ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...
in the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...
, laid down in 1788 and in active service from 1791. Engaged against the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
after 1794, she was damaged in the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1 ...
and wrecked near the Spanish city of Cadiz on 25/26 October 1805.
Early service
''Indomptable'' was designed by naval engineer Jacques-Noël Sané and laid down in Brest in September 1788. She was launched on 20 December 1790, and completed in February 1791.
Between 1793 and 1794, she was under Bruix. Her first engagement was on 29 May 1794 against and during the
Glorious First of June
The Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic ...
campaign. Following the battle, the dismasted ''Indomptable'' was towed back to Brest by ''
Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Serv ...
''.
In 1795, she served in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
under Admiral
François Joseph Bouvet
François Joseph Bouvet (1753–1832) was a French admiral.
Early life
Son of René Joseph Bouvet de Précourt, a captain in the service of the French East India Company and of the French Royal Navy under Suffren, François Joseph Bouvet went ...
and took part in the landing attempt in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
planned by General
Louis Lazare Hoche
Louis Lazare Hoche (; 24 June 1768 – 19 September 1797) was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. He won a victory over Royalist forces in Brittany. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on ...
. In 1801, she was engaged in the campaign in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medite ...
, but was unable to break the English blockade and stayed in
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
. Other elements of the fleet managed to reach
Elba
Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano Nationa ...
.
''Indomptable'' fought in the battle of Algeciras in 1801 when she was again badly damaged. In 1802 and 1803, she served in Toulon under Admiral Latouche Tréville.
Trafalgar campaign
On 17 January 1805, she went to sea under Admiral Villeneuve, together with ten other ships of the line and eight frigates, and on 20 January the fleet sailed for the French Caribbean. Off Cadiz, the fleet was joined by the 74-gun ''Aigle'', and six Spanish ships of the line under Vice-Admiral
Federico Gravina
Federico Carlos Gravina y Nápoli, born Federico Carlo Gravina Cruyllas (12 August 1756 – 9 May 1806) was a Sicilian admiral in the service of the Spanish Empire, during the American Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. He died of wounds sustained d ...
. When the fleet reached the West Indies, Villeneuve sent Commodore Cosmao-Kerjulien with the and the to attack the British position on
Diamond Rock
Diamond Rock (french: rocher du Diamant) is a 175-metre-high (574 ft)surrendered on 2 June. Villeneuve returned to Europe on hearing that
Horatio Nelson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...
had arrived in the West Indies.
Cape Finisterre and Trafalgar
On 22 July 1805, in the battle of Cape Finisterre the quartermasters of ''Indomptable'' spotted the British fleet under Sir Robert Calder. After a violent artillery exchange, the fleets became separated in the fog. Exhausted after six months at sea, the fleet anchored in Ferrol before sailing to
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
to rest and refit. With his command under question and planning to meet the British fleet to gain a decisive victory, Villeneuve left Cádiz and met the British fleet near Cape Trafalgar.
''Indomptable'' was in the Spanish line between ''San Justo'' and ''Santa Ana'' at the opening of the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. She engaged Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood's flagship off her lee beam as she approached, then raked William Hargood's as that ship passed ''Indomptable''s stern. Later, she engaged , and , losing her place in the line but regrouping behind the Spanish flagship .
Downwind of the British and effectively out of range, ''Indomptable'' turned towards the bay of Cadiz. At about two in the morning of 22 October, her crew heard distress calls from the French ship which had struck a reef off Santa Catalina fort. The ship's boat was run out and brought alongside ''Bucentaure'', whose crew requested an anchor and hawsers to secure their vessel. This became impractical as ''Bucentaure'' settled deeper onto the rocks and began to sink: instead, ''Indomptable''s boats began ferrying sailors off the vessel and back to their own. Rescue efforts continued until mid-afternoon on 23 October, by which time ''Bucentaure'' was completely submerged.
Wreck
On the night of 25/26 October, a storm broke ''Indomptable''s anchor chains and she was carried onto rocks offshore from Cadiz. Contemporary accounts estimate between 1,000 and 1,400 people were on board, including around 500 rescued from ''Bucentaure'' the previous night, and two men from who had been aboard ''Bucentaure'' as
prize crew
A prize crew is the selected members of a ship chosen to take over the operations of a captured ship. Prize crews were required to take their prize to appropriate prize courts, which would determine whether the ship's officers and crew had sufficie ...
. Around 150 men survived the wreck, including just two of the twenty-four officers on board.