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The Action of 6 December 1782 was an action primarily fought between HMS ''Ruby'' and the French ship ''Solitaire'' off the coast of Martinique. ''Ruby'' easily defeated the ''Solitaire''. By the end of 1783 the Spanish and French had been on the defensive since the Battle of the Saintes, which signaled British domination of the seas in the Caribbean. Soon after the Royal navy were conducting a blockade off Cap Francois and Fort Royal as well as keeping a watch off Havana.〔Marley p. 175〕 == Action == The Royal Navy squadron of Rear Admiral Richard Hughes on 6 December 1782 sighted a French squadron off Martinique. The 64-gun HMS ''Ruby'', captained by John Collins, sailed towards the 1,521 ton French ship ''Solitaire'' of 64 guns, under the command of Jean-Charles de Borda. Collins eventually caught up with ''Solitaire'' and a single-ship action developed. After nearly forty minutes ''Solitaire'' had her mizzenmast shot away, her rigging and sails in tatters, and was becoming dead in the water. At that point Borda decided to strike her colours.〔Allen pp.316-17〕 ''Solitaire'' had 35 men killed and 55 wounded whilst the ''Ruby'' had only two men wounded.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.louvre.freebase.com/view/en/caribbean/-/location/location/events )〕 Captain John Collins was knighted for his action. ''Solitaire'' entered the Royal Navy as HMS ''Solitaire'' and remained in service until 1790, when she was sold out of the navy. Jean-Charles de Borda, although captured along with his entire crew, was shortly released and returned as an engineer in the French Navy. He later achieved fame as a mathematician, physicist and political scientist.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://sailsofglory.org/showthread.php?691-On-This-Day-6-December )〕 In the action the British also captured the French brig ''Speedy'', which defended herself vigourously at the cost of heavy casualties, including the death of her captain. == Citations and references == ;Citations ;References * * 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Action of 6 December 1782」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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