HMS Martial was a Confounder Class unrated Gun Brig of 12 guns, built under Navy Board contract by Charles Ross at his shipyard at Acorn Wharf in Rochester.
The Confounder Class was a group of 21 Gun Brigs designed by Sir William Rule, Co-Surveyor of the Navy, of which two were built in Kent. The other Kent-built vessel was HMS Resolute built under Navy Board contract by Kings Boatbuilders in Dover.
A Gun Brig was a large gunboat, fitted with a brig, or a two-masted square-rigged sailing rig. When operating in shallow water, a Gun Brig could also be propelled under oars. They were designed for firepower over speed and manoeuvrability and were extraordinarily heavily armed for a vessel of their size.
A small vessel like HMS Martial would normally be commanded by an officer with the rank of Lieutenant, known as the Lieutenant-in-Command. The officers in these positions were normally Lieutenants who had been passed over for appointments as Master and Commander.
The contract for the construction of HMS Martial was signed on the 20th November 1804, along with the rest of the class. Her first keel section was laid at Rochester during January of 1805 and the vessel was launched with all due ceremony into the River Medway on the 17th April. After her launch, HMS Martial was taken the half-mile or so downstream to the great Royal Dockyard at Chatham to be fitted out. HMS Martial was declared complete on the 15th May and commissioned under Lieutenant Joseph Marrett.
On completion, HMS Martial was a vessel of 182 tons. She was 84ft 6in long on her main deck and 70ft 5in along the keel. She was 22ft 1in wide across the beams, drew 6ft 6in of water at her bows and 7ft 6in at the rudder. She was armed with a 12pdr long gun on a traversing mount in her bows, another over the stern with 12 x 18pdr carronades on her broadsides. In addition to these, she carried a dozen half-pounder swivel guns attached to her bulwarks.
Confounder Class Plans
The small square ports between the gunports were for the oars which would propel the vessel in shallow waters or where she could not operate under sail.
On commissioning a new vessel, Mr Marrett's first task was to recruit his crew. In a small vessel like HMS Martial, Lieutenant Marrett was the only commissioned officer aboard. He was assisted by a Second Master in charge of the day-to-day sailing and navigation, a senior Boatswains Mate to look after the masts, rigging and boats with a Sailmaker to maintain and repair the sails and flags. A Quartermaster was appointed to oversee the vessel's steering and the positions of Purser and Clerk were combined in the role of the Clerk in Charge. A Carpenters Mate was appointed to repair and maintain the vessel's hull, frame and decks. In his day-to-day command responsibilities, the Lieutenant-in-Command was assisted by a senior Midshipman. HMS Martial had a total crew complement of 50 men.
Mr Marrett was still in command when the year of 1808 began. By this stage in the war, the Royal Navy had gained absolute control of the Atlantic Ocean and could strike at the French where and when they liked. In the winter of 1808, the French learned that the British were preparing to invade the French-controlled island of Martinique, where their main naval base in the Caribbean and the Americas was located. If the British could seize Martinique, then the French could forget about defending their other Caribbean possessions and their trade in the Americas, such as it was. The French Emperor Napoleon Buonaparte ordered the Commander-in-Chief of the French Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez to take the fleet from Brest, meet up with outlying squadrons in Lorient and Rochefort and go to Martinique to reinforce the island and prevent a British invasion. Since the French breakouts of 1806, one of which had resulted in their defeat in the Battle of San Domingo, the British had maintained a very close blockade of the French Biscay ports and Willaumez was forced to wait until winter storms forced the British to move further out into the Atlantic Ocean in February of 1809 before he felt able to take the Brest Fleet to sea. The British blockading fleet was by this time commanded by Admiral James, the Lord Gambier, a devout and strict Methodist known amongst the men as 'Dismal Jimmy'. When Gambier had taken the fleet to the safety of the open ocean, he had left a single ship of the line, HMS Revenge of 74 guns, to keep an eye on the French at Brest. On 22nd February, Willaumez put to sea with eight ships of the line and two frigates. HMS Revenge followed the French fleet towards Lorient and signalled Commodore John Poer Beresford, commanding the blockading squadron with three ships of the line, warning him of the approach of the enemy fleet. Beresford ordered his force to get out of the way of the approaching French fleet, allowing them to anchor near Ile Groix. Once Willaumez had been joined by the Lorient squadron, he headed south again, this time to Rochefort, which was being blockaded by Rear-Admiral Robert Stopford with three ships of the line plus the 18pdr-armed 36 gun frigate HMS Amethyst. Once he had received the