A Short History of the Royal Navy, 1217-1815. Volume II, 1689-1815 by David Hannay

Author:David Hannay [Hannay, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788832508383
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Publisher: iOnlineShopping.com
Published: 2019-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

The independence of the United States had been secured and a great blow struck at England by the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. The allies had now to secure prizes for themselves. Gibraltar was to be taken in Europe and Jamaica conquered in the West Indies. On the 4th November 1781 Grasse sailed from the Chesapeake for Martinique, where he anchored on the 25th. On that day his unresting military colleague, Bouillé, pounced in his characteristically feline style on St. Eustatius. He landed where no landing was expected. The red coats of the Irish regiment of Dillon, which formed part of his force, disarmed suspicion, all the more easily because no watch was kept. The Governor was splashing in his bath when the French came down upon him, and so the loss of St. Eustatius was added to the chapter of regrettable incidents. Grasse and Bouillé were now free to push their enterprises against the British West Indies, opposed for the time being only by the inferior fleet under Hood, who had sailed from Sandy Hook on the 11th November and had reached Barbadoes on the 5th December. The French officers had been instructed to expect reinforcements to be brought to them from Europe by Vaudreuil. If strengthened in the way promised they would have held a commanding position. The French Government took measures to keep its word, but its plans were shattered by a brilliant stroke of vigilance and activity delivered by the British Navy.

It was known in London that a great force was in preparation at Brest, and measures were taken to intercept it at its starting place. On the 2nd December, Kempenfelt, who had succeeded Digby as second in command in the Channel, left Spithead with twelve sail of the line and one 50-gun ship. The calculation was sound, and Kempenfelt sailed in good time, but the force given him might well have proved insufficient. Guichen left Brest on the 10th December with nineteen sail of the line and a convoy carrying troops. His orders were to detach Vaudreuil to the West Indies with five sail and the transports, to send two to the East Indies, to post La Motte Picquet with two others where he would meet the trade coming home from San Domingo, and to take the others to Gibraltar. Kempenfelt had been delayed by the weather, but on the 12th December he sighted the French 150 miles to W.S.W. of Ushant. They were to the southward of him in a south-easterly wind. Guichen and the warships were ahead on Kempenfelt’s lee or starboard bow as he came down on the port tack. The transports and merchant ships were directly behind Guichen and were therefore uncovered. Haze and fog, with clear intervals, surrounded both fleets and hid the approach of the English, but the French admiral’s disposition was unpardonable. He ought to have kept his convoy to leeward of him. If Kempenfelt had been an unenterprising man he might have hesitated to attack where he

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