James Wilkes Maurice
Encyclopedia
Vice-Admiral James Wilkes Maurice (10 February 1775 – 4 September 1857) was an officer of the Royal Navy
during the French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars
. Unlike his contemporaries who won fame commanding ships, Maurice gained accolades for his command of a number of island fortresses.
Maurice was employed on a number of ships prior to the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, and by 1794 held the position of midshipman
. He saw action in the English Channel
and in the Western Approaches
the following year, participating in the Battle of Groix
and the Quiberon expedition
. Good service in these actions led to his appointment to a number of acting commissions as a lieutenant. His career took a major step forward when Maurice, his lieutenant's commission by now confirmed, went out to the West Indies with Commodore Sir Samuel Hood.
Hood had decided to fortify Diamond Rock
, in order to harass French shipping off the port of Fort de France in Martinique
and Maurice, as first lieutenant of Hood's flagship, began to oversee the arduous task. After work was completed Hood commissioned the rock and rewarded Maurice's efforts by putting him in command. For seventeen months Maurice and his men raided and interdicted shipping off Martinique, and proved a continual thorn in the side of the French. The arrival of a large fleet under Pierre de Villeneuve in May 1804 during the Trafalgar Campaign
gave the French enough resources to assault the rock. In the subsequent battle
, Maurice held out before several days until the exhaustion of the rock's supplies of water and ammunition forced him to surrender.
Maurice spent a brief period in command of a brig
, before being appointed governor of Marie-Galante
, tasked with the defence of the island. His next posting was as governor of Anholt
during the Gunboat War
. In 1811 he fought off an attack from a much larger Danish force, inflicting heavy casualties. Maurice then returned to Britain and largely retired from active service, though he continued to be promoted. He reached the rank of vice-admiral before his death in 1857.
Devon
. He was nominally entered onto the books of Lieutenant James Glassford's in 1783, but did not actually enter the navy until August 1789, when he became able seaman
aboard Captain Alexander Mackey's 14-gun sloop
. He served on Inspector until joining the 74-gun under Captain Thomas Hicks in December 1792. He visited the Cape of Good Hope
during his time on Powerful, when the ship escorted a convoy of East Indiamen
there. Hicks was replaced by Captain William Albany Otway, and Powerful was ordered to the West Indies, but Maurice left the ship before she sailed, having been subpoena
ed to give evidence in a case concerning a warrant officer accused of embezzling stores. By the time his services were no longer required Maurice found himself unable to rejoin his ship and instead joined the 80-gun under Captain Richard Boyer in January 1794. Cambridge was based at Plymouth
with the Channel Fleet
, and in May Maurice transferred to another ship on the station, the 32-gun under Captain Sir Richard Strachan
.
Maurice remained with Concorde after Captain Anthony Hunt replaced Strachan and served in the Western Approaches
based out of Falmouth
. Maurice saw action at the Battle of Groix
on 23 June 1795 and then during the Quiberon expedition
under Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren. Warren gave Maurice an acting commission as a lieutenant in August aboard the 74-gun under Captain Albemarle Bertie
. Maurice returned to Concorde in January 1796, serving at first under his old captain Hunt, and when he was replaced, under Captain Richard Bagot. He was briefly aboard Lord Bridport's
flagship
, the 100-gun for three weeks in February 1797, before taking an acting commission aboard the 80-gun , a commission confirmed by the Admiralty
on 3 April 1797.
