Action of 10 February 1809
Encyclopedia
The Action of 10 February 1809 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars
, in which a British Royal Navy
squadron chased and captured the French frigate
Junon in the Caribbean Sea
. Junon was on a mission to carry trade goods from the Îles des Saintes
near Guadeloupe
back to France
and was part of a succession of French warships sent during 1808 and the early months of 1809 in an effort to break the British blockade of the French Caribbean, which was destroying the economies and morale of the islands. Having landed supplies, Junon' s return cargo was intended to improve the economic situation on Guadeloupe with much needed oceanic trade.
The patrolling British warships first sighted Junon in the Virgin Islands
on 8 February. They then chased her north into the Atlantic Ocean
for two days until the frigates HMS Horatio and HMS Latona were able to bring her to action. In a bitterly contested running engagement, Junon was badly damaged and suffered heavy casualties before surrendering to the numerically superior British force. She was later commissioned into the Royal Navy under the same name and remained in the Caribbean. Less than a year after her capture, a French convoy to Guadeloupe
recaptured and destroyed Junon; the British subsequently intercepted and defeated the convoy in turn.
were six years old and the British Royal Navy
was dominant at sea. Blockaded in their home ports by British squadrons, French warships, merchant ships and transports were unable to sail and, as a result, the French colonies in the West Indies were largely cut off from France. These colonies were also closely blockaded themselves and, as a result, their ability to trade independently was severely curtailed, resulting in economic collapse, severe food shortages and social unrest. Messages warning of the deteriorating situation in the colonies had been sent during the summer of 1808, particularly from the islands of Martinique
and Guadeloupe
. In response supplies had been sent from France in small convoys and individual frigates in the autumn. The British blockading ships had also intercepted the communications from the island, and relayed the information to the Admiralty
in London, who had ordered Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
to assemble a force and invade the French colonies before reinforcements and supplies could reach them.
The majority of the French attempts to reach the Caribbean ended in failure. Several ships were intercepted in the Bay of Biscay
, while others reached the Caribbean, only to be defeated by ships from Cochrane's squadron, which was focused on preparations for the invasion of Martinique
, planned for February. Only two ships reached the islands safely, the 40–gun frigates Junon at Guadeloupe and Amphitrite
at Martinique. By February 1809, Martinique was under attack, distracting most of the available British ships from the blockade of Guadeloupe. Taking advantage of the temporary absence of enemy shipping, Junon slipped out of the Îles des Saintes
to the south of Guadeloupe on 4 February and sailed north. The French captain, Jean-Baptiste-Augustin Rousseau, had dropped off his military and food supplies and taken on board large quantities of trade goods for sale in France in an effort to revive the Guadeloupe economy.
by the small British brigs HMS Superieure and , who signalled the approaching ship to halt and prepare for boarding. Ignoring the orders from the smaller ships, Rousseau continued northwards, passing through the Virgin Islands closely followed by Superieure, although Asp was unable to keep up and fell far behind during the night. At 08:00 on the morning of 9 February, with Virgin Gorda
northwest, Superieure was close enough to open fire, a few long range shots failing to damage the large frigate, which responded with an ineffective broadside. The gunfire attracted other ships, and during the afternoon Superieure was joined by the British frigate HMS Latona, under Captain Hugh Pigott.
The chase continued through a second night, the French frigate making significant gains over her pursuers but still unable to escape them completely. At 10:30 on 10 February, two sails appeared in the southeast, set on a course that would cut in front of the French frigate. These were the British frigate HMS Horatio under Captain George Scott and the brig HMS Driver. With enemies on all sides, Rousseau recognised that his only hope of escape lay in defeating Horatio: a swift victory would enable him to outrun pursuit from the east, travelling westwards into the Atlantic. Rapidly closing with the new arrivals, Junon opened fire at 12:36. Horatio immediately responded and then circled the slower French vessel and raked
her before Rousseau could respond. Drawing close, the frigates exchanged broadsides at point blank range for 40 minutes. The heavier weight of the French ship soon told, with Scott and his first lieutenant severely wounded and their masts badly damaged. Unable to keep up with the French frigate, whose hull was badly holed but whose masts were only lightly damaged, Horatio fell back.
