Action of 24 October 1798
Encyclopedia
The Action of 24 October 1798 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars
, fought between a British Royal Navy
frigate and two ships of the Batavian Republic
. The Dutch ships were intercepted in the North Sea
within hours of leaving port, 30 nautical miles (55.6 km) northwest of the Texel
, by the British ship HMS Sirius
. Both Dutch vessels were carrying large quantities of military supplies and French soldiers
, reinforcements for the French and Irish forces participating in the Irish Rebellion of 1798
. Although the rebellion had been defeated a month earlier, word of the British victory had not yet reached the European continent, and the Dutch force was intended to supplement a larger French squadron sent earlier in October. The French had already been defeated at the Battle of Tory Island
and the Dutch suffered a similar outcome, both ships defeated in turn by the larger and better armed British vessel.
Captain Richard King
on Sirius discovered the Dutch ships early on 24 October, when they were separated by 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) and thus unable to mutually support one another. Targeting the smaller ship, Waakzaamheid, King was able to outrun her in an hour and force her to surrender without a fight. Turning his attention on the larger vessel, Furie, King rapidly overhauled her as well and opened a heavy fire, to which Furie was only able to ineffectively reply. Within half an hour she too had surrendered. Both ships were taken to Britain, repaired and commissioned in the Royal Navy. The defeat ended the last effort by the continental nations to land soldiers in Ireland
, and signified the last action of the Irish Rebellion.
in 1789, a political organisation was formed in Ireland
named the Society of United Irishmen. Crossing social and religious boundaries, this organisation embraced republican principles
with the stated goal of removing British government control from Ireland. When Britain went to war with the French Republic in 1793, the organisation was declared illegal and driven under cover, many of its senior members going into exile in Europe or America. These men continued to call for armed resistance to the British government, and in 1796 persuaded the French Directory
to launch the Expédition d'Irlande
, a large scale invasion of Ireland. The expedition was a disaster, with thousands of French soldiers drowned without a single man successfully landed. Subsequently the French-controlled government of the Batavian Republic
, formerly the Dutch Republic
, was persuaded to make an attempt on Ireland in October 1797, but their fleet was intercepted and defeated by Admiral Adam Duncan at the Battle of Camperdown
.
In May 1798, the arrest of a number of the leaders of the United Irishmen provoked the Irish Rebellion of 1798
, a widespread uprising across Ireland. The Rebellion took the British authorities by surprise, but the introduction of regular British Army
troops rapidly defeated the Irish armies and the last resistance was brought to an end in September with the surrender of a small French force at the Battle of Ballinamuck
. The French authorities had also been taken by surprise by the uprising, and were consequently unprepared: the forces they deployed were inadequate to face the much larger British armies operating in Ireland at the time. News of this defeat had still not reach the continent by October, when a second French invasion force set out. Closely watched by the Royal Navy as soon as it left Brest
, the squadron was defeated on 12 October 1798 at the Battle of Tory Island
: fewer than a third of the French ships returned to France.
The Dutch had also been persuaded to send reinforcements to the United Irishmen during the rebellion, but like the French they were unprepared for the sudden uprising and their contributions were not ready until 24 October. Two Dutch ships had been ordered to take on troops and supplies: the 36-gun frigate
Furie
under Captain Bartholomeus Pletz and the 24-gun corvette
Waakzaamheid under Captain Meindert van Neirop, who assumed command of the expedition. Although both ships were small and poorly armed, each carried a number of French soldiers for service in Ireland, Furie embarking 165 and Waakzaamheid 122. In addition, the ships carried over 6,000 stands of arms and large quantities of other military stores with which to arm the Irish irregular forces that they expected to meet.
, sailing westwards towards the English Channel
. Within sight of the Dutch ships however was the British frigate HMS Sirius
, a new ship of 1049 long tons (1,066 MT), rated as 38-guns but actually carrying 44. She was commanded by Captain Richard King
, who had participated in the campaign against the Expédition d'Irlande two years earlier. Sirius had been stationed off the Texel to watch for Dutch movements and intercept any ships of smaller or equal size entering or leaving the waterway. Although van Neirop's squadron outnumbered King's ship, the British vessel was much larger and faster, and the Dutch were also hampered by their position: the two ships were more than 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) apart, too far to offer mutual support against their opponent.
King's first target was the smaller and slower Waakzaamheid, which was windward of Furie and thus would have to sail into the wind to link with Pletz's ship. King rapidly closed with the corvette, avoiding contact with the larger Furie as he did so. At 09:00 Sirius came alongside Waakzaamheid and fired a gun at her, prompting van Neirop to immediately surrender. Furie had not attempted to come to the flagship's aid and resistance against the much larger Sirius would have been futile. King despatched boats containing a prize crew and removed most of the prisoners from Waakzaamheid, placing them below decks on Sirius. Once the prize was secure, King immediately set off in pursuit of Furie, which was attempting to flee to the west and had nearly disappeared over the horizon. For the rest of the day the pursuit continued, Furie unable to escape the faster British ship, which steadily gained during the afternoon until at 17:00 was within range of the Dutch frigate.
