HMS Foudroyant (1798) - French Revolutionary War

French Revolutionary War

Foudroyant was first commissioned on 25 May 1798, under the command of Captain Thomas Byard. On 12 October Foudroyant was with the squadron under Captain Sir John Borlase Warren in Canada engaged a French squadron under Commodore Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart in the Battle of Tory Island. The British captured the French ship of the line Hoche and four of the eight French frigates. Foudroyant was only minimally engaged, though she did suffer nine men wounded, and went off in unsuccessful pursuit of the French frigates that had escaped. (Other British warships captured two of these frigates; two frigates and a schooner escaped completely). In 1847 The Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "12th October 1798" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Byard's command lasted only until 31 October when, after bringing the ship back to Plymouth, he died. Commander William Butterfield took temporary command of the ship until he transferred to Hazard just twelve days later.

Captain John Elphinstone took up command of the ship on 26 November 1798, in Cawsand Bay. Lord Keith hoisted his flag in Foudroyant on 28 November, and she departed to join the Mediterranean Squadron on 5 December. After arriving at Gibraltar, Keith shifted his flag to Barfleur on 31 December, and Captain Elphinstone left the ship the following day. His replacement was Captain James Richard Dacres.

Dacres' command lasted for four months, before Captain William Brown replaced him on 22 March 1799. On 30 March Foudroyant was among the several British warships in sight, and so entitled to share in the prize money, when Alcmene captured the Saint Joseph or Hermosa Andalusia, off Cadiz.

Foudroyant sailed from Gibraltar on 11 May, calling at Port Mahon before arriving at Palermo on 7 June. At this time, Brown transferred to Vanguard, and Captain Thomas Hardy took over the command. The following day, Lord Nelson hoisted his flag in Foudroyant.

Over the following months, Foudroyant was involved in the efforts to return the Neapolitan royal family to Naples. Nelson's fleet arrived in Naples on 24 June. The fleet consisted of a total of 18 ships of the line, 1 frigate and 2 fire ships.

The British landed 500 British and Portuguese marines in support of the Neapolitans on 27 June, all under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Troubridge, of Culloden. The next day they captured the castles Ovo and Nuovo. On 29 June they commenced the siege of Fort St. Elmo. The first batteries were in place by 3 July, with the last still being constructed on 11 July. The British, Portuguese and Russian forces commenced the bombardment on 3 July and the French capitulated on 11 July, forestalling the need for an assault.

On 10 July His Sicilian Majesty arrived in the Bay of Naples and immediately hoisted his standard on board the Foudroyant. There the king and his ministers remained until after the capitulation of Fort St. Elmo. A series of reprisals against known insurgents followed. The Neapolitans conducted several courts martial, some of which resulted in hangings.

Whilst Foudroyant was in Naples harbour, Nelson began his affair with Emma, Lady Hamilton. Foudroyant departed Naples on 6 August, in company with the frigate Syren, and the Portuguese ship Principe Real. Foudroyant also transported the Sardinian royal family to Leghorn on 22 September.

On 13 October, Foudroyant entered Port Mahon harbour, and Captain Sir Edward Berry replaced Captain Hardy as acting captain. Foudroyant was back in Palermo by 22 October. Nelson remained ashore when Foudroyant departed for Gozo on 29 October, together with Minotaur. In November, after weathering a storm in Palermo harbour, Foudroyant departed once more, this time with Culloden, and ran aground in the Straits of Messina. With Culloden's assistance, it was possible to haul the ship off and into deep water. On 6 December a large part of the 89th Regiment embarked on Foudroyant. The soldiers landed at St. Paul's Bay, on Malta on the 10th.

Foudroyant was back at Palermo on 15 January 1800, when Lord Nelson hoisted his flag in her once again, and she sailed on to Livorno, arriving on the 21st. There Foudroyant received salutes from Danish and Neapolitan frigates, and two Russian ships of the line.

On 26 January Foudroyant was in company with Minorca and Queen Charlotte when she recaptured the Ragusan polacca Annonciata, Michele Pepi, master. She was carrying grain from Tunis to Genoa.

