Action of 29 November 1811 facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Action of 29 November 1811
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
La Pomone contre les frégates HMS Alceste et Active, Pierre Julien Gilbert
Date 29 November 1811 Location Off Lissa, Adriatic Sea 42°58′41″N 16°05′06″E / 42.978°N 16.085°E / 42.978; 16.085 Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	France
Commanders and leaders
Murray Maxwell	François Montford
Strength
3 frigates 1 sloop	2 frigates 1 armed storeship
Casualties and losses
61 killed and wounded	100 killed and wounded 300 captured 1 frigate captured 1 armed storeship captured

The Action of 29 November 1811 was a small sea battle between groups of frigates in the Adriatic Sea. It happened during the Napoleonic Wars, as part of the Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814. This battle was one of many fights between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy for control of the Adriatic Sea from 1807 to 1814. During this time, France or its allies controlled all the land around the Adriatic. So, British ships causing trouble there made it very hard for France to move its soldiers and supplies by sea.

This battle took place about eight months after the British won a big victory over the French at the Battle of Lissa. It was the first major ship-on-ship battle since then. The fight in November 1811 happened because British ships stopped a French military convoy. This convoy was traveling from Corfu to Trieste and carrying a lot of cannons. The British won, and only one French ship managed to escape capture. Some historians believe this battle helped convince Napoleon to change his plans for expanding his empire. Instead of moving into the Balkans in 1812, he decided to invade Russia.

Why the Battle Happened

Since 1805, France had controlled areas like Italy and Naples. These areas were on the western side of the Adriatic Sea. Over the next few years, Napoleon gained control of important islands and lands on the eastern side too. This happened through peace agreements like the Treaty of Tilsit and Treaty of Schönbrunn. With these agreements, France took over key islands, especially Corfu, and many important shipyards and harbors.

But keeping control of the Adriatic was much harder than taking it. Armies from Austria, Russia, or the Ottoman Empire could attack. Also, the mountains in the Balkans made it hard to move supplies by land. So, France had to build forts that could only be easily supplied by sea.

The British Royal Navy was very powerful in the Mediterranean Sea after the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. They wanted to stop French supply ships from crossing the Adriatic. After Russia left the fight in 1807, the Royal Navy sent a small group of frigates there. Captain William Hoste led this group. He took over the island of Lissa (now called Vis) to use as a base. From Lissa, he launched attacks against the French and their allies. This forced the French Navy to send much larger forces to fight him.

This back-and-forth fighting continued until March 1811. That's when the French commander in the Adriatic, Bernard Dubourdieu, attacked Lissa with twice as many ships as Hoste had. In the battle that followed, Hoste not only defeated the French but also captured two of their ships, sank another, and killed Dubourdieu.

After the Battle of Lissa, Captain Hoste was badly hurt. He returned to Britain, leaving Captain James Brisbane in charge of the British forces in the Adriatic. The fighting was spread out, so Brisbane let other commanders lead smaller groups of ships. These smaller groups kept having success against French convoys. For example, on November 27, 1811, the ship HMS Eagle stopped a supply mission to Corfu and captured the unarmed French frigate Corceyre. The next day, November 28, at 7:00 AM, a message arrived at Port St. George on Lissa. It warned that another French convoy had been seen near the island.

The Chase Begins

In November 1811, Captain Murray Maxwell of HMS Alceste was the British commander on Lissa. He had two other frigates and a sloop with him. When he got the warning, Maxwell got his ships ready to find and destroy the French convoy. However, the French had tried to invade Lissa in March, so the British defenders were careful. Maxwell had to leave 30 sailors and most of his marines at Port St. George. He also left the 20-gun HMS Acorn behind to protect the harbor. This made his group of ships weaker and also delayed them. Maxwell's force didn't leave Port St. George until 7:00 PM. The British thought the convoy included the French ships Danaé, Flore, and Corona. These were ships that had survived the Battle of Lissa and were thought to be sailing from Trieste to Corfu with supplies.

Soon after passing the southern tip of Lissa, the British ships met a neutral merchant ship. This ship was carrying Lieutenant John McDougal, who used to be on HMS Unite. He was on his way to Malta. McDougal had seen the French ships as he passed them. He realized they were a convoy heading north from Corfu, not south to it. So, he ordered the merchant ship to take him back to Lissa to give a warning. The French convoy was led by Commodore François-Gilles Montfort. It had three ships: two large frigates, Pomone and Pauline, and the smaller Persanne. The convoy had left Corfu on November 16, carrying a cargo of cannons to Trieste.

The Ships Involved

Captain Maxwell's Squadron (British)
Ship	Type	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties			Notes
					Killed	Wounded	Total
HMS Alceste	Fifth rate	38		Captain Murray Maxwell	7	13	20
HMS Active	Fifth rate	38		Captain James Alexander Gordon	9	26	35
HMS Unite	Fifth rate	36		Captain Edwin Henry Chamberlayne	2	4	6
HMS Kingfisher	Sloop	18		Captain Ewell Tritton	0	0	0	Independent sailor, not engaged in the action.
Total British Casualties: 18 killed, 43 wounded, 61 total

Commodore Montfort's Squadron (French)
Ship	Type	Guns	Navy	Commander	Casualties			Notes
					Killed	Wounded	Total
Windward Division
Pauline	Fifth rate	40		Commodore François-Gilles Montfort	-	-	unknown
Pomone	Fifth rate	40		Captain Claude Charles Marie du Campe de Rosamel	-	-	~50	Captured and taken to Britain, later broken up.
Persanne	Sixth rate	26		Captain Joseph-André Satie	3	4	7	Captured and sold to the Bey of Tunis.
Total French Casualties: At least 50 killed and wounded
Sources: Gardiner, p. 178; James, p. 378

Key

• A † symbol means the officer died during the battle or from their injuries.
• The ships are listed in the order they lined up for battle.

