Battle of the Basque Roads

 The Battle of the Basque Roads, sometimes known as the Battle of Aix Roads (French: Bataille de l'île d'Aix, also Affaire des brûlots, and seldom Bataille de la rade des Basques), was a naval battle fought off the coast of Aix during the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Lord Cochrane led a British fireship attack against a formidable squadron of French ships stationed in the Basque Roads on the night of April 11, 1809. 

Two of the French ships were pushed ashore during the attack. The second conflict lasted three days but did not result in the destruction of the whole French fleet. Admiral James Gambier, the British senior officer, was accused by Cochrane of being hesitant to pursue the attack. Gambier wanted a court-martial and was eventually exonerated, effectively ending Cochrane's career in the Royal Navy. Until the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the French Navy continued to operate against the British from the Basque Roads.

The Basque Roads is a sheltered cove on France's Biscay coast, flanked to the west by the Île d'Oléron and to the north by the Île de Ré. The port of La Rochelle is located at the northeast corner of the roadways, while the major town of Rochefort is located near the Charente River's mouth to the south.

The Duke of Wellington relied on naval supplies during the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal. In the Basque Roads, the French fleet faced off against the British supply ships. The Royal Navy maintained a blockade of the Basque Roads to safeguard the convoys, although it was costly and never entirely effective.

Napoléon issued Decrès instructions for the fleet at Lorient and Rochefort to bring troops and supplies to Martinique in late October 1808. However, the continued presence of major British fleets hampered their withdrawal. On February 7, 1809, Napoleon directed Admiral Willaumez to raise the blockades with the Brest fleet in order to allow these small squadrons to reach Martinique. Willaumez finally set sail for Lorient with eight ships of the line and two frigates two weeks later. 

Despite chasing off the British ships stationed there, calms prevented the Lorient fleet from weighing anchor; they did so later, after the fleet had left, resulting in the Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne. Fearing capture by the British, Willaumez went south to Rochefort, but the Rochefort squadron was in no condition to sail, having recently been devastated by disease. Willaumez was stranded in Rochefort after the arrival of a huge British fleet.

Despite chasing off the British ships stationed there, calms prevented the Lorient fleet from weighing anchor; they did so later, after the fleet had left, resulting in the Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne. Fearing capture by the British, Willaumez went south to Rochefort, but the Rochefort squadron was in no condition to sail, having recently been devastated by disease. Willaumez was stranded in Rochefort after the arrival of a huge British fleet.

With these reasons in mind, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Mulgrave, proposed an attack on the French fleet at anchor using fire ships. Cochrane's superior officer, Lord Gambier, commanding the Channel Fleet, was opposed to the plan, calling it "a horrible and anti-Christian mode of warfare".

Cochrane was given twenty-one fireships to command, but he was also focusing on his own invention: explosion ships, which were basically fireships packed tightly with explosive powder.

Gambier's opposition and Mulgrave's persuasiveness meant that full responsibility for executing the plan fell to Lord Cochrane.

 The Attack

Cochrane led the way into Basque Roads with two explosive ships on the evening of April 11, 1809, followed by 25 more ships. Because of the delays caused by Gambier's hesitation, the French were aware of the British plan. Admiral Allemand, who had taken over for Willaumez, had struck the big ships' topmasts and yards, stowed their sails to decrease the quantity of exposed flammable material, and erected a strong boom across the harbor entrance. Allemand had anchored his ships in an apparently impregnable position lined up in two lines protected by gun batteries between the Ile d'Aix to the northeast and the Ilôt Boyard to the southwest. 

 Cochrane floated in on the flood tide aboard the leading explosion vessel on the night of April 11, 1809, with the other explosion ships following. When he reached the boom, Cochrane lighted the vessel's fuse and crowded aboard their boat, only to learn that they had left their pet dog behind, which they returned to the rescue. They escaped with their dog just in time. 

 A mile-long "boom" of massive spars and chains constructed by the French to prevent British ships from confronting the French was broken in many places by the exploding ships. The scared French gunners shot into the line of covering frigates because they couldn't see clearly in the smoke. To avoid the surge of flame, anchor cables were swiftly cut, and the ships stacked up on the shoals without sails.

 Cochrane described the attack as follows:

"On April 11th, it blew hard with a high sea." As all preparations were complete, I did not consider the weather to be a justifiable impediment to the attack; thus, after nightfall, the officers who volunteered to command the fireships were gathered on board the Caledonia and given instructions in accordance with the plan I had previously laid out. The Imperieuse had gone to the edge of the Boyart Shoal, close to which she had anchored with an explosive vessel fastened to her stern, my aim being that after shooting the one of which I was about to take command, I would return to her for the other, to be used as circumstances demanded. 

The frigates Aigle, Unicorn, and Pallas were stationed near the Imperieuse to receive the crews of the returning fireships, as well as to reinforce the boats of the fleet assembled alongside the Caesar to help the fireships. The fleet's boats, on the other hand, were never used for whatever reason.

"Having boarded the largest explosion-vessel with Lieut. Bissel and a volunteer crew of four men only, we led the way to the attack." The night was dark, and because the wind was fair but strong, we soon approached the predicted position of the advanced French ships, which could not be seen because it was too black. 

So, judging our distance as best we could in relation to the time the fuse was calculated to burn, the crew of four men entered the gig, led by Lieut. While I lit the portfires, Bissel exhorted the men to pull for their lives, which they did with zeal, but without making the expected progress because the wind and waves were strong against us.

