Off The French Coast
Strachan returned to England in 1793, and was appointed to command the frigate HMS Concorde and in spring 1794 joined a squadron patrolling off Brest, under the command of Sir John Borlase Warren. The squadron engaged a rival squadron of four French frigates on 23 April 1794 and succeeded in capturing three of them. Strachan and Concorde had forced the surrender of one of them, the frigate L'Engageante. Strachan was then appointed to the 42-gun HMS Melampus which was attached in the summer to the main British fleet. In spring 1795 Strachan was dispatched in command of a squadron of five frigates to cruise off the Normandy and Brittany coasts. He was highly successful at this, capturing or destroying a considerable number of French coastal craft, many laden with military stores and conveyed by armed French warships. On 9 May 1795, he captured Crache-feu, a French three-gun vessel.
Read more about this topic: Sir Richard Strachan, 6th Baronet
Famous quotes containing the words french and/or coast:
“Such is the nature and make-up of the French that they are only good at the start. Then they are worse than devils, but, given time, they’re less than women.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“This coast crying out for tragedy like all beautiful places,”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)