Action of 18 June 1793
Encyclopedia
The Action of 18 June 1793 was the first decisive and one of the most celebrated encounters between British and French frigates during the French Revolutionary Wars
. The action occurred off Start Point
in Devon
, when the British frigate HMS Nymphe encountered and chased the French frigate Cléopâtre
. During the previous month, Cléopâtre and another frigate, Sémillante
, had been successfully raiding British merchant shipping in the English Channel
and Eastern Atlantic from their base at Cherbourg. In response, the British frigates Nymphe and HMS Venus
had been ordered to intercept and defeat the French frigates and on 27 May Venus and Sémillante fought an inconclusive engagement off Cape Finisterre
.
On 17 June, Nymphe was cruising alone off the Devon coast under Captain Edward Pellew when a sail appeared to the south east. Closing to investigate, Pellew rapidly identified the ship as Cléopâtre and gave chase, the French frigate initially fleeing but Captain Jean Mullon then turning to fight as Nymphe began to overtake his ship. At 06:15, with both crews cheering loudly, the frigates exchanged broadsides, the action lasting 50 minutes. Both ships fought hard, but at 07:10 the British crew were able to successfully board the French frigate and haul down the tricolour. Mullon was mortally wounded in the engagement, and his crew lost 63 casualties compared to 50 on board Nymphe. Pellew returned to Britain with his prize, the first major French warship captured during the conflict, and was proclaimed a hero.
that governed the French Republic expanded the ongoing French Revolutionary Wars
by declaring war on Great Britain
and the Netherlands
. The light vessels of the British Royal Navy
had been preparing for the conflict for several months, having concentrated in June 1792 at Spithead
in anticipation of the outbreak of war. These ships were stationed in large numbers in the North Sea
and the English Channel
to defend British maritime trade against the threat of French commerce raiders operating from the French Channel ports. The French Navy
by contrast was riven with the same social divisions that had divided France in the aftermath of the French Revolution
four years earlier. This had led to the collapse of the professional officer corps and the elimination of the rank of trained seamen-gunners on the grounds of elitism, resulting in a dearth of experience both in seamanship and naval combat.
To counter their disadvantages, the French Navy operated several well-armed frigates from their Channel and Atlantic ports to intercept and disrupt the movement of British trade. Two of the most successful vessels in the early months of the war were the frigates Cléopâtre
and Sémillante
under Captains Jean Mullon and Gaillard respectively and based at Cherbourg on the Cotentin Peninsula
. In response to the depredations of French raiders, the Royal Navy stationed two frigates at Falmouth
. The selected ships were HMS Venus
under Captain Jonathan Faulknor and HMS Nymphe under Captain Edward Pellew. Pellew was a highly experienced officer who had been commended for his service in the American Revolutionary War
, during which he fought at the Battle of Valcour Island
on Lake Champlain
, as an engineering officer at the Battle of Saratoga
and later in European waters in command of a frigate. He was accompanied on board Nymphe by his younger brother Commander Israel Pellew
, who was at the time an unemployed reserve officer enlisted as a volunteer aboard his brother's ship.
, lookouts on Venus sighted a ship and closed with the strange vessel, which was soon determined to be Sémillante. Gaillard's ship weighed 940 long tons (955 MT), more than 200 tons larger than the 722 long tons (734 MT) British vessel, and carried 40 guns mounting a 279 lb broadside to the 38-gun, 222 lb broadside of Venus. Despite the disparity, Faulknor determined on combat and at 04:30 the frigates were close enough to exchange long-range shot, the firing becoming more general at 08:00. For two hours the battle continued as the ships drifted closer to one another, until Gaillard attempted to break off the action and escape: his ship was severely damaged and casualties were mounting. Initially it seemed that Faulknor would be able to prevent Gaillard's ship from escaping by keeping pace with the retreating Sémillante, but as he prepared to fire a second broadside into the retreating French ship a new sail appeared, belonging to a large ship flying the French tricolour. With his sails and rigging damaged, Faulknor could not compete against both Sémillante and the newcomer and fell back as the French ships linked up. The new arrival, later identified as the Cléopâtre, chased Venus but Faulknor was able to make use of a strengthening breeze to escape, eventually rejoining Nymphe on 29 May at which point Cléopâtre broke off the chase. The British frigates subsequently shadowed the French vessels northwards, chasing them into Cherbourg in the first week of June.
