HMS Foudroyant

“ The reply came instantly—two shotted guns in rapid succession, and a sharp crackle of musketry. M. le Marquis's honour was not satisfied yet. What followed was inevitable. The Swiftsure had now to administer the coup de grâce according to the rules of naval war. As the sound of the Foudroyant's defiance died away, the Swiftsure's double tier burst into flame, and the British seventy-four's broadside crashed into the French ship, sweeping her decks from stem to stern. It was enough. The next instant down came the Foudroyant's lights and she called for quarter. The battle was over. ”

“ On the stroke of four o'clock a spurt of flame leapt from one of the stern-chase ports of the Foudroyant, and as the smoke blew away to leeward the boom of a heavy gun came over the waters towards the Monmouth. It was the first shot. The ball splashed in the water not far off, and then the Foudroyant fired a second shot—followed quickly by a third. The enemy had got the range. That, too, was enough for Captain Gardiner. His heavier guns could at least carry as far as the Foudroyant's guns, and without waiting longer the Monmouth's bow-chasers took up the game. ”

“ Admiral Saunders arrived at Spithead from the Streights, in the Monmouth, with the Revenge, Foudroyant, and Orpheus, and brought home with him above 1000 French prisoners. The Foudroyant is a surprizing 84 gun ship, her guns are on two decks, her lower tier monstrously unwieldy, and not easy to be worked, the shot weighing very little short of fifty pounds each. Notwithstanding their superiority in bulk, our thirty-two pound shot are thought by all judges to be on a par with them, and of as much efficacy when they take place. ”

“ In truth, only the Foudroyant and Northumberland are fit to keep the sea. The Russians are, on the 4th, arrived at Messina; six sail of the line, frigates, &c. with two thousand five hundred troops. It is not to be expected, that any one Russian man of war can, or will, keep the sea; therefore, the blockade by sea can only be kept up by our ships: and it is my intention, if the Foudroyant, or even a frigate, comes soon, to go for two days to Malta, to give the Russian admiral and general, Graham, Troubridge, and Governor Ball, a meeting ”

“ The Foudroyant, on that melancholy occasion, had been astern of the Victory, the admiral's ship. If Jervis had been admiral, he would have tried the fate of battle—and he would have done right. No result of a battle could have been so painful to the national feelings, or so injurious in its effects on the feelings of Europe, as that retreat. If the whole British fleet on that occasion had perished, its gallantry would have only raised a new spirit of worth and power in the nation; and England has resources that, [pg 472] when once fully called into exertion, are absolutely unconquerable. ”

“ All England rang with Arthur Gardiner's name when, in the first week in April, the Gibraltar arrived at Spithead with Admiral Osborn's despatches, and the London Gazette told the story of how Gardiner had died 'as he was encouraging his people and inquiring what damage they had sustained between decks.' Everywhere, we are told, the news of the taking of the 'mighty Foudroyant' and how it was done excited the liveliest enthusiasm. Inn signboards were repainted with pictures of the fight, a favourite way with our eighteenth-century forefathers of commemorating great events ”

“ Finding that he could not shake off his pursuer, and feeling not unreasonably confident that the other English ships were too far off to act against him, Captain Duquesne turned on the Monmouth. If M. Troude, the most careful historian of the French Navy, is right, the Foudroyant suffered from a weakness which was infinitely dishonourable. Her crew was so mutinous that Captain Duquesne could not use the guns of his second deck. The men ran below very soon after the action began. ”

“ During the last four years of the French revolutionary war, we find him successively serving in the Queen Charlotte a first rate, Penelope frigate, and Foudroyant of 80 guns.
In the Penelope, Mr. Prescott assisted at the capture of le Guillaume Tell, a French 80-gun ship, Mar. 31, 1800 [2] . The Foudroyant bore the flag of Lord Keith, by whom he was promoted into the Vincejo brig, on the coast of Egypt, in 1802. ”

