Action of 18 August 1798
Encyclopedia
The Action of 18 August 1798 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars
, fought between the British fourth rate ship HMS Leander
and the French ship of the line
Généreux. Both ships had been engaged at the Battle of the Nile
three weeks earlier, in which a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson had destroyed a French fleet at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt
. Généreux was one of only four French ships to survive the battle, while Leander had been detached from the British fleet by Nelson on 6 August. On board, Captain Edward Berry
sailed as a passenger, charged with carrying despatches to the squadron under Earl St Vincent
off Cadiz
. On 18 August, while passing the western shore of Crete
, Leander was intercepted and attacked by Généreux, which had separated from the rest of the French survivors the day before.
Captain Thomas Thompson
on Leander initially tried to escape the much larger French ship, but it rapidly became clear that Généreux was faster than his vessel. At 09:00 the ships exchanged broadsides, the engagement continuing until 10:30 when Captain Louis-Jean-Nicolas Le Joille made an unsuccessful attempt to board Leander, suffering heavy casualties in the attempt. For another five hours the battle continued, Thompson successfully raking
Généreux at one stage but ultimately being outfought and outmanoeuvered by the larger warship. Eventually the wounded Thompson surrendered his dismasted ship by ordering his men to wave a French tricolour on a pike. As French sailors took possession of the British ship, Le Joille encouraged systematic looting of the sailors' personal possessions, even confiscating the surgeon's tools in the middle of an operation. Against the established conventions of warfare, he forced the captured crew to assist in bringing Leander safely into Corfu
, and denied them food and medical treatment unless they co-operated with their captors.
Le Joille's published account of the action greatly exaggerated the scale of his success, and although he was highly praised in the French press he was castigated in Britain for his conduct. Thompson, Berry and most of the British officers were exchanged
and acquitted at court martial and the captains were knighted
for their services, while Leander and many of the crew were recaptured in March 1799 by a Russian squadron that seized Corfu, and returned to British control by order of Tsar Paul
. Généreux survived another year in the Mediterranean, but was eventually captured off Malta
in 1800 by a British squadron under Lord Nelson.
. Nelson had been in pursuit of the French for three months, crossing the Mediterranean three times in his efforts to locate the fleet and a convoy under its protection which carried the French army commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte intended for the invasion of Egypt. The convoy successfully eluded Nelson and the army landed at Alexandria
on 31 June, capturing the city and advancing inland. The fleet was too large to anchor in Alexandria harbour and instead Bonaparte ordered its commander, Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers
to take up station in Aboukir Bay.
On discovering the French Nelson attacked immediately, ordering his ships to advance on the French line and engage, beginning the Battle of the Nile
. As he closed with the French line, Captain Thomas Foley on the lead ship HMS Goliath
realised that there was a gap at the head of the French line wide enough to allow his ship passage. Pushing through the gap, Foley attacked the French van
from the landward side, followed by four ships, while Nelson engaged the van from the seaward side with three more. The remainder of the fleet attacked the French centre, except for HMS Culloden
which grounded on a shoal and became stuck. The smaller ships in the squadron, the fourth rate HMS Leander
and the sloop
HMS Mutine
, attempted to assist Culloden, but it was soon realised that the ship was immobile. Determined to participate in the battle, Captain Thomas Thompson
of Leander abandoned the stranded Culloden and joined the second wave of attack against the French centre, focusing fire on the bow of the 120-gun French first rate Orient
. Within an hour, Orient caught fire under the combined attack of three ships and later exploded, effectively concluding the engagement in Nelson's favour. During the next two days, the lightly damaged Leander was employed in forcing the surrender of several grounded French vessels, and by the afternoon of 3 August Nelson was in complete control of Aboukir Bay. Only four French ships, two ships of the line and two frigates, escaped, sailing north out of the bay on the afternoon of 2 August under the command of Rear-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
.