The engagement cost Faulknor two men killed and 20 wounded, with his ship's rigging and sails badly torn but the hull undamaged. The larger Sémillante was more seriously battered, with twelve killed and 20 wounded, severe damage to the sails and rigging and at least 5 feet (1.5 m) of water in the hold. Faulknor was praised in subsequent histories for causing so much damage despite the disparity in size between his ship and the French frigate, although some contemporary histories misidentified the opponent as either Engageante
or Proserpine
. The most important outcome of the engagement was that Sémillante was forced to undergo extensive repairs, leaving Cléopâtre to continue to commerce raiding operations alone.
in Devon
, Pellew then turned southwards and at 03:30 on 18 June, while approximately 15 nautical miles (27.8 km) southwest of Start Point, his lookout sighted a sail 20 nautical miles (37 km) to the southeast. At 04:00 Pellew closed to investigate, and the stranger was rapidly identified as Cléopâtre, three days out of Saint-Malo
. Captain Mullon initially raising all sail to escape the British frigate. By 05:00 it was obvious that Nymphe was faster than the French ship and Mullon lowered his topsails in anticipation of combat. At 06:00 Nymphe pulled within range and Mullon hailed the British ship, although his words could not be clearly made out. Accounts differ on Pellew's response, which was to elicit a cry of either "Hoa, Hoa" or "Long live King George
" from his men, followed by three cheers. Mullon's crew responded with either "Vive la nation" or "Vive la république" and cheering of their own, at which one French sailor attached the captain's cap of liberty
to the masthead as a symbol of defiance.
At 06:15, Nymphe was in a position to begin the engagement and opened fire with the port broadside against the starboard quarter of the French ship, to which Cléopâtre responded in kind. The two ships kept up a heavy cannonade for the next fifteen minutes at extreme close range before the French ship suddenly hauled up at 06:30. This gave Pellew the opportunity to engage the enemy even more closely and by 07:00 the French wheel had been destroyed, four successive helmsmen killed and the mizenmast snapped off 12 feet (3.7 m) above the deck. This damage caused the French ship to swing around wildly, first to port and then suddenly back to starboard into Nymphe, so that the jib boom came to rest between the fore and main masts of the British ship, exerting significant pressure on the mainmast, already weakened by French shot, before the jib boom eventually snapped off. Mullon gave orders for his men to storm Nymphe while the ships were entangled, but his crew refused. As they hesitated, Cléopâtre swung back so that the frigates lay side by side, bow to stern, with Nymphe continuing the heavy cannonade as the British maintopmen worked furiously to disentangle the French rigging from their own ship's damaged mainmast, Pellew encouraging them with a promise of ten guineas
to the man who successfully separated the ships. The British captain had initially been concerned that the collision was a deliberate manoeuvre from Mullon and had readied his men in case the French should launch a boarding attack on his frigate. However, as soon as it became clear that the movement was involuntary and that the French were unwilling to press an attack, Pellew reversed his orders and had the men he had assembled to repel boarders climb on board Cléopâtre instead.
At Pellew's orders, British boarders clambered onto the maindeck, through the gunports of the French frigate and even jumped from their own rigging onto the French yards
. Although the attackers initially encountered fierce resistance, hand-to-hand combat lasted just ten minutes before the leaderless French sailors broke and ran. Gaining the deck, the British boarding party hauled down the tricolour, signifying the end of the action. Pellew later described the event in a letter to his brother Samuel as "We dished her up in fifty minutes, boarded and took her". On the quarterdeck they found Captain Mullon, who had been struck in the back by a roundshot which had also torn away most of his left hip and was close to death. Seeing that his ship was in the hands of the enemy, Mullon reached into his pocket for a sheet containing the French coastal codes and tore the paper to shreds with his teeth before dying. However, he had inadvertently destroyed his commission as ship's captain instead of the codes, which were later found intact on his body. French casualties in the action totalled 63, including Mullon killed and his three lieutenants wounded. Losses aboard Nymphe was almost as severe, Pellew losing 23 men, including five officers, killed and 27 wounded. More than 100 prisoners were then collected from Cléopâtre and sent aboard Nymphe, leaving 150 remaining on the French ship under the guard of the small prize crew. The ships were then separated and made their way to Portsmouth
together, arriving there on 21 June.
and were rewarded, Edward with a knighthood
and Israel with promotion to post captain. First lieutenant Amherst Morris was promoted to commander and the ship's other lieutenants were commended for their actions, following Pellew's official dispatch that praised their conduct in the engagement. Cléopâtre was rapidly purchased into the Royal Navy as HMS Oiseau, as the name Cleopatra
was already in use. The prize money
awarded totalled £7,798 17s
and 1d (the equivalent of £ as of ), split between Pellew and the crew, and authorised for payment on 14 December 1793. The ship was considered a good command and remained in service throughout the 23 years of warfare which followed, eventually being sold in 1816. During this time at least 220 more French and allied frigates were captured or destroyed by British military action. More than five decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants from Nymphe still living in 1847.