He was lieutenant aboard the 74-gun between 17 January 1799 and May 1802. The Canada was at the time the flagship of Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren, and served in the English Channel
and off Minorca
. In late summer 1802 he was moved to become first lieutenant of the 74-gun , captained by Murray Maxwell
and the flagship of Commodore Sir Samuel Hood. Centaur went out to the West Indies and aboard her Maurice was present at the reduction and capture of the French and Dutch possessions of Saint Lucia
, Tobago
, Demerara
and Essequibo
. He was landed with a party at Martinique
on 26 November 1803 with orders to destroy the battery at Petite Anse d'Arlet, but was badly wounded when the battery's magazine
exploded. The Patriotic Society awarded him a sword valued at £50 as a reward for his services.
s used the ports on the islands as a base from which to operate against British merchant shipping in the Caribbean. They had captured a number of valuable cargoes and were diverting British warships to protect the merchant fleets. Hood decided to blockade Martinique, and thus curtail the privateers and intercept supplies destined for the French garrison. Patrolling off the bay at the southern end of the island, in which one of Martinique's two main ports, Fort-de-France
, was located, Hood saw that if the British could occupy Diamond Rock
, a large outcrop of rock at the entrance to the bay, it would allow them effectively to control the shipping approaching the ports on the western side, as the currents around the island made the easiest approaches mean passing within sight of Diamond Rock. Maurice volunteered to lead a party of men to prepare the fortifications.
24 pounder, and establishing forges and artificers' workshops in a cave at the base of the rock. After fixing ladders and ropes to scale the sheer sides of the rock, they were able to access the summit and began to establish messes and sleeping areas in a number of small caves. Bats were driven out by burning bales of hay, and a space was cleared by blasting at the top of the rock in order to establish a battery.
In February a number of guns were transferred over from Centaur, with two 24-pounders being installed in separate batteries at sea level, another 24 pounder halfway up the rock, and two 18-pounders in the battery at the top. In addition to this the men had use of a number of boats, with one armed with a 24 pounder carronade
, which were used to intercept enemy ships. Marshall's Naval Biography, when describing the process of hauling the guns to the summit, recorded that
With work complete by 7 February Hood decided to formalise the administration of the island, and wrote to the Admiralty
, announcing that he had commissioned the rock as a sloop
, under the name Fort Diamond. Lieutenant Maurice, who had impressed Hood with his efforts while establishing the position, was rewarded by being made commander. Diamond Rock was to be considered a captured enemy ship, and was technically treated as a tender to one of the boats stationed there, commissioned by the Admiralty as the sloop Diamond Rock
, superseding Hood's use of Fort Diamond.
Maurice had a party of around 100 men under his command on the rock, with the usual officers found on a British warship, including a surgeon, purser, and a junior lieutenant to command the small supply vessel. A hospital was established, and food gunpowder and ammunition were brought to the rock in boats, at first from Centaur, and then from Martinique, where it was purchased from sympathetic inhabitants. Water also had to be brought from the island, and large cisterns were built to store it.
For seventeen months Maurice held the rock, foiling several attempts by the French at Martinique to oust them. He reported the movements of Rear-Admiral Missiessy's
fleet which arrived in the area during the Trafalgar Campaign
, but in May 1805 a fleet under Pierre de Villeneuve arrived in Fort de France Bay, having briefly exchanged fire with the British on Diamond Rock as they did so. Shortly after their arrival Maurice discovered that the main cistern, holding a month's supply of water, had cracked in some earth tremors, and the leak had been made worse by the vibration form the guns. There was barely two weeks left, but fresh supplies were now unobtainable as a blockade of the rock began by a number of schooners, brigs and frigates.
and Berwick
, the 36-gun Sirène
, a corvette
, schooner
, eleven gunboat
s, and between three and four hundred men, under Captain Julien Cosmao
, to retake the rock. A French force landed unopposed on 31 May, Maurice having assessed the overwhelming strength of the French, and having decided that it would be impossible to hold the lower stages withdrew his forces to defend the upper levels. Cosmao began an intense bombardment while the infantry forced their way onto the landing stage, losing three gunboats and two rowing boats full of soldiers as they did so. The attacking force had however neglected to bring any scaling ladders, and could not assault the sheer rock sides. Instead they were forced to besiege the British forces in the upper levels. By 2 June, with his ammunition almost exhausted and water supplies running critically short, Maurice opened negotiations.