signal from HMS Amethyst warning him of the approach of the French fleet, Stopford initially closed with the enemy, but backed off when he realised how strong they were and allowed the enemy to enter the Basque Roads, off Rochefort where they anchored. The French fleet now consisted of eleven ships of the line, one of 120 guns, two of 80 guns, eight of 74 guns, with the ex-HMS Calcutta, a former Fourth Rate Ship of the Line with 50 guns and four frigates, all of 40 guns. With the weather calming down, Willaumez guessed that it would only be a matter of time before he was attacked in the wide and open Basque Roads, so ordered his fleet to move into the much more confined and narrow Aix Roads, where they would be protected by powerful shore batteies on the Ile D'Aix. The Aix Roads are narrow, littered with rocks and shoals and with powerful currents and are dangerous to navigate in large, square-rigged sailing ships. On the plus side, any enemy fleet attempting to attack would have to come through the Basque Roads before entering the Aix Road, where they would be forced to navigate close to the shore, under the guns of the batteries on Ile'D'Aix. As if to demonstrate the dangers of navigating in the Aix Roads, one of the French ships of the line, the Jean Bart of 74 guns ran aground and was wrecked on the Palles Shoal on the 26th February. Willaumez had his surviving ships anchor across the Aix Roads, facing downstream so that any approaching ships would be caught in a crossfire between his fleet and the shore batteries on the Ile D'Aix.
On 17th March, Lord Gambier arrived in the Basque Roads with a fleet, which coincidentally also consisted of eleven ships of the line, HMS Caledonia of 120 guns, HMS Caesar and HMS Gibraltar, both of 80 guns and HMS Hero, HMS Donegal, HMS Resolution, HMS Illustrious, HMS Valiant, HMS Bellona, HMS Theseus and HMS Revenge, all of 74 guns. In addition to the ships of the line, Gambier also had the 24pdr-armed Razee Heavy Frigate HMS Indefatigable of 44 guns, the 18pdr-armed frigates HMS Imperieuse (38), HMS Aigle (36), HMS Emerald, HMS Unicorn (both of 32 guns) and the 12pdr-armed frigate HMS Pallas of 32 guns.
With the arrival of Lord Gambier and his fleet, the situation in the Basque Roads became stalemated. Willaumez was unwilling to risk his fleet by attacking Lord Gambier, who in turn was unwilling to risk his ships amongst the rocks in the Aix Roads.
The stalemate was causing unrest to stir for both the French and the British. One of the French captains wrote a letter of complaint to the French Minister of Marine, who removed both the captain and Admiral Willaumez from their posts. Willaumez was replaced by Admiral Zacharie Allemand. On the British part, Lord Gambier was concerned that the French might try to use fireships to attack his fleet anchored in the Basque Roads and ordered his captains to be ready to cut their anchor cables and leave in a hurry if required. He wrote to the Admiralty recommending the use of fireships against the French in their anchorage in the Aix Roads. Rear-Admiral Eliab Harvey (who had come to fameas a result of his actions in command of 'the Fighting Temeraire' at the Battle of Trafalgar) volunteered to lead such an attack, but Lord Gambier vacillated and refused even to order preparations for a fireship attack. Back in the UK, politicians were beginning to get involved and Henry Phipps, the Earl Mulgrave, then First Lord of the Admiralty ordered that ten fireships be prepared and sent to Lord Gambier. On 11th March, HMS Imperieuse arrived at Plymouth and as soon as he became aware of this, Lord Mulgrave summoned the frigate's captain to London. The reason for this was that the frigate's captain was none other than Thomas, the Lord Cochrane, the heir to the Earldom of Dundonald. Lord Cochrane by this time was famous for his exploits in attacking the enemy against seemingly impossible odds. Lord Cochrane was a firebrand; aggressive, well-connected and contemptuous of authority. At the time, he was also serving as the MP for Westminster and was a fierce critic of the Government. Some years before, Lord Cochrane had submitted a plan for an attack on the French Atlantic Fleet in their bases using a combination of fireships, Congreve Rockets, Bomb Vessels and Explosion Ships, to be followed up by an assault using ships of the line to exploit the panic and confusion caused by the previous attack. His plan had been ignored by the Admiralty until now. Cochrane was also astute enough to know why he was now being summoned to the Admiralty. He guessed that Mulgrave wanted him to lead the attack so that if it went wrong, he could be the one to blame. When they met, Cochrane outlined his plan and Mulgrave agreed it, asking Cochrane to lead it. Cochrane, knowing the outrage that his appointment would cause amongst the more senior of his fellow officers, refused insisting that someone more senior should lead the attack. Mulgrave did his best to persuade Cochrane to agree to lead the attack, but Cochrane continued to refuse, so Lord Mulgrave issued him with a direct order to lead the attack in person and sent him back to his ship.