Soon after the action, Sir Edward Pellew moved to the large frigate HMS Indefatigable
while his brother was given command of the frigate HMS Amphion
. Both served with distinction: Sir Edward captured several more frigates and destroyed the French ship of the line
Droits de l'Homme
at the Action of 13 January 1797
, ending the war as commander in chief in the Mediterranean. Israel was most noted for capturing the French flagship Bucentaure
at the Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805 while in command of HMS Conqueror
.
Historian William James
has noted that while Nymphe was slightly heavier both in tonnage and weight of shot, the French ship carried 80 more personnel who had been serving as a unified crew for significantly longer than those aboard the British frigate; among Pellew's men were 80 Cornish tin miners pressed
into service only a few weeks earlier. This should have conferred an advantage on the French during the final boarding action but the loss of the commanding officers and heavy casualties among the French crew enabled the British to capture the ship. Nevertheless, the heavy casualties on both ships demonstrated the fierceness of the action and James notes that "both combatants displayed, throughout the contest, an equal share of bravery and determination". Pellew was so impressed by his opponent that he attended his funeral in Portsmouth on 23 June and later sent a considerable amount of money to Mullon's widow in honour of her husband's bravery.
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...
. The action occurred off Start Point
Start Point, Devon
Start Point is a promontory in the South Hams district. It is one of the most southerly points in Devon, England, . It marks the southern limit of Start Bay, which extends northwards to the estuary of the River Dart....
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, when the British frigate HMS Nymphe encountered and chased the French frigate Cléopâtre
French frigate Cléopâtre
The Cléopâtre was a 32-gun Vénus class frigate of the French Navy. She was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, and had a coppered hull.She took part in the taking of Cuddalore in 1782....
. During the previous month, Cléopâtre and another frigate, Sémillante
French frigate Sémillante (1792)
The Sémillante was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was involved in a number of multi-vessel actions against the Royal Navy, particularly in the Indian Ocean. She captured a number of East Indiamen before the she became so damaged that the French disarmed her and...
, had been successfully raiding British merchant shipping in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
and Eastern Atlantic from their base at Cherbourg. In response, the British frigates Nymphe and HMS Venus
HMS Venus (1758)
HMS Venus was the name ship of the 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1758 and served for more than half a century until paid off in 1809, although she was reduced from 36 guns to 32 guns in 1792....
had been ordered to intercept and defeat the French frigates and on 27 May Venus and Sémillante fought an inconclusive engagement off Cape Finisterre
Cape Finisterre
right|thumb|300px|Position of Cape Finisterre on the [[Iberian Peninsula]]Cape Finisterre is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain....
.
On 17 June, Nymphe was cruising alone off the Devon coast under Captain Edward Pellew when a sail appeared to the south east. Closing to investigate, Pellew rapidly identified the ship as Cléopâtre and gave chase, the French frigate initially fleeing but Captain Jean Mullon then turning to fight as Nymphe began to overtake his ship. At 06:15, with both crews cheering loudly, the frigates exchanged broadsides, the action lasting 50 minutes. Both ships fought hard, but at 07:10 the British crew were able to successfully board the French frigate and haul down the tricolour. Mullon was mortally wounded in the engagement, and his crew lost 63 casualties compared to 50 on board Nymphe. Pellew returned to Britain with his prize, the first major French warship captured during the conflict, and was proclaimed a hero.
Background
In February 1793, the National ConventionNational Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
that governed the French Republic expanded the ongoing French Revolutionary Wars
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...
by declaring war on Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
and the Netherlands
Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in Western Europe and in the Caribbean. The four parts of the Kingdom—Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten—are referred to as "countries", and participate on a basis of equality...
