Battle of the Malta Convoy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Battle of the Malta convoy |
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| Part of the Mediterranean campaign and the Siege of Malta during the War of the Second Coalition |
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 Battle of the Malta Convoy, HMS Success attacks Généreux on 18 February 1800 by E. H. Dyason |
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| Belligerents | |||||
 Great Britain |
 France |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
 Horatio Nelson |
Jean Perrée † |
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| Strength | |||||
| 3 ships of the line 1 frigate |
1 ship of the line 3 corvettes 3 transport ships |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||
| 10 killed and wounded | 1 killed 1 ship of the line captured 1 transport ship captured |
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The Battle of the Malta Convoy was an important sea fight during the French Revolutionary Wars. It happened on February 18, 1800, while the French were under siege in Malta.
For 18 months, French soldiers in the city of Valletta, Malta, were surrounded. British, Portuguese, and Maltese forces blocked them on land. The Royal Navy, led by Lord Nelson, blocked them by sea. Nelson's base was in Palermo, Sicily.
By early 1800, the French soldiers in Valletta were running out of food. To help them, a convoy of ships was sent from Toulon, France. These ships carried food, weapons, and more soldiers. The convoy was led by Contre-amiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée. On February 17, the French convoy neared Malta. They hoped to sneak past the British ships by staying close to the shore.
On February 18, 1800, lookouts on the British ship HMS Alexander spotted the French convoy. The British ships chased them. Most of the French ships were faster and got away. However, one transport ship was caught and had to surrender. Perrée's main ship, Généreux, was stopped by a smaller British ship, the frigate HMS Success.
During the fight, Success was badly damaged. But Perrée, the French commander, was seriously hurt. This delay allowed the main British fleet to catch up to Généreux. Outnumbered, Généreux surrendered. Perrée died soon after. None of the supplies reached Malta. The French in Malta held out for seven more months before surrendering on September 4, 1800.
Why the Battle Happened
French Control of Malta
In May 1798, during the French Revolutionary Wars, a French army left Toulon. Their leader was General Napoleon Bonaparte. They sailed across the Mediterranean Sea and captured Malta in early June. Then, they continued to Egypt.
The French fleet, led by Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, was told to wait in Aboukir Bay. This bay was near Alexandria, Egypt. On August 1, 1798, a British fleet, led by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, surprised and attacked the French ships. This battle was called the Battle of the Nile.
Most of the French warships were captured or destroyed. Only a few French ships escaped. One of them, Généreux, sailed north to Corfu. Another ship, Guillaume Tell, and two frigates sailed west to Malta. They arrived just as the island was coming under siege.
Maltese Uprising and French Siege
The French had taken over Malta. They made changes that many Maltese people did not like, especially regarding the Roman Catholic Church. On September 2, 1798, the Maltese people started an armed uprising. They forced the French soldiers to retreat into the capital city, Valletta.
About 3,000 French soldiers were trapped inside Valletta. They had limited food. British and Portuguese ships blocked the harbor, making it hard for supplies to reach them. This blockade was overseen by Lord Nelson, who was based in Palermo, Sicily. Captain Alexander Ball directly managed the blockade on his ship, HMS Alexander.
During 1799, the blockade had some weak points. Sometimes, French ships managed to get supplies through. But even with these small amounts, the French soldiers in Valletta began to suffer from hunger and sickness.
French Plan to Resupply Malta
By January 1800, the French Navy knew that Valletta was in danger of surrendering. They prepared a convoy of ships in Toulon to resupply the city. The convoy included the warship Généreux, three smaller warships called corvettes, and two or three transport ships.
The force was led by Contre-amiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée. He had been captured the year before but was released. His orders were to approach Valletta from the southwest, hugging the Maltese coast. The goal was to slip past the British blockade before they could be spotted. The convoy sailed on February 7.
The convoy also carried nearly 3,000 French soldiers. This was a problem because adding more soldiers would quickly use up any new food supplies.
British Preparations
At the same time, the British Royal Navy was replacing 500 Portuguese soldiers on Malta. They were bringing in 1,200 Neapolitan troops from King Ferdinand. Lord Nelson was told to go with this convoy.
The overall commander of the British fleet in the Mediterranean, Vice-Admiral Lord Keith, led this effort. He was on his flagship, HMS Queen Charlotte.
The Battle Unfolds
Spotting the French Convoy
Lord Keith's convoy arrived off Malta in early February 1800. The Neapolitan troops were unloaded at Marsa Sirocco. On February 17, while near Valletta, Keith received news from the frigate HMS Success.