On 26th March, Lord Gambier received Lord Mulgrave's letter instructing him to prepare an attack on the French fleet using fireships, which had been prepared in the UK and which were on their way to him. On the same day, Lord Gambier wrote two letters in reply. In the first letter, he admitted that the enemy was indeed vulnerable to an attack with fire ships.
In his second letter, Lord Gambier wrote
"The enemy's ships are anchored in two lines, very near to each other, in a direction due S. from the fort on the Isle d'Aix ; and the ships in each line not farther apart than their own length ; by which it appears, as I imagine, that the space for their anchorage is so confined by the shoalness of the water, as not to admit of ships to run in and anchor clear of each other. The most distant ships of their two lines are within point-blank shot of the works upon the Isle d'Aix : such ships, therefore, as might attack the enemy would be exposed to be raked by the hot shot, &c. from the island ; and, should the ships be disabled in their masts, they must remain within the range of the enemy's fire until destroyed, there not being sufficient depth of water to allow them to move to the southward out of distance. I beg leave to add, that, if their lordships are of opinion that an attack on the enemy's ships by those of the fleet under my command is practicable, I am ready to obey any orders they may be pleased to honour me with, however great the risk may be of the loss of men and ships."Lord Gambier had also noted that the French were in the process of strengthening all the defences for their anchorage in the Aix Roads and this included the construction of what appeared to be a new gun tower on the south end of the Boyard Shoal. He directed the 18pdr-armed 38 gun frigate HMS Amelia to get rid of them. At 09:00 on 1st April, the frigate weighed anchor and headed for the spot, arriving at 10:15. She fired a broadside, driving away the construction workers and landed men who spent the rest of the day demolishing the works.
On 3rd April, Lord Cochrane arrived in the Basque Road in HMS Imperieuse and delivered Lord Gambiers orders in person. At the time the orders were written, twelve of the fireships were anchored in the Downs off Deal awaiting fair winds, while six more purchased merchant vessels and been ordered from Plymouth to sail to the Basque Roads to be fitted as fireships in situ. The Board of Ordnance has been directed to send a ship from Woolwich laden with 1000 barrels of gunpowder. With the ships from Plymouth not due for some days, Lord Gambier ordered that the six largest of the 30-odd transport ships then with the fleet be fitted as fireships in addition to three recently-captured chasse-marees laden with pitch and stockholm tar. At Lord Cochrane's suggestion, a further three vessels were fitted as explosion vessels and HMS Mediator, a 44-gun two-decker armed en flute (that with with most of her guns removed to make room for cargo) was also fitted as a fireship. On 6th April, the bomb-vessel HMS Aetna arrived in the Basque Roads, followed on 10th by the fireships from the Downs, escorted by the brig-sloops HMS Beagle (18) and HMS Redpole (10). Also in the convoy was the transport ship Cleveland, laden with Congreve Rockets.