. The light vessels of 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...
had been preparing for the conflict for several months, having concentrated in June 1792 at Spithead
Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...
in anticipation of the outbreak of war. These ships were stationed in large numbers in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
to defend British maritime trade against the threat of French commerce raiders operating from the French Channel ports. The French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
by contrast was riven with the same social divisions that had divided France in the aftermath of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
four years earlier. This had led to the collapse of the professional officer corps and the elimination of the rank of trained seamen-gunners on the grounds of elitism, resulting in a dearth of experience both in seamanship and naval combat.
To counter their disadvantages, the French Navy operated several well-armed frigates from their Channel and Atlantic ports to intercept and disrupt the movement of British trade. Two of the most successful vessels in the early months of the war were the frigates Cléopâtre
French frigate Cléopâtre
The Cléopâtre was a 32-gun Vénus class frigate of the French Navy. She was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, and had a coppered hull.She took part in the taking of Cuddalore in 1782....
and Sémillante
French frigate Sémillante (1792)
The Sémillante was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was involved in a number of multi-vessel actions against the Royal Navy, particularly in the Indian Ocean. She captured a number of East Indiamen before the she became so damaged that the French disarmed her and...
under Captains Jean Mullon and Gaillard respectively and based at Cherbourg on the Cotentin Peninsula
Cotentin Peninsula
The Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy, forming part of the north-western coast of France. It juts out north-westwards into the English Channel, towards Great Britain...
. In response to the depredations of French raiders, the Royal Navy stationed two frigates at Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
. The selected ships were HMS Venus
HMS Venus (1758)
HMS Venus was the name ship of the 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1758 and served for more than half a century until paid off in 1809, although she was reduced from 36 guns to 32 guns in 1792....
under Captain Jonathan Faulknor and HMS Nymphe under Captain Edward Pellew. Pellew was a highly experienced officer who had been commended for his service in the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, during which he fought at the Battle of Valcour Island
Battle of Valcour Island
The naval Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the Battle of Valcour Bay, took place on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain. The main action took place in Valcour Bay, a narrow strait between the New York mainland and Valcour Island...
on Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
, as an engineering officer at the Battle of Saratoga
Battle of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga conclusively decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the American War of Independence and are generally regarded as a turning point in the war. The battles were fought eighteen days apart on the same ground, south of Saratoga, New York...
and later in European waters in command of a frigate. He was accompanied on board Nymphe by his younger brother Commander Israel Pellew
Israel Pellew
Admiral Sir Israel Pellew, KCB, RN , was an English naval officer who spent his career under the shadow of his more successful older brother Edward Pellew.-Early naval service:...
, who was at the time an unemployed reserve officer enlisted as a volunteer aboard his brother's ship.
Action of 27 May 1793
At 01:00 on 27 May, 375 nautical miles (694.5 km) north west of Cape FinisterreCape Finisterre
right|thumb|300px|Position of Cape Finisterre on the [[Iberian Peninsula]]Cape Finisterre is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain....
, lookouts on Venus sighted a ship and closed with the strange vessel, which was soon determined to be Sémillante. Gaillard's ship weighed 940 long tons (955 MT), more than 200 tons larger than the 722 long tons (734 MT) British vessel, and carried 40 guns mounting a 279 lb broadside to the 38-gun, 222 lb broadside of Venus. Despite the disparity, Faulknor determined on combat and at 04:30 the frigates were close enough to exchange long-range shot, the firing becoming more general at 08:00. For two hours the battle continued as the ships drifted closer to one another, until Gaillard attempted to break off the action and escape: his ship was severely damaged and casualties were mounting. Initially it seemed that Faulknor would be able to prevent Gaillard's ship from escaping by keeping pace with the retreating Sémillante, but as he prepared to fire a second broadside into the retreating French ship a new sail appeared, belonging to a large ship flying the French tricolour. With his sails and rigging damaged, Faulknor could not compete against both Sémillante and the newcomer and fell back as the French ships linked up. The new arrival, later identified as the Cléopâtre, chased Venus but Faulknor was able to make use of a strengthening breeze to escape, eventually rejoining Nymphe on 29 May at which point Cléopâtre broke off the chase. The British frigates subsequently shadowed the French vessels northwards, chasing them into Cherbourg in the first week of June.