Having won the battle, Nelson needed to send despatches to his commander, Vice-Admiral Earl St. Vincent
reporting on the destruction of the French Mediterranean fleet. These messages were entrusted to Captain Edward Berry
, who had served as Nelson's flag captain on HMS Vanguard
during the battle. Thompson was ordered to escort Berry to St. Vincent, believed to be with the blockade squadron off Cadiz
, in Leander. Although Leander had not suffered serious damage in the battle, Thompson had manning problems: casualties from the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
in July 1797 had never been replaced, 14 men had been wounded in the battle at Aboukir Bay and two officers and fifty men had been detached to man the captured French prizes. This left Thompson with just 282 men on board Leander. Following Nelson's orders, Thompson sailed on 5 August.
with his flagship Guillaume Tell and the two frigates while Captain Louis-Jean-Nicolas Le Joille on Généreux was ordered to Corfu
. Before they departed, a number of men were transferred to Généreux, which was already carrying survivors from Timoléon
, one of the ships destroyed in Aboukir Bay, giving Généreux a crew of 936 men. As Généreux rounded the island of Goza off the western tip of Crete
(then known as Candia) on the following morning, his lookouts reported a sail to the northwest. This vessel was Leander. Learning of the strange ship to the southeast, Captain Thompson deduced that it must be one of Villeneuve's ships and immediately ordered all sails set in an effort to avoid an unequal combat: Généreux carried 30 more guns than Leander and was more strongly built, carrying a broadside of over 1,000lbs to Leander' s 432lbs.
Assisted by a strong breeze behind his ship that did not carry to Thompson's vessel,
Le Joille rapidly gained on the fourth rate, hoisting Neapolitan
and then Ottoman
flags in an unsuccessful attempt to confuse Thompson into approaching his ship. By 09:00 it was inevitable that Généreux would catch Leander and Thompson responded by shortening sail and turning northwards to aim his broadside
at the French ship. Within minutes Généreux had fired a shot across Leander' s bows and Thompson responded to the threat by ordering a full broadside against Généreux. Le Joille replied with his own broadside, and the two ships continued firing as they sailed to the east, Généreux gradually closing the range with Leander. The smaller British vessel took the worst of the damage and at 10:30 the combatants were so close that Le Joille decided to attempt to board the British ship, Thompson unable to manoeuvre the battered Leander out of the way. Généreux' s bow collided with the bow of Leander and the French ship swung alongside, Le Joille preparing his men to board. Thompson was prepared for this manoeuvre and mustered his Royal Marines
and teams of sailors armed with musket
s along the rail of the quarterdeck and poop deck
. The volleys of musket fire were sufficient to kill any Frenchman who attempted to board the British ship and the tangled ships turned southwards together, their main batteries continuing to exchange broadsides at extreme close range. Gradually the strengthening breeze dragged Généreux free of Leander, the French ship faster as more of its sails and rigging were intact.
As Généreux pulled away to the west, Thompson, who had already been wounded several times, succeeded in turning his battered ship so that his broadside was directed at the stern of Généreux. Despite the collapsed wreckage of the mizzenmast and fore topmast, his gunnery teams managed to cut away enough of the obstruction to fire a raking
broadside at the French vessel. Although Leander had inflicted severe damage, the size and power of the French ship was beginning to tell, and Le Joille was able to turn Généreux southwards again. The ships continued exchanging broadsides until 15:30, by which time Leander' s crew had run out of regular shot and were firing scrap metal at the French ship. Eventually Le Joille succeeded in bringing Généreux across Leander' s bow and hailed the British ship, asking if they had surrendered. Unable to continue fighting due to the wreckage that lay across the forward guns, Thompson ordered a French flag raised on a pike, which was sufficient for Le Joille to cease firing.
