French Career and Loss
Greenwich was taken into the French Navy under the same name, and appears to have been quickly pressed into service, as, under the command of a Captain Foucault she was part of a squadron under Guy François de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint which engaged a British squadron at the Battle of Cap-Français on 21 October 1757. The British force, under Commodore Arthur Forrest, had been sent from Jamaica by Rear-Admiral Thomas Cotes to intercept a homeward-bound French convoy. Forrest's force consisted of two 60-gun ships; HMS Augusta, flying Forrest's broad pennant, and HMS Dreadnought, under Captain Maurice Suckling, and the 64-gun HMS Edinburgh, under Captain William Langdon. The recently reinforced French squadron, consisting of Greenwich, the 70-gun Intrépide under Kersaint, the 70-gun Sceptre under Captain Clavel, the 64-gun Opiniatre under Captain Mollieu, the 44-gun frigate Outarde and the 32-gun frigates Sauvage and Licorne came out to meet them.
Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the British engaged the French squadron at 3.20 pm, with the fighting lasting for the next two and a half hours, until Kersaint signalled one of his frigates to tow his damaged flagship, Intrépide, out of the line. In doing so the French line fell into confusion, with Intrépide, Superbe and Greenwich falling aboard each other, and were heavily cannonaded by Augusta and Edinburgh until they were able to untangle themselves. The other French ships gradually broke away from the action and moved off. The British did not pursue, and the two sides returned to their respective ports. The French casualties in the action were estimated at between 500 and 600 killed and wounded, with Greenwich having been reduced to a very leaky condition.
After repairing some of the battle damage Kersaint sailed for France with the convoy, but became caught in a storm in January 1758 as he neared the French coast. Opiniatre, Greenwich and Outarde attempted to anchor, but were driven ashore in the gale and were wrecked.
Read more about this topic: HMS Greenwich (1747)
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