Anteros

Tonight marks the anniversary of the Droits de L’Homme engagement when Captains Sir Edward Pellew and Robert Carthew Reynolds in the frigates Indefatigable and Amazon took on Commodore Raymond de Lacrosse’s 74 gun ship of the line, Les Droits de L’Homme, and ran her into the surf off Hodierne Bay.



Vaisseau Droits de l’Homme by Leopold le Guen
nodbear and I have posted several accounts of this action over the years, but we were very excited to discover this “new” version of the engagement in Devon Records Office last week. This account is written by Edward Hawke Locker who served as Lord Exmouth’s secretary later in his career and the document is edited by Exmouth’s son George Pellew, Dean of Norwich. Neither Locker nor George Pellew were seamen and there are several slips and inaccuracies in the document that betray their lack of knowledge of the engagements they are describing. The final version of this account, which has been altered substantially from this draft, was published in the United Service Journal in 1833 in an article titled “Memoirs of the Services of Admiral Lord Viscount Exmouth, G.C.B., Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom”.

Sir Edward fell in with Les Droits de L’Homme a French 80 gun ship filled with troops returning from the expedition to Ireland, and steering for Brest Harbour which was then 30 or 40 leagues distant – Sir Edward running along side the chase closely engaged her for some time until he unavoidably shot ahead, and the Amazon shortly afterward following his example found herself similarly circumstanced - Having quickly shortened sail, the 2 frigates placed themselves on either side of their gigantic foe and with but a few interruptions from the cause already stated, continued the contest with unabated energy during the whole night, the men being often knee deep in water as they stood to their guns which they were obliged repeatedly to draw without firing – Meanwhile the enemy defended herself obstinately against her tenacious assailants, where fire had reduced her masts & spars almost to a wreck, and had committed great havoc among her crew still however she would not surrender but continued running blindly before the Gale with awful rapidity.

At this period Sir Edwd who, dreading the proximity of the iron bound coast of France, had dictated the strictest lookout to be kept, was informed of the appearance of land right ahead and almost about the same moment, of breakers close under the lee bow. This was one of those critical situations where the value of a clear cool head and firm heart is beyond all price – Not a moment was to be lost - Signals were made to the Amazon and both frigates instantly hauled off on different tacks. Almost immediately afterwards their brave enemy was descried lying on her beam ends amongst the rocks where, dreadful to relate, her whole crew consisting of 1600 persons perished - In her headlong rush for Brest Harbour she had missed her mark and gone ashore in Hodierne Bay – Nor was Sir Edwards situation when day dawned much to be preferred - a gale of wind - a dead lee shore, and an enemy’s at that – a crippled ship – an exhausted crew and the Penmark Rocks, that dread of seamen, to be weathered - these were the difficulties which presented themselves to him as the day dawned. By the ablest seamanship however and by the exertions as are only made when life depends on it they were all providentially surmounted and the Indefatigable reached Plymouth in safety – Her consort was not so fortunate – The next advices from France brought news that the brave Reynolds, failing to beat out of the bay, had been driven shore and was a prisoner with all his crew.

Tonight marks the anniversary of the famous engagement between the British frigates Indefatigable, Captain Sir Edward Pellew, and Amazon, Captain Robert Carthew Reynolds, and the French 74 Droits de L'Homme, Captain Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse. After a six hour chace, the action commenced in the early evening and went on through the night in a rising storm until just after four the following morning when the Indefatigable's Lieutenant George Bell spotted land directly to leeward. The rigging of the Droits de L'Homme had been much damaged by shot and storm and the ship was unable to avoid being driven onto the lee shore of Hodierne Bay. The Indefatigable immediately wore to the south which saved her from the immediate threat of the lee shore but put her in danger of being wrecked on the Penmark Rocks. The Amazon wore to the north and was unable to avoid grounding a mile or so to the north of the French 74 which was lying on her side with the waves breaking over her. By eleven in the morning Pellew had narrowly managed to weather the Penmarks and the Indefatigable was on her way home to report the engagement to the Admiralty. Although Pellew had observed the Droits de L'Homme broadside uppermost in the surf, he believed the Amazon had weathered the bay and got away to the north.

