Naval battle in 1782
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The
Battle of Negapatam
was the third in a series of battles fought between a
British
fleet, under Vice-Admiral
Sir Edward Hughes
, and a
French
fleet, under the
Bailli de Suffren
, off the coast of
India
during the
American Revolutionary War
. The battle was fought on 6 July 1782.
[6]
Though the battle was indecisive, Suffren was stopped in his goal by Hughes and withdrew to
Cuddalore
, while the British remained in control of Negapatam.
[3]
[4]
Background
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France had entered the
American Revolutionary War
in 1778, and Britain declared war on the
Dutch Republic
in late 1780, after the Dutch refused to stop trading in military supplies with the French and the Americans. The British had rapidly gained control over most French and Dutch outposts in India when news of these events reached India, spawning the
Second Anglo-Mysore War
in the process.
Negapatam
was
besieged and taken
by
Sir Hector Munro
in November 1781.
The French admiral the Bailli de Suffren was dispatched on a mission to provide military assistance to French colonies in
India
. He arrived in February 1782 and immediately engaged the British fleet of Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes in the inconclusive
Battle of Sadras
. After both fleets spent time in port repairing, refitting, and re-provisioning, they met again in the April
Battle of Providien
, south of the
Ceylonese
port of
Trincomalee
, that was ended by a storm and then nightfall. Hughes put into Trincomalee, a formerly Dutch port the British
had captured
in January, for repairs, while Suffren went to the Dutch-controlled port of
Batticaloa
.
While at Batticaloa, Suffren received dispatches from Ile de France (now
Mauritius
) that ordered him to return there to escort additional French troops to India. He chose not to do so, citing the parity between the two fleets, and the need to defend French troops already on the ground in India against the movements of the British fleet.
The French, with about 2,000 effective troops under the command of Comte du Chemin, had captured
Cuddalore
on 6 May.
Hyder Ali
, the ruler of
Mysore
, originally wanted the French to take the more important port of Negapatam. The French joined with Hyder's army of 60,000 to lay siege to the British at
Vandavasi
. When the British sent an army of 12,000 toward Vandavasi to relieve the siege, du Chemin, against the wishes of Hyder, refused to engage in a battle that the Franco-Mysorean force would probably have won (which would have significantly reduced the British military presence in India). As a result, Hyder lifted the siege and retreated to the vicinity of
Pondicherry
.
Hyder Ali learned of Suffren's actions in the first two battles with Hughes, and sent a message to Suffren to arrange a meeting. Suffren had in the meantime sailed from Batticaloa to do the job that du Chemin would not: capture Negapatam. He stopped at Cuddalore on 20 June to take on troops and supplies for the attack, which he hoped to do by surprise. When he was ready to sail, he learned that Hughes had sailed past, apparently also en route to Negapatam. As his fleet had grown by captured prizes and arrivals from Ile de France (it was now twelve
ships of the line
and four frigates), Suffren gave chase and caught up with Hughes, who had anchored off Negapatam, on 5 July.
Battle
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Suffren was in the process of forming his battle line around 3:00 pm when a
squall
took down the main and mizzen top masts of
Ajax
, under
Bouvet-Precourt
, forcing her to drop out of his line.
When the squall calmed, the breeze was to Hughes's advantage, so he sailed from his anchorage at the harbour of Negapatam. The two fleets spent the night anchored two cannonshots apart.
The next morning, Suffren was infuriated to learn that repairs had not been made to
Ajax
, and that her captain wanted to retreat. Given that battle was imminent, Suffren refused. He then ordered his line to bear down on the British line for close action. As they began to move,
Ajax
stood away and did not join the action. At 9:30 am on 6 July, the fleets opened fire on each other, first at long range.
