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Action of 30 June 1798
The Action of 30 June 1798 was a minor naval engagement fought along the Biscay coast of France during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French Navy had been largely driven from the Atlantic Ocean early in the war following heavy losses in a series of failed operations. This had allowed the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet to institute a close blockade on the French naval ports of the Biscay coast, particularly Brest in Brittany. The blockade strategy included a constantly patrolling inshore squadron composed of frigates, tasked with preventing the passage of French ships into or out of the port. In the spring of 1798, several French frigates stationed in the Indian Ocean were sent back to France as the base at Île de France could no longer supply them effectively. One of these ships was the 40-gun frigate ''Seine'', which departed Port Louis laden with 280 soldiers from the garrison.
''Seine'' had a rapid passage back to European waters, arriving in the Bay of Biscay on 28 June. Early the following morning, with the Brittany coast in sight, ''Seine'' was spotted by the inshore frigate squadron of HMS ''Jason'', HMS ''Pique'' and HMS ''Mermaid''. While ''Mermaid'' cut ''Seine'' off from the coast, ''Jason'' and ''Pique'' gave chase as ''Seine'' fled southwards. ''Pique'' reached ''Seine'' at 23:00 that evening and for more than two and a half hours the frigates pounded at one another until ''Pique'' fell back. ''Pique'' and ''Jason'' continued the chase full speed through the night, until suddenly all three frigates crashed headlong into the sandbanks off La Tranche-sur-Mer on the Vendée coast. Even while grounded the frigates continued to fire on one another until ''Mermaid'' finally arrived and the outnumbered ''Seine'' surrendered. ''Jason'' and ''Seine'' were badly damaged but successfully refloated, the casualties on the packed decks of the French ship appallingly high, but ''Pique'' was an irretrievable wreck: the ship was evacuated and then burnt before the remainder of the squadron returned to Britain with their prize.
==Background==
In the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars, although the French Navy had sought to oppose the Royal Navy at sea from their main base at Brest in Brittany, the Royal Navy had achieved victories at the Glorious First of June and Battle of Groix. The losses inflicted on the French Atlantic fleet in these battles were compounded by large numbers of ships wrecked in storms during the disastrous ''Croisière du Grand Hiver'' and ''Expédition d'Irlande'' operations.〔Gardiner, ''Fleet Battle and Blockade'', p.16〕 By 1798 the Royal Navy was unopposed in its control of the Atlantic, enforcing its supremacy by a strategy of close blockade, maintaining a battle fleet at sea off Brittany and an inshore squadron of frigates watching the approaches to Brest.〔Woodman, p.100〕 In June 1798 the inshore squadron included a detachment comprising the 38-gun HMS ''Jason'' under Captain Charles Stirling, the 36-gun HMS ''Pique'' under Captain David Milne and 32-gun HMS ''Mermaid'' under Captain James Newman-Newman.〔James, Vol.2 p.219〕
For French warships oceanic travel was extremely hazardous and ships often travelled in numbers. In the spring of 1796 a squadron commanded by Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey had sailed from Rochefort to reinforce French naval forces in the Indian Ocean, based at Port Louis on the Île de France.〔Parkinson, p.99〕 Sercey's squadron failed to make a significant impression, driven off from the East Indies in an inconclusive action off Sumatra,〔Clowes, p.503〕 and then tricked into fleeing from a vulnerable East India Company merchant convoy in the Bali Strait Incident in January 1797.〔Clowes, p.506〕 By the end of the year the Colonial Assembly, which were unhappy with plans of the French Directory to abolish slavery, refused to continue supplying the squadron and garrison, forcing Sercey to disperse his ships.〔Parkinson, p.120〕 First ''Régénérée'' and ''Vertu'' were ordered back to France, and then in early 1798 the 40-gun ''Seine'' was instructed to follow them, carrying 280 soldiers from the garrison no longer supported by the Colonial Assembly. ''Seine'', still commanded by Lieutenant Julien-Gabriel Bigot following the death of Captain Latour off Sumatra in 1796, sailed on 24 March, overcrowded with the stores and dependents accompanying the soldiers.〔Parkinson, p.121〕〔James, Vol.2 p.221〕
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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