Battle of Guadeloupe (1779)

Battle of Guadeloupe Part of the American War of Independence Date 21–22 December 1779 Location Off Guadeloupe, West Indies Result British victory[1] Belligerents  Great Britain  France Commanders and leaders Joshua Rowley unknown Strength 3 Ships of the line 3 Frigates Casualties and losses Light 3 frigates captured[2]

The Battle of Guadeloupe or the Action of 21–22 December 1779 was a naval engagement that took place off the French island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean during the American War of Independence between three Royal Navy ships and three French Navy frigates.^[3] The Royal Navy under Joshua Rowley sighted and promptly chased, caught with all three subsequently captured after a brief fight.^[4]

On 21 December 1779, HMS Magnificent with the 74-gun ships of the line HMS Suffolk and HMS Vengeance, and the 64-gun HMS Stirling Castle under Rear-Admiral Joshua Rowley, fell in with the 32-gun French frigates Fortunée and Blanche and the 28-gun Elise, off the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.^[2] The French ships had belonged to the Comte d Estaing's fleet.^[5]

The French ships were in bad order; their crews were excessively weak; and thus they could not escape the vastly superior British force.^[3] The Blanche was overtaken and captured on the evening of the 21st; the Fortunée, by throwing her quarter-deck guns overboard, kept away a little longer, but was captured at last in the early morning of 22 December, an hour before the Elise had struck.^[5]

The Blanche and Fortunée were thus added to the British navy.^[5]

Rowley also led his squadron to capture of a large French convoy, from Marseilles, off Martinique.^[2]

References

Citations

1. Marley p. 325
2. Clarke, James Stanier & McArthur, John, Naval Chronicle Vol. 4 p.186
3. Clowes p 47
4. Naval Chronicle Vol. 21 p.179
5. Allen, Joseph (1852). Battles of the British Navy, Volume 1. H.G. Bohn. p. 296.

Bibliography

• Clowes, William Laird (1996). The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to 1900. Chatham Publishing. ISBN 9781861760104.
• Lavery, Brian (2003). The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Marley, David (2008). Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the Western Hemisphere. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1598841008.