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Thread: ON THIS DAY OCTOBER 18 - FRENCH FRIGATE LOIRE CAPTURED

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    Cool ON THIS DAY OCTOBER 18 - FRENCH FRIGATE LOIRE CAPTURED

    Our story begins at the Battle of Tory Island (sometimes called the Battle of Donegal, Battle of Lough Swilly or Warren's Action) was a naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on 12 October 1798 between French and British squadrons off the northwest coast of County Donegal, then in the Kingdom of Ireland. The last action of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Battle of Tory Island ended the final attempt by the French Navy to land substantial numbers of soldiers in Ireland during the war.
    The Society of United Irishmen, led by Wolfe Tone, launched an uprising against British rule in Ireland in May 1798. At the request of the rebels, a small French force under General Humbert was landed at Killala, County Mayo, but by early September both this expedition and the rebellion had been defeated. Unaware of Humbert's surrender, the French despatched reinforcements on 16 September. Having missed one invasion force, the Royal Navy was on alert for another, and when the squadron carrying the reinforcements left Brest they were soon spotted. After a long chase, the French were brought to battle in a bay off the rugged County Donegal coast in the west of Ulster, very close to Tory Island. During the action the outnumbered French attempted to escape, but were run down and defeated piecemeal, with the British capturing four ships and scattering the survivors. Over the next fortnight, British frigate patrols scoured the passage back to Brest, capturing three more ships. Of the ten ships in the original French squadron, only two frigates and a schooner reached safety. British losses in the campaign were minimal.
    The battle marked the last attempt by the French Navy to launch an invasion of any part of the British Isles. It also ended the last hopes the United Irishmen had of obtaining outside support in their struggle with the British. After the action, Tone was recognised aboard the captured French flagship and arrested. He was brought ashore by the British at Buncrana, on the Inishowen Peninsula. He was later tried for treason, convicted, and committed suicide while in prison in Dublin, hours before he was to be hanged.

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    Battle of Tory Island

    During the night, Bompart attempted to decoy the British by sending the schooner Biche with orders for the frigate Résolue, commanding Captain Jean-Pierre Bargeau to beach his ship and fire flares in the hope of distracting Warren from his pursuit. For unknown reasons this order was never carried out, and in the morning Warren was still hard behind Bompart, whose ships were now sailing in two uneven lines. Warren's force was even more dispersed, with HMS Robust and HMS Magnanime 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) astern of the French and gaining fast, Amelia and Melampus shortly behind them and Warren's flagship HMS Canada with HMS Foudroyant under Captain Sir Thomas Byard, Kt., 8 nautical miles (15 km) from the enemy. The other British ships were scattered throughout this formation except Anson, which was wallowing to the rear, far out of sight.

    Battle between Bellone and HMS Foudroyant

    Realising that he could not escape and would have to fight his way past the British, Bompart formed his squadron into a battleline and turned westwards, waiting for Warren's signal for the attack. Because of the dispersed nature of his squadron, Warren did not issue this signal until 07:00, when he ordered Robust to steer for the French line and attack Hoche directly. Captain Edward Thornbrough of Robust obeyed immediately and closed with the French, firing into the frigates Embuscade and Coquille as he passed, before closing with Hoche and, at 08:50, beginning a bitter close-range artillery duel. Minutes later Magnanime joined the action, firing on the rear frigates and engaging the French van of Immortalité, Loire and Bellone, which had worn out of the line in an attempt to rake her. The next three British ships into action, Ethalion, Melampus and Amelia, all raked the isolated Hoche as they passed, before pressing on sail to pursue the French frigates, now making distance to the south-west. Canada and the subsequent British ships all ignored Hoche except to fire a few distant shots. By the time they passed, the ship was clearly a wreck, having been pounded repeatedly by Robust and Magnanime. Bompart finally surrendered at 10:50 with 270 of his crew and passengers killed or wounded.
    Embuscade was the next to surrender, having been battered in the opening exchanges by Magnanime, and further damaged by long-range fire from Foudroyant during the pursuit. Overhauled by several larger British ships, Captain de la Ronciére surrendered at 11:30 rather than allow his ship to be destroyed. Magnanime, suffering the effects of her engagement with Hoche, took possession of Embuscade and continued to follow slowly behind the rest of the fleet, while Robust, which had suffered severely in her duel with Hoche, remained alongside her erstwhile opponent to take possession. The direction of the French squadron's flight, following the direction of the wind, took them across the path of the straggling British ships, beginning with the Foudroyant. Most of the frigates were able outrun this ponderous enemy, but Bellone was less fortunate and a speculative shot from the battleship detonated a case of grenades in one of her topmasts. This began a disastrous fire which was eventually brought under control, but at a significant cost in speed. She was soon closely attacked by Melampus and suffered further damage. Nearby, the struggling Coquille surrendered after being outrun by the approaching Canada; Warren ordered the slowly following Magnanime to take possession.
    Ethalion took over pursuit of Bellone from Melampus, and for two hours maintained continuous fire with her bow-chasers on the French ship. Ethalion was faster than her quarry, and she slowly pulled parallel with Bellone during the afternoon, but could not get close enough for a decisive blow. It took another two hours of pursuit before the battered Bellone eventually surrendered. Hoche apart, Bellone had suffered more casualties than any other ship present. To the south of this conflict, the struggling Anson discovered herself in danger when the surviving frigates of the French vanguard swept towards her en masse. Captain Durham was initially confused by their approach as he had been too distant to witness the action and the French ships flew false British ensigns, but he rapidly realised their true identity and at 16:00 opened fire on Loire. The damaged Anson was severely hampered by her inability to manoeuvre, and so could do nothing when the French ships pulled back and sailed away, except to continue to fire until they were out of range. During the evening, the surviving French frigates gradually pulled away from their pursuers and disappeared into the gathering night, leaving behind four of their squadron, including their flagship, as captives.