The French were initially unable to take possession of the fourth rate as every single one of the boats on board had been smashed by British shot. In the end, a French midshipman and a boatswain dived into the sea and swam to the British ship to take the formal surrender. Leander had lost a third of the crew: 35 men killed and 57 wounded, the latter including Thompson three times and Berry, who had a piece of human skull lodged in his arm. The ship had been completely dismasted except the stubs of the fore and main masts and the bowsprit, and was leaking badly from dozens of shot holes. Généreux had also been damaged, losing the mizzen topmast and almost losing the foremast as well. Losses on the crowded decks had been far more severe than on Leander, with casualties estimated at 100 killed and 188 wounded, again approximately a third of the total.
suggests they should have done, Thompson instead ordered one of the British boats to be repaired and launched to transport him to the French ship and bring back Captain Le Joille in the belief that he would end the looting. However when the French captain arrived he immediately joined his officers, commandeering all but two of Captain Thompson's shirts and the wounded officer's cot. When Captain Berry complained that a pair of ornamental pistols had been stolen from him, Le Joille summoned the thief to the quarterdeck and took them for himself. The sailors who accompanied Le Joille were equally voracious: among the many things taken were the ship surgeon Mr Mulberry's operating tools, stolen in the middle of an operation. Without the correct equipment, the surgeon could not assist the many wounded, including Captain Thompson, who had a musket ball still embedded deeply in his arm. When Captain Berry complained, Le Joille replied "J'en suis fâché, mais le fait est, que les Français sont bons au pillage" ("I'm sorry, but the fact is, that the French are good at plunder").
Dividing the captured British sailors, Le Joille transferred half to Généreux and left half on Leander with a French prize crew. In direct contravention of the established conventions of war, both sets of prisoners were immediately ordered to effect repairs to the vessels. Only once both ships were ready for the journey to Corfu were the prisoners given bread and water, although the wounded were still denied medical attention. For ten days after the engagement the battered ships sailed northwards against the wind, Généreux forced to attach a tow to Leander to avoid leaving the prize behind. On 28 August, a sail appeared to the south. Panic broke out on Généreux, and Le Joille ordered the prisoners confined below and for preparations to be made to abandon Leander and make all speed for Corfu. The new arrival was in fact the 16-gun British sloop
HMS Mutine
under Lieutenant Thomas Bladen Capel
, carrying the second copies of Nelson's despatches to Britain. Capel sighted the ships to the north, but assumed that they were Généreux and Guillaume Tell and so passed by displaying French colours. Le Joille was not fooled by the disguise but did not pursue the small vessel, continuing his passage to Corfu once Mutine had sailed out of sight.
At Corfu the prisoners were confined but the wounded were still not provided with treatment: Thompson was only able to have the musket ball removed from his arm when Mulberry was smuggled aboard Généreux in Corfu harbour without Le Joille's knowledge or permission. The British officers were eventually parole
d and returned to Britain, although the carpenter Thomas Jarrat was detained because he refused to supply Le Joille with the specifications of Leander' s masts. Most of the ship's regular seamen were detained at Corfu. They were subsequently encouraged to join the French Navy, Le Joille attempting to enlist them on Généreux when a Russian squadron blockaded the port. Le Joille's demands were met with a response from a maintopman named George Bannister, who called out "No, you damned French rascal, give us back our little ship, and we'll fight you again until we sink". Généreux subsequently escaped from Corfu and anchored off Brindisi
, where Le Joille was killed by artillery fire from the Neapolitan castle overlooking the town. The ship was captured in a battle in February 1800
by a squadron under Nelson, off Malta. Leander was captured by a Russian force that seized Corfu in March 1799 and was returned to the Royal Navy by Tsar Paul
, along with the sailors held on the island.
The account of the battle Captain Le Joille sent to France was inaccurate in a number of important features, describing Leander as a 74-gun ship and claiming that his men actually boarded the British ship, only to subsequently retreat. Coming so soon after their disaster at the Battle of the Nile and encouraged by Le Joille's highly inaccurate reports, French newspapers exaggerated the scale of the victory, Le Moniteur Universel
publishing several imaginative accounts in the months after the battle. Despite the defeat the action was celebrated in Britain, Thompson and Berry praised for their defiance against a much larger vessel rather than criticised for losing their ship. Le Joille's conduct in the treatment of his prisoners was derided in the popular press and on 17 December 1798 Thompson, Berry and the ship's officers were brought before a court martial on HMS America
at Sheerness
for the loss of their ship and honourably acquitted, the court announcing that;
Thompson and Berry were subsequently voted the thanks of Parliament and in December 1798 Berry was made a Knight Bachelor
, given the Freedom of the City
of London
and a chest worth 100 guineas. He was subsequently made commander of the new 80-gun HMS Foudroyant in early 1799, and returned to the Mediterranean to operate as Nelson's flag captain again during the Siege of Malta. Thompson was knighted in January 1799 and given a pension of £200 per annum, returning to service that spring as captain of HMS Bellona
attached to the Channel Fleet
under Lord Bridport
.
