| Battle of Jobourg | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theNapoleonic Wars | |||||||
 Capture of the Étoile by the Hebrus off Cape La Hogue,Nicholas Pocock | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom |  French Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Sir Michael Seymour Edmund Palmer | Pierre-Henri Philibert Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1ship of the line 1frigate 1brig | 2frigates | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 14 killed, 26 wounded | 40 killed, 73 wounded 2 frigates captured | ||||||
TheBattle of Jobourg was a minor naval engagement betweenBritish andFrenchfrigate squadrons during the last weeks of theWar of the Sixth Coalition in the 22nd and penultimate year of theFrench Revolutionary andNapoleonic Wars. In October 1813 the French Navy, unable to challenge the Royal Navy's dominance at sea, sent two small squadrons of frigates to harass British trade in theAtlantic Ocean. One was brought to battle in January 1814 and defeated near theCanary Islands but the second, fromNantes and consisting of the frigatesEtoile andSultane, fought an inconclusive engagement against British frigateHMSSevern on 4 January in the mid-Atlantic and a furious battle againstHMSAstrea andHMSCreole on 23 January nearMaio in theCape Verde Islands.
Attempting to return toSaint Malo in March, with the Allied armies at the gates ofParis and the war coming to a close, the French squadron was intercepted near theÎle de Batz by a much stronger British squadron including theship of the lineHMSHannibal, frigateHMSHebrus andbrigHMSSparrow.Sultane, badly damaged in the engagement withCreole, was soon chased down byHannibal and surrendered without a fight butEtoile, faced with only theHebrus, turned away in an attempt to escape. Early in the morning of 27 March,Hebrus succeeded in reaching its quarry offJobourg inNormandy and the frigates fought a fierce engagement close inshore. After more than two hours,Etoile'scolours were struck and she surrendered. Casualties were heavy on both ships, but both prizes were successfully returned to Britain and commissioned into the Royal Navy. This was the final naval engagement of the War of the Sixth Coalition, which came to an end withEmperor Napoleon's abdication on 11 April.
By the end of October 1813 theWar of the Sixth Coalition was in its final stages;Emperor Napoleon had been defeated at theBattle of Leipzig by the Allied European armies and was retreating to the borders of France,[1] while the British army under theLord Wellington had crossed thePyrenees and was advancing onToulouse. The French Navy had never recovered from defeat at theBattle of Trafalgar in 1805 and had made no serious effort to put to sea since the abortive attempt which ended in defeat at theBattle of Basque Roads in 1809.[2] British control of theAtlantic Ocean trade routes was at this stage only contested by the smallUnited States Navy and the handful of French raiders capable of evading theRoyal Navy's constant closeblockade of French ports, which had operated effectively and almost continuously since the outbreak of theFrench Revolutionary Wars in 1793.[3]
In late October, small raiding squadrons, each consisting of two newly builtfrigates with picked crews and commanders departed France with instructions to attack British merchant shipping in the Atlantic.[4] The first squadron was dispatched fromCherbourg and consisted of the 40-gun shipsIphigénie andAlcmène. The second sailed fromNantes and comprised theEtoile under CaptainPierre-Henri Philibert andSultane under CaptainGeorges Du-Petit-Thouars. WhileIphigénie andAlcmène targeted British trade withWest Africa,Etoile andSultane were directed to the centre Atlantic.Iphigénie andAlcmène captured several valuable British merchant ships before being intercepted and defeated on 16 January 1814 near theCanary Islands.[5]
On 18 January 1814Etoile andSultane encountered a British merchant convoy at24°N53°W / 24°N 53°W /24; -53 ("Action of 18 January 1814") in the Central North Atlantic. Sighting distant sails at 04:00, the French captains soon confirmed that the convoy, sailing northwest towards its destination ofBermuda, was defended by only one British warship, the 40-gun frigateHMSSevern under CaptainJames Nourse.[6] At 07:30, Nourse approached the unidentified ships, determining at 08:40 that they were enemy vessels and giving orders for the convoy to scatter. The French squadron pursuedSevern, Nourse opening long-range fire with his stern mounted guns atEtoile at 10:30.[7] The French ship held off returning fire with its bow guns until 16:05 when the range had narrowed considerably,Severn's flight distracting the French sufficiently to allow the convoy to escape.Severn proved to be a fast ship, Nourse successfully holding off pursuit through an exchange of fire at a distance of more than 2 nautical miles (3.7 km). At 17:30 French fire stopped as the range lengthened once more, andSevern began to pull away, Philibert finally calling off pursuit at 08:00 on 19 January.[6]
