Allemand's expedition of 1805 facts for kids

Allemand's expedition of 1805, also known as the Escadre invisible (invisible squadron) by the French, was an important French naval mission during the Napoleonic Wars. It played a big part in distracting the British during the Trafalgar Campaign. Emperor Napoleon I hoped to combine his French fleets to push back the British Royal Navy from the English Channel. This would allow his invasion army to cross and land in Britain.

To help with this plan, a French squadron from Rochefort sailed in July 1805. They were supposed to join the main French fleet from Brest. But when the Brest fleet didn't sail, the Rochefort squadron, led by Contre-Admiral Zacharie Allemand, went on a long journey across the Atlantic. Their goals were to attack British trade ships, which were not well protected, and eventually meet up with the French Mediterranean Fleet.

On September 25, Allemand had a big success. While waiting for a convoy from the Leeward Islands, his squadron found seven ships from Saint Helena. The convoy's leader, Captain Daniel Woodriff on the ship HMS Calcutta, bravely placed his ship between the French and his convoy. He was captured after a tough fight. All but one of his convoy escaped. By drawing the French away, he also saved the Leeward Islands convoy from attack. After the battle, Allemand had to stop for repairs at Tenerife. He sailed again on October 17, just four days before the French Mediterranean Fleet was destroyed at the Battle of Trafalgar.

With the invasion plan now impossible, Allemand started attacking British merchant ships in the Eastern Atlantic. He captured 43 ships during his trip. He also messed up the British blockade of Cadiz. This had an unexpected but important effect on the Atlantic campaign of 1806, which led to the Battle of San Domingo in February 1806. Allemand returned to Rochefort on December 23. He did not lose a single ship during his entire mission.

The Trafalgar Campaign: Napoleon's Big Plan

In March 1805, the French Mediterranean Fleet, led by Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, sailed from Toulon. Their long journey to the West Indies was meant to end with them joining the French Atlantic Fleet at Brest. Together, these huge fleets would clear the English Channel. This would allow Napoleon's army to cross and invade Britain.

Villeneuve reached Martinique on May 14. He waited for the Atlantic fleet to arrive, but they never left port. Vice-Admiral Honoré Ganteaume had tried to break out of Brest in March but failed. His fleet stayed in port for the whole campaign. On June 7, Villeneuve learned that the British Mediterranean Fleet, led by Lord Nelson, had arrived in the Caribbean. Villeneuve quickly sailed back to Europe. He eventually found shelter in the Spanish harbor of Vigo. This was after a fight on July 22 with a British fleet under Sir Robert Calder at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, where two of his ships were captured. After these events, Nelson and Calder went back to Britain. Only smaller British squadrons were left near the French and Spanish coasts.

Even with these delays, Napoleon pushed ahead with his invasion plans. An army of 200,000 men was gathering at Boulogne for the invasion. Orders kept coming for Villeneuve's and Ganteaume's fleets to sail. The squadron at Rochefort, led by Contre-Admiral Zacharie Allemand, was also ordered to sail. Allemand's squadron was strong. It included the huge 120-gun ship Majestueux, three other large warships, and several smaller frigates and brigs. This was a powerful force on its own.

Allemand was told to wait off the coast of Cornwall. He was to meet the combined fleets of Villeneuve and Ganteaume there. If they didn't show up, Allemand was then ordered to the Bay of Biscay to join Villeneuve. If that also failed, he was to attack British merchant ships in the Atlantic. This would take advantage of the British navy being focused on Europe, leaving their trade routes less protected.

Bay of Biscay: A Game of Hide-and-Seek

Allemand sailed from Rochefort on July 16. The British blockade squadron was out of position, so he quickly escaped into the Atlantic. On July 17, his squadron caught and captured the British ship HMS Ranger. Ranger was a small warship with 16 guns, but it actually carried 24. The crew of Ranger had seen the French coming. Their commander, Charles Coote, ordered them to damage their ship as much as possible. This was to stop the French from using it. They did such a good job that Allemand had to burn Ranger after taking its crew as prisoners.