“ The enemy’s fleet consisted of eighteen sail, laden with provisions and ammunition, and containing a considerable number of troops for the supply of the French fleet and forces in the East Indies; being particularly destined to replace the convoy which had been taken by Admiral Kempenfelt in the preceding winter; they had sailed from Brest only the day before, and were escorted by the Protecteur and Pégase, of 74 guns each, l’Actionaire, a two-decker armed en flute, and a frigate. The Foudroyant gained so fast upon the chace, that it was evident they could not escape without an engagement ”

“ The great disproportion between the combatants, the Foudroyant being an unusually large and heavily armed ship of 8O guns, and the fact that the Monmouth alone had beaten her gigantic adversary almost to a standstill before the Swift sure came up, as well as the circumstances of Gardiner's death, have all combined to render the action one of the most celebrated in our naval annals ”

“ In that day, a large two-decked ship never carried heavier metal than an eighteen above her lower batteries; and this gun, efficient as it is on most occasions, does not bring with it the fearful destruction that attends a more modern broadside. There was a good deal of noise, notwithstanding, and some blood shed in passing; but, on the whole, when the Warspite, the last of the English ships, ceased her fire, on account of the distance of the enemy abreast of her, it would have been difficult to tell that any vessel but le Foudroyant, had been doing more than saluting. ”

“ In about fifty minutes after the commencement of the action, the Foudroyant of 88 guns came up under a press of canvas, and hailed the enemy to strike; which being declined, a furious combat ensued, the Lion and Penelope frequently doing great execution; and it was not until the French ship had become an unruly hulk, having lost all her masts, that her colours were hauled down. ”

“ How great a man I felt the Admiral to be at that moment! as great as I felt him when we were running into the Nile and Trafalgar, with the French blazing away at us, and us reserving our guns double-shotted until we were near enough for them to tear the whole length of the ships we raked. To head the ship for it, our great Foudroyant, of which we were so proud, made every man feel his courage; while if the Admiral had ordered a boat to be lowered it would have taken some stiff-backed men to go in her—though he would, I have not the least doubt, have gone himself. ”

“ The signal being made for a general chase, the Foudroyant, Jervis's ship, soon left the rest of the fleet behind; and before night she had so much gained upon the enemy as to ascertain that they were six French ships of war, with eighteen sail of convoy. ”

“ During his illness he was tenderly nursed by his wife, and by the beginning of December he was able to return thanks in church ‘for his perfect recovery.’ The admiralty wished to send him back to the fleet under Lord St. Vincent, and assigned for his flagship the Foudroyant of 80 guns, which was expected to be launched in Jan. 1798. It turned out, however, that she would not be ready in time, and as he was anxious to be afloat again as soon as possible, he was ordered to go out in the Vanguard of 74 guns, his shipmate and first lieutenant in the Agamemnon, Edward Berry [q. v.] ”

“ Came bearing down directly upon the British fleet.
⁠With their thundering and roaring, etc.
⁠Then our admiral gave the signal for to chace,
When courage appear'd in each Briton's face;
The Monmouth got up with the brave Foudroyant,
And so sell to firing with their hey diag-o-dong
⁠With their thundering and roaring, etc.
⁠At six in the evening we saw then engage,
The Foudroyant and Monmouth were so enrage'd.
They strove for victory, but all was in vain
For Britons will always be lords of the main. ”

“ Shortly afterwards the Monmouth’s mizen-mast was shot away, on which the French crew cheered; but the Foudroyant’s mizen-mast sharing the same fate, the British seamen returned the compliment, and in a little time down came the French ship’s main-mast. Still, she continued working her guns till some time after the arrival of the Swiftsure, when she surrendered. Her captain presented his sword to Lieutenant Carket, thus acknowledging that he was captured by the Monmouth. To understand the disparity between the two ships, their comparative broadside weight of metal should be known. ”

“ The French store-ship struck her tricoloured ensign after a few shots had been fired, and was promptly secured. The Généreux was then raked with several broadsides by the Success frigate, a compliment returned by the Frenchman to the disadvantage of the British crew, of which one man was killed and the Master and seven men wounded. When the Foudroyant and the Northumberland approached, and began to fight in real earnest, the enemy’s flagship fired her broadside and surrendered. The corvettes made good their escape. ”