| Battle of Maio | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theNapoleonic Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| United Kingdom | French Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| George Charles Mackenzie John Eveleigh † | Pierre-Henri Philibert Georges Du-Petit-Thouars | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2frigates | 2frigates | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 19 killed, 63 wounded | 20–40 killed, 30–60 wounded | ||||||
The French squadron then sailed southwest, arriving atMaio in the PortugueseCape Verde Islands on 22 January. The squadron anchored atPorto Inglês, and was discovered there at 09:55 the following morning by a British frigate squadron of the 36-gun ships HMSAstrea under CaptainGeorge Charles Mackenzie andHMSCreole under CaptainJohn Eveleigh. The British ships wereen route to Porto Inglês fromFuerteventura and first spied the French ships, with two small prizes, at anchor from across a promontory, assuming them to be Spanish or Portuguese ships. When the French failed to respond to the coded signals however the British captains realised that the strangers must be enemy vessels and resolved to attack them where they were anchored.[8]
At 12:00 the French ships sailed for the open sea southeast along the coast of Maio, pursued by the British.Astrea suffered in the high winds, losing several topsails which impeded her speed. WithCreole in the lead, the British ships succeeded in cutting ahead of the French by 12:45, Eveleigh firing his bow guns ahead of the French and exchangingbroadsides withSultane at 13:00.[8] AsCreole andSultane engaged one another, Mackenzie took his repaired ship through the gap between them, exchanging two broadsides at close range withSultane and advancing onEtoile which had pulled ahead of the combat.Astraea's intervention was timely, allowing Eveleigh to extinguish a small fire which had broken out in his rigging beforeCreole rejoined the combat at 14:30. Another fire broke out almost immediately, and although it was extinguishedAstraea was badly damaged by fire fromSultane. Deciding that his ship could no longer effectively compete against the French warship, Mackenzie withdrew from combat, retreating towards the island ofSantiago.[7]
Astrea reachedEtoile at 14:30, exchanging broadsides beforeraking the starboard bow of Philibert's ship. In the course of the manoeuvre,Astrea's helmsman lost control of the ship, and Philibert seized the opportunity to steerEtoile across the stern ofAstrea. Pouring raking fire into the British ship from point blank range, Philibert inflicted severe damage toAstrea's quarterdeck, tearing away fittings and detonating a loadedcarronade.[9] Eveleigh desperately pulled his ship back alongsideEtoile, but in doing so was struck in the chest and killed by pistol fire from the deck ofEtoile. Lieutenant John Bulford assumed command, continuing to fight Philibert at close range. By 15:05 however it was clear that there was no prospect of victory:Creole could be seen retreating from the battle whileSultane was rapidly approaching the combat, threatening to overwhelm the stricken frigate even as a fire broke out on the main topsail. The fire was soon extinguished, and Bulford contemplated an attempt toboardEtoile but was thwarted by rough seas. At 15:30Sultane rakedAstrea before pulling away, Du Petit-Thouars considering that Philibert needed no assistance against the damaged British frigate.[9]
At 16:15 the mizzenmast ofAstrea, on fire once more, crashed over the side, leaving Bulford's ship unmaneuverable. Apparently content with reducing the British ship to a crippled state, Philibert withdrewEtoile to the southwest, joiningSultane, which was struggling with a collapsed main topmast. Thus reprieved, Bulford followedCreole towards Santiago, both British ships arriving soon afterwards in the port ofPraia. British losses were heavy,Creole losing ten killed and 26 wounded whileAstrea lost nine killed, including Captain Eveleigh, and 37 wounded. Both ships were badly damaged andAstrea was subsequently considered to have been lucky not to have been captured:William James wrote thatAstrea was "in a state not less of surprise than of joy at her extraordinary escape".[10]
Etoile andSultane, although the ostensible victors in the engagement, were both badly damaged themselves, with all masts suffering severely from the British bombardment and combined casualties of between 20–40 killed and 30–60 wounded.[10] The damage to the masts was serious, as the frigates were thousands of miles from a friendly port and unable to effect any but the most basic repairs.Sultane in particular needed substantial temporary repairs and was forced to erectjury masts as the damage was too severe for regular service. Unable to continue their cruise, the frigates turned north towards Europe. By 26 March the squadron was sailing eastwards in theEnglish Channel, approximately 35 nautical miles (65 km) north of theÎle de Batz inBrittanyen route to theNormandy port ofSaint Malo. At 09:00 two vessels were sighted close by, their approach masked by heavyfog. These were the British 36-gun frigateHMSHebrus under CaptainEdmund Palmer and the 16-gunbrig-sloopHMSSparrow under CommanderFrancis Erskine Loch,[11] participating in the blockade of the French Channel ports.[12]