Allemand then reached his first waiting spot, off The Lizard, the day after capturing Ranger. He waited there for Ganteaume's fleet, but it never left Brest. Following his orders, Allemand then sailed to the Bay of Biscay. He was supposed to meet Villeneuve's fleet there. He sailed south during July and was near Cape Finisterre on July 22. Later records show he was close enough to the Battle of Cape Finisterre to have joined the fight if he had known it was happening.

News of Allemand's presence reached Villeneuve in early August. On August 5, Villeneuve sent the frigate HMS Didon to find Allemand's squadron. On August 9, the main fleet, with 29 warships, followed Didon. Villeneuve sailed up the Spanish coast, stopping near Ferrol on August 10. He left the next day, heading west-northwest. On August 13, the British frigates HMS Iris and HMS Naiad spotted Villeneuve's fleet. They were chased by a French group and lost sight of the enemy on August 14.

While Villeneuve was looking for Allemand, Allemand's squadron was sailing south along the Spanish coast, looking for Villeneuve. They stopped at Vigo on August 16 but saw no sign of the main French fleet. Villeneuve had not left any instructions at Vigo. Allemand didn't know where his superior was going. Meanwhile, one of Villeneuve's scouting frigates spoke to a Danish ship. The Danish ship reported that a British fleet of 25 warships was actively searching for the French. On the evening of August 14, Villeneuve's scouts saw the British warship HMS Dragon, the frigate HMS Phoenix, and the captured Didon to the west. The French admiral thought they were the front of this British fleet. He turned south. The British ship Dragon even sent out fake signals to make him think this. In reality, these were the only British ships in the area. The Danish ship had been told false information by Dragon earlier. So, the French admiral was tricked into running from a fleet that didn't exist.

Villeneuve sailed past Vigo on his escape south. He reached the Spanish naval base of Cadiz on August 20. By giving up his efforts to reach the English Channel, Villeneuve was effectively ending the invasion plan. When Napoleon heard about Villeneuve's retreat, he decided to officially cancel the invasion. He marched his army from Boulogne south to the Austrian border. Without orders from his superior, and not knowing where the main French fleet was, Allemand spent much of August off the Spanish coast. He then decided to follow the third part of his orders: attacking British trade.

The Calcutta Convoy: A Brave Sacrifice

Quick facts for kids Action of 26 September 1805
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
Magnanime fighting HMS Calcutta, Thomas Whitcombe, National Library of Australia
Date 25–26 September 1805 Location 49°30′N 09°00′W / 49.500°N 9.000°W / 49.500; -9.000 ("Action of 26 September 1805"), Western Approaches Result French victory
Belligerents
France	United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Contre-Admiral Zacharie Allemand	Captain Daniel Woodriff
Strength
5 ships of the line, 2 frigates and 2 corvettes. Only Armide and Magnanime engaged.	fourth rate HMS Calcutta
Casualties and losses
negligible	6 killed, 6 wounded, Calcutta and merchant ship Brothers captured

The large French fleets in Brest and Cadiz were making it hard for the British Royal Navy. Convoy escorts were weaker than usual because many ships were busy blockading the French and Spanish. Because of this, many British merchant ships were sailing alone in the Bay of Biscay. Allemand found and captured three of them on his way north. From the prisoners on these ships, the French admiral learned that a large convoy from the West Indies was expected. It was only protected by one warship, HMS Illustrious. This would be a huge success for Allemand. So, his squadron waited in the area known as the Western Approaches during September 1805.

At noon on September 25, at 49°30′N 09°00′W / 49.500°N 9.000°W / 49.500; -9.000 ("Action of 26 September 1805), the French frigate Armide, part of Allemand's squadron, spotted sails to the southeast. As it got closer, these sails were identified as a small British convoy. It wasn't the big convoy from Illustrious. Instead, it was a convoy from Saint Helena. It included the large merchant ship Indus, two whaling ships, three smaller merchant ships, the slow merchant vessel Brothers, and the 50-gun warship HMS Calcutta. The convoy had left Saint Helena with seven ships on August 3. They sailed quickly north until September 14. Then, Brothers joined them. This ship had been blown away from the Illustrious convoy by a storm days earlier. Brothers was heavily loaded and sailed very slowly. This caused the entire Saint Helena convoy to be severely delayed.