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, fought between the British fourth rate ship HMS Leander
HMS Leander (1780)
HMS Leander was a Portland-class 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Chatham on 1 July 1780. She served on the West Coast of Africa, West Indies, and the Halifax station. During the French Revolutionary Wars she participated in the Battle of the Nile before a French ship captured her....
and the French ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
Généreux. Both ships had been engaged at the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
three weeks earlier, in which a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson had destroyed a French fleet at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Généreux was one of only four French ships to survive the battle, while Leander had been detached from the British fleet by Nelson on 6 August. On board, Captain Edward Berry
Edward Berry
Rear Admiral Sir Edward Berry, 1st Baronet, KCB was an officer in Britain's Royal Navy primarily known for his role as flag captain of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson's ship HMS Vanguard at the Battle of the Nile, prior to his knighthood in 1798...
sailed as a passenger, charged with carrying despatches to the squadron under Earl St Vincent
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...
off Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. On 18 August, while passing the western shore of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, Leander was intercepted and attacked by Généreux, which had separated from the rest of the French survivors the day before.
Captain Thomas Thompson
Sir Thomas Thompson, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Boulden Thompson, 1st Baronet GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American Revolutionary, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Vice-Admiral...
on Leander initially tried to escape the much larger French ship, but it rapidly became clear that Généreux was faster than his vessel. At 09:00 the ships exchanged broadsides, the engagement continuing until 10:30 when Captain Louis-Jean-Nicolas Le Joille made an unsuccessful attempt to board Leander, suffering heavy casualties in the attempt. For another five hours the battle continued, Thompson successfully raking
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...
Généreux at one stage but ultimately being outfought and outmanoeuvered by the larger warship. Eventually the wounded Thompson surrendered his dismasted ship by ordering his men to wave a French tricolour on a pike. As French sailors took possession of the British ship, Le Joille encouraged systematic looting of the sailors' personal possessions, even confiscating the surgeon's tools in the middle of an operation. Against the established conventions of warfare, he forced the captured crew to assist in bringing Leander safely into Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, and denied them food and medical treatment unless they co-operated with their captors.
Le Joille's published account of the action greatly exaggerated the scale of his success, and although he was highly praised in the French press he was castigated in Britain for his conduct. Thompson, Berry and most of the British officers were exchanged
Prisoner exchange
A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners. These may be prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc...
and acquitted at court martial and the captains were knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
for their services, while Leander and many of the crew were recaptured in March 1799 by a Russian squadron that seized Corfu, and returned to British control by order of Tsar Paul
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
. Généreux survived another year in the Mediterranean, but was eventually captured off Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
in 1800 by a British squadron under Lord Nelson.
Background
On 1 August 1798 a British fleet of 13 ships of the line and one fourth rate ship under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson discovered a French fleet of 13 ships of the line and four frigates at anchor in Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Nelson had been in pursuit of the French for three months, crossing the Mediterranean three times in his efforts to locate the fleet and a convoy under its protection which carried the French army commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte intended for the invasion of Egypt. The convoy successfully eluded Nelson and the army landed at Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
on 31 June, capturing the city and advancing inland. The fleet was too large to anchor in Alexandria harbour and instead Bonaparte ordered its commander, Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers
François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers
Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, Comte de Brueys was the French commander in the Battle of the Nile, in which the French Revolutionary Navy was defeated by Royal Navy forces under Admiral Horatio Nelson. The British victory helped to ensure their naval supremacy throughout the...
to take up station in Aboukir Bay.
