Battle of The Saintes - Aftermath

Aftermath

The battle frustrated French and Spanish hopes of capturing Jamaica from the British. Rodney was created a peer with £2,000 a year settled on the title in perpetuity for this victory. Hood was elevated to the peerage as well.

The battle has caused controversy ever since, for three reasons:

• Rodney’s failure to follow up the victory by a pursuit was much criticised. Rear-Admiral Hood said that the 20 French ships would have been captured had the commander-in-chief maintained the chase. On 17 April, Hood was sent in pursuit of the enemy. He promptly captured two 64-gun ships of the line (Jason and Caton) and two smaller warships in the Battle of the Mona Passage on 19 April. One hundred and twenty years later, the Navy Records Society published the Dispatches and Letters Relating to the Blockading of Brest. In the introduction they include a small biography of Admiral William Cornwallis who commanded the Canada at the Saintes. A poem purportedly written by him includes the lines:

• The battle is famous for the innovative tactic of "breaking the line", in which the British ships passed though a gap in the French line, engaging the enemy from leeward and throwing them into disorder. But there is considerable controversy about whether the tactic was intentional, and, if so, who was responsible for the idea (Rodney, his Captain-of-the-Fleet Sir Charles Douglas, or John Clerk of Eldin), or even if this was the first case of such a tactic.
• On the French side, de Grasse blamed his subordinates, Vaudreuil and Bougainville, for his defeat.