French squadron of seven sail of the line and three frigates safely out to sea from Cadiz, where it had been harboured for some months. After a brief return to port, the Spanish had then sent de Langara’s fleet into the Mediterranean, and his nineteen sail of the line was, theoretically, superior to the fifteen Jervis currently had with him at Corsica.

Rear-Admiral Robert Man

When news of the Spanish declaration of war reached Jervis at his anchorage in San Fiorenzo Bay on the north-west of Corsica, he was anxiously awaiting the return of an additional seven sail of the line under his third-in-command, Rear-Admiral Robert Man. The subordinate officer, who at the time was not in the best of health, had been keeping watch on de Richery in Cadiz over the summer but had departed that post on 26 July upon being summoned to Corsica by Jervis. However, upon rendezvousing with the fleet, Man had promptly been despatched back to Gibraltar to take on the provisions he should have brought to Jervis in the first place. Whilst lying almost becalmed on his passage to the Rock, the rear-admiral had fallen in with de Langara’s fleet some dozen miles to the south-east of Cape de Gata near Valencia at sunset on 1 October. A two-day chase had followed, during which Man had lost a brig and one of three transports he had been convoying. Nevertheless, on 3 October, he had managed to bring his squadron to anchor at Gibraltar.

Having taken on board the fleet’s stores, Man had then come to a controversial decision that would have far-reaching implications for the British presence in southern Europe, for rather than returning to Corsica, he had decided to post his squadron off Cape St. Vincent to await Jervis’s retreat. On 10 October, the commander-in-chief’s messenger found him with orders to return to Corsica forthwith, but a prevarication and consensus that would have been unfathomable to Jervis now occurred, for Man called a council of his captains which concluded that to risk encountering the Spanish fleet once more meant that a return to the Mediterranean was too hazardous. Instead, the squadron remained cruising off Cape St. Vincent.

Back in the Mediterranean, de Langara had brought his force up to twenty-six sail of the line after uniting with seven sail of the line from Cartagena, and on 15 October his enlarged fleet was spotted off the northern tip of Corsica in the Ligurian Sea by Jervis’ cruisers. To make the retreat from the island even more problematical for the British, a French army of invasion led by the Corsican General Casalta had landed on Corsica, and in uniting with local Republicans, it threatened to drive the British out before the orderly evacuation could be implemented. In the absence of Man, Commodore Horatio Nelson was sent with his broad pennant in the Diadem 64, Captain George Henry Towry, to evacuate the garrison from Bastia and to collect his erstwhile command, the Captain 74, commanded temporarily at the time by Lieutenant Edward Berry, and the Egmont 74, Captain John Sutton. Despite Republican harassment, the withdrawal from Bastia was completed by midnight on 19 October, and Captain Towry with the Diadem then performed a similar task at Calvi, as did Captain James Macnamara of the Southampton 32 at Ajaccio.

Back in San Fiorenzo Bay, Admiral Jervis awaited Man as long as was feasible, but with his anchorage coming under attack and stores running so low that his men were reduced to half-rations, he was forced to withdraw on 2 November. Learning that de Langara had joined forces with the dozen ships of the French Toulon fleet at the end of October, he now faced a combined enemy force totalling thirty-eight ships of the line with his fifteen. Being unaware of Man’s whereabouts, he was thus unable to accede to newly received orders from the Government reversing the withdrawal of Corsica, and instead he was left with little option but to continue his retreat all the way to Gibraltar, reaching the Rock on 1 December with the Smyrna convoy in company. Here his infuriation at Man’s failure to rejoin him reached new heights amidst rumours that the rear-admiral had returned to England.

Within a few days of the fleet’s appearance at Gibraltar the bleak situation deteriorated yet further, for on 9 December a hurricane drove the Courageux 74 from her moorings whilst her captain, Benjamin Hallowell, was ashore, and nine days later the vessel was wrecked with huge loss of life on the Barbary Coast. If that were not enough, the Gibraltar 80, Captain John Pakenham, had to be sent home for repairs after grounding outside Gibraltar Bay, and the Zealous 74, Captain Samuel Hood, required docking after driving ashore near Tangiers. Then to compound matters still further, the very elements that had caused these calamities were to prove of benefit to the French, for after parting with the Spanish at Cartagena, a division of the Toulon fleet under Rear-Admiral Pierre Villeneuve consisting of five sail of the line and three frigates was able to rush past Gibraltar on the afternoon of 10 December in the raging gale which pinned Jervis’ fleet at anchor. Thereafter it made its way safely to Brest to supplement the force there.

On 15 December, Commodore Nelson was ordered back up the Mediterranean with the Minerve 38, Captain George Cockburn, and the Blanche 32, Captain d’Arcy Preston, to evacuate the last British base in the Mediterranean on the island of Elba, in the prosecution of which mission he would typically enjoy several adventures. Meanwhile, being unable to accommodate his entire fleet safely at Gibraltar, Jervis withdrew his remaining ships to the Tagus on 21 December. The location of this base at least had the advantage of providing the government at home with some reassurance as to the defence of the United Kingdom.

As for the errant Rear-Admiral Man, in despairing of Jervis’ arrival, enduring rough weather, and with his men suffering badly from dysentery, he had indeed sailed for England with his squadron. Once his flagship arrived home on 30 December he was treated with official disapproval, although the newspapers hardly mentioned anything about his precipitate return bar his ‘fortunate’ arrival at Plymouth with his ‘disabled squadron’. He must have been fortunate in his choice of friends, for despite being ordered to strike his flag and retire ashore, he did not face a court-martial into his conduct and twenty-one months later he was appointed a junior lord of the Admiralty.

Spain’s entry into the war, and Man’s desertion, had dealt the British a near fatal blow, which could have been far worse had the allies brought their overwhelming force to bear on Jervis’s weakened fleet. Nevertheless, the absence of a British presence meant that Italy and the rest of the Mediterranean at once became subject to the influence of the French, and the young republic quickly subsumed the remainder of Corsica.

Rear-Admiral Man’s Squadron:

Admiral Jervis’ fleet:

Rear-Admiral Villeneuve’s squadron:
1 x 80 guns: Formidable:
4 x 74 guns: Jean-Jacques , Jemmapes, Mont-Blanc, Tyrannicide:
3 x frigates: Alceste 36, Diana, Vestale 36: