| Battle of the Hyères Islands | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theMediterranean campaign of 1793–1796 | |||||||
 1707 map of theÎles d'Hyères | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Great Britain Naples |  France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| William HothamHoratio Nelson | Pierre Martin | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 23 ships of the line 2 frigates 1 corvette 3 brigs 1 cutter (OOB) | 19 ships of the line 7 frigates 1 corvette 4 brigs (OOB) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 11 killed 28 wounded | c. 300 killed or wounded 1 ship of the line destroyed | ||||||
TheBattle of the Hyères Islands was a naval engagement fought between a combinedBritish andNeapolitan fleet and theFrench Mediterranean Fleet on 13 July 1795 during theFrench Revolutionary Wars. Since the start of the war in 1793 the French fleet had suffered a series of damaging defeats and was restricted to limited operations off the French Mediterranean Coast in the face of a determined alliedblockade. The French fleet, commanded byPierre Martin, had sought to test the blockade during 1795, and in March had been caught by the British, underWilliam Hotham, in theGulf of Genoa. At the ensuingBattle of Genoa two French ships were captured before Martin was able to retreat to a safe anchorage.
During the spring Martin and Hotham both received reinforcements from their respective Atlantic Fleets, the British admiral sailing offMinorca while Martin was forced to put down a mutiny among his sailors. By June Hotham had returned to theLigurian Sea, anchored inSan Fiorenzo Bay, when the French fleet sailed once more. In early July Martin's fleet was discovered offCap Corse by a British flying squadron under CaptainHoratio Nelson and, with some delay, Hotham set off in pursuit. Martin retreated towards the safe anchorage of theÎles d'Hyères, but on 13 July his straggling ships were caught by the British vanguard. In a short battle the British cut off the rearmost shipAlcide and forced it to surrender.
Alcide had caught fire during the action and blew up shortly afterwards with heavy loss of life. Hotham was in a position to attack the surviving French fleet but declined, to the frustration of his officers and the criticism of later historians. The British retained their blockade, and Martin did not contest it again for the remainder of the year. This was the last fleet action in the Mediterranean before the British fleet was forced to withdraw in late 1796 – the next major engagement in the region was theBattle of the Nile in 1798.
Early in theFrench Revolutionary Wars the British Mediterranean Fleet seized the entire French Mediterranean Fleet at the start of theSiege of Toulon in August 1793.[1] Shortly before French forces recaptured the city in December, boarding parties attempted to burn the French fleet, but due to failures by Spanish forces only half of the French ships were destroyed.[2] In 1794, as the French repaired their ships, the Britishinvaded and captured the island ofCorsica, subsequently usingSan Fiorenzo Bay as an anchorage from which they couldblockadeToulon.[3]
Although the French fleet, under the command of Counter-admiralPierre Martin, made abrief sally from port in June 1794, it was not until March 1795 that it had the strength necessary for a large scale cruise.[4] Sailing from Toulon on 3 March, the fleetencountered and captured the British shipHMSBerwick offCap Corse,[5] but was then pursued by a joint British-Neapolitan fleet in theGulf of Genoa. Retreating towards Toulon, the French were unable to evade the British fleet, under Vice-AdmiralWilliam Hotham, and on 13 March at theBattle of Genoa the rearmost ship was cut off and badly damaged.[6] The following day this ship, theÇa Ira, and its companionCenseur, were forced to surrender as Martin and the remainder of his ships escaped to the west.[7]
Hotham sailed to an anchorage offLa Spezia, where one ship was wrecked, before returning to San Fiorenzo for refit.[8] In April he took the fleet toLeghorn, where he learned of his promotion toAdmiral of the Blue, and he then sailed on an extended cruise to Cape Mola offMahón onMinorca. There he met on 14 June with a large reinforcement sent from Britain, comprising nineships of the line under Rear-AdmiralRobert Mann.[9] Hotham was concerned that in his absence the French fleet might have sailed once more, and sent a smallfrigate squadron under CaptainGeorge Henry Towry back into theLigurian Sea to search for Martin. This squadron instead encountered a squadron of French frigates on the same mission and in the ensuingAction of 24 June 1795 the French frigateMinerve was captured.[10]
