 Scale model on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Achille |
| Namesake | Achilles |
| Builder | Arsenal de Rochefort |
| Laid down | 5 November 1802 |
| Launched | 17 November 1804 |
| Completed | February 1805 |
| Commissioned | 28 January 1805 |
| Fate | Sunk, 21 October 1805 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Téméraire-classship of the line |
| Displacement | 3,069tonneaux |
| Tons burthen | 1,537port tonneaux |
| Length | 55.87 m (183.3 ft) (172pied) |
| Beam | 14.90 m (48 ft 11 in) |
| Draught | 7.26 m (23.8 ft) (22pied) |
| Propulsion | Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails |
| Armament |
|
Achille was a74-gunTéméraire-classship of the line built for theFrench Navy in the first decade of the 19th century. Completed in 1805, she played a minor role in theNapoleonic Wars. The ship participated in theTrafalgar campaign that same year, including theBattle of Cape Finisterre in July and was destroyed during theBattle of Trafalgar in October when hermagazine exploded. At least 190 members of her crew were rescued, including one woman.
Designed byJacques-Noël Sané, theTéméraire-class ships had a length of 55.87 metres (183 ft 4 in), abeam of 14.46 metres (47 ft 5 in) and a depth ofhold of 7.15 metres (23 ft 5 in). The shipsdisplaced 3,069tonneaux and had a meandraught of 7.15 metres (23 ft 5 in). They had a tonnage of 1,537port tonneaux. Their crew numbered 705 officers andratings during wartime. They were fitted with threemasts andship rigged.[1]
Themuzzle-loading,smoothbore armament of theTéméraire class consisted of twenty-eight36-pounder long guns on the lowergun deck and thirty18-pounder long guns on the upper gun deck. On thequarterdeck andforecastle were a total of sixteen8-pounder long guns. Beginning with the ships completed after 1787, the armament of theTéméraires began to change with the addition of four 36-pounderobusiers on thepoop deck (dunette).[2] By the time of the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805,Achille was fitted with eighteen 8-pounders and 4 or 6obusiers.[3]
Achille waslaid down at theArsenal de Rochefort by the Crucy Brothers for 64,000francs on 8 July 1802.[4] The ship waslaunched on 17 November 1804,commissioned by Captain (Capitaine de vaisseau)Louis Gabriel Deniéport on 28 January 1805 and completed the following month.[5] She sailed to theWest Indies on 1 May fromRochefort with herhalf-sisterAlgésiras where they joined a French fleet underVice-AdmiralPierre-Charles Villeneuve on 29 May.[3]
Having fought the inconclusiveBattle of Cape Finisterre on 22 July against a British fleet that attempted to intercept his combined Franco-Spanish fleet returning from the West Indies, Villeneuve decided to disobey his orders to rendezvous with the French ships atBrest[6] because his ships needed repairs and many crewmen were sick,[7]Achille's sick list alone numbered 200 men.[4] He put into the nearest friendly port,Vigo, Spain. Unhappy with the inability of the Spanish dockyards in Galicia to repair his ships and influenced by the Spanish commander,AdmiralFederico Gravina, who had secret orders not to allow his ships to go to Brest, Villeneuve decided to head south to the largest concentration of Spanish ships on the Atlantic coast, and arrived at Cádiz on 20 August.[8]
Before the Battle of Trafalgar began on 21 October,Achille was assigned to the Squadron of Observation under the overall command of Gravina, although Rear AdmiralCharles Magon retained command of half of the squadron. Villeneuve initially ordered Magon tosortie on 18 October and engage the Britishfrigates keeping watch on Cádiz, but countermanded his order when he was informed that some ofVice-AdmiralHoratio Nelson's ships had been spotted atGibraltar. Believing that he now had a sufficient superiority of numbers to defeat the British, Villeneuve now ordered the combined fleet to prepare to sail, but the winds did not cooperate. Magon's ships were able to leave theBay of Cádiz on the morning tide on 19 October, but the rest of the fleet was only able to enter the bay. Villeneuve spent the next day generally heading west while Magon's ship pursued the frigates,Héros getting close enough to fire abroadside atSirius before being ordered to fall back on the fleet at the end of the day. Once night fell, they could see British signal lights and flares at a distance that they estimated to be only two miles away. Villeneuve ordered his ships to formline of battle and then ordered a turn to the south east. In the darkness, these commands were more than the inexperienced crews could easily handle and the combined fleet could only form into several ragged lines. When dawn broke, Villeneuve saw that Nelson had put his ships in a position threaten his rear; Villeneuve decided to reverse course to protect his rear and move closer to refuge in Cádiz despite the very light winds that morning. His command ruined whatever semblance of order the combined fleet had as each ship had to maneuver as best they could as they each handled differently in the light winds. In addition, many of the bigger ships were driven to the east by the ocean's swell and the south-westerly wind. Villeneuve's neat organization of three divisions, each of seven ships and Gravina's Squadron of Observation as the tactical reserve had been replaced by chaos with ships scattered across the sea.[9][10]
