The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was fought between the British and French navies on 9–12 April 1782 off Dominica during the American Revolutionary War. A British fleet under Admiral of the White Sir George Rodney defeated a French fleet under Lieutenant général des armées navales François Joseph Paul de Grasse, forcing France and Spain to abandon a planned invasion of Britain's colony of Jamaica.
The battle is named after the Îles des Saintes, a group of small islands between Guadeloupe and Dominica in the West Indies. The French navy had blockaded a British army under Lord Cornwallis in Virginia the year before during the siege of Yorktown, and supported the eventual American victory in the war. Rodney's victory, however, halted their momentum and had a significant effect on peace negotiations to end the war. The battle is considered by a number of historians to be Britain's most significant victory over the French during the conflict.
De Grasse's fleet suffered up to 15,000 casualties at the battle, one of whom was de Grasse himself, who was taken prisoner. Four French ships of the line were captured (including de Grasse's flagship) and another was destroyed, while the British lost no ships and suffered just over 1,000 casualties. Rodney was credited with pioneering the tactic of "breaking the line" in the battle, though this is disputed. Following the battle, Rodney and his fleet were rewarded for their victory, although the admiral was criticized for not winning a more complete victory.
Background
In October 1781 Lieutenant général des armées navales François Joseph Paul de Grasse, commander of the French fleet in the West Indies; Francisco de Saavedra, General Bureau for the Spanish Indies; and Bernardo de Gálvez, court representative and the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, developed a plan against British forces. The strategic objectives of the Franco-Spanish military forces in the West Indies in this plan were:
- to aid the Americans and defeat the British naval squadron at New York
- to capture the British Windward Islands and
- to conquer Jamaica.
This plan became known as the "De Grasse–Saavedra Convention." The first objective had been essentially met by the surrender of the British army under General Cornwallis at the Siege of Yorktown in September 1781. De Grasse and his fleet had played a decisive part in that victory, after which they returned to the Caribbean. On arrival in Saint-Domingue in November 1781, the admiral was notified to proceed with a plan for the conquest of Jamaica.
Jamaica was the largest and most profitable British island in the Caribbean, mainly because of sugar: it was more valuable to the British economy than all of the 13 American colonies. King George III wrote to Lord Sandwich, saying that he would protect Britain's important Caribbean islands at the risk of Britain herself, and this was the strategy implemented in 1779. Sugar made up 20% of all British imports and was worth five times as much as tobacco. The French and Spanish were fighting to take over Jamaica in order to expel the British from the West Indies, and to strike a massive blow against the British economy. The courts at Paris and Madrid perceived the invasion of Jamaica as an alternative to the Spanish and French attempts to take Gibraltar, which for two years had been a costly disaster.
Whilst de Grasse waited for reinforcements to undertake the Jamaica campaign, he captured St. Kitts in February 1782. The rest of the Windward Islands—Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados—still remained under British control. Admiral of the White Sir George Rodney arrived in the Caribbean theatre the following month, bringing reinforcements. These included 17 ships of the line and gave the British a slight numerical advantage.
On 7 April 1782, de Grasse set out from Martinique with 35 ships of the line, including two 50-gun ships and a large convoy of more than 100 cargo ships, to meet with a Spanish fleet of 12 ships of the line. In addition de Grasse was to rendezvous with 15,000 troops at Saint Domingue, who were earmarked for the conquest and intended to land on Jamaica's north coast. Rodney, on learning of this, sailed from St. Lucia in pursuit with 36 ships of the line the following day.
The British ships' hulls by this time had been given copper sheathing to protect them from marine growth, fouling, and saltwater corrosion, dramatically improving speed and overall sailing performance in good wind.
Opposing fleets and officers
The British flagship was HMS Formidable under Rodney. Second in command was Rear-Admiral of the Blue Sir Samuel Hood, and third was Rear-Admiral of the Red Francis Samuel Drake. As was the convention of the day, the fleet was split into three sections: Rodney had individual control as Admiral of the White of 12 ships flying the White Ensign; Drake had command of 12 ships as Rear-Admiral of the Red flying the Red Ensign; and Hood, as Rear-Admiral of the Blue, commanded 12 ships flying the Blue Ensign.
Formidable was accompanied by three 98-gun ships: HMS Barfleur (commanded by Hood), HMS Prince George, and HMS Duke, plus the 90-gun HMS Namur. The remaining 31 ships were equipped with 64 to 74 guns. In total the British fleet had 2,620 guns compared to the French total of 2,526. Most of the British fleet was equipped with carronades on the upper decks, which had a major advantage in flexibility and were a great advantage at close quarters.
In March 1782 Formidable was stationed at Gros Islet Bay between the island of St. Lucia and Pigeon Island. She was under Rodney's command, serving as his flagship at the head of 36 ships of the line. Meanwhile, de Grasse commanded 34 ships of the line at Fort Royal Bay in Martinique. Rodney had been dispatched from Britain with 12 well-fitted ships to rescue the West Indies from a series of attacks from the French, which had already resulted in the loss of several islands. They joined 24 ships on St. Lucia who had already seen action against the French and were undergoing repairs.
The French had allies in the Spanish, who had 13 ships of the line at Cap‑Français on the island of San Domingo (Hispaniola). Together with transport ships, the Spanish had a considerable force of 24,000 men. They awaited the arrival of a further 10,000 French troops dispatched from Brest, under escort of five men-of-war, to further boost their strength. The plan was for Grasse's fleet, with at least 5,000 further troops, to unite with the Spanish at Cap‑Français, and from there to attack and capture the island of Jamaica with their conjoined armada of some 60 ships and 40,000 troops.