At this stage, the British fleet in addition to the ships of the line and frigates mentioned earlier, also comprised the brig-rigged Sloops of War HMS Beagle, HMS Dotorel, HMS Foxhound, HMS Lyra (all of 18 guns), HMS Redpole of 10 guns, the bomb vessel HMS Aetna, the gun-brigs HMS Insolent and HMS Martial (both of 14 guns), HMS Encounter, HMS Contest, HMS Conflict, HMS Fervent and HMS Growler (all of 12 guns), the armed schooner HMS Whiting of ten guns and the hired armed cutters Nimrod and King George, also both of ten guns.
All these preparations did not go unnoticed by the French and Admiral Allemand's suspicions that the British were preparing a massive attack using fireships were confirmed with the arrival of the convoy from the Downs. He ordered that a stout boom be rigged, from the Ile D'Aix, to run about half a mile out into the Basque Roads, in front of his ships. He ordered that his frigates be moored in front of his ships of the line and that all his fleet's boats be fitted as gunboats, ready to seize any fireships which come up against the boom and tow them away and also to engage and drive off any British boats sent to prevent this. The boom was comprised of large logs, secured together with three-inch rope and anchored with five ton anchors (actually heavier than those on the massive British flagship HMS Caledonia, whose anchors weighed in the region of four tons each). In addition, he ordered the topmasts and topgallant masts on his ships of the line to be struck and lowered to the decks and that any sails not required immediately to get the ships under way if necessary, to be unbent and taken down. The reason for this was that Allemand knew the first parts of a ship to catch fire when struck by a fireship were the sails and rigging fitted to the upper masts.
The position of the French fleet on the eve of the Battle of Basque Roads:
In the afternoon of the 11th, the arrangements were complete and the British ships began to move into position. HMS Imperieuse moved down towards the inner end of the Boyard shoal. HMS Aigle, HMS Unicorn and HMS Pallas anchored a short distance to the north-west, or above HMS Imperieuse. Their role was to recover the crews of the fireships and the boats accompanying them and to render assistance if required to HMS Imperieuse. HMS Whiting with the cutters also took up stations near the Boyard Shoal. Those vessels had all been fitted to fire the Congreve Rockets. HMS Aetna took up station to the north-west of the Ile D'Aix, to be covered by HMS Indefatigable and HMS Foxhound, while HMS Emerald, HMS Beagle, HMS Dotorel, HMS Conflict and HMS Growler were stationed at the east end of the island to create a diversion. Finally, HMS Lyra and HMS Redpole were to hoist lights and were to anchor, one near the shoal to the nprth west of Ile D'Aix, the other close to the Boyard Shoal in order to guide the fireships to their targets. The eleven ships of the line prepared to make their move when the time was right. HMS Caledonia's Sailing Master estimated their position to be six miles from the enemy, although the telegraph on Ile D'Aix signalled their distance to the French flagship to be three leagues or nine miles.
At 20:30, with the wind blowing towards the French fleet more strongly than anticipated and the tide running at about two knots, HMS Mediator and the other fireships cut their anchor cables and made sail towards the enemy. The wind was blowing too strongly for part of Cochrane's plan to be put into action, that of chaining the fireships together in groups of four; instead the fireships were to act independently. At 21:30, the first of the explosion vessels exploded about 120 yards from the nearest French frigate, the Indienne and about a mile from the French ships of the line. The Indienne was undamaged by the explosion and the British could not understand why the explosion vessel had detonated so far from the targets. What they didn't know was that the vessel had been stuck on the boom, of which they were unaware. They just assumed that the fuse had been lit too early. At 21:45, HMS Mediator came up against the boom, but her size and the great weight of the wind on her sails drove her through it. The boom now broken, the way was open for the rest of the fireships which were following. Panic now followed amongst the French as the burning fireships swept down amongst them. Admiral Allemand's preparations however, were working well. Many of the French crews were dowsing down their decks using their ship's pumps, but this didn't stop many of them from cutting their anchor cables in panic. In the strong winds and currents, most of the French ships were driven aground on the mudbanks and shoals in the narrow Aix Roads.