Flamand
engaged
Hero
and
Exeter
,
Annibal
engaged
Isis
,
Severe
faced
Burford
, and
Brillant
opposed
Sultan
while the two flagships,
Heros
and
Superb
, did battle with each other. The remainder of the British line was not able to directly line up against the French, resulting in an angle in their line where
Sphinx
and
Monarca
battled that minimized the action between the ships at the end of the line.
Flamand
took significant damage, but was able to return the favour to its opponents.
Brillant
began to suffer under the fire of
Sultan
, but Suffren managed to detach from
Heros
to come to her rescue.
The battle proceeded with vigour until about 1:00 pm, when the wind suddenly changed, throwing both lines into confusion. With the wind head-on to the two parallel lines of ships, some ships turned to starboard and some to port.
[8]
The majority turned away from the engagement, but six ships, four British and two French, turned in towards one another. The four British ships were the fourth, fifth, eighth and tenth in line, respectively
Burford
,
Sultan
,
Worcester
and
Eagle
; the two French were
Severe
(third in line) and towards the rear of the line
Brillant
, which had been dismasted by this stage.
Severe
was engaged by
Sultan
and "two other ships," and escaped through the arrival of Suffren in his flagship and the filling of her sails as she fell off to starboard, while
Brillant
was fired on by
Worcester
and
Eagle
, and was also rescued by the approach of Suffren's ship, though not before the loss of over a third of her complement dead or wounded.
[8]
With occasional meetings between two ships, Hughes attempted to reform his line around 2:00 pm, but neither fleet was in a state to adopt battle positions easily, so Suffren decided to draw away downwind, to the north, toward Cuddalore. One British observer noted that "our fleet was utterly incapable of preventing or pursuing them."
[9]
Aftermath
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Suffren had been thwarted in his efforts to take to Negapatam
[5]
? he stripped M. Bouvet, the captain of
Ajax
, of his command, and arrested three others for a variety of transgressions in this battle and the previous two. One of those arrested, M. de Cillart, commander of
Severe
, had started to
strike his colors
during one of the post-squall engagements, but his subordinates prevented the act.
[5]
Suffren then sailed for Cuddalore to effect repairs. Hughes spent the next two weeks at sea, only returning to
Madras
for repairs on 20 July. Negapatam would remain in British hands until the end of the war. At the
Treaty of Paris (1783)
the Dutch Republic would cede Negapatam to Britain.
Order of battle
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Notes
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]
Citations
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References
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]
- Castex, Jean-Claude (2004).
Dictionnaire des batailles navales franco-anglaises
. Presses Universite Laval.
ISBN
978-2-7637-8061-0
.
- Clodfelter, Micheal (2002).
Warfare and armed conflicts: a statistical reference to casualty and other figures, 1500?2000
. McFarland.
ISBN
978-0-7864-1204-4
.
- Clowes, William Laird (1996) [1900].
The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume III
. London: Chatham Publishing.
ISBN
1-86176-012-4
.
- Cunat, Charles
(1852).
Histoire du Bailli de Suffren
. Rennes: A. Marteville et Lefas. p. 447.
- Fredriksen, John C (2006).
Revolutionary War Almanac Almanacs of American wars Facts on File library of American history
. Infobase Publishing.
ISBN
9780816074686
.
- Hennequin, Joseph Francois Gabriel (1835).
Biographie maritime ou notices historiques sur la vie et les campagnes des marins celebres francais et etrangers
(in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Regnault editeur.
- Mackesy, Piers (1964).
The War for America: 1775?1783
. Bison books.
ISBN
9780803281929
.
- Malleson, George Bruce (1884).
Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas
. W.H. Allen.
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005).
Dictionnaire des batiments de la flotte de guerre francaise de Colbert a nos jours
. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau.
ISBN
978-2-9525917-0-6
.
OCLC
165892922
.
- Sweetman, Jack (1997).
The Great Admirals: Command at Sea, 1587-1945
. Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
9780870212291
.
- Thomas, David (1998).
Battles & Honours of Royal Navy
. Pen and Sword.
ISBN
9781473812260
.