Rousseau had also been badly wounded in the exchange, and command of Junon passed to Lieutenant Jean-Léon Emeric, who attempted to pull away from his battered adversary. As he did so the small brig Driver was well placed to intervene, but her captain, Charles Claridge, failed to engage the larger frigate, even though Latona was now rapidly approaching from the west and together they could have outnumbered and outmanoeuvred Junon. Superieure was also close by, and her captain, William Ferrie, did approach the larger French ship, his fire causing enough damage to Junon' s sails to prevent her escape. Taking Horatio in tow at 14:24, the brig kept Scott's frigate in the chase until sufficient repairs were complete. By 14:40 Horatio was again sailing independently and Driver finally came close enough to open fire, although at extreme range: Claridge refused to sail any closer to Junon, despite urgent signals from Horatio and Superieure. At 15:04, Superieure was again close enough to the French ship to open fire and at 15:25 Latona arrived, her presence finally convincing Claridge to enter the action. Surrounded by enemy ships and his sails in tatters, Emeric made one last effort to escape to the north, the strain of this manoeuvre causing his main and mizen masts to collapse. With both flight and resistance impossible, Junon surrendered at 15:40.
agreed with this assessment, but also opined that if Horatio had been alone it would have been Scott surrendering rather than the French officers, such was the damage his ship had suffered in the battle. Edward Pelham Brenton
, who was a serving officer in the Caribbean at the time, gives most of the credit for the victory to Latona, in a detailed account that James later criticised for its inaccuracies.
The battered Junon was taken in tow to Halifax, Nova Scotia
, where she was repaired and later commissioned into the Royal Navy under the same name. The prisoners were also landed in Nova Scotia, including Rousseau, who died from his wounds soon afterwards. The French lost approximately 130 casualties; British losses were seven killed and 26 wounded on Horatio, six wounded on Latona and one man wounded on Driver.
The British commanders and crews were praised for their actions in the battle, with the exception of Claridge in Driver. Both James and Brenton in their later histories heavily criticised his noted reluctance to engage the enemy. By contrast William Ferrie, commander of Superieure was commended for maintaining combat with the much larger frigate whenever possible. Four decades later, in 1847, the Admiralty recognized the battle with the clasps "Horatio 10 Feby. 1809" and "Superieure 10 Feby. 1809" to the Naval General Service Medal, which it awarded upon application to all British participants then still living.
In the month following the capture of Junon, Guadeloupe was the only French colony in the Caribbean not under attack; Martinique fell to the British on 24 February and Spanish forces continued their Siege of Santo Domingo. The French did make further attempts to resupply the islands; a major expedition
was defeated off Guadeloupe in April, and elements of this force that successfully reached the island were defeated and captured during June and July. With British forces distracted by the ongoing Reconquista
in Santo Domingo
, the focus of the campaign moved north, and it was not until a second major expedition
arrived in December that significant British forces returned to the Leeward Islands
for the final invasion of Guadeloupe
. The influx of British reinforcements was too late for HMS Junon; on 13 December she had been cruising alone to the east of Antigua
and been surprised by François Roquebert's squadron of four French frigates. Outnumbered and surrounded, Junon fought hard but was eventually forced to surrender after Captain John Shortland
was mortally wounded. Reduced to a sinking condition in the engagement, Junon was set on fire and abandoned by Roquebert, whose ships were intercepted five days later off Guadeloupe and defeated: two were destroyed and two others returned to France without landing their supplies.
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, in which a British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
squadron chased and captured the French frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
Junon in the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
. Junon was on a mission to carry trade goods from the Îles des Saintes
Îles des Saintes
The Îles des Saintes , also called simply Les Saintes , is a small archipelago of French Antilles located in the South of Basse-Terre Island, on the West of Marie-Galante and in the North of Dominica in the arc of Lesser Antilles...
near Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
back to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and was part of a succession of French warships sent during 1808 and the early months of 1809 in an effort to break the British blockade of the French Caribbean, which was destroying the economies and morale of the islands. Having landed supplies, Junon
The patrolling British warships first sighted Junon in the Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, which form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean...
on 8 February. They then chased her north into the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
for two days until the frigates HMS Horatio and HMS Latona were able to bring her to action. In a bitterly contested running engagement, Junon was badly damaged and suffered heavy casualties before surrendering to the numerically superior British force. She was later commissioned into the Royal Navy under the same name and remained in the Caribbean. Less than a year after her capture, a French convoy to Guadeloupe
Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean
Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean, was an unsuccessful operation by a French naval squadron to transport supplies to Guadeloupe in December 1809 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. Over the previous year, British Royal Navy squadrons had isolated and defeated the French Caribbean colonies...
recaptured and destroyed Junon; the British subsequently intercepted and defeated the convoy in turn.