The fireships attack:
The coming of daylight revealed the sorry state of the French fleet, with most of their ships of the line stranded on the mud or aground on the rocks. They were there for the taking. HMS Caledonia and the British fleet were only twelve miles from the utterly helpless French and at 05:48 on the 12th March, Captain Lord Cochrane signalled the flagship HMS Caledonia:
"Half the fleet can destroy the enemy, seven on shore". No response. At 06:40, he signalled:
"Eleven on shore". Again, no response. At 07:40, he signalled again:
"Only two afloat". Within the hour, the tide was beginning to turn and the French were making preparations to refloat their ships, so at 09:40, he signalled the flagship again:
"Enemy preparing to heave off". At last, a response from Lord Gambier, who signalled the fleet:
"Prepare with sheet and spare anchors out of stern ports and springs ready". At 09:35, the flagship signalled the fleet to weigh anchor, but to Cochrane's dismay, this signal was cancelled and replaced with another ordering all captains aboard HMS Caledonia for a conference. Forty-five minutes later, with the conference over and the captains having returned to their ships, the fleet finally got under way, but at 11:30, the fleet anchored again, about six miles from the grounded French ships. The Admiral it seems, had changed his mind about the agreed plan. Instead of the British ships of the line bombarding the shore batteries on their way past them before anchoring and destroying the helpless French fleet at their leisure, he had hesitated. Instead, he ordered HMS Aetna, covered by HMS Growler, HMS Insolent and HMS Conflict to proceed towards the Aix Road and take up a position to bombard the French fleet, while Captain John Bligh in HMS Valiant was to take his ship, plus HMS Bellona and HMS Revenge with the frigates and sloops-of-war and anchor as close as possible to the Boyard shoal and be ready to support the gun-brigs and the bomb vessel should they need it. Bligh's force came to anchor about a mile closer to the enemy than the rest of the fleet.
This movement from the British signalled another impending attack, so as French ships were able to be refloated on the rising tide, they raised their topmasts, threw overboard guns, stores and ammunition in a bid to refloat their ships more quickly. By this means, by 12:45, two of the French ships of the line, Foudroyant and Cassard got themselves underway again, followed at 14:00 by Romulus, Patriote and Jemmappes, although all of them ran aground again further upstream, but well away from the British. Shortly before high water, the mighty Ocean of 120 guns got afloat and moved some 700 yards towards deeper water, where she was again stopped by mud. Seeing that the French were gradually getting themselves together and getting away, thus defeating the entire object of the whole enterprise, HMS Imperieuse at 13:30 got under way and headed directly for a group of three ships preparing to get under way from the Palles Shoal on which they had grounded during the fireship attack, which were Calcutta, Aquilon and Varsovie. Seeing that Gambier had absolutely no intention of coming to complete the objective, Cochrane signalled the flagship:
"The enemy's ships are getting under sail". Ten minutes later on getting no response from the flagship, another signal was made:
"The enemy is superior to the chasing ship". With no response from the flagship, Cochrane signalled at 13:45:
"The ship is in distress and requires to be assisted immediately". At 13:50, Cochrane gave up and ordered his gunners to begin firing at the enemy.
The Battle of Basque Roads at about noon on 12th March 1809, the French are beginning to make their escape:
At 14:10, having noticed that shot from the 18 and 24pdr carronades on the gun-brigs was dropping short, as was the shot from the 32pdr carronades on HMS Beagle, Lord Cochrane signalled them to move closer, but knowing that the signal could also be seen by HMS Aetna, which was in the correct position, he ordered that guns be fired towards the gun-brigs so that they knew the signal was intended for them. The penny dropped and the gun-brigs moved closer to the French ships. Eventually, Lord Gambier, on seeing that HMS Imperieuse was heavily engaged against three grounded French ships of the line, got the hint and ordered that HMS Indefatigable, HMS Emerald, HMS Aigle, HMS Unicorn, HMS Valiant, HMS Revenge and HMS Pallas move to support the lone frigate. Under this now withering hail of fire, Calcutta, Varsovie and Aquilon struck their colours in surrender. At 18:00, the Tonnere was set on fire by her crew, who escaped to the shore and at 19:30, the ship blew up when the fire reached her magazine. At 20:30, Calcutta, which had been set on fire without orders by the British boarding party also blew up.
