Battle of Cape Ortegal - Aftermath

Aftermath

Strachan's triumph completed the rout of the French that Nelson had begun at Trafalgar. With the four ships taken at Cape Ortegal only five ships remained of the French portion of the combined fleet, and they were bottled up at Cadiz. All four captured ships were taken back to Britain and commissioned into the Royal Navy, with their crew transferred to prison camps. One of the ships, the former Duguay-Troin served with the British for the next 144 years under the name HMS Implacable. The British crews who had fought at Cape Ortegal were included in the large scale rewards made for the victory at Trafalgar. Captain Sir Richard Strachan was promoted to rear-admiral of the blue, while all first-lieutenants were advanced to commander. In addition Strachan was admitted to the Order of the Bath and his captains received gold medals.

Dumanoir was less fortunate than his opponent. He and other French officers were quartered at Tiverton, where they were given considerable freedom, only required to be within the turnpike gates by 8pm in summer and 4pm in winter. While there he wrote to The Times to protest against unflattering comments made about his conduct at Trafalgar. He was released from captivity in 1809 and returned to France, where he faced not one but two courts of enquiry, one for his conduct at Trafalgar, and another for his defeat at Cape Ortegal. In the first he was accused of disobeying Villeneueve's instructions, not doing enough to support his admiral, and then fleeing the battle instead of fighting on. After the examination of various pieces of evidence, Dumanoir was acquitted of all charges. At the second court of enquiry Dumanoir was convicted of having failed to engage Strachan's squadron while it was still disorganised on the morning of 4 November, of having allowed the British frigates to harass his rear without trying to engage them, and for only turning to engage Strachan as his rear was being overwhelmed. The court concluded that he had been too indecisive. The verdict was passed to the Minister of Marine, Denis Decrès, in January 1810 but Decrès hesitated to order a court-martial. Napoleon wanted Dumanoir to be made an example of, but Decrès attempted to shield Dumanoir, and when he finally convened a court-martial at Napoleon's insistence, its orders were vague and it eventually acquitted Dumanoir and the surviving captains.