At five o'clock Maurice agreed to surrender Diamond Rock. The British had two men killed and one man wounded in the battle. French casualties were harder to judge, Maurice estimated they amounted to seventy, the French commander of the landing force made a 'hasty calculation' of fifty. Maurice and his men were taken off the rock on the morning of 6 June and put on board the Pluton and Berwick. They were returned to Barbados
by 6 June, and on 28 June Maurice faced a court martial for the loss of the rock. The court unanimously acquitted him, noting
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson
, who had arrived in the West Indies in pursuit of Villeneuve's fleet, apologised to Maurice for having arrived too late to prevent the fall of Diamond Rock. Nelson arranged for him to take command of the 18-gun brig
on 20 August and to join him off Cadiz
, but she could not be manned in time, and Maurice missed reuniting with Nelson prior to Nelson's death at Trafalgar
.
. He carried with him a letter of recommendation from the Admiralty, and Cochrane appointed him governor of Marie-Galante
, a commission confirmed by the Admiralty on 18 January 1809 with a promotion to post-captain
. Marie-Galante had not been long in British possession, and there was the risk of an uprising. Maurice had only 400 soldiers under his command, many of whom were seriously ill. A regiment was raised from the black population, but its loyalty was suspect. The issue became moot as the French never attacked the island. Maurice became ill, and resigned his commission to return to Britain.
in August 1810, a Danish island in the Kattegat
captured in May the previous year during the Gunboat War
. He had a force of 400 marines
under his command, while British frigates patrolled the approaches to the island. These patrols prevented any Danish attack, except possible for a few weeks during the beginning and end of the winter freeze, when the supporting ships would be off station. It was expected that the Danes or French would attempt to recapture it, and Maurice was forewarned of a Danish attack
that began on 27 March 1811. Maurice recorded that the enemy force attacked the British in their well prepared positions, but were driven off after four and a half hours of fighting. The Naval Chronicle recorded
Though this account was probably exaggerated, the battle remained a crushing defeat for the Danes, who were unaware of the presence of the two frigates, and , when they made their attack. Maurice was presented with a sword by the garrison, and continued at Anholt until September 1812.
in June the following year at the age of 21. Maurice never remarried. He was promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list on 1 October 1846, and to vice-admiral on 28 May 1853. He died at East Emma Place, East Stonehouse, Plymouth on 4 September 1857 at the age of 82.
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...
during the French Revolutionary
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...
and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. Unlike his contemporaries who won fame commanding ships, Maurice gained accolades for his command of a number of island fortresses.
Maurice was employed on a number of ships prior to the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, and by 1794 held the position of midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
. He saw action 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 in the Western Approaches
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...
the following year, participating in the Battle of Groix
Battle of Groix
The Second Battle of Groix was a naval engagement that took place on 23 June 1795 during the French Revolutionary War off the west coast of France....
and the Quiberon expedition
Invasion of France (1795)
The invasion of France in 1795 or the Battle of Quiberon was a major landing on the Quiberon peninsula by émigré, counter-revolutionary troops in support of the Chouannerie and Vendée Revolt, beginning on 23 June and finally definitively repulsed on 21 July...
. Good service in these actions led to his appointment to a number of acting commissions as a lieutenant. His career took a major step forward when Maurice, his lieutenant's commission by now confirmed, went out to the West Indies with Commodore Sir Samuel Hood.
Hood had decided to fortify Diamond Rock
Diamond Rock
Diamond Rock is a 175 meter high basalt island located south of Fort-de-France, the main port of the Caribbean island of Martinique. The uninhabited island is about three kilometers from Pointe Diamant. The island gets its name from the reflections that its sides cast at certain hours of the day,...