Success, commanded by Captain Shuldham Peard, had been watching the waters near Trapani, Sicily. Peard had found Perrée's French convoy and followed them as they approached Malta.
When Keith got the message, he quickly gave orders. HMS Lion was sent to cover the channel between Malta and Gozo. Nelson's flagship HMS Foudroyant, HMS Audacious, and HMS Northumberland joined Alexander off Malta's southeastern coast. Keith himself stayed near Valletta on Queen Charlotte.
The Chase and First Contact
At dawn on February 18, lookouts on Alexander saw the French convoy. They were sailing along the Maltese coast toward Valletta. The British ships began to chase them.
At 8:00 AM, the French transport ship Ville de Marseille was caught. It surrendered to Lieutenant Harrington's ship. But the other smaller French ships turned and headed out to sea, led by Badine.
Généreux could not follow them. If it did, it would have to fight Alexander. So, Généreux stayed put. This position made it hard for Alexander to attack easily.
Success vs. Généreux
However, Captain Peard on Success saw his chance. He brought his small frigate right in front of the large French warship. Success opened fire with heavy cannons. Peard managed to fire several broadsides (all the cannons on one side of the ship) at Perrée's ship.
The French officers then managed to turn Généreux to fire back at Success. They caused serious damage to Success's rigging and masts. But by this time, Perrée was no longer in command. A shot from the first broadside had hit his left eye, blinding him temporarily. He stayed on deck, telling his crew, "It is nothing, my friends, continue with your work."
As he gave orders to turn the ship, a cannonball from Success's second broadside hit him. It tore off his right leg. Perrée fell unconscious on the deck.
French Surrender
Even though Success was badly damaged and drifting, the delay it caused was crucial. Nelson's flagship Foudroyant, commanded by Captain Sir Edward Berry, and Northumberland, led by Captain George Martin, caught up to Généreux by 4:30 PM.
Foudroyant fired two shots at the French warship. The French officers, who were now without their commander and feeling defeated, fired one broadside back. Then, at 5:30 PM, they surrendered.
The remaining French ships had escaped to sea and eventually reached Toulon. The British squadron secured their captured ships and returned to Lord Keith. British losses in the battle were one man killed and nine wounded, all on Success. The only French loss was Perrée, who died from his wounds that evening.
Aftermath of the Battle
The Captured Ship
Sir Edward Berry accepted the French surrender. He had been a prisoner on Généreux himself after his ship, Leander, was captured in 1798. Nelson was especially happy to capture Généreux. It was one of only two French warships that had escaped the Battle of the Nile two years earlier.
Généreux was only slightly damaged. It was sent to Menorca for repairs. Lieutenant Lord Cochrane and his brother, Midshipman Archibald Cochrane, took the ship there. During the journey, a severe storm hit. Thanks to the brothers' leadership, the ship survived and reached Port Mahon. The British Navy soon took the ship into their service as HMS Genereux.
Lord Keith gave Nelson credit for the victory. However, Nelson himself praised Harrington and Peard for finding the French convoy and bringing it to battle. The British squadron's presence off Malta when the French convoy arrived was largely due to good luck. Captain Alexander Ball wrote about this luck in a letter:
"We may truly call him a heaven-born Admiral, upon whom fortune smiles wherever he goes. We have been carrying on the blockade of Malta sixteen months, during which time the enemy never attempted to throw in succours until this month. His Lordship arrived here the day they were within a few leagues of the island, captured the principal ships, so that not one has reached the port."
Nelson's Departure and Malta's Fate
Lord Keith was happy with the battle's outcome. But he gave Nelson strict orders to stay in command of the blockade. Nelson was not to return to Palermo. If he needed to go to a port in Sicily, he should use Syracuse instead.
Keith then sailed to Livorno. His flagship, Queen Charlotte, was destroyed there in a sudden fire. More than 700 crew members died, but Keith was not on board.
By early March, Nelson grew tired of the blockade. He went back to Palermo, ignoring Keith's orders. Captain Thomas Troubridge of HMS Culloden took command of the blockade squadron.
In March, while Nelson was away, the French warship Guillaume Tell tried to escape from Malta. This was the last French warship that had survived the Battle of the Nile. But a British squadron, led by Berry on Foudroyant, chased it down and defeated it.
The French Navy made no more attempts to reach Malta with supplies. Any French warships that tried to break out of the port were stopped by the blockade. Only one frigate managed to get through to France.
Without the supplies from Perrée's convoy, hunger and disease spread among the French soldiers in Valletta. By the end of August 1800, about 100 French soldiers were dying each day. On September 4, General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois finally surrendered. The island was given to the British, who kept it for the next 164 years.