When lookouts on Calcutta saw the sails to the northwest, Captain Daniel Woodriff wasn't worried at first. He expected the Illustrious convoy from that direction. He also knew many British squadrons were at sea. Throughout the afternoon and the next night, the unknown ships got closer. By 11:00 on September 26, they were close enough for Woodriff to send the Royal Navy's secret recognition signals.

By noon, Woodriff realized the approaching ships didn't know the signals. They had to be enemies. His first goal was to protect his convoy. Woodriff sent an urgent message to Indus, the largest and strongest merchant ship. He told it to lead the main part of the convoy east as fast as possible. With his most valuable ships now getting away, Woodriff convinced the captain of Brothers to sail north. Woodriff planned to fight the French directly and draw them south. This would take them away from the Saint Helena convoy and also from where the Illustrious convoy was expected.

Once the merchant ships were out of sight, Woodriff turned Calcutta around. He sailed directly towards the closest French ship, the frigate Armide, which was catching up to him. Armide was much faster than the slow Calcutta. It quickly passed her, out of range of her side guns. The frigate then turned and opened fire with its rear guns at 3:00 PM. Calcutta fired back with its front guns, but it didn't do much. Then, Armide allowed the British ship to come alongside. The two ships then fired heavily at each other for an hour. Armide, with its ropes and sails badly damaged, pulled back towards the fast-approaching French squadron.

At 5:00 PM, the leading French warship, Magnanime, came within range with its front guns. Calcutta kept sailing south, staying ahead of the squadron but not far enough to avoid Magnanime's fire. Woodriff realized that his ship would be caught unless he took big risks. He turned Calcutta back towards Magnanime. He hoped to disable it before the next ship, the frigate Thétis, could join the fight. Captain Pierre-François Violette on Magnanime got ready to meet Calcutta. The battle quickly became fierce. Calcutta and Magnanime fired all their side guns at each other from close range.

Within 45 minutes, it was clear Woodriff's plan had failed. The bigger and more powerful Magnanime badly damaged Calcutta's ropes and sails. This made her unable to move or escape. The rest of the French squadron was closing in. With defeat certain, Woodriff saved his men's lives by lowering his flag and surrendering to Violette. Although Calcutta was badly damaged in her rigging and sails, her hull was mostly fine. She had only lost six men killed and six wounded. French casualties were very small. Armide had to make many temporary repairs to her sails and rigging before she could scout again. Brothers had also been captured. The small warship Sylphe had chased and quickly caught the slow merchant ship, which surrendered without a fight.

Raiding Operations: Allemand's Atlantic Adventure

Captain Woodriff's resistance had an important, unexpected effect on Allemand's journey. By drawing the French squadron south, Woodriff pulled them out of the path of the Illustrious convoy. After the battle, it took two days to repair the damaged Calcutta. During that time, the Illustrious convoy safely passed Allemand's old position without seeing the French.

With his main goal missed, Allemand finished repairing Calcutta. He put some of his own crew on board and added the ship to his force. Knowing that news of his presence would spread quickly, Allemand then turned south. He sailed from the North Atlantic to the coast of North Africa to avoid British ships chasing him. There, Allemand stopped for a while at the Spanish island of Tenerife. He was able to repair and resupply his squadron. Then, he began a long journey attacking British convoys that regularly crossed that area.

Meanwhile, the Trafalgar campaign reached its most important point on October 21, 1805. Villeneuve's fleet was found at sea off Cadiz by Nelson's fleet. It was destroyed at the Battle of Trafalgar. The French and Spanish lost 17 out of 30 warships. The British fleet didn't lose a single ship. But the victory came at a high cost: Lord Nelson, a hero of many battles, was killed during the fight. The remaining ships of the combined fleet scattered. Most went back to Cadiz. However, the four ships of the French front line, which had quickly moved away from the battle, escaped towards the Bay of Biscay under Contre-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley.

Allemand's journey had unexpected effects on Dumanoir's squadron. Among the British forces looking for the Rochefort ships was a squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan. His squadron included five warships and two frigates. On November 2, the frigate HMS Phoenix, which was also looking for Allemand, found four French ships near Cape Finisterre. Captain Dundas didn't know about the Battle of Trafalgar. He thought these ships were part of Allemand's force. He tried to trick them into chasing him towards Strachan's squadron, which he knew was nearby. Dundas successfully made Dumanoir chase his frigate. Two days later, on February 4, Strachan was able to fight the French squadron. He captured all four ships at the Battle of Cape Ortegal.