The engagement cost Faulknor two men killed and 20 wounded, with his ship's rigging and sails badly torn but the hull undamaged. The larger Sémillante was more seriously battered, with twelve killed and 20 wounded, severe damage to the sails and rigging and at least 5 feet (1.5 m) of water in the hold. Faulknor was praised in subsequent histories for causing so much damage despite the disparity in size between his ship and the French frigate, although some contemporary histories misidentified the opponent as either Engageante
French frigate Engageante (1766)
Engageante was a 26-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. The British captured her in 1794 and converted her to a hospital ship. She served as a hospital ship until she was broken up in 1811.-French service:...
or Proserpine
HMS Amelia (1796)
Proserpine was a 38-gun Hébé-class frigate of the French Navy captured by on 13 June 1796. The Admiralty commissioned Prosperine into the Royal Navy as the fifth rate, HMS Amelia...
. The most important outcome of the engagement was that Sémillante was forced to undergo extensive repairs, leaving Cléopâtre to continue to commerce raiding operations alone.
Battle
On 17 June, after escorting the battered Venus back to Falmouth and collecting fresh supplies, Pellew sailed once more in search of Cléopâtre. Passing eastwards along the English coast until he reached Start PointStart Point, Devon
Start Point is a promontory in the South Hams district. It is one of the most southerly points in Devon, England, . It marks the southern limit of Start Bay, which extends northwards to the estuary of the River Dart....
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, Pellew then turned southwards and at 03:30 on 18 June, while approximately 15 nautical miles (27.8 km) southwest of Start Point, his lookout sighted a sail 20 nautical miles (37 km) to the southeast. At 04:00 Pellew closed to investigate, and the stranger was rapidly identified as Cléopâtre, three days out of Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine.-Demographics:The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season...
. Captain Mullon initially raising all sail to escape the British frigate. By 05:00 it was obvious that Nymphe was faster than the French ship and Mullon lowered his topsails in anticipation of combat. At 06:00 Nymphe pulled within range and Mullon hailed the British ship, although his words could not be clearly made out. Accounts differ on Pellew's response, which was to elicit a cry of either "Hoa, Hoa" or "Long live King George
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
" from his men, followed by three cheers. Mullon's crew responded with either "Vive la nation" or "Vive la république" and cheering of their own, at which one French sailor attached the captain's cap of liberty
Phrygian cap
The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia. In the western provinces of the Roman Empire it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty, perhaps through a confusion with the pileus,...
to the masthead as a symbol of defiance.
At 06:15, Nymphe was in a position to begin the engagement and opened fire with the port broadside against the starboard quarter of the French ship, to which Cléopâtre responded in kind. The two ships kept up a heavy cannonade for the next fifteen minutes at extreme close range before the French ship suddenly hauled up at 06:30. This gave Pellew the opportunity to engage the enemy even more closely and by 07:00 the French wheel had been destroyed, four successive helmsmen killed and the mizenmast snapped off 12 feet (3.7 m) above the deck. This damage caused the French ship to swing around wildly, first to port and then suddenly back to starboard into Nymphe, so that the jib boom came to rest between the fore and main masts of the British ship, exerting significant pressure on the mainmast, already weakened by French shot, before the jib boom eventually snapped off. Mullon gave orders for his men to storm Nymphe while the ships were entangled, but his crew refused. As they hesitated, Cléopâtre swung back so that the frigates lay side by side, bow to stern, with Nymphe continuing the heavy cannonade as the British maintopmen worked furiously to disentangle the French rigging from their own ship's damaged mainmast, Pellew encouraging them with a promise of ten guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
to the man who successfully separated the ships. The British captain had initially been concerned that the collision was a deliberate manoeuvre from Mullon and had readied his men in case the French should launch a boarding attack on his frigate. However, as soon as it became clear that the movement was involuntary and that the French were unwilling to press an attack, Pellew reversed his orders and had the men he had assembled to repel boarders climb on board Cléopâtre instead.
At Pellew's orders, British boarders clambered onto the maindeck, through the gunports of the French frigate and even jumped from their own rigging onto the French yards
Yard (sailing)
A yard is a spar on a mast from which sails are set. It may be constructed of timber, steel, or from more modern materials, like aluminium or carbon fibre. Although some types of fore and aft rigs have yards , the term is usually used to describe the horizontal spars used with square sails...