The battle was not over yet, five French ships of the line, Ocean, Cassard, Regulus, Tourville and Jemmappes, plus the frigate Indienne were all lying aground at the mouth of the river Charende and in the afternoon, the decision was made to fit three more transport ships as fireships and send them after the once more helpless French. A 17:30, Rear-Admiral Stopford got under way with HMS Caesar with the fireships, plus all the fleet's launches fitted to fire Congreve Rockets and stood towards the Aix Road. At 19:40, HMS Caesar ran aground on the Boyard Shoal, as did HMS Valiant. Those two ships were unable to be refloated until about 22:30.
At about midnight, the three fireships were ready to proceed, but a number of changes in the wind between then and about 02:30 on the 13th prevented the British ships from getting underway and at about 04:40, HMS Caesar came to anchor in the Little Basque Road, at the entrance to the Aix Roads. Because Rear-Admiral Stopford was not yet able to deploy the fireships due to the wind, the British contented themselves with setting fire to the Aquilon and the Varsovie before moving away in preparation for the expected explosion of those ships' magazines. Once the fires took hold, the French, further up the Aix Roads mistook the burning ships for more fireships and opened fire on them, while the captain and crew of the Tourville abandoned ship. At 05:00, in accordance with a signal from Rear-Admiral Stopford, Captain Bligh got under way with HMS Valiant, HMS Theseus, HMS Revenge, HMS Emerald, HMS Indefatigable, HMS Unicorn and HMS Aigle in order to return to the rest of the fleet anchored in the Basque Roads. While HMS Imperieuse was passing HMS Indefatigable, Captain Lord Cochrane hailed Captain John Rodd and suggested that HMS Indefatigable go to one quarter of the Ocean, while his ship took the other and between them, the two frigates might be able to batter the huge French three-decker into submission. Captain Rodd declined the invitation, explaining that his ship's main topmast had been damaged, that she drew too much water and that in any case, he would not be justified in acting without orders in the presence of two superior officers, Captain Bligh of HMS Valiant and Captain Beresford of HMS Theseus. At 06:00, Lord Cochrane's ship anchored in the Maumusson Passage and at 06:30 was passed by HMS Pallas on her way to the fleet in the Basque Roads and Captain George Seymour inquired of Lord Cochrane whether he should remain where he was or proceed to join the fleet, as he had been given no orders. Lord Cochrane directed him to anchor where he was if he had no orders to the contrary. HMS Beagle and the gun-brigs, which were following HMS Pallas did the same. At 08:00, Lord Cochrane ordered the gun-brigs, HMS Aetna to proceed and attack the nearest French ships in the mouth of the River Charende, which leads directly to the dockyard at Rochefort. At 11:00, HMS Beagle, HMS Contest, HMS Martial, HMS Conflict, HMS Encounter, HMS Fervent, HMS Growler, HMS Aetna, the rocket-schooner HMS Whiting and the rocket-cutters Nimrod and King George came to anchor and opened fire on the Ocean, Regulus and Indienne as they lay helplessly stranded in the mud. The previous night, the Ocean had landed all her boys and any seamen who wished to leave in addition to all her soldiers. This still left over 600 men aboard the French giant and they were determined to defend their ship to the last man. Since dawn, the crew of the Ocean had thrown hundreds of barrels of stores and provisions overboard in an attempt to lighten their ship, but she remained stubbornly stuck fast. The French crew had also moved four of their lower gundeck 36pdr long guns to the stern chase gunports and had also moved two of her middle gundeck 24pdr guns and two of the upper gundeck 12pdr guns to fire through the stern windows. HMS Beagle anchored in a position off the stern of the French giant and opened fire with her broadside 32pdr carronades. The gunnery duel between the stern guns on the giant French ship and the relatively tiny British brig-sloop went on for five hours. In the end, it was only HMS Beagle whose fire managed to have any effect. The other vessel's fire fell short and HMS Aetna split her 13-inch mortar. This flotilla ceased firing at about 16:00 as Ocean and Regulus were making preparations for another attempt at getting underway. To avoid being stranded by the falling tide themselves, the flotilla made their way back to their earlier positions. While the bombardment had been ongoing, HMS Imperieuse and HMS Pallas had been prevented from supporting the smaller vessels by the wind and the strength of the currents.
