# Talk:Action of 6 November 1794

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/hms-alexander-commanded-by-captain-rodney-bligh-shortly-be42777
Author died 1879
©Geni 05:49, 15 October 2011 (UTC)

This is just a notice to any one interested in this article that I will be developing a fully explained and sourced version of this article in my userpace over the next week or so, to be uploaded here once complete. It will be loosely based on the current text, but will be extensively sourced, expanded and rewritten. I note that there has been no serious activity on this page, but should any one have any comments, requests or questions then please notify me at my talk page and I will do my best to respond and incorporated the results into the finished article. Regards--Jackyd101 (talk) 19:58, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

The new article is now up: a few notes 1) I had to copy and paste the new text in - for the sequence of revisions I made to the new draft, see the redirect User:Jackyd101/Action of 6 November 1794. 2) Because I don't speak French and have no access to French sources, the article is based primarily on British sources which for this action, are fairly vague on detail. I am aware that the previous version of the article made use of the French account here, which as best as I can translate differs from the British versions in the identities of the ships that attacked Alexander and the number of French casualties (the British reckoning of French losses in this action is totally absurd - there is no way French losses could plausibly be that high without one of the ships exploding). If someone can provide reliable French sources on this subject (I don't know if that website is reliable) I would be very pleased to incorporate them into the article. Regards--Jackyd101 (talk) 09:54, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
Found one - much more reliable casualty figures used--Jackyd101 (talk) 14:17, 28 April 2012 (UTC)

While the author of this article correctly recognizes that casualty figures from this era are notoriously imprecise, I think it's an overstatement to call the total of 450 French casualties "absurd" or "enormously overstated".  Three French ships of the line were involved, two of them were sufficiently damaged that they had to drop out of the conflict, and the third was engaged for over an hour.  By comparison, three French ships of the line were captured at the Battle of Groix, and the reported casualties on those ships totalled 670.  Based on that I think 450 casualties in this action is certainly within the realm of credibility, if perhaps somewhat exaggerated.
On the other hand, Rouvier's claim of only 10 injured clearly is absurd.  Given the length of the action, the damage to the French ships, and the results of similar actions it would be hard to see the casualties being less than 50 or 60 killed and wounded in each ship.
This is a small action and probably not worth a lot of effort, but taking a more detailed review of the various histories to try and get a more accurate sense of the casualties would not be a bad idea.