Battle of the Levant Convoy
Part of theWar of the First Coalition
1797 map of Cape St. Vincent
Date 7 October 1795 Location OffCape St. Vincent,Atlantic Ocean Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Great Britain
Commanders and leaders
Joseph de Richery	Thomas Taylor
Strength
6 ships of the line 3 frigates	3 ships of the line 1 frigate 31 merchantmen
Casualties and losses
Unknown	1 ship of the line captured 30 merchantmen captured

TheBattle of the Levant Convoy was a naval engagement of theWar of the First Coalition fought on 7 October 1795. During the battle, a powerful French squadron surprised a valuable Britishconvoy from theLevant offCape St. Vincent on the coast ofPortugal. The convoy was weakly defended, and although the small escort squadron tried to drive the French back, they were outmatched. In the ensuing action one of the Britishships of the line and almost the entire convoy was overrun and captured. The French commander, CommodoreJoseph de Richery, then retired to the neutral Spanish port ofCádiz, where he came underblockade.

The annual British Levant convoy was a mercantile operation in which valuable merchant shipping from ports across theEastern Mediterranean gathered together for security under escort to Britain byRoyal Navy warships. In 1795, this escort comprised three ships of the line, one in a poor state of repair, and several frigates under the command of CommodoreThomas Taylor. Taylor split the convoy, sailing in two separate divisions. On 7 October a French squadron under Richery, sent fromToulon to attack theNewfoundland fisheries, encountered Taylor's division of the convoy.

Taylor attempted to hold off Richery for long enough for the merchant ships to scatter and escape, but one of his ships,HMSCenseur, lost a top-mast as he formed a line of battle and was rapidly overwhelmed by the French. With his line broken andfrigates seizing the merchant ships unopposed, Taylor turned away from the battle and withdrew, leaving the convoy to its fate. Only one ship survived. Richery took his prizes to Cádiz in Southern Spain, where he was subject to a blockade by a British squadron under Rear-AdmiralRobert Mann. Nearly a year later he escaped with the help of the Spanish to inflictsevere damage on the fishing fleets offMaritime Canada.

TheFrench Navy in the Atlantic had suffered severe losses in a series of defeats during the early years of theFrench Revolutionary Wars, particularly at theGlorious First of June in 1794 and during theCroisière du Grand Hiver the following winter.^[1] In June 1795 three more ships were lost in the defeat at theBattle of Groix.^[2] Requests for reinforcements were sent to the Mediterranean Fleet, which had suffered its own severe losses at theSiege of Toulon in 1793, and later at theBattle of Genoa and theBattle of the Hyères Islands in the spring and summer of 1795. The commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-amiralPierre Martin acceded to the request, preparing a squadron of sixships of the line and threefrigates under Contre-amiralJoseph de Richery to reinforce theBrest fleet.^[3]

This force was under orders to sail across the Atlantic, unite with French naval units in the Caribbean to land an army inSaint-Domingue and attack shipping atJamaica.^[4] It was then to sail north to attack the importantcod fisheries offNewfoundland andMaritime Canada, before returning to France via theAzores to unite with the fleet at Brest.^[4] Martin was wary of the British Mediterranean Fleet, which had so recently inflicted defeats on his own force, but the British commander AdmiralWilliam Hotham had kept theblockade ofToulon loose, based at his anchorage atSan Fiorenzo, and Richery was able to escape into theLigurian Sea without being observed on 14 September.^[3] Martin also knew that the annual British merchantconvoy from theLevant was due to pass westwards on its way to theStraits of Gibraltar, and several weeks later sent outa second squadron, under CommodoreHonoré Ganteaume, in search of it.^[5]

Martin was unaware that the convoy had sailed earlier than anticipated, reachingGibraltar ahead of Richery and long before Ganteaume even sailed.^[3] At Gibraltar the 63-ship convoy met with its escort provided from Hotham's fleet. This force was led by CommodoreThomas Taylor in 74-gunHMSFortitude, accompanied byHMSBedford andHMSCenseur as well as the frigatesHMSArgo,HMSJuno,HMSLutine and thefireshipHMSTisiphone.^[6]Censeur, under the command of CaptainJohn Gore, was not fit for service; the ship had been a French warship captured offGenoa in March and was still in a poor state of repair, armeden flute and carrying onlyjury masts.^[3]

Taylor's convoy sailed from Gibraltar on 25 September, progressing slowly westwards into the Atlantic. The following day Taylor split his force, sending 32 merchant ships withArgo andJuno, while he took 31 merchant ships along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts with his main force.^[6] By the morning of 7 October the convoy was passing slowly aroundCape St. Vincent, 144 nautical miles (267 km) offshore with land to the southeast. At 09:30 sails were sighted to the northeast and Thomas rapidly realised that they were an enemy force.^[7] Issuing hasty orders to his squadron to establish a shortline of battle, he formed up withFortitude in the lead, followed byBedford andCenseur, supported byLutine andTisiphone. The convoy was ordered to scatter.^[6]