, in order to harass French shipping off the port of Fort de France in Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
and Maurice, as first lieutenant of Hood's flagship, began to oversee the arduous task. After work was completed Hood commissioned the rock and rewarded Maurice's efforts by putting him in command. For seventeen months Maurice and his men raided and interdicted shipping off Martinique, and proved a continual thorn in the side of the French. The arrival of a large fleet under Pierre de Villeneuve in May 1804 during the Trafalgar Campaign
Trafalgar Campaign
The Trafalgar Campaign was a long and complicated series of fleet manoeuvres carried out by the combined French and Spanish fleets; and the opposing moves of the Royal Navy during much of 1805. These were the culmination of French plans to force a passage through the English Channel, and so achieve...
gave the French enough resources to assault the rock. In the subsequent battle
Battle of Diamond Rock
The Battle of Diamond Rock took place between 31 May and 2 June 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. It was an attempt by Franco-Spanish force despatched under Captain Julien Cosmao to retake Diamond Rock, at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, from the British forces that had occupied...
, Maurice held out before several days until the exhaustion of the rock's supplies of water and ammunition forced him to surrender.
Maurice spent a brief period in command of a brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
, before being appointed governor of Marie-Galante
Marie-Galante
Marie-Galante is an island of the Caribbean Sea located at the south of Guadeloupe and at north of Dominica. Marie-Galante is a dependence of Guadeloupe which is a french overseas department....
, tasked with the defence of the island. His next posting was as governor of Anholt
Anholt (Denmark)
Anholt is a Danish island in the Kattegat, midway between Jutland and Sweden, with 171 permanent residents as of 1 January 2010. It is seven miles long and about four miles wide at its widest and covers an area of 21,75 km². Anholt is part of Norddjurs municipality in Region Midtjylland...
during the Gunboat War
Gunboat War
The Gunboat War was the naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the conventional Royal Navy...
. In 1811 he fought off an attack from a much larger Danish force, inflicting heavy casualties. Maurice then returned to Britain and largely retired from active service, though he continued to be promoted. He reached the rank of vice-admiral before his death in 1857.
Family and early life
Wilkes was born on 10 February 1775 in DevonportDevonport, Devon
Devonport, formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889...
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...
. He was nominally entered onto the books of Lieutenant James Glassford's in 1783, but did not actually enter the navy until August 1789, when he became able seaman
Able seaman
An able seaman is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination of these roles.-Watchstander:...
aboard Captain Alexander Mackey's 14-gun sloop
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
. He served on Inspector until joining the 74-gun under Captain Thomas Hicks in December 1792. He visited the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
during his time on Powerful, when the ship escorted a convoy of East Indiamen
East Indiamen
An East Indiaman was a ship operating under charter or license to any of the East India Companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries...
there. Hicks was replaced by Captain William Albany Otway, and Powerful was ordered to the West Indies, but Maurice left the ship before she sailed, having been subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
ed to give evidence in a case concerning a warrant officer accused of embezzling stores. By the time his services were no longer required Maurice found himself unable to rejoin his ship and instead joined the 80-gun under Captain Richard Boyer in January 1794. Cambridge was based at Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
with 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...
, and in May Maurice transferred to another ship on the station, the 32-gun under Captain Sir Richard Strachan
Sir Richard Strachan, 6th Baronet
Sir Richard John Strachan, 6th Baronet GCB was a British officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral.-Childhood:...
.
Maurice remained with Concorde after Captain Anthony Hunt replaced Strachan and served in the Western Approaches
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is a rectangular area of the Atlantic ocean lying on the western coast of Great Britain. The rectangle is higher than it is wide, the north and south boundaries defined by the north and south ends of the British Isles, the eastern boundary lying on the western coast, and the...
based out of 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....
. Maurice saw action at the Battle of Groix
Battle of Groix
The Second Battle of Groix was a naval engagement that took place on 23 June 1795 during the French Revolutionary War off the west coast of France....
on 23 June 1795 and then during the Quiberon expedition
Invasion of France (1795)
The invasion of France in 1795 or the Battle of Quiberon was a major landing on the Quiberon peninsula by émigré, counter-revolutionary troops in support of the Chouannerie and Vendée Revolt, beginning on 23 June and finally definitively repulsed on 21 July...
under Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren. Warren gave Maurice an acting commission as a lieutenant in August aboard the 74-gun under Captain Albemarle Bertie
Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet
Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, KCB, was a long-serving and at time controversial officer of the British Royal Navy who saw extensive service in his career but also courted controversy with several of his actions....
