Battle of Cape Ortegal
Part of theTrafalgar campaign
Strachan's Action off Ferrol Thomas Whitcombe,c. 1806
Date 4 November 1805 Location OffCape Ortegal,Bay of Biscay 43°46′20″N7°52′05″W / 43.7722°N 7.8681°W /43.7722; -7.8681 Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	France
Commanders and leaders
Richard Strachan	Pierre le Pelley
Strength
4 ships of the line 4 frigates	4 ships of the line
Casualties and losses
24 killed 111 wounded[1][2]	730 killed or wounded 4 ships of the line captured[1][2]
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe

TheBattle of Cape Ortegal was the final action of theTrafalgar campaign, and was fought between a squadron of theRoyal Navy and a remnant of the fleet that had been defeated earlier at theBattle of Trafalgar. It took place on 4 November 1805 offCape Ortegal, in north-westSpain and sawCaptain SirRichard Strachan defeat and capture a French squadron under Counter-admiralPierre Dumanoir le Pelley. It is sometimes referred to as Strachan's Action.

Dumanoir had commanded thevan ofthe line at Trafalgar, and had managed to escape the battle having suffered relatively little damage. He initially attempted to continue the fleet's mission and enter theMediterranean, but fearful of encountering strong British forces, changed his mind and headed north to skirt round Spain and reach theFrench Atlantic ports. On his journey he encountered two Britishfrigates and drove them off; shortly afterwards he encountered a single British frigate and gave chase to it. The frigate led Dumanoir within range of a British squadron under Strachan, who was patrolling the area in search of a different French squadron. Strachan immediately gave chase, while Dumanoir fled from Strachan's superior force. Strachan's squadron took time to form up, but he was able to use the frigates attached to it to harass and slow the French, until his largerships of the line could catch up.

There then followed several hours of fierce fighting, before Strachan was able to outmanoeuvre his opponent and double hisline with frigates and ships of the line. The French ships were then overwhelmed and forced to surrender. All four ships were taken back toBritain as prizes andcommissioned into the Navy. Strachan and his men were handsomely rewarded by a public who viewed the successful outcome as completing Nelson's victory at Trafalgar.

Four French ships of the line stationed towards the head of the combined fleet's line escaped theBattle of Trafalgar under Counter-admiralPierre Dumanoir le Pelley, and sailed southwards. Pelley's initial intention was to carry out Villeneuve's original orders, and make forToulon.^[3] The day after the battle he changed his mind, remembering that a substantial British squadron under Rear-AdmiralThomas Louis was patrolling thestraits. With a storm gathering in strength off the Spanish coast, Pelley sailed westwards to clearCape St Vincent, prior to heading north-west, and then swinging eastwards across theBay of Biscay, aiming to reach the French port atRochefort.^[3] His squadron represented a still-considerable force, having suffered only slight damage at Trafalgar.^[a] In escaping from Trafalgar Dumanoir's flagship,Formidable had jettisoned twelve 12-pounder guns from herquarterdeck in order to lighten her load and effect her escape.^[3] Dumanoir doubled Cape St Vincent on 29 October and made forÎle-d'Aix, entering the Bay of Biscay on 2 November.^[3]

There were a number of British ships and squadrons already in the bay, and on the lookout for French ships. Zacharie Allemand, commander of the Rochefort squadron, had sailed from the port in July 1805, and was currentlycruising in the Atlantic, raiding British shipping.^[4] One of the British ships sent out on patrol was the 36-gunHMSPhoenix, under the command of CaptainThomas Baker. Baker had orders to patrol west of theScilly Isles, but in late October he received news from several neutral merchants that Allemand's squadron had been sighted in the Bay of Biscay.^[4] Baker immediately left his station and sailed southwards, reaching thelatitude ofCape Finisterre on 2 November, just as Dumanoir was entering the bay.^[4] Baker sighted four ships steering north-north-west at 11 o'clock, and immediately gave chase. The ships, which Baker presumed to be part of the Rochefort squadron, but were actually Dumanoir's ships, bore up at noon and began to chasePhoenix, which fled south.^[4] In doing so Baker hoped to lure the French onto a British squadron under CaptainSir Richard Strachan that he knew to be in the area.^[3][4][c]

