Battle of Tory Island - Savary's Squadron

Savary's Squadron

The French high command had not been idle during the destruction of their invasion force, and had prepared and despatched a second squadron of four frigates under Commodore Daniel Savary. This force was initially ordered to support Bompart, but was later tasked with escorting the squadron's survivors back to France. On 27 October, Savary learnt of the destruction of both Bompart's squadron and the Irish rebellion from sympathetic locals at Killala, and turned immediately south, hoping to avoid a similar fate. However, on 28 October, he was spotted by a three-ship squadron under Captain Sir James Saumarez, which included two ships of the line. Saumarez immediately gave chase, and the squadrons exchanged long-distance cannon fire throughout the day. Late in the evening Saumarez's flagship HMS Caesar lost its foretopmast in strong winds, and command passed to Sir Richard Bickerton, 2nd Bt., in HMS Terrible.

After another day's chase, late on 29 October Savary divided his squadron, sending two frigates to the south east and turning north west with two more. In response, Bickerton split his force, sending the frigate HMS Melpomene after the southern group and following Savary himself in Terrible. By 30 October, both British ships were within 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) of their opponents and were preparing for action, when at 17:00 a severe storm lashed the area. Savary's ships had been extending their pursuit by throwing guns, horses and equipment overboard in an effort to lighten their ships, and were consequently better suited to the high winds. The heavier British ships were unable to match their opponents' speed and fell behind. When the weather cleared, the French ships were out of sight, and all four eventually returned independently to Brest, ending the final French attempt to invade Ireland.

An abortive effort to support the French invasion fleet was also made by the Navy of the Batavian Republic, which despatched the small frigates Furie and Waakzaamheid to Ireland with military supplies on 24 October. Within hours of leaving port, both these ships were intercepted and captured by the British frigate HMS Sirius under the young Captain Richard King at the Action of 24 October 1798.