Battle of St. Lucia

Battle of St. Lucia
	Part of the American Revolutionary War
	; Barrington's Action at St Lucia, 15 December 1778 , Dominic Serres
Date	15 December 1778
Location	Off Saint Lucia, Caribbean Sea14°1′1.200″N 60°58′58.800″W / 14.01700000°N 60.98300000°W
Result	British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	France
Commanders and leaders
Samuel Barrington	Comte d'Estaing
Strength
7 ships of the line ; 3 frigates	12 ships of the line ; 4 frigates
Casualties and losses
230 killed and wounded	850 killed and wounded
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Caribbean

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 American Revolutionary War on 15 December 1778, between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy.^[2]

Background

The French had entered the American Revolutionary War on behalf of the rebels and were conducting actions in the Caribbean to try to take over British colonies there. 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, Massachusetts. On that same day, Commodore William Hotham was dispatched from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, 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]

Battle

Plan of St. Lucia, in the West Indies- Shewing the positions of the English and French forces with the attacks made at its reduction in December 1778

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 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.^[9]

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, where he landed 7,000 troops for an assault on the British lines at La Vigie. Three assaults were made but British control of the high ground enabled them to repulse the French. The French troops were re-embarked, and when d'Estaing's fleet left on 29 December, the island surrendered to the British.^[10]

Order of battle

French line of battle

Vice-amiral d'Estaing' squadron^[11]
Division	Ship	Type	Commander	Casualties			Notes
Division	Ship	Type	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Total	Notes
	Zélé	74	Barras Saint-Laurent
	Tonnant	80	Bruyères-Chalabre (flag captain) Breugnon (Lieutenant général)
	Marseillais	74	La Poype-Vertrieux
	Languedoc	80	Boulainvilliers (flag captain) Estaing (Vice-amiral)
	Hector	74	Moriès-Castellet
	César	74	Castellet (flag captain) (WIA)^[12] Broves (chef d'escadre)
	Fantasque	64	Suffren
	Guerrier	74	Bougainville
	Protecteur	74	Saint-Germain d'Apchon
	Vaillant	64	Chabert-Cogolin
	Provence	64	Desmichels de Champorcin
	Sagittaire	50	Albert de Rions
Reconnaissance and signals
	Chimère	32-gun frigate	Cresp de Saint-Césaire
	Engageante	26-gun frigate	Gras-Préville
	Alcmène	26-gun frigate	Bonneval^[13]
	Aimable	26-gun frigate	Saint-Eulalie^[14]

British line of battle

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

Notes

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Navies and the American Revolution, 1775–1783. Robert Gardiner, ed. Chatham Publishing, 1997, pp. 88–91. ISBN 1-55750-623-X
^ Orr, Tamra. St. Lucia. Marshall Cavendish, 2008; p. 31. ISBN 978-0-7614-2569-4.
^ ^a ^b 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.
^ ^a ^b Ekins, p. 93.
^ ^a ^b Ekins, pp. 91–93.
^ Jaques, Tony. Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007; p. 882. ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5.
^ Cunningham, George Godfrey (1853). A History of England in the Lives of Englishmen. A. Fullarton. p. 133.
^ Wilson, James Grant, and John Fiske. Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography. D. Appleton, 1900; p. 5:109.
^ Ekins, pp. 92–93.
^ Clowes, William Laird (1996) [1900]. The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume III. London: Chatham Publishing. pp. 431–432. ISBN 1-86176-012-4.
^ Troude (1867), p. 19.
^ Troude (1867), p. 41.
^ Contenson (1934), p. 142.
^ Contenson (1934), p. 167.

References

Contenson, Ludovic (1934). La Société des Cincinnati de France et la guerre d'Amérique (1778–1783). Paris: éditions Auguste Picard. OCLC 7842336.
Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1905). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion. OCLC 763372623.
Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé. OCLC 836362484.

[Gar1-1] Navies and the American Revolution, 1775–1783. Robert Gardiner, ed. Chatham Publishing, 1997, pp. 88–91. ISBN 1-55750-623-X

[2] Orr, Tamra. St. Lucia. Marshall Cavendish, 2008; p. 31. ISBN 978-0-7614-2569-4.

[E91-3] 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.

[E93-4] Ekins, p. 93.

[E91_3-5] 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; p. 882. ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5.

[7] Cunningham, George Godfrey (1853). A History of England in the Lives of Englishmen. A. Fullarton. p. 133.

[8] Wilson, James Grant, and John Fiske. Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography. D. Appleton, 1900; p. 5:109.

[9] Ekins, pp. 92–93.

[10] Clowes, William Laird (1996) [1900]. The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume III. London: Chatham Publishing. pp. 431–432. ISBN 1-86176-012-4.

[FOOTNOTETroude186719-11] Troude (1867), p. 19.

[FOOTNOTETroude186741-12] Troude (1867), p. 41.

[FOOTNOTEContenson1934142-13] Contenson (1934), p. 142.

[FOOTNOTEContenson1934167-14] Contenson (1934), p. 167.

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