Sparrow had been sighted so close to the French ships that it came under immediate fire, which tore up the rigging, killed a petty officer and wounded another sailor.Sparrow closed withHebrus for support, Palmer firing long-distance broadsides at the French while signalling for support from the nearby 74-gunship of the lineHMSHannibal under CaptainSir Michael Seymour.[13] As the fog cleared,Hannibal could be clearly seen advancing under all sail from the northwest. As a shift in the wind to the northwest at 11:00 offered the French an opportunity of escape, the frigates separated, the damagedSultane following the wind andEtoile turning to the southeast. Recognising that onlyHebrus was in a position to catchEtoile, Seymour ordered Palmer to pursue whileHannibal andSparrow advanced onSultane. Du Petit-Thouars' ship was in no position to evade or resist the much larger British warship and was within range ofHannibal by 15:30, Seymour firing two warning shots overSultane. Recognising his inevitable defeat, Du Petit-Thouars fired a broadside into the sea away fromHannibal andstruck his flag in a gesture of surrender at 16:15, Seymour taking possession of the French ship.[14]
While his companion was overrun byHannibal, Philibert was making strenuous efforts to escape fromHebrus. By 14:00 theSultane andHannibal were out of sight,Sparrow disappearing over the horizon three hours later withEtoile 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) ahead of Palmer's pursuit. Philibert turned northeast in a further effort to get away, butHebrus was still slowly gaining onEtoile was night fell. As the ships passed throughAlderney Race, Palmer gained considerable water on Philibert, driving the French ship close inshore near the village ofJobourg at 01:35 on 27 March.[15] Faced with the risk of grounding in the dark, Philibert turned and opened fire onHebrus at 01:45, the frigates exchanging fire asEtoile slowlywore around Jobourg Point. Palmer attempted to rakeEtoile, passing so close astern that their rigging almost entangled, but Philibert responded by crossing the bows ofHebrus, inflicting severe damage to the British ship's rigging at 02:20. Maneuvering away from land, Palmer was assisted by a light breeze at 03:00, passing repeatedly acrossEtoile's bow and raking the ship each time, causing serious damage so that by 03:45 Philibert's mizzenmast had collapsed over the side. Fifteen minutes laterEtoile finally ceased fire, with Philibert hailing to announce his surrender.[13]
Palmer's first task was to pull both ships away from the immediate shoreline; in addition to the risk of grounding, a French gun battery had opened fire at random in the dark, shot striking both British and French ships. By 07:00 bothHebrus andEtoile had been successfully extracted around Jobourg point, coming to anchor near the coastal village ofVauville.[16]Hebrus had considerable damage to her rigging and 13 dead and 25 wounded from a crew of 284.Etoile's main damage was in the hull, with losses of 40 killed and 73 wounded from a crew of 327. The damage toEtoile so severe that Palmer immediately ordered the ship to make forPlymouth, arriving on 29 March.Sultane was in a better state, reachingPortsmouth sometime earlier. Both frigates were newly built and in good condition, both being commissioned into the Royal Navy,Etoile as HMSTopaze andSultane under her own name.[17] In his report on the action, Seymour wrote of Palmer that " I am quite at a loss how to express, in adequate terms, my admiration of Captain Palmer's skill and decision on so interesting an occasion, and his new ship's company, his officers and his own able and intrepid conduct."[18] More than three decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to theNaval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.[19]
The battle was the last significant naval action of the War of the Sixth Coalition, the Allied armies entering Paris on 30 March and Napoleon, isolated and defeated, abdicating on 6 April.[1] Combat in the Atlantic would continue with theWar of 1812, and there was one final naval engagement of the long Napoleonic Wars during theHundred Days in 1815, when the ship of the lineHMSRivoli intercepted and defeated the Napoleonic frigateMelpomène on 30 April.[20]Hebrus's battle withEtoile was however the final encounter of dozens between individual frigates in the almost continuous 23-years of warfare between Britain and France.[21]