. Although the attackers initially encountered fierce resistance, hand-to-hand combat lasted just ten minutes before the leaderless French sailors broke and ran. Gaining the deck, the British boarding party hauled down the tricolour, signifying the end of the action. Pellew later described the event in a letter to his brother Samuel as "We dished her up in fifty minutes, boarded and took her". On the quarterdeck they found Captain Mullon, who had been struck in the back by a roundshot which had also torn away most of his left hip and was close to death. Seeing that his ship was in the hands of the enemy, Mullon reached into his pocket for a sheet containing the French coastal codes and tore the paper to shreds with his teeth before dying. However, he had inadvertently destroyed his commission as ship's captain instead of the codes, which were later found intact on his body. French casualties in the action totalled 63, including Mullon killed and his three lieutenants wounded. Losses aboard Nymphe was almost as severe, Pellew losing 23 men, including five officers, killed and 27 wounded. More than 100 prisoners were then collected from Cléopâtre and sent aboard Nymphe, leaving 150 remaining on the French ship under the guard of the small prize crew. The ships were then separated and made their way to Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
together, arriving there on 21 June.
Aftermath
The arrival of the captured ship in Britain was greeted with celebration as the first major French warship seized during the conflict. News of the capture reached King George while he was at the opera, and he immediately and spontaneously announced it to the auditorium. Popular prints depicting the action appeared rapidly in large numbers, many of them wildly inaccurate. Shortly after their return to Britain both Pellew brothers were subsequently introduced to King George by Lord ChathamJohn Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham
General John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, KG, PC was a British peer and soldier.-Career:He was the eldest son of William Pitt the Elder and an elder brother of William Pitt the Younger...
and were rewarded, Edward with a knighthood
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...
and Israel with promotion to post captain. First lieutenant Amherst Morris was promoted to commander and the ship's other lieutenants were commended for their actions, following Pellew's official dispatch that praised their conduct in the engagement. Cléopâtre was rapidly purchased into the Royal Navy as HMS Oiseau, as the name Cleopatra
HMS Cleopatra (1779)
HMS Cleopatra was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had a long career, seeing service during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During the latter wars she fought two notable engagements with larger French opponents...
was already in use. The prize money
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...
awarded totalled £7,798 17s
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
and 1d (the equivalent of £ as of ), split between Pellew and the crew, and authorised for payment on 14 December 1793. The ship was considered a good command and remained in service throughout the 23 years of warfare which followed, eventually being sold in 1816. During this time at least 220 more French and allied frigates were captured or destroyed by British military action. More than five decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants from Nymphe still living in 1847.
Soon after the action, Sir Edward Pellew moved to the large frigate HMS Indefatigable
HMS Indefatigable (1784)
HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars...
while his brother was given command of the frigate HMS Amphion
HMS Amphion (1780)
HMS Amphion was a Royal Navy 32-gun fifth-rate ship built in Chatham in 1780 that blew up on 22 September 1796.-Service:On 10 September 1781, a small squadron under the command of the Amphion's captain John Bazely, in conjunction with General Benedict Arnold, completely destroyed the town of New...
. Both served with distinction: Sir Edward captured several more frigates and destroyed 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...
Droits de l'Homme
French ship Droits de l'Homme (1794)
The Droits de l'Homme was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy during the French Revolution.The Droits de l'Homme, was involved in the Action of 6 November 1794, chasing the British 74s Canada and Alexander...
at the Action of 13 January 1797
Action of 13 January 1797
The Action of 13 January 1797 was a small naval battle fought between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the action the frigates successfully outmanoeuvred the much larger French vessel and drove it on shore in...
, ending the war as commander in chief in the Mediterranean. Israel was most noted for capturing the French flagship Bucentaure
French ship Bucentaure (1804)
Bucentaure was a 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Latouche Tréville, who died on board on 18 August 1804....
at the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805 while in command of HMS Conqueror
HMS Conqueror (1801)
HMS Conqueror was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 November 1801 at Harwich. She was designed by Sir John Henslow as part of the Middling class of 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught...
.
Historian William James
William 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:...
has noted that while Nymphe was slightly heavier both in tonnage and weight of shot, the French ship carried 80 more personnel who had been serving as a unified crew for significantly longer than those aboard the British frigate; among Pellew's men were 80 Cornish tin miners pressed
Impressment
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...
into service only a few weeks earlier. This should have conferred an advantage on the French during the final boarding action but the loss of the commanding officers and heavy casualties among the French crew enabled the British to capture the ship. Nevertheless, the heavy casualties on both ships demonstrated the fierceness of the action and James notes that "both combatants displayed, throughout the contest, an equal share of bravery and determination". Pellew was so impressed by his opponent that he attended his funeral in Portsmouth on 23 June and later sent a considerable amount of money to Mullon's widow in honour of her husband's bravery.