|
The Battle of Jobourg was a minor naval engagement between British and French frigate squadrons during the last weeks of the War of the Sixth Coalition in the 22nd and penultimate year of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. In October 1813 the French Navy, unable to challenge the Royal Navy's dominance at sea, sent two small squadrons of frigates to harass British trade in the Atlantic Ocean. One was brought to battle in January 1814 and defeated near the Canary Islands but the second, from Nantes and consisting of the frigates ''Etoile'' and ''Sultane'', fought an inconclusive engagement against British frigate HMS ''Severn'' on 4 January in the mid-Atlantic and a furious battle against HMS ''Astrea'' and HMS ''Creole'' on 23 January near Maio in the Cape Verde Islands. Attempting to return to Saint Malo in March, with the Allied armies at the gates of Paris and the war coming to a close, the French squadron was intercepted near the Île de Batz by a much stronger British squadron including the ship of the line HMS ''Hannibal'', frigate HMS ''Hebrus'' and brig HMS ''Sparrow''. ''Sultane'', badly damaged in the engagement with ''Creole'', was soon chased down by ''Hannibal'' and surrendered without a fight but ''Etoile'', faced with only the ''Hebrus'', turned away in an attempt to escape. Early in the morning of 27 March, ''Hebrus'' succeeded in reaching its quarry off Jobourg in Normandy and the frigates fought a fierce engagement close inshore. After more than two hours, ''Etoiles colours were struck and she surrendered. Casualties were heavy on both ships, but both prizes were successfully returned to Britain and commissioned into the Royal Navy. This was the final naval engagement of the War of the Sixth Coalition, which came to an end with Emperor Napoleon's abdication on 11 April. ==Background== By the end of October 1813 the War of the Sixth Coalition was in its final stages; Emperor Napoleon had been defeated at the Battle of Leipzig by the Allied European armies and was retreating to the borders of France,〔 while the British army under the Lord Wellington had crossed the Pyrenees and was advancing on Toulouse. The French Navy had never recovered from defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and had made no serious effort to put to sea since the abortive attempt which ended in defeat at the Battle of Basque Roads in 1809.〔Gardiner, p. 56〕 British control of the Atlantic Ocean trade routes was at this stage only contested by the small United States Navy and the handful of French raiders capable of evading the Royal Navy's constant close blockade of French ports, which had operated effectively and almost continuously since the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793.〔Gardiner, p. 182〕 In late October, small raiding squadrons, each consisting of two newly-built frigates with picked crews and commanders departed France with instructions to attack British merchant shipping in the Atlantic.〔Woodman, p. 328〕 The first squadron was dispatched from Cherbourg and consisted of the 40-gun ships ''Iphigénie'' and ''Alcmène''. The second sailed from Nantes and comprised the ''Etoile'' under Captain Pierre-Henri Philibert and ''Sultane'' under Captain Georges Du-Petit-Thouars. While ''Iphigénie'' and ''Alcmène'' targeted British trade with West Africa, ''Etoile'' and ''Sultane'' were directed to the centre Atlantic. ''Iphigénie'' and ''Alcmène'' captured several valuable British merchant ships before being intercepted and defeated on 16 January 1814 near the Canary Islands.〔Clowes, p. 543〕 On 18 January 1814 ''Etoile'' and ''Sultane'' encountered a British merchant convoy at in the Central North Atlantic. Sighting distant sails at 04:00, the French captains soon confirmed that the convoy, sailing northwest towards its destination of Bermuda, was defended by only one British warship, the 40-gun frigate HMS ''Severn'' under Captain James Nourse.〔 At 07:30, Nourse approached the unidentified ships, determining at 08:40 that they were enemy vessels and giving orders for the convoy to scatter. The French squadron pursued ''Severn'', Nourse opening long-range fire with his stern mounted guns at ''Etoile'' at 10:30.〔Clowes, p. 544〕 The French ship held off returning fire with its bow guns until 16:05 when the range had narrowed considerably, ''Severns flight distracting the French sufficiently to allow the convoy to escape. ''Severn'' proved to be a fast ship, Nourse successfully holding off pursuit through an exchange of fire at a distance of more than . At 17:30 French fire stopped as the range lengthened once more, and ''Severn'' began to pull away, Philibert finally calling off pursuit at 08:00 on the 19 January.〔James, p. 261〕 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「Battle of Jobourg」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|