Algeciras Campaign - First Battle of Algeciras

First Battle of Algeciras

At 07:00, Saumarez ordered his squadron to advance into the bay without delay and engage the French directly, the attack to be led by Captain Samuel Hood in HMS Venerable. Hood was delayed by light winds however, and the first ship into action was HMS Pompée under Captain Charles Sterling, which attacked the anchored French ships in succession before anchoring close to Formidable. Pompée was followed by HMS Audacious, Saumarez's flagship HMS Caesar and HMS Hannibal, with Venerable and HMS Spencer participating at a greater distance due to the unreliable wind. By 10:00 both squadrons were fully engaged except for Pompée at the head of the British line which had been caught by a current and swung so that the ship's bow was facing Formidable's broadside, allowing Linois to rake the British ship. Seeing the danger Sterling was in, Saumarez ordered Captain Solomon Ferris to take Hannibal around the head of the French line and rake Formidable. in the light wind, Ferris took almost an hour to reach the head of the lines, but as he turned inshore, Hannibal grounded on a shoal directly under the guns of the Spanish fort at Torre de Almirante.

Saumarez ordered his squadron's boats to assist Hannibal and Pompée, both of which were trapped under heavy fire and unable to effectively respond. As he did so, Linois ordered his ships to cut their anchor cables and drift into the shallows, away from the becalmed British squadron. Formidable successfully completed the manoeuvre, but both Desaix and Indomptable grounded inshore, where they were exposed to heavy fire from Saumarez's ships, which had also cut their cables in an effort to close with their opponents. At 13:35 however, Saumarez recognised that his squadron was in danger of grounding directly under the fire of the Spanish batteries. With the squadron's boats either sunk or employed towing Pompée back to Gibraltar, there was no possibility of launching an amphibious operation against the Spanish forts and Saumarez reluctantly called the attack off, the remainder of the squadron retiring to Gibratar but leaving the stranded Hannibal in Algeciras Bay.

Hannibal had been exposed to the combined French and Spanish fire for four hours, and had lost two masts and more than 140 men killed and wounded. In an effort to preserve the lives of his crew, Ferris ordered his men to shelter below decks, but at 14:00 fires broke out on the ship and Ferris, isolated by Saumarez's withdrawal, surrendered his ship. French boarding parties extinguished the fires and rehung the struck Union Flag upside down to signify that Hannibal had surrendered. However, in the Royal Navy an inverted flag is a signal of distress, and at least one British ship's boat was captured while attempting to bring assistance to Ferris before the misunderstanding was realised.

The French victory had come at a heavy cost: more than 160 men were killed and 300 wounded and all three French ships had been severely damaged. Among the dead were the captains of both Formidable and Indomptable, although Linois was unhurt. The Spanish had suffered eleven men killed and five gunboats had been destroyed. The batteries and town had also been badly damaged in the fighting. British losses were also heavy, with more than 130 killed and more than 230 wounded, most of which had been lost on Hannibal and Pompée. In addition to the loss of Hannibal, Pompée was severely damaged and the remainder of the British squadron all required urgent repairs.