Back in Hodierne Bay Captain Reynolds was evacuating his ship by means of rafts and the entire ships company were safely ashore by nine o'clock in the morning, barring six seamen who stole one of the ships boats and were drowned. The crew of the Droits de L'Homme were much less fortunate.

The dreadful events of the wreck were recorded by a British Lieutenant of the 63rd Regiment, Elias Pipon, who had been returning home from the West Indies in the British letter of marque Cumberland when she was taken by the Droits de L'Hommes off the coast of Ireland. Pipon's account, which is corroborated by official French reports, makes harrowing reading. Despite being so close to the shore, all attempts to reach the stricken ship were defeated by and the rising storm and the ship quickly started to break up. Many of those aboard were swept into the sea and drowned immediately and panic broke out among those left on the ship. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the ship was crowded with around 800 troops intended for the failed Expedition to Ireland. The second day after the ship grounded Pipon relates how the English prisoners were able to reach land by means of a small boat, this encouraged the French to strike out for shore in rafts and boats but all were drowned. On the third day the ship's largest boat was got over the side with the intention of bringing the women and children to safety. However in defiance of orders, over a hundred men crowded into the boat which was swamped by a huge wave, drowning all aboard. By the third night, those left were suffering terribly from exposure and dreadfully weakened from huger and thirst as all the ships supplies been washed away and her water casks stove in. Pipon described how the survivors vainly tried to ease their thirst by sharing a hogshead of vinegar that floated up from below. Eventually on the fourth day, the 18th of January, the brig Arrogante and cutter Aiguille finally reached the wreck and took off the remaining survivors. Of an estimated 1300 troops and sailors aboard the ship only 300 survived. Captain De LaCrosse, General Humbert, Lieutenant Pipon and two English officers were the last to leave the wreck of the Droits de L'Hommes.

Elias Pipon and the other British prisoners were immediately returned home in a French cartel in recognition of their suffering and bravery. Many years later, in 1840, Elias Pipon returned to Hodierne Bay and erected a memorial to those that lost their lives there in January 1797. The memorial, known as the Menhir des Droits de l'Homme, is still there to this day.


If you have the heart for it, you can read Lieutenant Pipon's original account of the wreck here: Narrative of the Dreadful Shipwreck of the French ship Droits de L'homme

Some of you already know that nodbear and I have an ongoing project researching the lives of the 1797 crew of HMS Indefatigable at the time the ship, along with the Amazon, engaged the French 74, the Droits de L'Homme in one of the most famous frigate actions of the French Revolutionary Wars. Eventually we hope to write the story of this engagement from the perspective of the officers and men of all three ships. We've already started to turn up some remarkable stories one of which nodbear has written about, under her nom de plume Alex Broughton, for the Speak Its Name Advent Calendar. You can find nodbear's beautiful and very moving story here: Testament to Love.

Cross posted to following_sea

nodbear leaves today and esmerelda_t is also flying back down south to the big smoke leaving me once again the single solitary fangirl north of the border. Luckily I have a huge pile of nautical books to keep me occupied, a to-do list as long as my arm, several fics to write and that episode of Law and Order UK to watch again.

It was a great week and a fabulous weekend and nodbear and I made great progress with the research we're doing on the engagement between the Droits de l'Homme, the Indefatigable and the Amazon. Yesterday, after months of searching, we finally managed to locate our first contemporary French account of the action and the subsequent wreck of the Droits de l'Homme. At last we know the names of the lieutenants, midshipmen (or ensigns) and warrant officers of the French 74. My French is non-existent but nodbear managed to read a rough translation. Even with much of the detail missing it made me cry. It's a tragic tale but I think it's worth following through to bring the names of these men to light again.