On discovering the French Nelson attacked immediately, ordering his ships to advance on the French line and engage, beginning the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
. As he closed with the French line, Captain Thomas Foley on the lead ship HMS Goliath
HMS Goliath (1781)
HMS Goliath was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line in the Royal Navy. She was launched on 19 October 1781 at Deptford Dockyard. She was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, Battle of the Nile, and Battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815....
realised that there was a gap at the head of the French line wide enough to allow his ship passage. Pushing through the gap, Foley attacked the French van
Vanguard (military tactics)
The vanguard is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.- Medieval origins :...
from the landward side, followed by four ships, while Nelson engaged the van from the seaward side with three more. The remainder of the fleet attacked the French centre, except for HMS Culloden
HMS Culloden (1783)
HMS Culloden was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 16 June 1783 at Rotherhithe. She took part in some of the most famous battles of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....
which grounded on a shoal and became stuck. The smaller ships in the squadron, the fourth rate HMS Leander
HMS Leander (1780)
HMS Leander was a Portland-class 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Chatham on 1 July 1780. She served on the West Coast of Africa, West Indies, and the Halifax station. During the French Revolutionary Wars she participated in the Battle of the Nile before a French ship captured her....
and the sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
HMS Mutine
HMS Mutine (1797)
HMS Mutine was a French 16-gun corvette launched in 1794 at Honfleur.The Royal Navy captured her from the French in May 1797 at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Mutine was sold in 1803.-French service:...
, attempted to assist Culloden, but it was soon realised that the ship was immobile. Determined to participate in the battle, Captain Thomas Thompson
Sir Thomas Thompson, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Boulden Thompson, 1st Baronet GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American Revolutionary, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Vice-Admiral...
of Leander abandoned the stranded Culloden and joined the second wave of attack against the French centre, focusing fire on the bow of the 120-gun French first rate Orient
French ship Orient (1791)
The Dauphin-Royal was an Océan class 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.During the French Revolution, she was renamed Sans-Culotte in September 1792, and eventually Orient in May 1795....
. Within an hour, Orient caught fire under the combined attack of three ships and later exploded, effectively concluding the engagement in Nelson's favour. During the next two days, the lightly damaged Leander was employed in forcing the surrender of several grounded French vessels, and by the afternoon of 3 August Nelson was in complete control of Aboukir Bay. Only four French ships, two ships of the line and two frigates, escaped, sailing north out of the bay on the afternoon of 2 August under the command of Rear-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and Spanish fleets defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar....
.
Having won the battle, Nelson needed to send despatches to his commander, Vice-Admiral Earl St. Vincent
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...
reporting on the destruction of the French Mediterranean fleet. These messages were entrusted to Captain Edward Berry
Edward Berry
Rear Admiral Sir Edward Berry, 1st Baronet, KCB was an officer in Britain's Royal Navy primarily known for his role as flag captain of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson's ship HMS Vanguard at the Battle of the Nile, prior to his knighthood in 1798...
, who had served as Nelson's flag captain on HMS Vanguard
HMS Vanguard (1787)
HMS Vanguard was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 March 1787 at Deptford. She was the sixth vessel to bear the name....
during the battle. Thompson was ordered to escort Berry to St. Vincent, believed to be with the blockade squadron off Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, in Leander. Although Leander had not suffered serious damage in the battle, Thompson had manning problems: casualties from the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)
The Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was an amphibious assault by the Royal Navy on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Launched by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson on 22 July 1797, the assault was heavily defeated, and on 25 July the remains of the landing party ...
in July 1797 had never been replaced, 14 men had been wounded in the battle at Aboukir Bay and two officers and fifty men had been detached to man the captured French prizes. This left Thompson with just 282 men on board Leander. Following Nelson's orders, Thompson sailed on 5 August.
Battle
After fleeing Aboukir Bay, Admiral Villeneuve had been delayed in the Eastern Mediterranean by northeasterly winds, and on 17 August he decided to split his forces, sailing for MaltaMalta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
with his flagship Guillaume Tell and the two frigates while Captain Louis-Jean-Nicolas Le Joille on Généreux was ordered to Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
. Before they departed, a number of men were transferred to Généreux, which was already carrying survivors from Timoléon
French ship Commerce de Bordeaux (1785)
The Commerce de Bordeaux was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.Renamed Timoléon in February 1794, she took part in the Battle of the Nile under captain Louis-Léonce Trullet. In the confusion of the battle, her rudder was damaged by misdirected fire from the neighbouring...