"To our dismay, the fuses, which had been designed to burn for fifteen minutes, lasted little more than half that time before the vessel blew up, filling the air with shells, grenades, and rockets; while the downward and lateral force of the explosion raised a solitary mountain of water, from the breaking of which our little boat narrowly escaped being swamped in all directions." The explosion vessel performed an excellent job, creating one of the grandest artificial displays possible. For a brief instant, the sky turned blood-red from the simultaneous igniting of fifteen hundred barrels of powder. 

As the massive flare faded, the air seemed alive with shells, grenades, rockets, and massive piles of lumber, the wreckage of the destroyed vessel. The sea trembled like an earthquake, rising in a massive wave, on whose crest our boat was lifted like a cork, then as suddenly fell into a wide trough, out of which none expected to emerge as it closed in on us with the rush of a maelstrom. Nothing but a hard rolling wave had to be met in a matter of minutes, everything has returned to silence and darkness."

the Follow-Up

When Cochrane returned to the British fleet, the second attack — 20 fireships — was in shambles. Only four of the ships made it to the enemy's position and caused no direct damage. Cochrane was furious, believing that the fireships might have utterly destroyed the French squadron in the aftermath of the explosion; instead, a number of accidents occurred, including launching the ships too quickly, missing the enemy squadron, and one fireship even grounding itself.

As the massive flare faded, the air seemed alive with shells, grenades, rockets, and massive piles of lumber, the wreckage of the destroyed vessel. The sea trembled like an earthquake, rising in a massive wave, on whose crest our boat was lifted like a cork, then as suddenly fell into a wide trough, out of which none expected to emerge as it closed in on us with the rush of a maelstrom. Nothing but a hard rolling wave had to be met in a matter of minutes, everything has returned to silence and darkness."

The fireships missed their target, badly; but they still inflicted considerable indirect damage. When the French sighted the fireships taking flame several miles away, they believed they were seeing more explosion vessels at much closer range, and wreaked much havoc upon themselves in their attempts to escape. Most of the ships either cut their anchor cables and drifted ashore or else hoisted sail with equally disastrous results.

Cochrane wrote:

"At daylight on the morning of the 12th, not a spar of the boom was anywhere visible, and, with the exception of the Foudroyant and Cassard, the whole of the enemy's vessels were helplessly aground. The flagship, Océan, a 120-gun three-decker, drawing the most water, lay outermost on the north-west edge of the Palles Shoal, nearest the deep water, where she was most exposed to attack; whilst all, by the fall of the tide, were lying on their bilge, with their bottoms completely exposed to shot, and therefore beyond the possibility of resistance."

Battle Continues

Cochrane signaled Lord Gambier to assault the crippled French squadron throughout the morning of April 12. (Gambier was 14 miles offshore with the blockading force; Cochrane was in command of one frigate.) Finally, in desperation, at 13:00, Cochrane allowed his ship to drift near shore, coming under fire from the land-based defenses while attempting to persuade Gambier to send ships to assist Cochrane's frigate.

At 13:30, seven British ships arrived, and Cochrane spent the rest of the day capturing and destroying French ships.

To Cochrane's chagrin, the other ships returned to Lord Gambier's position offshore on April 13, and Cochrane refused Gambier's repeated demands to retire as well. Cochrane instead damaged more French vessels before finally accepting Gambier's instructions and bringing the conflict to a close.

Fallout

Cochrane returned to Britain a hero, but he had already made himself unpopular in high places in the British government, and the Admiralty preferred to credit Lord Gambier with the victory. Gambier and Cochrane were both members of Parliament, and when a vote of appreciation was presented for Gambier, Cochrane argued that Gambier had failed to follow up on the Basque Roads attack. Gambier requested a court-martial to clear his name and was acquitted.

Cochrane's naval career appeared to be done; the Admiralty did not assign him another ship, and he returned his primary focus to Parliament. In 1814, he was convicted of stock market manipulation; sentenced to the pillory and a year in prison; expelled from Parliament and the Royal Navy; immediately re-elected to Parliament from his district; popular support and acclaim were so strong that the pillory was never used in Britain again, and he received a royal pardon; and Cochrane became the head of the Navies of Chile, Brazil, and Greece during their wars of independence.

In 1832 Cochrane was returned to the Royal Navy as a Rear Admiral, serving with distinction and eventually being promoted to Admiral.

Author C.S. Forester makes reference to the incident in Flying Colours, one of his series of Hornblower novels:

"As the midshipman went out again Hardy turned back to Hornblower. 'I must report your arrival to His Lordship.' 'Is he still in command?" asked Hornblower, startled. It was a surprise to him that the Government had left Admiral Lord Gambier in command of the Channel fleet for three years, despite the disastrous waste of opportunity at the Basque Roads. 'He hauls down his flag next month," said Hardy, gloomily. (Most officers turned gloomy when discussing "Dismal Jimmy.") 'They whitewashed him at the court-martial, and had to leave him his full three years.'"

On the French side, captains were blamed for the loss of four ships and two frigates, four of whom were court-martialed. One was removed from duty, and one, Calcutta's Lafon, was executed by firing squad. Allemand's role was never called into question, much to the chagrin of the officers and open disdain of Admiral Martin; he was quickly transferred to Toulon and assigned command of the Mediterranean fleet.

Legacy

Following the catastrophic battle of the Basque Roads, Napoleon ordered the defenses of the Charente River mouth to be reinforced. In 1810, he directed the renovation of Fort de la Rade on Ile d'Aix, as well as the construction of Fort Enet.