The Battle Begins

Captain Gordon, on the Active, saw the French ships at 9:20 AM on November 29. They were sailing northwest near the island of Augusta (Lastovo). At first, the French ships kept their course. But when they realized the approaching ships were British, Montfort ordered all sails up to escape. By 11:00 AM, it was clear that Persanne could not keep up with the two larger frigates. So, she turned northeast, hoping to get away on her own.

Active first chased the smaller ship. But Maxwell called her back and sent Unite after Persanne. He kept Active and Alceste chasing the bigger French ships. By 11:50 AM, it was clear that Alceste would soon catch the slow, heavily loaded French ships. Maxwell sent a signal to Gordon: "Remember the battle of Lissa." This was a nod to the battle eight months earlier, where Hoste had famously signaled "Remember Nelson."

The first shots were fired at 12:30 PM by Persanne near the island of Pelagosa (Palagruža). But the main battle didn't start for another hour. That's when Alceste and Pomone began shooting at each other with their front and back guns. By 1:40 PM, Alceste was firing all her side guns into Pomone. She was also trying to sail faster to reach Pauline. But a shot from Pomone hit Alceste's main topmast, breaking it. This slowed her down suddenly, letting Pauline pull ahead a bit.

At 2:00 PM, Active joined the fight and also began firing into Pomone. This forced Montfort to turn Pauline around to protect her outgunned partner. By 2:20 PM, the fights between Active and Pomone, and Alceste and Pauline had become separate duels. Pomone was taking heavy damage. Active was also hit hard, and a 32-pounder carronade shot cut off Captain Gordon's leg during the most intense part of the battle.

At 3:05 PM, another British ship appeared on the horizon: the sloop HMS Kingfisher. This convinced Montfort that he could no longer protect the badly damaged Pomone against so many British ships. Pauline set all sails and headed west. The British ships were either too damaged or too far away to chase her. Alceste and Active then focused all their firepower on Pomone. She soon lost both her masts and had to surrender to avoid being completely destroyed. Pauline escaped and later reached Ancona safely, but she had been severely damaged in the fight.

Unite vs. Persanne

The second part of the battle happened within sight of the other ships at first. Persanne fired the first shots at the chasing Unite at 12:30 PM. These smaller ships were faster and could move more easily than the larger ones. Because of this, Unite didn't catch the smaller ship until 4:00 PM. During the chase, the ships exchanged long-range shots from their front and back guns. These shots caused six injuries on Unite but none on Persanne.

From the outside, Persanne looked like a frigate similar in size to the fifth rate Unite. However, the French ship was only lightly armed. She carried 26 small guns, while her opponent had 36. So, when Captain Satie realized his ship couldn't outrun Unite, he surrendered after firing just a few shots. He didn't want his ship to be destroyed by the more powerful British vessel.

What Happened Next

Both sides had many casualties in the battle. The British ships, with fewer crew members, had 61 men killed or wounded. The French lost over 50 men on Pomone alone. There were no casualties on Persanne. Pauline's losses are unknown, but people believe she had many injured given how damaged she was. The French also lost the cargo on Persanne and Pomone. This included 201 bronze and iron cannons, 220 iron wheels for gun carriages, and many other military supplies.

The junior officers of Alceste and Active received promotions. Both crews were praised and given prize money for their service. The crew of Unite did not get similar rewards, probably because Persanne was much smaller and less armed than their ship. The total prize money was £3,500. This was less than expected because neither of the captured ships was good enough for the Royal Navy to buy. Pomone had been quickly built in 1803 as a personal warship for Jérôme Bonaparte, so she was not very strong. Persanne was designed as an armed supply ship, not a full warship. In the end, Pomone was sent to Britain, briefly renamed HMS Ambuscade, and then taken apart for materials. Persanne was sold to the Bey of Tunis. Nearly 40 years later, this battle was one of the actions recognized by a special medal, the Naval General Service Medal, given to all British participants still alive in 1847.

In France, the battle had bigger effects. Losing two ships and over 200 cannons was a serious blow to the French army gathering in the Balkans. Napoleon himself was interested in the battle. British historian James Henderson has suggested that this action convinced Napoleon that he could not control the Adriatic Sea. Control of this sea was very important for launching military operations in the Balkans. This battle may have been a reason for his decision to give up plans to invade the Ottoman Empire. Instead, he turned his attention to Russia. In the French Navy, Pauline's escape was seen as cowardly. Captain Montfort was put on trial by a military court and removed from his command. In 1817, when Murray Maxwell visited St Helena on his way back from the East Indies (where HMS Alceste had been wrecked), Napoleon greeted him by saying, "Your government must not blame you for the loss of Alceste, for you have taken one of my frigates."

The battle's effects on the Adriatic itself were small. It only confirmed that the British already had almost complete control of the region. The French Navy continued to try and get more ships for their groups, focusing on building new ships in Italian ports. These ships wouldn't be ready until 1812. Because of this, the Action of 29 November 1811 was the last important battle of that year in the Adriatic.

See Also

• Adriatic Campaign
• Murray Maxwell