Baker kept ahead of the pursuing French, and at 3 o'clock that afternoon he sighted four sails heading south.^[5] Dumanoir's forces also saw them, and stood to the east, while Baker, no longer pursued, kept the French sails under observation.^[5] Having ascertained the strength and disposition of the French ships, Baker resumed sailing to the south-east, firing guns and signalling to the four ships he had seen and supposed to be British. Dumanoir's forces had already had a run-in with the British, having been chased by two frigates, the 38-gunHMS Boadicea under CaptainJohn Maitland, and the 36-gunHMS Dryad under CaptainAdam Drummond.^[5]Boadicea andDryad sightedPhoenix and the four sails to the south at 8.45 that evening, and made signals to them. Baker was suspicious of the new sails, standing between him and the French ships, and so did not stand towards them, instead continuing on to the sails in the south.^[5] By now it was clear onBoadicea andDryad that a substantial force was gathering, asPhoenix closed with four ships of the line, and three other sails were also sighted in the vicinity.^[5] They eventually drew to within two miles of the weather-most ship, the 80-gunHMSCaesar, but received no reply to their signals, and drew away at 10.30pm, where after they lost sight of both the French and British ships, and took no further part in the battle.^[5]

By 11pm Baker had finally reached the ships, and passing under the stern ofCaesar received confirmation that the ships were Strachan's squadron, as he had initially surmised.^[5] Baker informed Strachan that he had sighted a part of the Rochefort squadron to leeward, and Strachan immediately determined to seek an engagement.^[6] Strachan's squadron was however badly scattered by this stage, and after setting sail to intercept the French, sent Baker to round up the remaining ships and order them on to support him.^[3][6] Strachan's squadron consisted at this time of the 80-gunCaesar, the 74-gunHero,Courageux,Namur andBellona, and the frigates the 36-gunSanta Margarita and 32-gunAeolus.^[5] Strachan began the chase with onlyCaesar,Hero,Courageux andAeolus, and chased the French, who were by now pressing on sail for the north west, until losing them in hazy weather at 1.30 in the morning.^[6] They then shortened sail to await the rest of the squadron, and were joined at daylight on 3 November bySanta Margarita.^[6] The chase began again in earnest, and at 7.30 amCape Ortegal was sighted, 36 miles to the southeast.^[6] The French ships were again sighted at 9am, and at 11am the lead British ships sightedNamur andPhoenix astern, and hurrying to catch up. With them was another frigate, the 38-gunHMSRévolutionnaire, under CaptainHon. Henry Hotham, who had stumbled across the chase.^[6] The chase continued throughout the day and into the night, by which time the fasterSanta Margarita andPhoenix were well ahead of the main British force. TheBellona had been unable to rejoin the squadron, and took no part in the battle.^[6]

The battle began at 5.45 on the morning of 4 November, whenSanta Margarita closed on the stern of the rear-most French ship,Scipion, and opened fire, being joined byPhoenix at 9.30.^[7][8] At this stage the French were sailing roughly in line abreast, withPhoenix andSanta Margarita snapping atScipion's heels.^[7] Strachan was about six miles behind the French withCaesar,Hero andCourageux, accompanied byAeolus, whileNamur andRévolutionnaire were some way astern of them.^[7] The British continued to overhaul the French, whileScipion exchanged fire with the harassing frigates from her stern-chasers. At 11.45 with an action now unavoidable Dumanoir ordered his ships to form line ahead on the starboard tack, as Strachan likewise lined his ships up and approached from windward on the French ships' starboard side.^[7]

By noon all four British frigates were in action, harassingScipion on the port side, whileNamur had nearly joined the ships of the line, who were firing on the rear-most French ships' starboard side.^[7] Dumanoir had ordered his ships to tack in succession in 11.30, and so bring his leading ship,Duguay-Trouin into the action to support his centre. TheDuguay-Trouin made no move to obey the signal until 12.15, and the French line began to turn towards the British ships of the line, and to pass down alongside them. Dumanoir had planned to carry out this manoeuvre at 8 that morning, but had cancelled it before it could be carried out.^[9] The two lines passed alongside each other, with Dumanoir finding that Strachan had doubled his line, with frigates on one side and ships of the line on the other.^[9] His ships suffered heavy damage as the two British lines and the French one passed by on opposite tacks, with Dumanoir aiming to isolateNamur before she could join the British line.^[9]

The damage his ships had sustained rendered them slow and unmanoeuvrable, and Strachan was able to order his ships to tack themselves, to keep them alongside the French, while addingNamur to his line.^[9] Under heavy fire from the frigates on the starboard side and the ships of the line on their port, the French ships were worn down and by 3.10Scipion andFormidable had been forced tostrike their colours.^[10] Seeing their fateMont Blanc andDuguay-Trouin attempted to escape but were chased down byHero andCaesar and battered into submission by 3.35.^[9][10]