. Maurice returned to Concorde in January 1796, serving at first under his old captain Hunt, and when he was replaced, under Captain Richard Bagot. He was briefly aboard Lord Bridport's
Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport
|-...
flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
, the 100-gun for three weeks in February 1797, before taking an acting commission aboard the 80-gun , a commission confirmed by the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
on 3 April 1797.
He was lieutenant aboard the 74-gun between 17 January 1799 and May 1802. The Canada was at the time the flagship of Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren, and served 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 off Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
. In late summer 1802 he was moved to become first lieutenant of the 74-gun , captained by Murray Maxwell
Murray Maxwell
Captain Sir Murray Maxwell, CB, FRS was a British Royal Navy officer who served with distinction in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, particularly during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars...
and the flagship of Commodore Sir Samuel Hood. Centaur went out to the West Indies and aboard her Maurice was present at the reduction and capture of the French and Dutch possessions of Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 620 km2 and has an...
, Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
, Demerara
Demerara
Demerara was a region in South America in what is now Guyana that was colonised by the Dutch in 1611. The British invaded and captured the area in 1796...
and Essequibo
Essequibo (colony)
Essequibo was from 1616 to 1814 a Dutch colony in the region of the Essequibo river on the north coast of South America. The colony formed a part of the colonies that are known under the collective name of Dutch Guyana.- History :...
. He was landed with a party at Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
on 26 November 1803 with orders to destroy the battery at Petite Anse d'Arlet, but was badly wounded when the battery's magazine
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
exploded. The Patriotic Society awarded him a sword valued at £50 as a reward for his services.
Maurice on Diamond Rock
Hood had by late 1803 decided to move against the two last remaining French naval bases in the Caribbean, at Gaudeloupe and Martinique. Large numbers of privateerPrivateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s used the ports on the islands as a base from which to operate against British merchant shipping in the Caribbean. They had captured a number of valuable cargoes and were diverting British warships to protect the merchant fleets. Hood decided to blockade Martinique, and thus curtail the privateers and intercept supplies destined for the French garrison. Patrolling off the bay at the southern end of the island, in which one of Martinique's two main ports, Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France is the capital of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Exports include sugar, rum, tinned fruit, and cacao.-Geography:...
, was located, Hood saw that if the British could occupy Diamond Rock
Diamond Rock
Diamond Rock is a 175 meter high basalt island located south of Fort-de-France, the main port of the Caribbean island of Martinique. The uninhabited island is about three kilometers from Pointe Diamant. The island gets its name from the reflections that its sides cast at certain hours of the day,...
, a large outcrop of rock at the entrance to the bay, it would allow them effectively to control the shipping approaching the ports on the western side, as the currents around the island made the easiest approaches mean passing within sight of Diamond Rock. Maurice volunteered to lead a party of men to prepare the fortifications.
Fortifying the rock
Maurice led a party of men onto the rock on 7 January 1804 and work immediately began on fortifying the small cove they had landed at with their launch'sLaunch (boat)
A launch in contemporary usage refers to a large motorboat. The name originally referred to the largest boat carried by a warship. The etymology of the word is given as Portuguese lancha "barge", from Malay lancha, lancharan, "boat," from lanchar "velocity without effort," "action of gliding...
24 pounder, and establishing forges and artificers' workshops in a cave at the base of the rock. After fixing ladders and ropes to scale the sheer sides of the rock, they were able to access the summit and began to establish messes and sleeping areas in a number of small caves. Bats were driven out by burning bales of hay, and a space was cleared by blasting at the top of the rock in order to establish a battery.