This maneuver leftAchille out of position at the rear of the formation, just behind Gravina's 112-gunflagship,Principe de Asturias. As the ship attempted to pass the flagship to assume her proper place in front ofPrincipe de Asturias, the two ships collided about 1030. Neither ship was damaged and their rigging did not get entangled, soAchille was able to pass the flagship shortly afterward. By the time that Nelson's ships in two columns were approaching the combined fleet around noon, it had shaken itself into a rough curved line, with the Squadron of Observation at the rear of the fleet, although the ships were not evenly spaced apart with large gaps between clusters of ships.Achille was fourth from the rear of the fleet, behind the Spanish 74-gunSan Ildefonso and in front ofPrincipe de Asturias.[11][3]
The 74-gunHMS Revenge was in the middle of theleeward column. About 1330,CaptainRobert Moorsom ordered his ship to breakthrough the gap in the Franco-Spanishbattleline between SanIldefonso andAchille, but the latter ship attempted to close the gap and almost pushedRevenge intoSan Ildefonso, but the British ship's guns shot awayAchille'smizzen and maintopsails before she could ramRevenge. Nevertheless, the French ship'sjibboom ripped awayRevenge's own mizzen topsail as she passed close behind the British ship. Deniéport had mustered his crew in preparation toboardRevenge and the British guns killed or wounded many of the boarding party.Achille was positioned torakeRevenge'sstern atpoint-blank range for at least half an hour and dismounted three of her guns. Most of the British ship's guns could not bear onAchille, but the carronades on the quarterdeck took a toll on the ship's crew, killing Dénieport and most of the ship's other officers. WhenPrincipe de Asturias appeared out of thegunsmoke,Achille was able to disengage.[12][13][Note 1]
Achille then was able to rake her British namesake, the 74-gunAchille, a few times before the 64-gunPolyphemus arrived. The smaller British ship was able to smashAchille's wheel and knocked down hermizzenmast before manoeuvering to cut offAchille's escape route while continuing to shoot at the French ship. During this timePolyphemous brought downAchille'syard and saw that the top of herforemast was on fire before disengaging.[15][Note 2]
The 98-gunPrince, which had been in the rear of the British formation and was the last British ship to open fire,[17] later spottedAchille and fired several broadsides into her, bringing down her remaining masts. Landingamidships, the sails caught on fire and set fire to the ship's boats. The ship's water pumps already having been disabled by British shells, the crew began abandoning ship.Prince, theschoonerPickle, thecutterEntreprenante and the frigateNaiad all sent boats to rescue the French sailors from the water, although the boats made no attempt to close within 200 yards (180 m) of the burning ship until after her magazine exploded around 1730.[18] An officer serving inDefence wrote,
It was a sight the most awful and grand that can be conceived. In a moment the hull burst into a cloud of smoke and fire. A column of vivid flame shot up to an enormous height in the atmosphere and terminated by expanding into an immense globe, representing for a few seconds, a prodigious tree in flames, specked with many dark spots, which the pieces of timber and bodies of men occasioned while they were suspended in the clouds.[19]
The number of survivors is not known, although they numbered at least 190 people, including Jeanne Caunant, who had been working in the magazine, and was the wife of one of the sailors.[20]
Achille is featured onThe Battle of Trafalgar byJ. M. W. Turner.[21]
A 1:33 scale model is on display in Paris at theMusée de la Marine.[22]
The rescue of a female member of her crew named Jeannette after the explosion was the inspiration for the coloured engravingAnecdote At the Battle of Trafalgar.[23][24] It was engraved by M. Dubourg and coloured by William Heath.[24]