, one of the ships destroyed in Aboukir Bay, giving Généreux a crew of 936 men. As Généreux rounded the island of Goza off the western tip of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
(then known as Candia) on the following morning, his lookouts reported a sail to the northwest. This vessel was Leander. Learning of the strange ship to the southeast, Captain Thompson deduced that it must be one of Villeneuve's ships and immediately ordered all sails set in an effort to avoid an unequal combat: Généreux carried 30 more guns than Leander and was more strongly built, carrying a broadside of over 1,000lbs to Leander
Assisted by a strong breeze behind his ship that did not carry to Thompson's vessel,
Le Joille rapidly gained on the fourth rate, hoisting Neapolitan
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
and then Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
flags in an unsuccessful attempt to confuse Thompson into approaching his ship. By 09:00 it was inevitable that Généreux would catch Leander and Thompson responded by shortening sail and turning northwards to aim his broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
at the French ship. Within minutes Généreux had fired a shot across Leander
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
and teams of sailors armed with musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
s along the rail of the quarterdeck and poop deck
Poop deck
In naval architecture, a poop deck is a deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear, or "aft", part of the superstructure of a ship.The name originates from the French word for stern, la poupe, from Latin puppis...
. The volleys of musket fire were sufficient to kill any Frenchman who attempted to board the British ship and the tangled ships turned southwards together, their main batteries continuing to exchange broadsides at extreme close range. Gradually the strengthening breeze dragged Généreux free of Leander, the French ship faster as more of its sails and rigging were intact.
As Généreux pulled away to the west, Thompson, who had already been wounded several times, succeeded in turning his battered ship so that his broadside was directed at the stern of Généreux. Despite the collapsed wreckage of the mizzenmast and fore topmast, his gunnery teams managed to cut away enough of the obstruction to fire a raking
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...
broadside at the French vessel. Although Leander had inflicted severe damage, the size and power of the French ship was beginning to tell, and Le Joille was able to turn Généreux southwards again. The ships continued exchanging broadsides until 15:30, by which time Leander
The French were initially unable to take possession of the fourth rate as every single one of the boats on board had been smashed by British shot. In the end, a French midshipman and a boatswain dived into the sea and swam to the British ship to take the formal surrender. Leander had lost a third of the crew: 35 men killed and 57 wounded, the latter including Thompson three times and Berry, who had a piece of human skull lodged in his arm. The ship had been completely dismasted except the stubs of the fore and main masts and the bowsprit, and was leaking badly from dozens of shot holes. Généreux had also been damaged, losing the mizzen topmast and almost losing the foremast as well. Losses on the crowded decks had been far more severe than on Leander, with casualties estimated at 100 killed and 188 wounded, again approximately a third of the total.
Aftermath
The two French sailors that reached Leander immediately began a systematic pillaging of the British officers' personal effects. Rather than tossing the men into the sea, as historian 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:...
suggests they should have done, Thompson instead ordered one of the British boats to be repaired and launched to transport him to the French ship and bring back Captain Le Joille in the belief that he would end the looting. However when the French captain arrived he immediately joined his officers, commandeering all but two of Captain Thompson's shirts and the wounded officer's cot. When Captain Berry complained that a pair of ornamental pistols had been stolen from him, Le Joille summoned the thief to the quarterdeck and took them for himself. The sailors who accompanied Le Joille were equally voracious: among the many things taken were the ship surgeon Mr Mulberry's operating tools, stolen in the middle of an operation. Without the correct equipment, the surgeon could not assist the many wounded, including Captain Thompson, who had a musket ball still embedded deeply in his arm. When Captain Berry complained, Le Joille replied "J'en suis fâché, mais le fait est, que les Français sont bons au pillage" ("I'm sorry, but the fact is, that the French are good at plunder").