In February a number of guns were transferred over from Centaur, with two 24-pounders being installed in separate batteries at sea level, another 24 pounder halfway up the rock, and two 18-pounders in the battery at the top. In addition to this the men had use of a number of boats, with one armed with a 24 pounder carronade
Carronade
The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...
, which were used to intercept enemy ships. Marshall's Naval Biography, when describing the process of hauling the guns to the summit, recorded that
Commander Maurice, of Diamond Rock
By early February the guns had been installed and tested. The 18-pounders were able to command completely the passage between the rock and the island, forcing ships to avoid the channel. The winds and currents meant that these ships were then unable to enter the bay.With work complete by 7 February Hood decided to formalise the administration of the island, and wrote to the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
, announcing that he had commissioned the rock as a sloop
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
, under the name Fort Diamond. Lieutenant Maurice, who had impressed Hood with his efforts while establishing the position, was rewarded by being made commander. Diamond Rock was to be considered a captured enemy ship, and was technically treated as a tender to one of the boats stationed there, commissioned by the Admiralty as the sloop Diamond Rock
HMS Fort Diamond
HMS Fort Diamond was a six-gun sloop , commissioned in 1804 in Martinique. Her origins are unknown. She captured one French privateer before she herself was lost to a French boarding party in June 1804.-Career:...
, superseding Hood's use of Fort Diamond.
Maurice had a party of around 100 men under his command on the rock, with the usual officers found on a British warship, including a surgeon, purser, and a junior lieutenant to command the small supply vessel. A hospital was established, and food gunpowder and ammunition were brought to the rock in boats, at first from Centaur, and then from Martinique, where it was purchased from sympathetic inhabitants. Water also had to be brought from the island, and large cisterns were built to store it.
For seventeen months Maurice held the rock, foiling several attempts by the French at Martinique to oust them. He reported the movements of Rear-Admiral Missiessy's
Edouard Jacques Burgues de Missiessy
Edouard-Thomas de Burgues, comte de Missiessy was a French sailor....
fleet which arrived in the area during the Trafalgar Campaign
Trafalgar Campaign
The Trafalgar Campaign was a long and complicated series of fleet manoeuvres carried out by the combined French and Spanish fleets; and the opposing moves of the Royal Navy during much of 1805. These were the culmination of French plans to force a passage through the English Channel, and so achieve...
, but in May 1805 a fleet under Pierre de Villeneuve arrived in Fort de France Bay, having briefly exchanged fire with the British on Diamond Rock as they did so. Shortly after their arrival Maurice discovered that the main cistern, holding a month's supply of water, had cracked in some earth tremors, and the leak had been made worse by the vibration form the guns. There was barely two weeks left, but fresh supplies were now unobtainable as a blockade of the rock began by a number of schooners, brigs and frigates.
The fight for Diamond Rock
Villeneuve despatched a flotilla consisting of the 74-gun PlutonFrench ship Pluton (1804)
Pluton was a 74-gun French ship of the line built at Toulon.It took part in the Battle of Trafalgar under Captain Julien Cosmao escaped to Cádiz with other ships. Two days later, on 23 October 1805, she was the flagship of the counter-attack from Cádiz, together with Indomptable, Neptune, Rayo, and...
and Berwick
HMS Berwick (1775)
HMS Berwick was a 74-gun Elizabeth-class third rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard on 18 April 1775, to a design by Sir Thomas Slade. She fought the French at the Battle of Ushant and the Dutch at the Battle of Dogger Bank...
, the 36-gun Sirène
French frigate Sirène (1795)
The Sirène was a 40-gun Coquille class frigate of the French Navy.Begun as Fidèle, she was commissioned as Sirène in May 1795 under lieutenant Charles Berrenger. She took part in the Expédition d'Irlande....
, a 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...
, schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
, eleven gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
s, and between three and four hundred men, under Captain Julien Cosmao
Julien Cosmao
Julien Marie Cosmao-Kerjulien was a French Navy officer, admiral, and hero of the Battle of Trafalgar.- Early career :...
