Action of 24 June 1801
Encyclopedia
The Action of 24 June 1801 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

. A British ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

, HMS Swiftsure
HMS Swiftsure (1787)
HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She spent most of her career serving with the British, except for a brief period when she was captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars...

 under Captain Benjamin Hallowell was passing westwards through the Southern Mediterranean near Cape Derna when it encountered a much larger French squadron under Contre-Admiral Honoré Ganteaume that was also returning westwards after a failed attempt to reinforce the besieged French garrison in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. Although Hallowell immediately recognised the danger his vessel was in and turned to flee, the French ships were much faster and soon closed with his ship. At 14:00, three French vessels were within long gunshot and Hallowell decided that his only hope of escape lay in disabling the three ships before the rest of the French squadron could join the engagement. Turning towards the enemy, Hallowell found that his sluggish ship was unable to respond rapidly to French manoeuvres and within two hours Swiftsure was surrounded. Threatened with complete destruction and unable to escape, the British captain surrendered.

The action was a rare victory for the French in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

, which had been largely under British control since the French Mediterranean Fleet had been destroyed in 1798 at the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...

. This had trapped the French army in Egypt on the African side of the Mediterranean, and all efforts to reinforce and resupply them had ended in failure, including three separate expeditions by Ganteaume's squadron. Swiftsure was later commissioned into the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

 and fought at the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

 in 1805, where the ship was recaptured by the British and rejoined the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. Hallowell was subsequently court martialed for the loss of his ship, but was honourably acquitted and returned to naval service.

Background

On 1 August 1798, during the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...

, a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson destroyed the French Mediterranean Fleet at Aboukir Bay on the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian coast. The battle completely reversed the strategic situation in the Mediterranean: British forces had evacuated the region in 1796 after the Treaty of San Ildefonso
Second Treaty of San Ildefonso
The Second Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed on August 19, 1796 between the Spanish Empire and the First French Republic. Based on the terms of the agreement, France and Spain would become allies and combine their forces against the British Empire.-See also:...

 brought Spain into the war on the French side, but they were now able to return in large numbers. As French maritime lines of communication were cut, the French Armée d'Orient under General Napoleon Bonaparte became trapped in Egypt. Unable to return to Europe by sea, the army attempted and failed to pass overland through Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 and was subsequently abandoned by Bonaparte, who returned to France with his closest advisors in the frigates Muiron
French frigate Muiron
The Muiron was a frigate of the French Navy, famous for ferrying Bonaparte on the 22 August 1799 under the flagship of Admiral Ganteaume from Egypt to France after the Battle of the Nile....

 and Carrère
HMS Carrere (1801)
Carrère was a French frigate that served briefly in the French navy before the British captured her in 1801, naming her HMS Carrere...

 in November 1799, promising to send reinforcements to the forces that remained in North Africa.

By 1801, the Armée d'Orient was on the verge of collapse. No supplies or support had arrived from France, their commander Jean Baptiste Kléber
Jean Baptiste Kléber
Jean Baptiste Kléber was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. His military career started in Habsburg service, but his plebeian ancestry hindered his opportunities...

 had been assassinated, and a British invasion was impending. Frustrated at his failure to assist his men in Egypt, Bonaparte ordered a squadron of ships of the line to sail from Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

 in January 1801 under the command of Contre-Admiral Honoré Ganteaume. This force was instructed to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean and land over 5,000 troops at Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

. In February, Ganteaume's force reached Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....

, the admiral concerned that his ships would be outnumbered further east where the British expeditionary force was gathering. Bonaparte sent him back to sea to complete the operation but again he returned, driven back by bad weather and a patrolling British squadron off Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 under Rear-Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren. On 27 April Ganteaume made a third attempt to reach Egypt, and reached Benghazi
Benghazi
Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, the main city of the Cyrenaica region , and the former provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. The wider metropolitan area is also a district of Libya...

 before pressure from larger British forces under Admiral Lord Keith
George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith
George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith was a British admiral active throughout the Napoleonic Wars.-Career:Fifth son of the 10th Lord Elphinstone, he was born in Elphinstone Tower, near Stirling, Scotland...

 drove his squadron back westwards. On 24 June, Ganteaume's ships were retreating along the North African coast, passing close to Cape Derna.