Strachan's triumph completed the rout of the French that Nelson had begun at Trafalgar. With the four ships taken at Cape Ortegal only five ships remained of the French portion of the combined fleet, and they were bottled up at Cadiz.^[11] All four captured ships were taken back to Britain and commissioned into the Royal Navy, with their crew transferred to prison camps.^[12] One of the ships, the formerDuguay-Trouin served with the British for the next 144 years under the nameHMS Implacable.^[13] The British crews who had fought at Cape Ortegal were included in the large scale rewards made for the victory at Trafalgar.^[13] Strachan was promoted toRear-Admiral of the Blue, while allfirst lieutenants were promoted to commander.^[14] In addition Strachan was admitted to theOrder of the Bath and his captains received gold medals.^[15]

Dumanoir was less fortunate than his opponent. He and other French officers were quartered atTiverton, where they were given considerable freedom, only required to be within theturnpike gates by 8pm in summer and 4pm in winter.^[16] While there he wrote toThe Times to protest against unflattering comments made about his conduct at Trafalgar.^[16] He was released from captivity in 1809 and returned to France, where he faced not one but two courts of enquiry, one for his conduct at Trafalgar, and another for his defeat at Cape Ortegal.^[17] In the first he was accused of disobeying Villeneuve's instructions, not doing enough to support his admiral, and then fleeing the battle instead of fighting on. After the examination of various pieces of evidence, Dumanoir was acquitted of all charges.^[17] At the second court of enquiry Dumanoir was convicted of having failed to engage Strachan's squadron while it was still disorganised on the morning of 4 November, of having allowed the British frigates to harass his rear without trying to engage them, and for only turning to engage Strachan as his rear was being overwhelmed.^[18] The court concluded that he had been too indecisive.^[18] The verdict was passed to theMinister of Marine,Denis Decrès, in January 1810 but Decrès hesitated to order a court-martial. Napoleon wanted Dumanoir to be made an example of, but Decrès attempted to shield Dumanoir, and when he finally convened a court-martial at Napoleon's insistence, its orders were vague and it eventually acquitted Dumanoir and the surviving captains.^[19]

Captain Strachan's squadron
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties			Notes
					Killed	Wounded	Total
HMSCaesar	Third rate	80		CaptainSir Richard Strachan	4	25	29
HMSHero	Third rate	74		CaptainHon. Alan Gardner	10	51	61
HMSCourageux	Third rate	74		CaptainRichard Lee	1	13	14
HMSNamur	Third rate	74		CaptainLawrence Halsted	4	8	12
HMSSanta Margarita	Fifth rate	36		Captain Wilson Rathbone	1	1	2
HMSAeolus	Fifth rate	32		CaptainLord William FitzRoy	0	3	3
HMSPhoenix	Fifth rate	36		CaptainThomas Baker	2	4	6
HMSRévolutionnaire	Fifth rate	38		CaptainHon. Henry Hotham	2	6	8
Casualties: 24 Killed, 111 Wounded, 135 Total

Counter-admiral le Pelley's Squadron
Ship	Rate	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties			Notes
					Killed	Wounded	Total
Formidable	Third rate	80[b]		Counter-admiralPierre Dumanoir le Pelley *	-	-	300+	Captured, commissioned as HMSBrave
Scipion	Third rate	74		CaptainCharles Berrenger *	-	-	300+	Captured, commissioned as HMSScipion
Duguay-Trouin	Third rate	74		CaptainClaude Touffet  †	-	-	130	Captured, commissioned asHMSImplacable
Mont Blanc	Third rate	74		CaptainGuillaume-Jean-Noël de Lavillegris	-	-	180	Captured, commissioned as HMSMont Blanc
Casualties: Est. more than 910 killed and wounded
Sources:[20] and[21]

Key

• † Officer killed during the action.^[22][23]
• * Wounded in the battle of Cape Ortegal^[24][25]

^[a]

• Adkin, Mark (2007).The Trafalgar Companion: A Guide to History's Most Famous Sea Battle and the Life of Admiral Lord Nelson. London: Aurum Press.ISBN 978-1-84513-018-3.
• Cust, Edward (1862).Annals of the Wars of the Nineteenth Century. Vol. 1. John Murray.
• Fremont-Barnes, Gregory (2007).The Royal Navy: 1793-1815. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.ISBN 978-1-84603-138-0.
• James, William (1859).The Naval History of Great Britain, from 1793, to 1820, with an account of the origin and increase of the British navy. Vol. 4. London: Richard Bentley.

• Media related toBattle of Cape Ortegal at Wikimedia Commons

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