Earlier, at noon, HMS Dottorel, HMS Redpole and HMS Foxhound had anchored near the frigates with two more rocket-vessels and they had brought Lord Cochrane two letters from Lord Gambier, one public and one private. In the public letter, Lord Gambier ordered Lord Cochrane to make an attempt on the Ocean with the bomb and rocket vessels but expressed doubt as to the likelyhood of success. In the private letter, he wrote
"You have done your part so admirably, that I will not suffer you to tarnish it by attempting impossibilities, which I think, as well as those captains who have come from you, any further efforts to destroy those ships would be. You must therefore join as soon as you can with the bomb, &c., as I wish for some information which you allude to, before I close my despatches."At 02:30 on the 14th, the Tourville got underway and headed further up-river towards the dockyard after having thrown her guns and heavy stores overboard. Patriote, Hortense and Elbe followed soon after, but Ocean was still stuck. At 09:00, HMS Imperieuse was recalled to the fleet at Basque Roads, to be relieved by HMS Aigle. At noon, HMS Aigle joined HMS Imperieuse and four hours later, Cochrane's ship headed back to join the fleet. An hour earlier, HMS Aetna had opened fire with her remaining mortar, the 10 inch one and was joined by the gun-brigs in opening fire on the Regulus and the Indienne. Their bombardment continued until 19:00. This had little or no effect and while it was ongoing, the Jemappes worked herself clear of the mud and also made her way to the dockyard.
Because of the now strong north-westerly winds, the French expected the tide on the 15th to be higher than usual, so the crew of the Ocean worked to try to further lighten their ship by throwing all of her lower gundeck guns, half of her upper gundeck guns and four of her middle gundeck guns overboard. At 02:00 the following day, this had the desired effect and Ocean at last moved into the fairway, forcing her keel for 500 yards through the mud before she reached deep water and was able to make her way up the river towards the dockyard. At 16:00, the Cassard managed to do the same. On the 16th, after five days of trying to extricate their ship from the mud, the crew of the Indienne abandoned their ship and set her on fire. She blew up after burning for two hours. On the 17th at 04:00, the Foudroyant escaped, leaving just the Regulus still stranded in the mud.
The Regulus stranded and helpless on the mud is surrounded and attacked by British gun-brigs:
Two more days passed without any attacks on the French until the 20th, when the bomb vessel HMS Thunder arrived and covered by the gun-brigs, began to fire her mortars at the enemy. She only got a few rounds off when her 13 inch mortar split. The 21st and 22nd passed without incident and on the 23rd, four of the gun-brigs each took aboard two 18pdr long guns from HMS Aigle and HMS Aetna, having run out of shells for her 10-inch mortar, took aboard more shells from HMS Thunder and the bomb vessels and gun-brigs spent the whole of the 24th bombarding the Regulus, attempting to force the French to abandon their ship, without success. At dawn on the 29th, the Regulus was at last refloated and headed up the river to the dockyard and on the same day, Lord Gambier left for the UK in HMS Caledonia. Thus ended the Battle of Basque Roads.
The post-mortem however had only just begun. In the night attack, Lord Cochrane had opened the door which would have allowed Lord Gambier to wipe out the remnants of the French Atlantic Fleet. Lord Gambier however, hesitated and when he did eventually move to support Lord Cochrane, it was too little, too late and he let the French off the hook. After fierce criticism in the press, Lord Gambier requested a court martial. Lord Mulgrave ensured that the Court Martial Board was filled with Gambier supporters and Lord Cochrane was forbidden from speaking. Not surprising then that Gambier was acquitted of any wrongdoing. Rear-Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey was incensed that Cochrane had been given command of the attack and gave his opinion to the Admiral with both barrels and in response, Gambier sent him back to the UK in the middle of the battle. Sir Eliab Harvey, the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar, faced his own Court Martial and was dismissed from the Royal Navy. As for Cochrane, he was convicted after getting caught up in the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814 and was forced to resign from the Royal Navy. He later went to South America where he organised the navies of firstly Chile and then Brazil in their fight for independence from Spain and Portugal respectvely. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing in the fraud and was reinstated in the Royal Navy as a Rear-Admiral in 1832.