Dividing the captured British sailors, Le Joille transferred half to Généreux and left half on Leander with a French prize crew. In direct contravention of the established conventions of war, both sets of prisoners were immediately ordered to effect repairs to the vessels. Only once both ships were ready for the journey to Corfu were the prisoners given bread and water, although the wounded were still denied medical attention. For ten days after the engagement the battered ships sailed northwards against the wind, Généreux forced to attach a tow to Leander to avoid leaving the prize behind. On 28 August, a sail appeared to the south. Panic broke out on Généreux, and Le Joille ordered the prisoners confined below and for preparations to be made to abandon Leander and make all speed for Corfu. The new arrival was in fact the 16-gun British sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
HMS Mutine
HMS Mutine (1797)
HMS Mutine was a French 16-gun corvette launched in 1794 at Honfleur.The Royal Navy captured her from the French in May 1797 at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Mutine was sold in 1803.-French service:...
under Lieutenant Thomas Bladen Capel
Thomas Bladen Capel
Admiral Sir Thomas Bladen Capel GCB RN was an officer in the British Royal Navy whose distinguished service in the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 earned him rapid promotion and great acclaim both in and out of the Navy...
, carrying the second copies of Nelson's despatches to Britain. Capel sighted the ships to the north, but assumed that they were Généreux and Guillaume Tell and so passed by displaying French colours. Le Joille was not fooled by the disguise but did not pursue the small vessel, continuing his passage to Corfu once Mutine had sailed out of sight.
At Corfu the prisoners were confined but the wounded were still not provided with treatment: Thompson was only able to have the musket ball removed from his arm when Mulberry was smuggled aboard Généreux in Corfu harbour without Le Joille's knowledge or permission. The British officers were eventually parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
d and returned to Britain, although the carpenter Thomas Jarrat was detained because he refused to supply Le Joille with the specifications of Leander
Brindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
, where Le Joille was killed by artillery fire from the Neapolitan castle overlooking the town. The ship was captured in a battle in February 1800
Battle of the Malta Convoy (1800)
The Battle of the Malta Convoy was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought on 18 February 1800 during the Siege of Malta. The French garrison at the city of Valletta in Malta had been under siege for eighteen months, blockaded on the landward side by a combined force of British,...
by a squadron under Nelson, off Malta. Leander was captured by a Russian force that seized Corfu in March 1799 and was returned to the Royal Navy by Tsar Paul
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
, along with the sailors held on the island.
The account of the battle Captain Le Joille sent to France was inaccurate in a number of important features, describing Leander as a 74-gun ship and claiming that his men actually boarded the British ship, only to subsequently retreat. Coming so soon after their disaster at the Battle of the Nile and encouraged by Le Joille's highly inaccurate reports, French newspapers exaggerated the scale of the victory, Le Moniteur Universel
Le Moniteur Universel
Le Moniteur Universel was a French newspaper founded in Paris on November 24, 1789 under the title Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universal by Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, and which ceased publication on June 30, 1901...
publishing several imaginative accounts in the months after the battle. Despite the defeat the action was celebrated in Britain, Thompson and Berry praised for their defiance against a much larger vessel rather than criticised for losing their ship. Le Joille's conduct in the treatment of his prisoners was derided in the popular press and on 17 December 1798 Thompson, Berry and the ship's officers were brought before a court martial on HMS America
HMS America (1777)
HMS America was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 5 August 1777 at Deptford.On 5 September 1781, she took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake, and in 1795 she was part of the British fleet at the Battle of Muizenberg....
at Sheerness
Sheerness
Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
for the loss of their ship and honourably acquitted, the court announcing that;
Thompson and Berry were subsequently voted the thanks of Parliament and in December 1798 Berry was made a Knight Bachelor
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
, given the Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and a chest worth 100 guineas. He was subsequently made commander of the new 80-gun HMS Foudroyant in early 1799, and returned to the Mediterranean to operate as Nelson's flag captain again during the Siege of Malta. Thompson was knighted in January 1799 and given a pension of £200 per annum, returning to service that spring as captain of HMS Bellona
HMS Bellona (1760)
HMS Bellona was a 74-gun Bellona-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade, she was a prototype for the iconic 74-gun ships of the latter part of the 18th century...
attached to the Channel Fleet
Channel Fleet
The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...
under Lord Bridport
Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport
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.