Battle of Guadeloupe (1779)
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The Battle of Guadeloupe or the Action of 21–22 December 1779 was a naval engagement that took place off the French island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean during the Anglo-French War between three Royal Navy ships and three French Navy frigates.[1] The Royal Navy under Joshua Rowley sighted and promptly chased the French frigates, all of which were captured after a brief fight.[2]
Battle
On 21 December 1779, HMS Magnificent along with the 74-gun ships of the line HMS Suffolk, HMS Vengeance, and the 64-gun HMS Stirling Castle under Rear-Admiral Joshua Rowley, sighted the 32-gun French frigates Fortunée and Blanche and the 28-gun Elise, off the French island of Guadeloupe.[3] The French ships had been part of the Comte d Estaing's fleet.[4]
The engagement that followed was one sided - the French ships were in disorder; their crews were weak; and they could not escape the vastly superior British force.[1] The Blanche was defeated and captured on the evening of 21 December. The Fortunée attempted to escape by throwing her quarter-deck guns overboard, but was captured on the early morning of 22 December, an hour before the Elise had struck.[4]
The Blanche and Fortunée were thus added to the British navy.[4]
Rowley then led his squadron to capture a large French convoy, from Marseilles, off Martinique.[3]
References
Sources
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