Battle of Tory Island - Battle of Tory Island

Battle of Tory Island

During the night, Bompart attempted to decoy the British by sending the schooner Biche with orders for the frigate Résolue, commanding Captain Jean-Pierre Bargeau to beach his ship and fire flares in the hope of distracting Warren from his pursuit. For unknown reasons this order was never carried out, and in the morning Warren was still hard behind Bompart, whose ships were now sailing in two uneven lines. Warren's force was even more dispersed, with HMS Robust and HMS Magnanime 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) astern of the French and gaining fast, Amelia and Melampus shortly behind them and Warren's flagship HMS Canada with HMS Foudroyant under Captain Sir Thomas Byard, Kt., 8 nautical miles (15 km) from the enemy. The other British ships were scattered throughout this formation except Anson, which was wallowing to the rear, far out of sight.

Realising that he could not escape and would have to fight his way past the British, Bompart formed his squadron into a battleline and turned westwards, waiting for Warren's signal for the attack. Because of the dispersed nature of his squadron, Warren did not issue this signal until 07:00, when he ordered Robust to steer for the French line and attack Hoche directly. Captain Edward Thornbrough of Robust obeyed immediately and closed with the French, firing into the frigates Embuscade and Coquille as he passed, before closing with Hoche and, at 08:50, beginning a bitter close-range artillery duel. Minutes later Magnanime joined the action, firing on the rear frigates and engaging the French van of Immortalité, Loire and Bellone, which had worn out of the line in an attempt to rake her. The next three British ships into action, Ethalion, Melampus and Amelia, all raked the isolated Hoche as they passed, before pressing on sail to pursue the French frigates, now making distance to the south-west. Canada and the subsequent British ships all ignored Hoche except to fire a few distant shots. By the time they passed, the ship was clearly a wreck, having been pounded repeatedly by Robust and Magnanime. Bompart finally surrendered at 10:50 with 270 of his crew and passengers killed or wounded.

Embuscade was the next to surrender, having been battered in the opening exchanges by Magnanime, and further damaged by long-range fire from Foudroyant during the pursuit. Overhauled by several larger British ships, Captain de la Ronciére surrendered at 11:30 rather than allow his ship to be destroyed. Magnanime, suffering the effects of her engagement with Hoche, took possession of Embuscade and continued to follow slowly behind the rest of the fleet, while Robust, which had suffered severely in her duel with Hoche, remained alongside her erstwhile opponent to take possession. The direction of the French squadron's flight, following the direction of the wind, took them across the path of the straggling British ships, beginning with the Foudroyant. Most of the frigates were able outrun this ponderous enemy, but Bellone was less fortunate and a speculative shot from the battleship detonated a case of grenades in one of her topmasts. This began a disastrous fire which was eventually brought under control, but at a significant cost in speed. She was soon closely attacked by Melampus and suffered further damage. Nearby, the struggling Coquille surrendered after being outrun by the approaching Canada; Warren ordered the slowly following Magnanime to take possession.

Ethalion took over pursuit of Bellone from Melampus, and for two hours maintained continuous fire with her bow-chasers on the French ship. Ethalion was faster than her quarry, and she slowly pulled parallel with Bellone during the afternoon, but could not get close enough for a decisive blow. It took another two hours of pursuit before the battered Bellone eventually surrendered. Hoche apart, Bellone had suffered more casualties than any other ship present. To the south of this conflict, the struggling Anson discovered herself in danger when the surviving frigates of the French vanguard swept towards her en masse. Captain Durham was initially confused by their approach as he had been too distant to witness the action and the French ships flew false British ensigns, but he rapidly realised their true identity and at 16:00 opened fire on Loire. The damaged Anson was severely hampered by her inability to manoeuvre, and so could do nothing when the French ships pulled back and sailed away, except to continue to fire until they were out of range. During the evening, the surviving French frigates gradually pulled away from their pursuers and disappeared into the gathering night, leaving behind four of their squadron, including their flagship, as captives.