Rodney had been in communication with de Grasse during March, organising the exchange of prisoners, who were conveyed by HMS Alert under Captain Vashon. The two officers had much mutual respect. Rodney's task was to intercept the French fleet en route to Cap‑Français.
Grasse's vice admiral at the time was Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil. Third in command was Louis Antoine de Bougainville. The French flagship was the huge 104-gun Ville de Paris. The troops were under the command of the Marquis de Bouillé. The French fleet was also split into three squadrons: Grasse led the "Cornette Blanche;" Bougainville led the "Escadre Bleue;" and Vaudreuil as a second-in-command flew the mixed white and blue colours of the "Blanche et Bleue."
Other British commanders included Captain Lord Robert Manners of HMS Resolution, Admiral William Cornwallis in command of HMS Canada, and HMS Monarch under the command of Captain Francis Reynolds. Other aristocrats present included Captain Lord Cranstoun, a supernumerary onboard Formidable. Sir Charles Douglas, a nephew of Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry, was Captain of the Fleet. Sir James Wallace was also present. Other commanders included Captains Blair, Buckner, Burnett, Charrington, Cornish, Dumaresq, Graves, Inglefield, Inglis, Knight, Parrey, Saumarez, Savage, Symons, Truscott, Wilkinson, Williams, and Wilson. Frederick Thesiger, Acting Lieutenant on board Formidable, was appointed as Rodney's aide-de-camp shortly before the battle.
A lookout squadron, a line of frigates headed by Captain George Anson Byron on HMS Andromache, reported all of de Grasse's movements at Fort Royal. This squadron included the speedy HMS Agamemnon and HMS Magnificent.
Pre-battle movements
On 3 April it was signalled that the repairs on the French fleet were complete. On 5 April it was reported that the French troops were boarding the ships. At 8:00 am on Sunday 8 April, it was reported that the French fleet were leaving Fort Royal. Rodney's fleet called all men to join their ships and they began leaving Gros Islet Bay at 10:30 am.
The total French armada comprised 35 ships of the line, 10 frigates, and over 100 smaller ships. The smaller ships moved in advance of the men-of-war, heading for St. Pierre.
Just past 4:00 pm Hood's Barfleur, at the head of the British fleet, espied five sails ahead that she presumed to be part of the French fleet. These came into view of Formidable around two hours later, just before sunset. They pursued the French through the night. At 2:00 am on 9 April, HMS St Albans dropped alongside Formidable, reporting that along with HMS Valiant, she had located the French fleet in the darkness. Rodney rested for the remainder of the night.
The sun rose at 5:30 am. The French fleet extended from six to 12 miles distant, navigating the waters between Dominica and Guadeloupe. The majority of the warships lay off Prince Rupert's Bay.
Due to a dead calm from 3:00 until 7:00 am, neither fleet could move. The initial wind only reached Barfleur and its eight support ships, causing them to detach ahead of the main fleet, which lay in the lee of Dominica. De Grasse saw the opportunity to cripple this advanced section and wheeled to begin the first attack.
Battle
On 9 April 1782 the copper-sheathed British fleet caught up with the French, who were surprised by their speed. De Grasse ordered the French convoy to head into Guadeloupe for repair, forcing him to escort two 50-gun ships (Fier and Experiment), and placing his fleet in line of battle in order to cover the retreat.
First encounters
Hood's section of the fleet, headed by Barfleur, braced for the first attack. As the first action, HMS Alfred taunted the 18 approaching French ships under de Vaudreuil by exposing her broadside to the approaching French, but without consequence. The British patiently awaited the formal signal from Rodney on Formidable, some six miles behind, and eventually received a red flag signal telling them to "engage the enemy." As the wind rose around noon, it enabled most of the French fleet and part of the British fleet (including Rodney in Formidable) to join the melee. At this point the French outnumbered the British two to one. Captain William Bayne on Alfred was killed during this action.
After an inconclusive encounter during which both sides suffered damage, de Grasse realised that the remainder of the British fleet would soon be upon them and broke off the engagement to withdraw a safe distance. De Grasse moved his ships to the Saintes Islands to the north (south of Guadeloupe). Meanwhile, Rodney reversed the order of his line to bring Drake's hitherto undamaged ships to the front, and allow Hood to undertake repairs in the rear lines.
On 10 April the French began 10 miles distant but did not turn to engage, instead continuing on their original course, and by nightfall had increased their separation to 15 miles. This appears to be partly due to the incorrect presumption on Rodney's part that the French were going to turn to engage.
On Wednesday 11 April two French ships, Zélé and Magnanime, who had accidentally collided and fallen behind the main French fleet, came into view around noon. Rodney decided that attacking these two ships would cause de Grasse to return to protect them, which worked: a large section of the French fleet turned to protect the pair. These movements were executed without any physical attacks.
Main engagement
On 12 April the French were ranged from six to 12 miles distant and were not in formation, as the two fleets manoeuvred between the northern end of Dominica and the Saintes in the Saintes Passage. The unfortunate Zélé had had a second collision during the night with one of its rescuers, Ville de Paris, and was now being towed to Basse-Terre in Guadeloupe by Astrée with General de Bouillé on board. They were chased by four British ships: Monarch, Valiant, HMS Centaur and HMS Belliqueux. De Grasse made for Guadeloupe and bore up with his fleet to protect the ship. At the same time, Rodney recalled his chasing ships and made the signal for line of battle.
Rear Admiral Hood's van division were still making repairs from the action three days earlier, so he directed his rear division, under Rear Admiral Drake, to take the lead. At 7:40, HMS Marlborough under Captain Taylor Penny led the British line and opened battle when she approached the centre of the French line. Having remained parallel with the French, the ships of Drake's division passed the remaining length of de Grasse's line and the two sides exchanged broadsides, a typical naval engagement of the time.