Background
By 1809, the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
were six years old and the British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
was dominant at sea. Blockaded in their home ports by British squadrons, French warships, merchant ships and transports were unable to sail and, as a result, the French colonies in the West Indies were largely cut off from France. These colonies were also closely blockaded themselves and, as a result, their ability to trade independently was severely curtailed, resulting in economic collapse, severe food shortages and social unrest. Messages warning of the deteriorating situation in the colonies had been sent during the summer of 1808, particularly from the islands of Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
and Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
. In response supplies had been sent from France in small convoys and individual frigates in the autumn. The British blockading ships had also intercepted the communications from the island, and relayed the information to the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
in London, who had ordered Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
to assemble a force and invade the French colonies before reinforcements and supplies could reach them.
The majority of the French attempts to reach the Caribbean ended in failure. Several ships were intercepted in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
, while others reached the Caribbean, only to be defeated by ships from Cochrane's squadron, which was focused on preparations for the invasion of Martinique
Invasion of Martinique (1809)
The invasion of Martinique of 1809 was a successful British amphibious operation against the French West Indian island of Martinique that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars...
, planned for February. Only two ships reached the islands safely, the 40–gun frigates Junon at Guadeloupe and Amphitrite
French frigate Amphitrite (1808)
The Amphitrite was a 44-gun Armide class frigate of the French Navy.Amphitrite, under frigate captain Trobriand, departed Cherbourg for Martinique on 10 November 1808, along with Vénus, Junon, Cygne and Papillon, under contre-amiral Hamelin...
at Martinique. By February 1809, Martinique was under attack, distracting most of the available British ships from the blockade of Guadeloupe. Taking advantage of the temporary absence of enemy shipping, Junon slipped out of the Îles des Saintes
Îles des Saintes
The Îles des Saintes , also called simply Les Saintes , is a small archipelago of French Antilles located in the South of Basse-Terre Island, on the West of Marie-Galante and in the North of Dominica in the arc of Lesser Antilles...
to the south of Guadeloupe on 4 February and sailed north. The French captain, Jean-Baptiste-Augustin Rousseau, had dropped off his military and food supplies and taken on board large quantities of trade goods for sale in France in an effort to revive the Guadeloupe economy.
Battle
At 14:00 on 8 February, four days after leaving the Îles des Saintes, Junon was spotted passing close to the Virgin IslandsVirgin Islands
The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, which form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean...
by the small British brigs HMS Superieure and , who signalled the approaching ship to halt and prepare for boarding. Ignoring the orders from the smaller ships, Rousseau continued northwards, passing through the Virgin Islands closely followed by Superieure, although Asp was unable to keep up and fell far behind during the night. At 08:00 on the morning of 9 February, with Virgin Gorda
Virgin Gorda
Virgin Gorda is the third-largest and second most populous of the British Virgin Islands . Located at approximately 18 degrees, 48 minutes North, and 64 degrees, 30 minutes West, it covers an area of about...
northwest, Superieure was close enough to open fire, a few long range shots failing to damage the large frigate, which responded with an ineffective broadside. The gunfire attracted other ships, and during the afternoon Superieure was joined by the British frigate HMS Latona, under Captain Hugh Pigott.
The chase continued through a second night, the French frigate making significant gains over her pursuers but still unable to escape them completely. At 10:30 on 10 February, two sails appeared in the southeast, set on a course that would cut in front of the French frigate. These were the British frigate HMS Horatio under Captain George Scott and the brig HMS Driver. With enemies on all sides, Rousseau recognised that his only hope of escape lay in defeating Horatio: a swift victory would enable him to outrun pursuit from the east, travelling westwards into the Atlantic. Rapidly closing with the new arrivals, Junon opened fire at 12:36. Horatio immediately responded and then circled the slower French vessel and raked
Raking fire
In naval warfare, raking fire is fire directed parallel to the long axis of an enemy ship. Although each shot is directed against a smaller target profile than by shooting broadside and thus more likely to miss the target ship to one side or the other, an individual cannon shot that hits will pass...
her before Rousseau could respond. Drawing close, the frigates exchanged broadsides at point blank range for 40 minutes. The heavier weight of the French ship soon told, with Scott and his first lieutenant severely wounded and their masts badly damaged. Unable to keep up with the French frigate, whose hull was badly holed but whose masts were only lightly damaged, Horatio fell back.