, to retake the rock. A French force landed unopposed on 31 May, Maurice having assessed the overwhelming strength of the French, and having decided that it would be impossible to hold the lower stages withdrew his forces to defend the upper levels. Cosmao began an intense bombardment while the infantry forced their way onto the landing stage, losing three gunboats and two rowing boats full of soldiers as they did so. The attacking force had however neglected to bring any scaling ladders, and could not assault the sheer rock sides. Instead they were forced to besiege the British forces in the upper levels. By 2 June, with his ammunition almost exhausted and water supplies running critically short, Maurice opened negotiations.
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
by 6 June, and on 28 June Maurice faced a court martial for the loss of the rock. The court unanimously acquitted him, noting
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
, who had arrived in the West Indies in pursuit of Villeneuve's fleet, apologised to Maurice for having arrived too late to prevent the fall of Diamond Rock. Nelson arranged for him to take command of the 18-gun brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
on 20 August and to join him 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....
, but she could not be manned in time, and Maurice missed reuniting with Nelson prior to Nelson's death at 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 ....
.
Command in the West Indies
Maurice returned to the West Indies in July 1808, joining the fleet at Barbados under Sir Alexander CochraneAlexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
. He carried with him a letter of recommendation from the Admiralty, and Cochrane appointed him governor of Marie-Galante
Marie-Galante
Marie-Galante is an island of the Caribbean Sea located at the south of Guadeloupe and at north of Dominica. Marie-Galante is a dependence of Guadeloupe which is a french overseas department....
, a commission confirmed by the Admiralty on 18 January 1809 with a promotion to post-captain
Post-Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...
. Marie-Galante had not been long in British possession, and there was the risk of an uprising. Maurice had only 400 soldiers under his command, many of whom were seriously ill. A regiment was raised from the black population, but its loyalty was suspect. The issue became moot as the French never attacked the island. Maurice became ill, and resigned his commission to return to Britain.
Governor of Anholt
Maurice was made Governor of AnholtAnholt (Denmark)
Anholt is a Danish island in the Kattegat, midway between Jutland and Sweden, with 171 permanent residents as of 1 January 2010. It is seven miles long and about four miles wide at its widest and covers an area of 21,75 km². Anholt is part of Norddjurs municipality in Region Midtjylland...
in August 1810, a Danish island in the Kattegat
Kattegat
The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...
captured in May the previous year during the Gunboat War
Gunboat War
The Gunboat War was the naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the conventional Royal Navy...
. He had a force of 400 marines
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...
under his command, while British frigates patrolled the approaches to the island. These patrols prevented any Danish attack, except possible for a few weeks during the beginning and end of the winter freeze, when the supporting ships would be off station. It was expected that the Danes or French would attempt to recapture it, and Maurice was forewarned of a Danish attack
Battle of Anholt
The Battle of Anholt occurred during the Gunboat War, a war between the United Kingdom and Denmark-Norway. It was an attempt by the Danes to recapture Anholt, a small Danish island off the coast of Jutland, which the British had captured in 1809...
that began on 27 March 1811. Maurice recorded that the enemy force attacked the British in their well prepared positions, but were driven off after four and a half hours of fighting. The Naval Chronicle recorded
Though this account was probably exaggerated, the battle remained a crushing defeat for the Danes, who were unaware of the presence of the two frigates, and , when they made their attack. Maurice was presented with a sword by the garrison, and continued at Anholt until September 1812.
Later years
Maurice then returned to Britain and saw no more active service. He married Sarah Lyne of Plymouth on 5 October 1814, but she died of typhusTyphus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
in June the following year at the age of 21. Maurice never remarried. He was promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list on 1 October 1846, and to vice-admiral on 28 May 1853. He died at East Emma Place, East Stonehouse, Plymouth on 4 September 1857 at the age of 82.