Richery bore down on Taylor's small squadron, sending his frigatesEmbuscade,Félicité andFriponne to attack the fleeing merchant ships.^[8] Taylor hoped to hold the French off for long enough to allow the convoy to escape, but the frigates simply evaded the line. In addition, the damagedCenseur was unable to hold station and at 13:00 the jury top-foremast collapsed over the side forcing Gore to fall back, away from Taylor's other ships.^[6] Taylor discussed the situation with his officers and CaptainAugustus Montgomery onBedford, reaching agreement to withdraw.Fortitude andBedford then pulled away from the French in formation, leavingCenseur behind.^[7]

At 13:50 the leading French ships opened fire onCenseur, Gore returning fire, distantly assisted by thestern-chaser guns onFortitude andBedford, Taylor and Montgomery having their gunners smash holes in their ships' sterns to fit the cannon.^[7] Richery's squadron bore down on the retreating British line, firing at the masts onCenseur and bringing down both remaining topmasts in quick succession. Gore had not been expected to engage in action in his damaged ship and so there was littlegunpowder on board.^[6] By 14:30 it had all been consumed and, abandoned by Taylor, Gorestruck his colours and surrendered to three of the French ships. Richery's leading ships now engagedLutine, Captain William Haggitt briefly returning fire as he pulled away. WithCenseur secured and his frigates amid the merchant ships, Richery called off pursuit and allowed Taylor to retreat.^[7]

Unprotected, the Levant convoy was destroyed. Richery's frigates captured all but one of the British merchant vessels, 30 ships.^[7] Gathering his prizes, the French admiral turned back towards the Spanish coast, eventually anchoring in the neutral but friendly Spanish fleet base ofCádiz. Due to treaties in place at the time, only three of Richery's ships could dock at Cádiz itself, the rest anchoring in the less sheltered port ofRota.^[9] There he was trapped; Hotham had learned on 22 September that Richery was at sea, and on 5 October had dispatched a squadron of six ships of the line and two frigates in pursuit under Rear-AdmiralRobert Mann. As Richery had a three-week start, Mann arrived off Cádiz far too late to intercede in the action, but did find Richery only recently anchored in the harbour.^[10] Following his orders to pursue the French, Mann established a blockade of Cádiz awaiting Richery's return to sea.^[11] TheArgo convoy, under CaptainRichard Burgess proceeded unchallenged and reached Britain intact.^[6] HistorianWilliam Laird Clowes laid blame for the destruction of the convoy on Hotham, stating that his behaviour "offers additional proof of that officer's unfitness for the very important command with which he had been entrusted."^[10] This was not the first time the Levant convoy had been targeted by the French Navy; 102 years earlier during theNine Years' War a much larger Levant convoy had been overrun and destroyed by the French in the same waters, at theBattle of Lagos.^[12]

The blockade was to last ten months, during which Richery was unable to find an opportunity to escape Mann's watch on the approaches to the Spanish port. His ships were battered by winter storms, and on 17 DecemberVictoire,Duquesne andRévolution were all blown on shore and badly damaged. They required extensive repairs in the Cádiz dockyards before they were ready for sea once more.^[9] The French were eventually released by diplomatic means; in the spring of 1796 the French Republic and the Kingdom of Spain had begun negotiations on an alliance against Britain, which was eventually signed at theTreaty of San Ildefonso on 19 August.^[13] As a gesture of good will, the Spanish fleet at Cádiz under AdmiralJuan de Lángara agreed to escort Richery out of the harbour with sufficient force to dissuade an attack by Mann. Lángara took 20 ships of the line and 14 other vessels to sea on 4 August, accompanied by Richery's ten warships. They found the approaches to Cádiz empty; Mann had retired from the blockade on 29 July under orders from Vice-AdmiralSir John Jervis.^[13]

Lángara sent Richery 300 nautical miles (560 km) westwards with a large escort under Rear-AdmiralJosé Solano y Bote, the French admiral then separating and fulfilling his original mission toattack British fisheries in Maritime Canada.^[14] During September he burned fishing fleets and coastal communities acrossNewfoundland andLabrador before returning to France unimpeded, having captured or destroyed more than a hundred British merchant ships during his operation.^[15]

• Clowes, William Laird (1997) [1900].The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume III. London: Chatham Publishing.ISBN 1-86176-012-4.
• Gardiner, Robert, ed. (2001) [1996].Fleet Battle and Blockade. London: Caxton Editions.ISBN 1-84067-363-X.
• James, William (2002) [1827].The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume 1, 1793–1796. London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 0-85177-905-0.
• Mostert, Noel (2007).The Line upon a Wind: The Greatest War Fought at Sea Under Sail 1793 – 1815. Vintage Books.ISBN 9-78071-260-9272.
• Rodger, N.A.M. (2004).The Command of the Ocean. Allan Lane.ISBN 0-71399-411-8.
• Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867).Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé.

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