While these events happened, Allemand was hundreds of miles to the south. He was successfully attacking trade ships along the African coast. He faced no serious opposition from major British forces, which were still mostly in European waters. There was a big worry in Britain that Allemand might intercept two very important convoys. One was a very valuable convoy from India to Britain, which also carried Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington). The other was an invasion force under Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham for a planned invasion of South Africa. Luckily, both these convoys managed to avoid Allemand's force.

On November 20, with his supplies running low, Allemand attacked a convoy of seven ships sailing from Britain to Gorée, near the Savage Islands. His attack was successful, but Allemand couldn't stop the convoy's escort, the 18-gun ship HMS Lark, from escaping. The Lark's commander, Frederick Langford, sailed quickly north looking for help. On November 26, he found his target: HMS Agamemnon. This ship was part of a squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth. Duckworth had been ordered to keep a close watch on Cadiz. This was to stop any remaining French ships from escaping. The work was boring. When Duckworth heard about Allemand's attack, he immediately left his post. He sailed south to find the French, leaving Cadiz guarded by only two frigates.

Allemand knew the risk of letting Lark escape. He was already many miles north when Duckworth headed south. There was no benefit in fighting Duckworth or any other British squadron. He didn't delay on his way home. He reached Rochefort without any more problems on December 23. However, his actions off the Savage Islands had big consequences. Duckworth continued south for much of December 1805. He only turned back north when he reached the Cape Verde Islands, a point too far south for Allemand to have been. Accepting that his enemy had escaped, Duckworth turned back north. Soon after, he met the frigate HMS Arethusa. Its large convoy had been broken up by an unknown French squadron in the Bay of Biscay. Duckworth thought this force was Allemand. He set a course to find them based on their last known direction. Duckworth's guess was good. On December 26, he found a large squadron and immediately chased it. It wasn't until later that he realized the force he was chasing was too big to be Allemand's. In fact, Duckworth had found a squadron under Contre-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez. This squadron, along with another under Contre-Admiral Corentin Urbain Leissègues, had sailed from Brest on December 15. This marked the start of the Atlantic campaign of 1806, an operation largely inspired by Allemand's successful expedition. Willaumez eventually outran Duckworth. But the chase lasted so long that Duckworth's squadron had to get fresh supplies at St Kitts in the West Indies. There, he heard that Leissègues had been seen off Santo Domingo. He sailed to investigate and destroyed the French squadron at the Battle of San Domingo in February 1806.

Aftermath: A French Success Story

The French navy saw Allemand's journey as a major success. This was especially true in a year when they had lost many ships and men. Besides Ranger and Calcutta, Allemand had captured the small naval ship Dove and 43 merchant ships, including the slow Brothers. Except for Calcutta, all these captured ships were burned. Their prisoners, totaling 1,200, were moved to the French squadron. With very few losses, Allemand had hurt British trade in the Atlantic. He also kept many British Royal Navy ships busy during a difficult and very important campaign.

Calcutta was bought into the French Navy. She became an armed supply ship, still carrying 50 guns. She served for three years before being destroyed at the Battle of the Basque Roads in April 1809. Her British officers were later exchanged and found innocent at the court-martial that looked into her loss.

In France, Allemand was highly praised for his successful mission. This was even more so because both Leissègues and Willaumez faced disaster during the 1806 campaign. Allemand stayed with the Atlantic fleet for the next two years. In 1808, he led another successful mission in the Atlantic. He carried extra troops and supplies to the Mediterranean Fleet at Toulon. In 1809, he returned to command the Brest fleet. His ships were trapped near the Île-d'Aix. He later commanded the fleet during the defeat at the Battle of Basque Roads. His captains on the expedition were also praised. Two of them later led their own missions, though both ended in defeat. Captain Éléonore-Jean-Nicolas Soleil commanded a frigate squadron for the West Indies. It was destroyed in the Bay of Biscay at the action of 25 September 1806. Captain Amable-Gilles Troude led a larger squadron to the West Indies in early 1809. He suffered defeat in a battle off the Îles des Saintes.

Order of battle