The French had been unable to sail for most of the spring; Martin was initially preoccupied with gathering his ships and conducting repairs in his anchorage at theÎles d'Hyères off the French coast.[11] He sent his most damaged ships back to Toulon, and they were joined there on 4 April by a reinforcement of six ships of the line under Counter-admiralJean François Renaudin, sent fromBrest on 22 February. Martin joined this force soon afterwards, but in May his fleet was struck by a significant mutiny. The sailors of Martin's fleet, although not of Renaudin's recently arrived squadron, refused further service, and it was only the efforts ofReprésentant en missionJoseph Niou which persuaded the rebellious seamen to return to duty, Niou making them promise "to wash their crime in the blood of the enemies of the [French] republic."[9]
At Niou's urging Martin took his fleet to sea once more on 7 June, his force comprising 17 ships of the line and six frigates.[9] Hotham remained off Minorca until 24 June, before sailing up the eastern coast of Corsica and Sardinia, arriving at San Fiorenzo on 29 June.[9] En route messages sent by Towry on thecutterFox reached Hotham, warning that prisoners taken fromMinerve reported that Martin was at sea.[12] Hotham decided that the French were on a sailing exercise rather than an offensive operation and decided not to intervene, ordering his ships to refit and resupply. He did not post guard frigates or send scouts in search of Martin's force.[13] On 4 July Hotham detached a small squadron led by CaptainHoratio Nelson inHMSAgamemnon, with the frigateHMSMeleager and the smaller shipsHMSAriadne,HMSMoselle andHMS Mutine.[9] Nelson's orders were to liaise with Austrian generalJoseph Nikolaus De Vins for operations against FrenchArmy of Italy positions in Northwestern Italy,[13] as well as patrol offGenoa and then to pass along the French coast to the west.[9]
At 16:00 on 7 July off Cape del Melle, Nelson's force discovered the French fleet. Martin had visited Genoa, whereFerdinand III theGrand Duke of Tuscany had recently signed peace terms with France, and then sentMercure andGuerrier back to Toulon.[14] On sighting Nelson, Martin recognised the small size of the British force and led his fleet in pursuit, Nelson retreating towards San Fiorenzo withMoselle trailing behind the rest of the squadron.[15] At 07:20 the following morning,Agamemnon began firing signal guns in the hope of alerting Hotham to the presence of the French, and at 09:30 the leading French ships saw the British fleet at anchor.[16] Although the British were unprepared and vulnerable to attack, Martin immediately ordered his fleet to turn away to the west, towards Toulon.[13] The winds were blowing from the west and both Martin and Hotham were hampered.[17] The British fleet was in a state of unreadiness, and it was not until 21:00 that Hotham was able to lead 23 ships of the line, includingAgamemnon and two alliedNeapolitan ships, out of the bay in pursuit of the French, who had used the delay to escape to the north.[18]
For four days Hotham searched for the French against the wind coming from the southwest. Late on 12 July, approximately 24 nautical miles (44 km) east ofÎle du Levant, the small frigateHMSCyclops learned from passing vessels that the French had recently passed by to the south.[19] Hotham gave the signal to "prepare for battle" and led his fleet to the southwest in the expectation of meeting the French. During the night agale from the northwest caused damage to the sails of a number of ships, but at dawn on 13 July the French were seen just 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) toleeward, scattered widely.[15]
At 03:45 Hotham gave orders to form his ships up and sailed tolarboard in an effort to cut the French off from land. Martin used the time to organise his fleet and by 08:00 the French were sailing inline of battle back towards the Îles d'Hyères.[20]
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Recognising that the French might now escape, Hotham gave orders for a general chase, allowing his fastest ships the opportunity to come up with the French to the best of their ability.[19] By noon the French were 0.75 nautical miles (1.39 km) ahead of the British to the northeast, with Hotham's fleet scattered across 8 nautical miles (15 km) of sea.[21] At 12:30 a wind shift from southwest to the north brought the French about so that thebroadsides of the last three French ships could bear on the approaching British. The leading British ships,HMSCulloden,HMSCumberland andHMSVictory all came under fire.[20]
The shift in wind favoured the British, allowing them to gain rapidly on the French.[13] The British ships were soon able to return fire, targeting the slowest French ship,Alcide. AlthoughCulloden was forced back after losing a topmast,Alcide was soon badly damaged and isolated. At 14:00, in danger of being overwhelmed, Captain Leblond Saint-Hylairestruck his colours and surrendered his ship toCumberland.[21] CaptainBartholomew Rowley did not acknowledge the surrender, passing on to attack the next French ship in line, and the French frigatesAlceste andJustice attempted to pass a tow rope toAlcide and drag it away from the British fleet.[22] Theship's boat carrying the rope was sunk by fire fromVictory, and the frigates sheered off under heavy fire.[23] An attempt byAquilon to reachAlcide was abandoned when it became clear that the surrendered ship was on fire.[24]