“ The Redoutable is a full-rigged ship, and nevertheless steams 141⁄4 knots per hour. There is one particular in which the Dévastation and the Foudroyant, like her as they are in general design, differ materially from the Redoutable. I refer to the armament. The former two ships each carry four 34-centimetre 48-ton guns in the main-deck battery, in lieu of the four 25-ton guns of the Redoutable.
The Amiral Duperré (designed by M. Sabattier, the able French chief constructor) claims a few words, as she differs materially in type [80] from the three ships just discussed. ”

“ When near enough, however, Sir Gervaise gave the order to reduce the canvass of his own ship.
"That will do, Greenly," he said, in a mild, quiet tone. "Let run the top-gallant-halyards, and haul up the fore-sail. The way you have, will bring you fairly alongside."
The captain gave the necessary orders, and the master shortened sail accordingly. Still the Plantagenet shot ahead, and, in three or four minutes more, her bows doubled so far on le Foudroyant's quarter, as to permit a gun to bear. This was the signal for both sides, each ship opening as it might be in the same breath. ”

“ He knew that some of the French ships were notoriously equal to the British in sailing qualities, but he left nothing to chance. Every drop of water was ordered to be pumped out of the hold; the wedges were removed from the masts' coaming; the stays slackened; butts of water were hung on them; hammocks were piped down; every available sail was crowded on to her; the most reliable quartermasters were stationed at the wheel. The Foudroyant is gaining—she draws ahead. ”

“ Captain Rathborne was soon after appointed to the Foudroyant of 80 guns, a circumstance that gave him considerable pain, as independent of his disinclination to remove from a cruising frigate into a blockading ship, he was very unwilling to part from his officers and crew, whose conduct on every occasion had given him the greatest satisfaction, and in whom he had every confidence. ”

“ The Lion and Foudroyant, ships of the line, were thus enabled to come up in succession, ana bring the enemy to close action, which continued with great fury on both sides for several hours, when le Guillaume Tell being totally dismasted, and, in consequence of her violent motion, unable to keep the lower-deck ports open, struck her colours, and was taken possession of by the Penelope. ”

“ The English force consisted of seven sail-of-the-line, and several frigates and sloops, under the command of Admiral Lord Keith, in the Foudroyant, 80. These escorted a large number of disarmed men-of-war and transports, which conveyed about 17,000 English troops, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie. The whole day of arrival was taken up in anchoring this numerous fleet, and then a succession of high northerly gales, with a heavy surf, prevented the landing of the troops until the 8th of March. This gave the French time to muster all the force which they could spare to oppose the landing. ”

“ The Orphée struck to the Revenge and the Berwick. The Oriflamme was driven on shore, but succeeded in getting off and joining La Clue in Carthagena. A noble story is connected with the fortunes of the Foudroyant.
Among the ships under Admiral Osborn’s command was the Monmouth, 64, a poor little liner of our starved model, but a quick sailer. She was commanded by Arthur Gardiner, who had been flag-captain to Byng in the miserable battle of Minorca, and his first lieutenant was Robert Carkett, one of those officers who rose from before the mast. ”

“ In June 1775 Jervis was appointed to the Kent, but on 1 Sept. was turned over to the Foudroyant of 80 guns, the same ship which he had helped to bring home from the Mediterranean in 1758, and which was still the largest two-decked ship in the English navy. During the years immediately following she lay for the most part at Plymouth, as a guardship, but in 1778 was attached to the fleet under Admiral Keppel [q. v.] ”

“ Le Foudroyant, too, had kept away, after the loss of her top-masts, until fairly in the wake of the ships ahead of her, in her own line, and, as the vessels had been running off with the wind abeam, for several minutes, this man [oe] uvre threw the French still farther to leeward. To make the matter worse, just as the Warspite drew out of the range of shot from the French, M. de Vervillin showed a signal at the end of his gaff, for his whole fleet to ware in succession ”