Even today, the failure of the Royal Navy to take advantage of a golden opportunity to utterly destroy the French Atlantic Fleet is laid squarely at Gambier's door. Even Napoleon wrote that Cochrane, who he referred to as "Le loup des mers" (the wolf of the seas) "
could not only have destroyed the French ships, but he might and would have taken them out, had your admiral supported him as he ought to have done. The French admiral was an imbecile, but yours was just as bad".
By 1810, HMS Martial was under the command of Mr Joshua Kneeshaw and on the 22nd June, she captured the galiot Anna Sophia. A Galiot was a kind of sailing barge. Two days later, she captured the galiot Elizabeth. On 20th September 1812, HMS Martial in company with the Gun Brig HMS Insolent captured the Chasse Maree La Providence of two guns, 48 tons and seven men. On the 8th November, she captured another Chasse Maree, coincidentally also called La Providence of 70 tons and five men. This vessel was later retaken by the enemy. On March 8th 1813, HMS Martial captured yet another chasse maree, La Ninon of 40 tons and five men laden with salt, bound from Bordeaux to Lorient.
By May of 1813, HMS Martial was in the West Indies and on the 4th, in company with the Gun Brig HMS Constant, she captured the French privateer L'Olympe of two guns and 16 men.
February of 1814 saw HMS Martial in the mouth of the river Adour. This river rises in the Pyrenees and flows into the Atlantic Ocean and it forms a natural barrier to an army seeking to invade France from Spain. In February of 1814, that is exactly what the Duke of Wellington was intending to do after having driven the French from Spain and Portugal in what is now known as the Peninsular War. By now, HMS Martial was under the command of Mr George Elliot, appointed as Master and Commander rather then Lieutenant-in-Command. She was part of a small squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Charles Vinicombe Penrose, who in order to get nearer to the operation, had stationed himself aboard the Post-Ship HMS Porcupine of 22 guns. The squadron had been tasked with helping the Duke of Wellington and his army to cross the Adour. On the 23rd of February, the squadron arrived at the mouth of the river and the boats were sent to try to find a way through the enormous surf which broke over the sandbar at the river's entrance. From where the squadron was anchored, the lookouts in the mast-heads could see the soldiers waiting to cross the river. The sight of this prompted Mr Dowell O'Reilly, Master and Commander of the 10-gun, 18pdr carronade-armed Brig-Sloop HMS Lyra of 10 guns, to try his luck in getting through the surf in a Spanish-built boat he had selected as being likely to be able to get through safely. In the attempt, the boat capsized and his boats crew was lucky to be able to swim to the shore. One of the squadrons boats did manage to reach the beach, but the rest returned to the squadron to await the next tide. When they tried again, one boat under Lieutenant George Cheyne of HMS Woodlark (10) made it up the river and was followed by the rest of the squadron's boats. This was extremely dangerous work and wasn't completed without losses. Amongst those drowned were Mr Henry Boyle, Masters Mate in HMS Lyra, eleven seamen from HMS Lyra, HMS Porcupine and HMS Martial and HMS Martial's Commander Elliot. In addition, three boats from the transport ships were lost together with an unknown number of men and a Spanish Chasse Maree, the whole crew of which was lost. Thanks to their bravery and sacrifice, the army was able to cross the river and soon afterwards, captured the city of Bayonne. On the 31st March, the allies entered Paris and on the 13th April, the Treaty of Fontainebleu was signed, ending the war.
After the death of Mr Elliot, Mr Edward Collins was appointed as Lieutenant in Command. With the end of the war, HMS Martial remained in service with the Royal Navy, engaged in patrolling home waters. She remained in this role until she was paid off at Sheerness in April of 1831. When the vessel paid off at Sheerness, she was fitted as a lazarette hulk, to be used for the airing of cargoes suspected as having been contaminated with plague.
HMS Martial was sold at the Royal Dockyard at Chatham for £440 on the 21st January 1836.
