Battle of St. Lucia

Battle of St. Lucia Part of the Anglo-French War Naval Battle of Santa Lucia, December 15, 1778. Left the 12 ships of d'Estaing. Right, the 7 vessels of Barrington. The French fleet was defeated. Date 15 December 1778 Location Off St. Lucia, West Indies Result British victory Belligerents  Great Britain  France Commanders and leaders Samuel Barrington Comte d'Estaing Strength 7 ships of the line 12 ships of the line Casualties and losses 230 casualties 850 casualties[1]

The Battle of St. Lucia or the Battle of the Cul de Sac was a naval battle fought off the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies during the Anglo-French War on 15 December 1778, between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy.^[2]

Background

On 7 September 1778, the French governor of Martinique, the marquis de Bouillé, surprised and captured the British island of Dominica. On 4 November, French Admiral Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector. comte d'Estaing sailed for the West Indies from the port of Boston. On that same day, Commodore William Hotham was dispatched from Sandy Hook, New York, to reinforce the British fleet in the West Indies. Hotham sailed with "five men of war, a bomb vessel, some frigates, and a large convoy."^[3] The convoy Hotham was escorting consisted of 59 transports carrying 5,000 British soldiers under Major General Grant.^[4] The French fleet was blown off course by a violent storm, preventing it from arriving in the Caribbean ahead of the British. Admiral Samuel Barrington, the British naval commander stationed on the Leeward Islands, joined the newly arrived Commodore Hotham on 10 December at the island of Barbados. Grant's men were not permitted to disembark and spent the next several days aboard their transports. Barrington and Hotham sailed for the island of St. Lucia on the morning of 12 December.^[5]

On the evening of 13 December and morning of 14 December, Major General James Grant,^[6] supported by additional troops under Brigadier General William Medows^[7] and Brigadier General Robert Prescott,^[8] landed at Grand Cul de Sac, St. Lucia. Grant and Prescott took control of the high ground around the bay, while Medows continued on and took Vigie the following morning (14 December). On 14 December the French fleet under d’Estaing arrived, forcing Admiral Barrington to move his ships into line of battle and forgo his plan of moving the transports into Carénage Bay.^[3] Admiral Barrington had the following ships at his disposal:

Ship[5]	Rate	Guns	Commander
HMS Prince of Wales	Third rate	74	Admiral Samuel Barrington Captain Benjamin Hill
HMS Boyne	Third rate	70	Captain Herbert Sawyer
HMS Preston	Fourth rate	50	Commodore William Hotham Captain Samuel Uppleby
HMS St Albans	Third rate	64	Captain Richard Onslow
HMS Nonsuch	Third rate	64	Captain Walter Griffith
HMS Centurion	Fourth rate	50	Captain Richard Braithwaite
HMS Isis	Fourth rate	50	Captain John Raynor
HMS Venus	Fifth rate	36	Captain James Ferguson
HMS Aurora	Sixth rate	28	Captain James Cumming
HMS Ariadne	Sixth rate	20	Captain Thomas Pringle

Admiral d'Estaing's fleet was composed of the following ships:

Ship[9]	Guns	Class	Commander	Officers	Volunteers	Crew	Total
Languedoc	80	Ship of the Line	Admiral d'Estaing; Boulainvilliers	38		777	875
Tonnant	80	Ship of the Line	Breugnon, chef; Bruyères, commandant	22		685	707
César	74	Ship of the Line	Broves, chef; Raymondis, commandant			713	793
Zélé	74	Ship of the Line	Barras	17	14	486	507
Hector	74	Ship of the Line	Moriès
Guerrier	74	Ship of the Line	Bougainville	22		400	422
Marseillais	74	Ship of the Line	La Poype-Vertrieux	19	3	584	606
Protecteur	74	Ship of the Line	Apchon	14		391	405
Vaillant	64	Ship of the Line	Chabert				542
Provence	64	Ship of the Line	Champorcin	14		408	422
Fantasque	64	Ship of the Line	Suffren	13		419	432
Sagittaire	50	Ship of the Line	Rioms
Chimère	32	Frigate	Saint-Cézaire	15		225	240
Engageante	26	Frigate	Gras Préville
Alcmène	26	Frigate	Bonneval	11		196	207
Aimable	26	Frigate	Saint-Eulalie	9		231	240

Naval engagement

Admiral Barrington was alerted to the presence of the French fleet by the frigate Ariadne and organised his line of battle so that Isis and his three frigates (Venus, Aurora, and Ariadne) were close to shore guarding the windward approach, and he placed his flagship, Prince of Wales, toward the leeward.^[1] Barrington in a defensive strategy placed his transports inside the bay but behind his battle line which took him the entire evening of 14 December. By 1100 hours the next day, most of the transports had been safely tucked behind his line.^[4]

At 1100 hours 15 December Admiral d’Estaing approached St. Lucia with ten ships of the line, and was fired on by one of the shore batteries. D’Estaing then moved to engage Barrington from the rear, and a “warm conflict” raged between the two fleets, with the British supported by two shore batteries.^[1] D’Estaing was repulsed but succeeded in reforming his line of battle. At 1600 hours d’Estaing renewed his assault by attacking Barrington’s centre with twelve ships of the line. Again, heavy fire was exchanged and the French were eventually repulsed for a second time.^[10]

Outcome

On 16 December Admiral d’Estaing appeared to be preparing for a third assault against Admiral Barrington’s line, but then sailed away towards the windward.^[1] On the evening of 16 December d’Estaing anchored in Gros Islet Bay with "ten frigates and twelve sail of the line, &c."^[11] Admiral d’Estaing’s failure to break Barrington’s line on 15 December spelled doom for the local French garrison, which surrendered on 28 December.^[12]

References

1. Navies and the American Revolution, 1775−1783. Robert Gardiner, ed. Chatham Publishing, 1997, p.88-91. ISBN 1-55750-623-X
2. Orr, Tamra. St. Lucia. Marshall Cavendish, 2008; pp. 31. ISBN 978-0-7614-2569-4.
3. Ekins, Charles. The Naval Battles of Great Britain: From the Accession of the Illustrious House of Hanover to the Throne to the Battle of Navarin. Baldwin and Cradock, 1828; p. 91.
4. Ekins, p. 93.
5. Ekins, pp. 91–93.
6. Jaques, Tony. Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007; pp. 882. ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5.
7. Cunningham, George Godfrey. A History of England in the Lives of Englishmen. A. Fullarton, 1853; pp. 133.
8. Wilson, James Grant, and John Fiske. Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. D. Appleton, 1900; pp. 5:109.
9. Cited Rochambeau: A Commemoration by the Congress of the United States of America. DeB. Randolph Keim, ed. Washington, D.C.: 1907; pp. 230. From "Fleet of D'Estaing: Expedition of D'Estaing, 1778-1779." Xenophon Group and Expédition Particulière Commemorative Cantonment Society. Updated: 4/13/2003. Accessed: 12/09/2008. <http://xenophongroup.com/mcjoynt/fleet01.htm>.
10. Ekins, pp. 92–93.
11. Ekins, pp. 93–94.
12. Jaques, pp. 882.

External links

• Xenophon Group This "informal association of military historians" researches and presents historical information on warfare. The group attempts to purge the "false history" that has crept into the popular consciousness by offering well-documented historical accounts.
• Expédition Particulière Commemorative Cantonment Society This organization is dedicated to documenting and commemorating the French expeditionary force (Expédition Particulière) and the overall French involvement in the American War of Independence.