    Chase

    By nightfall some of the remaining French ships had entered Donegal Bay with Canada, Melampus and Foudroyant still in pursuit. The two forces repeatedly passed one another in the dark, and Canada almost drove ashore. Back at the battlesite, Warren had ordered Robust to tow Hoche into Lough Swilly—this order later came under criticism, as Robust was in a battered state herself and the storms of the previous week had not abated. When a gale struck the pair on 13 October, Hoche lost several masts and broke her tow, only being prevented from foundering by the combined efforts of the British prize crew and their French prisoners. Eventually, on 15 October, Doris appeared and took Hoche in tow, arriving in Lough Swilly without further incident a few days later. Meanwhile, Ethalion saw Bellone safely into port, and Magnanime and Amelia brought in Coquille and Embuscade respectively.

    Melampus and Résolue

    On the morning of 13 October, Warren sighted two of the French frigates standing out of Donegal Bay and went after them, directing Moore in Melampus to stay behind to search for stragglers. Hindered by contrary winds, Melampus scoured the bay until well after nightfall, and at 23:30 was surprised by the sudden appearance directly in front of her of Immortalité and Résolue near St. John's Point. Immortalité soon spotted Melampus and made sail, but Captain Bargeau of Résolue had not seen the British ship, and was hesitant about following his compatriot in the dark. In the gloom and confusion, he mistook Melampus for Immortalité and came alongside, only realising his mistake when Melampus opened fire. Because of the heavy seas, Résolue's guns had been tied down below decks, so the only return fire she could offer was from her handful of quarterdeck guns. Bargeau, whose ship was still leaking badly, recognised that further resistance was futile and surrendered in minutes, having lost ten men and much of his rigging. Melampus put aboard a prize crew and then departed in pursuit of Immortalité.

    Flight of Loire

    Loire and Sémillante had escaped from the battle into Black Sod Bay, where they hoped to hide until they had a clear passage back to France. However, late on 15 October, a British frigate squadron under James Newman-Newman rounded the southern headland of the bay, forcing the French ships to flee to the north. Pressing on sail in pursuit, Newman ordered HMS Révolutionaire to focus on Sémillante whilst he pursued Loire in HMS Mermaid, accompanied by the brig HMS Kangaroo under Commander Edward Brace. Loire and Sémillante separated to divide their pursuers; Mermaid and Kangaroo lost track of Loire in the early evening, and Sémillante evaded Révolutionaire after dark.
    However, on the morning of 16 October Newman spotted Loire on the horizon and immediately ordered his ships in pursuit. Loire was faster than Mermaid in the high winds but was unable to outrun Kangaroo, which directly engaged the far larger frigate in a distant artillery duel. The difference in weight of shot between the combatants was greatly unbalanced, and Kangaroo eventually fell behind after suffering damage to her rigging. Loire too had been damaged, and by 06:45 the following morning Captain Segond realised he could not escape his pursuers and instead shortened sail, intending to engage Mermaid—by then the only pursuer still within reach.
    Mermaid and Loire joined battle at 07:00, and the artillery exchange became close and furious after a boarding attempt by Loire was foiled by the helmsman of the British ship. Both ships took severe damage, Mermaid knocking away several of her opponent's spars, but suffering in turn from the musketry of the soldiers still aboard the Loire. At 09:15, the French vessel lost another spar, and Newman determined to rake his opponent. As he attempted to complete this manoeuvre, a shot from Loire brought down Mermaid's mizzenmast, making her unmanageable and disabling a number of her guns. Seeing an opportunity to escape, the battered Loire disengaged, making significant distance before Newman's crew could clear the wreckage of the mast. High winds further hampered Mermaid's repair efforts by tearing away several sails and spars and drowning the ship's carpenter when he was blown overboard. By the time Mermaid was ready for action once more, Loire had escaped.
    Unfortunately for Captain Segond, when dawn broke on 18 October, HMS Anson was revealed only a short distance off, limping southwards after the damage its rigging and masts had suffered before the battle on 12 October. Although his ship was almost unmanageable, Captain Durham was not prepared to lose a second opportunity to engage, and slowly brought his vessel to bear on Loire, which was unable to escape. Accompanying Anson was Kangaroo, recovered from the damage of 16 October and ready for further action. At 10:30, Anson and Loire began firing on one another, neither able to effectively manoeuvre and both relying on firepower to overwhelm their opponent. Kangaroo closed on the unprotected stern of Loire, firing as she did so and repeatedly raking the immobile French ship. By 12:00 Loire had lost her mainmast and was leaking badly, forcing Segond to surrender. His ship was towed to port as the sixth prize of the campaign.

    Article reprinted in part from wikipedia.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tory_Island
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_...e_Loire_(1797)
    http://www.sailsofglory.org/showthre...of-Tory-Island
    Last edited by Cmmdre; 10-18-2013 at 09:15.

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    So not only did Tone back the wrong side, and fail miserably in his mission; he gets to go to Hell for committing suicide.

    "Wow -- the Lord must *really* have it in for that little boy." [Bob Costas, _BASEketball_]

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