Rousseau had also been badly wounded in the exchange, and command of Junon passed to Lieutenant Jean-Léon Emeric, who attempted to pull away from his battered adversary. As he did so the small brig Driver was well placed to intervene, but her captain, Charles Claridge, failed to engage the larger frigate, even though Latona was now rapidly approaching from the west and together they could have outnumbered and outmanoeuvred Junon. Superieure was also close by, and her captain, William Ferrie, did approach the larger French ship, his fire causing enough damage to Junon
Aftermath
Officers from Latona were first to board the French frigate but Emeric refused to tender his formal surrender except to an officer of Horatio because he insisted that Horatio had caused the entirety of Junons damage. British historians have debated this opinion: William JamesWilliam James (naval historian)
William M. James was a British lawyer turned naval historian who wrote important naval histories of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815.-Career:...
agreed with this assessment, but also opined that if Horatio had been alone it would have been Scott surrendering rather than the French officers, such was the damage his ship had suffered in the battle. Edward Pelham Brenton
Edward Pelham Brenton
Captain Edward Pelham Brenton was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who military career was relatively quiet, apart from involvement in the capture of Martinique in 1809...
, who was a serving officer in the Caribbean at the time, gives most of the credit for the victory to Latona, in a detailed account that James later criticised for its inaccuracies.
The battered Junon was taken in tow to Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
, where she was repaired and later commissioned into the Royal Navy under the same name. The prisoners were also landed in Nova Scotia, including Rousseau, who died from his wounds soon afterwards. The French lost approximately 130 casualties; British losses were seven killed and 26 wounded on Horatio, six wounded on Latona and one man wounded on Driver.
The British commanders and crews were praised for their actions in the battle, with the exception of Claridge in Driver. Both James and Brenton in their later histories heavily criticised his noted reluctance to engage the enemy. By contrast William Ferrie, commander of Superieure was commended for maintaining combat with the much larger frigate whenever possible. Four decades later, in 1847, the Admiralty recognized the battle with the clasps "Horatio 10 Feby. 1809" and "Superieure 10 Feby. 1809" to the Naval General Service Medal, which it awarded upon application to all British participants then still living.
In the month following the capture of Junon, Guadeloupe was the only French colony in the Caribbean not under attack; Martinique fell to the British on 24 February and Spanish forces continued their Siege of Santo Domingo. The French did make further attempts to resupply the islands; a major expedition
Troude's expedition to the Caribbean
Troude's expedition to the Caribbean was a naval operation by a French force under Commodore Amable-Gilles Troude during the Napoleonic Wars. The French squadron departed from Lorient in February 1809 in an attempt to reach and resupply the island colony of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea, then...
was defeated off Guadeloupe in April, and elements of this force that successfully reached the island were defeated and captured during June and July. With British forces distracted by the ongoing Reconquista
Reconquista (Santo Domingo)
The war for Spanish reestablishment in Santo Domingo, better known as Reconquista was fought between November 7, 1808 and July 9, 1809. In 1808, following Napoleon's invasion of Spain, the criollos of Santo Domingo revolted against French rule....
in Santo Domingo
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
, the focus of the campaign moved north, and it was not until a second major expedition
Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean
Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean, was an unsuccessful operation by a French naval squadron to transport supplies to Guadeloupe in December 1809 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. Over the previous year, British Royal Navy squadrons had isolated and defeated the French Caribbean colonies...
arrived in December that significant British forces returned to the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
for the final invasion of Guadeloupe
Invasion of Guadeloupe (1810)
The Invasion of Guadeloupe was a British amphibious operation fought between 28 January and 6 February 1810 over control of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe during the Napoleonic Wars. The island was the final remaining French colony in the Americas, following the systematic invasion and capture...
. The influx of British reinforcements was too late for HMS Junon; on 13 December she had been cruising alone to the east of Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
and been surprised by François Roquebert's squadron of four French frigates. Outnumbered and surrounded, Junon fought hard but was eventually forced to surrender after Captain John Shortland
John Shortland
John Shortland was a naval officer, the eldest son of John Shortland. Shortland joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman and went to Quebec in a transport commanded by his father. From 1783 to 1787 he served in the West Indies. In 1787 he was master's mate in the Sirius when the First Fleet sailed...
was mortally wounded. Reduced to a sinking condition in the engagement, Junon was set on fire and abandoned by Roquebert, whose ships were intercepted five days later off Guadeloupe and defeated: two were destroyed and two others returned to France without landing their supplies.