Action of 31 May 1796

The Action of 31 May 1796 was a small action during the French Revolutionary Wars in which a Royal Navy squadron under the command of Commodore Horatio Nelson, in the 64-gun third-rate ship of the line HMS Agamemnon captured a seven-vessel French convoy that was sailing along the coast from Menton to Vado in the Mediterranean. The British succeeded in capturing the entire convoy, with minimal casualties among the British.

Nelson had received the news that the French were trying to take supplies to St Pierre d'Acena for the siege of Mantua. He therefore set out to intercept any such attempt.^[1]

When Nelson and his squadron sighted a small convoy of seven sail skirting the coast, the British pursued them. The French vessels anchored under the guns of a shore battery and hoisted French flags. Nelson then sent in boats to capture the convoy. After a short resistance by an armed tartane of three guns, a gunboat of one gun, and the battery, the British succeeded in taking the vessels. British casualties were one man killed and three wounded.^[1] French records place the action off Arma di Taggia and Bussana.^[2]

The vessels the British captured were two naval vessels and five transports.

• Genie, which the British described as a ketch, was armed with three 18-pounder guns and four swivel guns.^[3] She had a crew of 60 men,^[3] under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Pioch.^[2] She was one of 28 merchant tartanes that the French Navy acquired between March and June 1794 at Sète and Agde, and then armed with large guns to serve as gunboats.^[3]
• Numero Douze, a gunboat of one 18-pounder gun, four swivel guns, and 30 men;
• the brig Bonne-Mere, of 250 tons (bm), carrying as cargo brass 24-pounder guns, 13" mortars, and gun carriages;
• the ketch Verge de Consolation, of 120 tons (bm), carrying a cargo of brass guns, mortars, shells, and gun carriages;
• the ketch Jean Baptiste, of 100 tons (bm), carrying brandy and a small amount of bread;
• a ketch of unknown name of 100 tons (bm), carrying Austrian prisoners; and
• the ketch St. Anne de Paix, of 70 tons (bm), carrying wheelbarrows and entrenching tools. The British destroyed this ketch.^[1]

Citations and references

Citations

1. The London Gazette: no. 13912. p. 682. 16 July 1796.
2. Fonds Marine, p.184.
3. Winfield and Roberts (2015 forthcoming), Chap. 9.

References

• Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations; divisions et stations navales; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 1 à 209 (1790-1804)
• Winfield, Rif & Stephen S Roberts (2015 Forthcoming) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786 - 1862: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. (Seaforth Publishing). ISBN 9781848322042