The action of 14 December 1798 was a naval skirmish between the 32-gun British

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

and the French 24-gun

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

. ''Bayonnaise'' was vastly outgunned and outmanoeuvred, but was able to board and capture ''Ambuscade''.

Background

On 14 December, as she sailed about off Ré, ''Bayonnaise'' met the 32-gun frigate ''Ambuscade'', cruising off

Oléron The Isle of Oléron or Oléron Island (french: île d'Oléron, ; Saintongese: ''ilâte d'Olerun''; oc, illa d'Olairon or ; la, Uliarus insula, ) is an island off the Atlantic coast of France (due west of Rochefort), on the southern side of the ...

under Captain Henry Jenkins. ''Ambuscade'' was waiting to meet with and blockade the

Gironde estuary The Gironde estuary ( , US usually ; french: estuaire de la Gironde, ; oc, estuari de aGironda, ) is a navigable estuary (though often referred to as a river) in southwest France and is formed from the meeting of the rivers Dordogne and Gar ...

. ''Bayonnaise'' was a 24-gun

with a strong crew augmented by a 40-soldier detachment from the '' Régiment d'Alsace'', under Army captain Nicolas Aimé. At dawn, ''Ambuscade'' detected ''Bayonnaise'' and assumed she was ''Stag''; ''Bayonnaise'' also detected ''Ambuscade'', and, correctly assuming that she was a superior British warship, turned around to flee. From this manoeuver, ''Ambuscade'' understood that the sail was French and gave chase. Around noon, ''Ambuscade'' had closed in to cannon range, and the fight began.

Battle

After one hour, the British had gained the upper hand, damaging the hull and rigging of the corvette. As ''Ambuscade'' came off the stern of ''Bayonnaise'' in an attempt to

rake Rake may refer to: * Rake (stock character), a man habituated to immoral conduct * Rake (theatre), the artificial slope of a theatre stage Science and technology * Rake receiver, a radio receiver * Rake (geology), the angle between a feature on a ...

her, one of the British frigate's starboard 12-pounders burst. The explosion destroyed ''Ambuscade''s boats, left 13 of her sailors dead and wounded, and confused the crew. ''Bayonnaise'' attempted to take advantage of the confusion to escape south, but ''Ambuscade'' gave chase again and caught up with the corvette around 3 PM. As the frigate sailed on the port side of the corvette on a parallel course, overtaking her, ''Bayonnaise'' backed sail and turned hard to port, ramming ''Ambuscade''. The

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays. The word ''bowsprit'' is thought to originate from the Middle L ...

of ''Bayonnaise'' cut down ''Ambuscade''s

mizzen The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation ligh ...

, wounding part of the crew standing on the

poop deck In naval architecture, a poop deck is a deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear, or " aft", part of the superstructure of a ship. The name originates from the French word for stern, ''la poupe'', from Latin ''puppis''. Thus th ...

, and entangling the two ships. Both ships fired a last

broadside Broadside or broadsides may refer to: Naval * Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare Printing and literature * Broadside (comic ...

and closed their

gunport A gunport is an opening in the side of the hull of a ship, above the waterline, which allows the muzzle of artillery pieces mounted on the gun deck to fire outside. The origin of this technology is not precisely known, but can be traced back to ...

s. ''Bayonnaise'' lost numerous men, and her captain, Richer, had an arm shot off. Nevertheless, French

grapeshot Grapeshot is a type of artillery round invented by a British Officer during the Napoleonic Wars. It was used mainly as an anti infantry round, but had other uses in naval combat. In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of ...

and

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

ry fire cleared the decks of ''Ambuscade''. Most of the British officers were wounded and taken below deck, leaving only ailing lieutenant Joseph Briggs in command. Having grappled the corvette to the frigate, the French used ''Bayonnaise''s bowsprit to bridge the gap between the ships and climb onto the taller ''Ambuscade''. The French boarded and seized a light gun loaded with grapeshot, which they used to clear the forecastle of its defenders. The quarterdeck of ''Ambuscade'' suffered the explosion of a powder box, which destroyed the wheel and the stern boat. After a bloody, 30-minute melee, purser William Beaumont Murray, the last British officer still standing, surrendered ''Ambuscade''. During the battle, ''Ambuscade'' had had 15 killed and 39 wounded, including Jenkins and his two lieutenants, and ''Bayonnaise'' 25 killed and 30 wounded, including Richer and his lieutenant.

Aftermath

''Bayonnaise'' had lost almost all of her rigging, was leaking and had her rudder damaged. ''Ambuscade'' had lost her mizzen mast and sustained damage from explosions on board, but was otherwise intact and sea worthy. ''Ambuscade'' towed ''Bayonnaise'' to

Pertuis d'Antioche The Pertuis d'Antioche (, ''Passage of Antioch'') is a strait on the Atlantic coast of Western France, between two islands, Île de Ré and Oléron, on the one side, and on the other side the continental coast between the cities of La Rochelle and ...

and Rochefort. They arrived the next day. ''Ambuscade'' was taken into French service as ''Embuscade''. ''Lieutenant de vaisseau'' Richer was promoted to ''capitaine de vaisseau'' (jumping three ranks), and the ensigns of ''Bayonnaise'', Corbie, Frouin, Guigner, Kinzelbach and Potier de la Houssaye, were promoted to ''Lieutenant de vaisseau''. Major Henri Louis Lerch was made

Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

for his action during the boarding. Captain Jenkins was later court-martialled, accused of letting his ship, crewed by young sailors, be boarded by a stronger party, while he had a strong advantage at gunnery and manoeuvre. He was acquitted. The battle was used as a propaganda effort by the French government. Several paintings of the event were subsequently commissioned, notably a large painting by young

Louis-Philippe Crépin Louis-Philippe Crépin (1772, Paris – 26 November 1851, Paris) was a French marine painter. Together with Théodore Gudin, he was appointed as one of France's first two Peintres de la Marine in 1830.Ministère de l'instruction publique et des ...

which is now one of the main exhibits of the

Musée national de la Marine The Musée national de la Marine (National Navy Museum) is a maritime museum located in the Palais de Chaillot, Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. It has annexes at Brest, Port-Louis, Rochefort ( Musée National de la Marine de Roc ...

in Paris.

Notes

Citations

References

''Naval history of Great Britain''
by

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...