King's fire was heavy, but Pletz resisted, responding with his own cannon and continuing his attempts to escape. For half an hour the engagement continued, the distance between the ships varying as Pletz attempted to manouvere out of King's range. The British crew were better gunners than the Dutch, and the musketry of the French soldiers aboard had little effect on Sirius as the range between the ships was too great for musket
s to be effective. As a result, damage and casualties mounted aboard Furie although Sirius was barely touched, only one shot striking the bowsprit
and one man wounded. At approximately 17:30, Pletz surrendered, having lost eight dead and 14 wounded and with his ship badly damaged. King transferred the prisoners and placed a prize crew on Furie before returning to his base at the Nore
with his prizes.
that followed them. Furie and Waakzaamheid were both purchased for the Royal Navy, Furie returned to her pre-war name of Wilhelmina and Waakzaamheid under the same name. The corvette was regraded and the number of guns aboard were reduced to 20 as her frame was not deemed strong enough to carry 24. Richard King remained in Sirius until 1802, and subsequently commanded the ship of the line
HMS Achille
, participating at the Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805.
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 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...
frigate and two ships of the Batavian Republic
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
. The Dutch ships were intercepted 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...
within hours of leaving port, 30 nautical miles (55.6 km) northwest of the Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
, by the British ship HMS Sirius
HMS Sirius (1797)
HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe...
. Both Dutch vessels were carrying large quantities of military supplies and French soldiers
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
, reinforcements for the French and Irish forces participating in the Irish Rebellion of 1798
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
. Although the rebellion had been defeated a month earlier, word of the British victory had not yet reached the European continent, and the Dutch force was intended to supplement a larger French squadron sent earlier in October. The French had already been defeated at the Battle of Tory Island
Battle of Tory Island
The Battle of Tory Island, was a naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on 12 October 1798 between French and British squadrons off the northwest coast of Donegal, then in the Kingdom of Ireland...
and the Dutch suffered a similar outcome, both ships defeated in turn by the larger and better armed British vessel.
Captain Richard King
Sir Richard King, 2nd Baronet
Vice Admiral Sir Richard King, 2nd Baronet KCB was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, who fought with distinction at the battle of Trafalgar despite being amongst the youngest captains present.King was the son of Sir Richard King, 1st Baronet, a...
on Sirius discovered the Dutch ships early on 24 October, when they were separated by 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) and thus unable to mutually support one another. Targeting the smaller ship, Waakzaamheid, King was able to outrun her in an hour and force her to surrender without a fight. Turning his attention on the larger vessel, Furie, King rapidly overhauled her as well and opened a heavy fire, to which Furie was only able to ineffectively reply. Within half an hour she too had surrendered. Both ships were taken to Britain, repaired and commissioned in the Royal Navy. The defeat ended the last effort by the continental nations to land soldiers in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and signified the last action of the Irish Rebellion.
Background
Following the French RevolutionFrench 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...
in 1789, a political organisation was formed in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
named the Society of United Irishmen. Crossing social and religious boundaries, this organisation embraced republican principles
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
with the stated goal of removing British government control from Ireland. When Britain went to war with the French Republic in 1793, the organisation was declared illegal and driven under cover, many of its senior members going into exile in Europe or America. These men continued to call for armed resistance to the British government, and in 1796 persuaded the French Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
to launch the Expédition d'Irlande
Expédition d'Irlande
The Expédition d'Irlande was an unsuccessful attempt by the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican group, in their planned rebellion against British rule...
, a large scale invasion of Ireland. The expedition was a disaster, with thousands of French soldiers drowned without a single man successfully landed. Subsequently the French-controlled government of the Batavian Republic
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
, formerly the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, was persuaded to make an attempt on Ireland in October 1797, but their fleet was intercepted and defeated by Admiral Adam Duncan at the Battle of Camperdown
Battle of Camperdown
The Battle of Camperdown was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797 between a Royal Navy fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Dutch Navy fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter...
.
In May 1798, the arrest of a number of the leaders of the United Irishmen provoked the Irish Rebellion of 1798
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
, a widespread uprising across Ireland. The Rebellion took the British authorities by surprise, but the introduction of regular British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
troops rapidly defeated the Irish armies and the last resistance was brought to an end in September with the surrender of a small French force at the Battle of Ballinamuck
Battle of Ballinamuck
The Battle of Ballinamuck marked the defeat of the main force of the French incursion during the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland.- Background :The victory of General Humbert at Castlebar, despite gaining him c. 5,000 Irish recruits had not led to a renewed outbreak of the rebellion as hoped...