Sicilian soldiers embarked on 11 February, and Foudroyant sailed the next day for Malta, in company with Alexander, Northumberland (both 74s), and Success (32). On 18 February, the British squadron began a chase of a squadron of three French ships — Généreux (74), Badine (28), and Fauvette (20). Alexander forced one of the frigates to surrender, whilst Success engaged Généreux, and the two ships exchanged a couple of broadsides before Foudroyant came up and fired into the French ship of the line. Généreux struck her colours. It turned out that Rear-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée, the commander-in-chief of the French navy in the Mediterranean, had been aboard Généreux and had been killed at the start of the action. His ships had been carrying troops intended to relieve Malta. Their failure to arrive significantly harmed the French hold on Malta and was a testament to the success of the British blockade of the island.

At the beginning of March, Nelson remained at Palermo due to illness when on 25 March Foudroyant sailed for Malta once more with Rear-Admiral Decres on board. On 29 March, she encountered the sloop Bonne Citoyenne, and from her Berry learned that French ships were expected to leave Valletta that evening. Guillaume Tell put to sea on the evening of the 30th, and fell in with Lion and Penelope.

As day broke and the scene became apparent, Foudroyant maneuvered to pistol range of the French ship — the last French survivor of Aboukir, Généreux being the only other — and joined the battle. Foudroyant's log for the Action of 31 March 1800 notes that at one point during the battle the French had nailed their colours to the stump of Guillaume Tell's mizzen mast. Still, Guillaume Tell eventually struck, but not before Foudroyant had lost her fore topmast and main topsail yard. The initial estimates put the number of dead and wounded on Lion and Foudroyant at 40 per vessel.

Later in the day, Foudroyant's mizzen mast fell, having been damaged during the battle. Lion took Foudroyant in tow for a time, whilst a jury rig was set up. She entered Syracuse on 3 April. Amongst the British vessels, Foudroyant had borne the heaviest casualties with eight men killed and 61 wounded, including Berry, who was only slightly wounded and did not leave the deck during the fight. The British estimated that the French had had over two hundred casualties.

On 3 June, the Neapolitan king and queen boarded Foudroyant, accompanied by Sir William Hamilton and his wife Emma. The royal family departed the ship after their arrival in Livorno on 15 June, and just two weeks later Nelson hauled down his flag and began the journey home to England overland together with the Hamiltons.

Lord Keith raised his flag in Foudroyant for the second time on 15 August, returning the ship to Gibraltar on 13 September. Captain Berry transferred out of the ship on 2 November for the 38-gun frigate Princess Charlotte.

Captain Philip Beaver took over the command on 17 November and sailed into the Eastern Mediterranean with a fleet of 51 vessels, many armed en flûte and carrying the 16,150 men of General Sir Ralph Abercromby's force, which was intended to drive the French out of Egypt. Still, on 22 December Foudroyant captured the French brig Hyppolite, which was carrying rice from Alexandria to Marseilles.

Keith sailed from Marmarice on 22 February, arriving off Abukir Bay on 2 March. Sea conditions meant that the British were unable to land until 8 March. They met resistance from the French but by evening all the troops had landed and driven the French from the beach. The landing cost Foudroyant one man killed and one wounded. In all, the landings cost the British 22 men killed, 72 men wounded, and three missing.

On the 13th, the landing party of seamen and marines, under the command of Captain Sir William Sidney Smith, were again in action at Mandora as the British moved towards Alexandria. Foudroyant had one man wounded. In all, the British navy lost six seamen killed and 19 wounded, and 24 marines killed and 35 wounded.

Keith then used his ships to reduce the castle at the entrance of Abukir Bay, which eventually fell to the British on 18 March 1801. A French counter-attack on 21 March by some 20,000 men, although ending in defeat, caused General Abercromby a severe injury; he died aboard Foudroyant a week after the battle. In addition to the army losses, the Royal Navy lost four men killed and 20 wounded, though none were from Foudroyant.

Foudroyant lay off Alexandria until June, and on 17 June Captain Beaver transferred to Determinée. His replacement was Captain William Young, who in turn was replaced by Captain T. Stephenson.

Captain John Clarke Searle took command in June 1801, before handing over to Captain John Elphinstone, again, in September. In mid-August, the fleet transported the British army to Alexandria. On 26 September the French proposed a three-day armistice to discuss terms of capitulation.

When the Treaty of Amiens was signed, bringing the war to an end in 1802, Foudroyant was paid off at Plymouth on 26 July.