page_title: HMS Aigle (1801)
section_title: Walcheren Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Aigle (1801) / Service / Walcheren Campaign
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Evacuation de Walcheren par les Anglais - 30 août 1809 - Composition de PHILIPPOTEAUXDeutsch: Einschiffung der britischen Truppen beim Rückzug von Walcheren 1809Nederlands: De Britten verlaten Walcheren na de Walcherenexpeditie. Afbeelding door Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux.
context_page_description: HMS Aigle was a 36-gun, fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Ordered on 15 September 1799 and built at Bucklers Hard shipyard, she was launched 23 September 1801. More than fifty of her crew were involved in the Easton Massacre when she visited Portland in April 1803 to press recruits. Much of her career as a frigate was spent in home waters where she fought the Battle of Basque Roads in 1809; initially providing support to the crews of the fireships, then forcing the surrender of the stranded French ships, Varsovie and Aquilon. Later that year she left The Downs to take part in the Walcheren Campaign where she carried out a two-day long bombardment of Flushing, leading to its capitulation on 15 August.
  In October 1811, Aigle was sent to the Mediterranean where she and her crew raided the island of Elba before being asked to provide naval support during the invasion and occupation of Genoa. Refitted in January 1820, her square stern was replaced with a circular one, giving her a wider angle of fire and improved protection at the rear. Converted to a corvette in 1831, she returned to the Mediterranean under Lord Paget.
context_section_description: Aigle was part of a large expeditionary force in the summer 1809. Comprising more than 600 vessels and nearly 40,000 troops, it left The Downs on 28 July, intent on destroying the dockyards and arsenals at Antwerp, Terneuse and Flushing, and capturing the French fleet stationed in the river Scheldt.
  Troops were landed on the Island of Walcheren at 16:30 on 30 July, while bomb-vessels and gun-boats began a bombardment of Veere. The town surrendered immediately but it took several days of fighting, before the fort was captured on 1 August. The British then mounted an attack on Flushing, and the island of Zuid-Beveland which was taken unopposed; the forts there having already been deserted. However, the British neglected Cadzand on the south-west side of the Scheldt, where more than 5,700 French troops crossed the river to reinforce Flushing. The capitulation of Fort Rammekens allowed the British to besiege the town on 3 August and to prevent further aid being sent, a flotilla of gunboats was dispatched to the western arm of the Scheldt, to cut it off on the seaward side. The British then began locating and marking a channel for larger ships on 6 August.
  A large squadron of ten frigates, including Aigle, was eventually able to make its way up the western passage on 9 August, enduring fire from batteries on both sides of the river for more than two hours. Aigle, in the centre, had her stern frame shattered when a shell fell through the deck and exploded, killing a marine and wounding four other members of the crew. She was the only ship to suffer any damage and her casualties amounted to almost half the total of two killed and nine wounded.
  A two-day long bombardment of Flushing forced its capitulation on 15 August. Ratified the following day, it left the British in control of Walcheren which they garrisoned with 10,000 troops. Schouwen and Duiveland on the Eastern branch of the Scheldt, were occupied peacefully on 17 August. The French fleet had already withdrawn to Antwerp however, having been informed on 29 July when the British were still at sea. Between the British and their objective were now more than 35,000 French soldiers, garrisoned in heavily armed forts at Lillo, Liefkenshoech, and Antwerp. The deliberate destruction of dykes by the French had led to widespread flooding, and with disease spreading through the British army, it was decided to abandon the expedition in early September.
  After a 13 hour chase across the Atlantic on 12 September 1810, Aigle captured a French privateer from Bordeaux: Phoenix, armed with eighteen 18-pounder carronades and carrying a well trained crew of 129, had been successfully preying on British and American shipping.
caption: Sick troops being evacuated from Walcheren on 30 August 1809
exif: {}