. The French authorities had also been taken by surprise by the uprising, and were consequently unprepared: the forces they deployed were inadequate to face the much larger British armies operating in Ireland at the time. News of this defeat had still not reach the continent by October, when a second French invasion force set out. Closely watched by the Royal Navy as soon as it left Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
, the squadron was defeated on 12 October 1798 at the Battle of Tory Island
Battle of Tory Island
The Battle of Tory Island, was a naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on 12 October 1798 between French and British squadrons off the northwest coast of Donegal, then in the Kingdom of Ireland...
: fewer than a third of the French ships returned to France.
The Dutch had also been persuaded to send reinforcements to the United Irishmen during the rebellion, but like the French they were unprepared for the sudden uprising and their contributions were not ready until 24 October. Two Dutch ships had been ordered to take on troops and supplies: the 36-gun 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"...
Furie
HMS Wilhelmina (1798)
HMS Wilhelmina was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was previously a Dutch ship and had been built in 1787 for the Dutch Republic as the Wilhelmina...
under Captain Bartholomeus Pletz and the 24-gun corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
Waakzaamheid under Captain Meindert van Neirop, who assumed command of the expedition. Although both ships were small and poorly armed, each carried a number of French soldiers for service in Ireland, Furie embarking 165 and Waakzaamheid 122. In addition, the ships carried over 6,000 stands of arms and large quantities of other military stores with which to arm the Irish irregular forces that they expected to meet.
Battle
Departing on the night of 23/24 October, the Dutch ships made rapid progress and at 08:00 were 30 nautical miles (55.6 km) northwest of the TexelTexel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
, sailing westwards towards 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...
. Within sight of the Dutch ships however was the British frigate HMS Sirius
HMS Sirius (1797)
HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe...
, a new ship of 1049 long tons (1,066 MT), rated as 38-guns but actually carrying 44. She was commanded by Captain Richard King
Sir Richard King, 2nd Baronet
Vice Admiral Sir Richard King, 2nd Baronet KCB was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, who fought with distinction at the battle of Trafalgar despite being amongst the youngest captains present.King was the son of Sir Richard King, 1st Baronet, a...
, who had participated in the campaign against the Expédition d'Irlande two years earlier. Sirius had been stationed off the Texel to watch for Dutch movements and intercept any ships of smaller or equal size entering or leaving the waterway. Although van Neirop's squadron outnumbered King's ship, the British vessel was much larger and faster, and the Dutch were also hampered by their position: the two ships were more than 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) apart, too far to offer mutual support against their opponent.
King's first target was the smaller and slower Waakzaamheid, which was windward of Furie and thus would have to sail into the wind to link with Pletz's ship. King rapidly closed with the corvette, avoiding contact with the larger Furie as he did so. At 09:00 Sirius came alongside Waakzaamheid and fired a gun at her, prompting van Neirop to immediately surrender. Furie had not attempted to come to the flagship's aid and resistance against the much larger Sirius would have been futile. King despatched boats containing a prize crew and removed most of the prisoners from Waakzaamheid, placing them below decks on Sirius. Once the prize was secure, King immediately set off in pursuit of Furie, which was attempting to flee to the west and had nearly disappeared over the horizon. For the rest of the day the pursuit continued, Furie unable to escape the faster British ship, which steadily gained during the afternoon until at 17:00 was within range of the Dutch frigate.
King's fire was heavy, but Pletz resisted, responding with his own cannon and continuing his attempts to escape. For half an hour the engagement continued, the distance between the ships varying as Pletz attempted to manouvere out of King's range. The British crew were better gunners than the Dutch, and the musketry of the French soldiers aboard had little effect on Sirius as the range between the ships was too great for 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 to be effective. As a result, damage and casualties mounted aboard Furie although Sirius was barely touched, only one shot striking the bowsprit
Bowsprit
The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a pole extending forward from the vessel's prow. It provides an anchor point for the forestay, allowing the fore-mast to be stepped farther forward on the hull.-Origin:...
and one man wounded. At approximately 17:30, Pletz surrendered, having lost eight dead and 14 wounded and with his ship badly damaged. King transferred the prisoners and placed a prize crew on Furie before returning to his base at the Nore
Nore
The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, England. It marks the point where the River Thames meets the North Sea, roughly halfway between Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point in Kent....
with his prizes.
Aftermath
The capture of the Dutch ships was the end of the final attempt by a continental nation to land troops in Ireland during the French Revolutionary Wars and 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...
that followed them. Furie and Waakzaamheid were both purchased for the Royal Navy, Furie returned to her pre-war name of Wilhelmina and Waakzaamheid under the same name. The corvette was regraded and the number of guns aboard were reduced to 20 as her frame was not deemed strong enough to carry 24. Richard King remained in Sirius until 1802, and subsequently commanded the 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...
HMS Achille
HMS Achille (1798)
HMS Achille was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by Cleverley Bros., a private shipyard at Gravesend, and launched on 16 April 1798. Her design was based on the lines of the captured French ship...
, participating 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.