By 14:42 more British ships, includingAgamemnon,HMSBlenheim,HMSCaptain andHMSDefence were now within long range and trading fire with the rearmost French shipsGénéreux,Berwick,Tyrannicide andAquilon,[24] with whichCumberland was now heavily engaged.[23] Hotham then suddenly issuedflag signals instructing his captains to discontinue the action and return to the flagshipHMSBritannia. Hotham was at this point 8 nautical miles (15 km) from the action and unable to see that his ships were poised to attack the main French fleet, concerned that his dispersed ships were vulnerable to the fire from the French fleet and shore batteries.[13] Admiral Mann onVictory had to repeat the order twice before Rowley acknowledged and retired from combat.[23] At this point the battling ships were approximately 12 nautical miles (22 km) southeast of Cape Roux, towards which the French, having gained theweather gage by a shift in wind to the east, were now sailing.[22]
Fire had taken hold on the surrenderedAlcide in the foretop, probably due to the detonation of agrenade.[17] By 14:15 it had spread out of control, sweeping the ship from end to end.[25] The crew threw themselves into the sea to escape the flames and approximately 300 were collected by boats from the passing British ships, but at least 300 are believed to have been killed when the ship's magazines detonated at 15:45.[26] Captain Leblond Saint-Hylaire was among the dead.[24]
Aside from the heavy loss of life onAlcide, French losses are not reported, although few other French ships were heavily engaged. British losses were mild, with 11 killed and 28 wounded across five ships.Cumberland, the most heavily engaged of the British fleet, suffered no casualties at all.Victory,Cumberland andCulloden had all been damaged in the sails and rigging, but none seriously.[25]
Martin led his surviving ships into the bay offFréjus, anchoring there by 19:00.[19] The French fleet was later able to return to Toulon along the coast without interference from Hotham, and remained in harbour until 14 September when orders from theNational Convention arrived instructing Martin to send six ships of the line and three frigates back to the Atlantic fleet at Brest to replace losses incurred at theBattle of Groix in June.[27] This force was commanded by Counter-admiralJoseph de Richery and on 7 October itencountered and attacked an escorted British convoy offCape St. Vincent, capturing a ship of the line and 30 merchant ships.[27]
Hotham returned to San Fiorenzo and then to Leghorn. In August he briefly cruised off Toulon before retiring once more, although Nelson was detached with a squadron to operate against French Army movements on the Mediterranean Coast, attacking coastal positions nearAlassio.[28] In September Hotham sent a detachment in pursuit of Richery, but this force was far too late to prevent the destruction of the convoy in October.[27] Later in the year another French squadron wassent on a mission toSmyrna, escaped Toulon under CaptainHonoré Ganteaume, and caused severe damage to British merchant shipping in the Eastern Mediterranean.[29] Hotham retired from his post at Leghorn on 1 November, passing command of the Mediterranean Fleet to AdmiralSir John Jervis.[30] Martin did not lead a fleet to sea again during the Mediterranean campaign, but in late 1796 French victories on land in Italy eliminated British allies from the war, making the maintenance of a fleet off Toulon impractical. The Mediterranean Fleet was forced to withdraw to theTagus, ceding the Mediterranean theatre to France.[31]
Hotham was heavily criticised at the time for his conduct during the battle, a series of delays and hesitations allowing the French to escape when they might easily have been destroyed.[22] His second-in-commandSamuel Goodall was said to have kicked his hat across the deck in fury at Hotham's order to withdraw.[32] Nelson wrote of the decision to withdraw that "In the forenoon we had every prospect of taking every Ship in the Fleet; and at noon it was almost certain we should have the six near ships." He was critical of Martin too, writing "The French Admiral, I am sure, is not a wise man, nor an Officer: he was undetermined whether to fight or run away."[17] Later historians have been scathing of Hotham's failure to bring Martin to action earlier and more vigorously;C. S. Forester wrote in reference to the sea battles of 1795 that "Once more a French fleet had got away through a lack of energy and diligence on the part of a British Admiral."[33] Historian Noel Mostert describes Hotham's indecision as "a disastrous failure" and links the missed opportunity to inflict a major defeat on the French directly to the British withdrawal from the Mediterranean the following year.[34] No major British naval force returned to the Mediterranean until theMediterranean campaign of 1798.[35]