Also in the region was the British 74-gun ship of the line HMS Swiftsure
HMS Swiftsure (1787)
HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She spent most of her career serving with the British, except for a brief period when she was captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars...

 under Captain Benjamin Hallowell, a veteran of the Battle of the Nile three years earlier. Swiftsure was passing slowly along the North African coast after being detached from Keith's fleet to join Warren's squadron off Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, escorting a small convoy en route. Hallowell's ship was understrength as more than 80 men had been removed from the ship for service in Egyptian waters and illness rendered another 59 unfit for duty, while the vessel itself was in a poor state of repair and leaking badly. Progress had been slow, and a northeasterly wind had also significantly delayed Hallowell's passage. When he learned from a passing vessel that there was a French squadron in the region, he ordered the convoy to separate and sailed for Malta alone in an effort to join Warren more rapidly and warn him of Ganteaume's return. At 03:30 on 24 June his lookouts sighted sails to the southwest. Hallowell immediately assumed that the distant ships were the enemy and he turned away from the French and tacked
Tack (sailing)
Tack is a term used in sailing that has different meanings in different contexts, variously a part of a sail, and an alignment with the wind. When using the latter sense, the maneuver of turning between starboard and port tack is either tacking or jibing....

 into the wind. By 05:30, lookouts on the nearest French ships, the ships of the line Jean Bart
French ship Jean Bart (1791)
The Jean Bart was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.In 1793, she was part of the squadron led by Van Stabel‎. Along with the Tigre, she rescued the Sémillante which was in danger of being captured by the British....

 and Constitution had spotted the distant British vessel and were ordered to give chase.

Battle

The French ships followed Swiftsure by tacking into the wind and a complicated chase developed, with Jean Bart and Constitution maintaining the pressure on the slow moving British vessel, while the rest of Ganteaume's squadron used the prevailing wind to push far ahead of the ongoing chase before tacking at 08:00 across Hallowell's intended course. Unless Hallowell could escape the trap, his ship would be caught between the two French divisions and overwhelmed. For six hours Hallowell continued his efforts to escape, but the French ships were too fast, Ganteaume's force passing some distance ahead of the British ship and then turning back towards him so that by 14:00 Swiftsure was at serious risk of being surrounded. Hallowell determined that his only option was to attempt to drive though those ships of Ganteaume's division that blocked his passage to leeward, the ships of the line Indivisible
French ship Indivisible (1799)
Indivisible was a Tonnant class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.Originally named the Indivisible in 1793, she was commissioned in Toulon on 23 September 1800. On 5 February 1803, she was renamed Alexandre, and recommissioned in Brest under captain Leveyer.In December, under captain...

 and Dix-Août and the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 Créole.

At 15:00, with the detached division rapidly approaching from astern, Hallowell turned his ship towards the ships sailing ahead of Swiftsure and attempted to pass across the stern of the rearmost ship in an effort to rake
Raking fire
In naval warfare, raking fire is fire directed parallel to the long axis of an enemy ship. Although each shot is directed against a smaller target profile than by shooting broadside and thus more likely to miss the target ship to one side or the other, an individual cannon shot that hits will pass...

 and disable it, creating enough confusion to mask an escape. The manoeuvere was recognised by the French captains, and all three vessels turned to face the British ship as it approached. By 15:30 the ships of the line had opened a mutual fire, during which the faster French warships were able to easily outmanoeuvere the lumbering Swiftsure. At 16:37, after more than an hour of fruitless firing at long range, the arrival of Jean Bart and Constitution within gunshot convinced Hallowell that further resistance was hopeless and he struck his flag to signal his surrender.

Swiftsure had taken significant damage to its masts, rigging and sails during the exchange of fire, a deliberate ploy by the French captains to limit the ship's movement and prevent its escape. This had minimised casualties on deck by distracting the gunfire, and as a result only two men were killed and eight wounded, two of whom subsequently also died. French losses were more severe, with four casualties on Indivisible and six killed and 23 wounded on Dix-Août, although neither ship was significantly damaged in the action.

Aftermath

Ganteaume's fleet remained off the Cape Derna for the next six days, performing repairs to the captured vessel to make it seaworthy. Detachments of sailors were taken from all of the ships in the squadron and transferred to the prize, and on 30 June Ganteaume's force was ready to sail northwest once again, eventually reaching Toulon without further incident on 22 July. Ganteaume used the capture of Swiftsure to excuse the failure of his effort to reinforce Egypt, which was invaded and captured by a British expeditionary force in the spring and summer of 1801. While in captivity, Hallowell wrote a letter that was published in Britain praising the treatment he and his men had received while prisoners of war under Ganteaume, and he and his officers were released on parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...

 the following month. On 18 August they faced a court martial on board HMS Genereux at Port Mahon in Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....

 to investigate the loss of their ship, and were all honourably cleared of any blame. He was also praised for detaching the convoy, which otherwise might have also been lost. Hallowell subsequently returned to naval service in 1803 at the start the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

, operating in the Caribbean and Mediterranean and eventually becoming a rear-admiral in 1811. Swiftsure, one of only five British ships of the line to be captured by the French during the entire war, was subsequently commissioned into the French Navy and remained in service for the next four years until recaptured at the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

in 1805.
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