page_title: Atlantic campaign of 1806
section_title: French plans
hierarchical_section_title: Atlantic campaign of 1806 / Background / French plans
caption_attribution_description: Allemand's French squadron in pursuit of a British conovy, 1805
context_page_description: The Atlantic campaign of 1806 was a complicated series of manoeuvrees and counter-manoeuveres conducted by squadrons of the French Navy and the British Royal Navy across the Atlantic Ocean during the spring and summer of 1806, as part of the Napoleonic Wars. The campaign followed directly from the Trafalgar campaign of the year before, in which the French Mediterranean fleet had crossed the Atlantic, returned to Europe and joined with the Spanish fleet. On 21 October 1805, this combined force was destroyed by a British fleet under Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, although the campaign did not end until the Battle of Cape Ortegal on 4 November 1805. Believing that the French Navy would not be capable of organised resistance at sea during the winter, the First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Barham withdrew the British blockade squadrons to harbour. Barham had miscalculated – the French Atlantic fleet, based at Brest, had not been involved in the Trafalgar campaign and was therefore at full strength.
context_section_description: Barham had seriously miscalculated the strength of the Brest fleet, which had been uninvolved in the campaign of 1805 and was therefore at full strength. He also underestimated Napoleon, who had observed that Villeneuve's brief stay in the Caribbean had acted as a major threat to British trade, delaying convoys and causing panic among the West Indian merchants. The French naval authorities were also inspired by the effect of a raiding squadron under Contre-Admiral Zacharie Allemand, which had escaped from Rochefort on 17 July 1805, caused significant disruption to British trade in the Atlantic and remained at sea off the North African coast. Seeking to repeat these effects, Napoleon sent orders to the commander at Brest, Vice Admiral Honoré Ganteaume, in November 1805 for two strong squadrons to be prepared for service in the Atlantic. These were to leave Brest under cover of darkness on 13 December, with orders to strike deep into the Atlantic and intercept any merchant convoys that they encountered. Subsequently, the squadrons were to separate, one to the South Atlantic and the other to the Caribbean, there to cause as much disruption to British intercontinental trade as possible. The orders encouraged the admirals not to engage any Royal Navy force of equivalent size or larger and thus avoid the risk of being captured or destroyed.
  Ganteaume selected 11 ships of the line for the operation, including the 120-gun first rate Impérial, flagship of Vice Admiral Corentin-Urbain Leissègues, who was to sail to the Caribbean with four other ships of the line, two frigates and a corvette. His squadron carried over 1,000 French soldiers to augment the garrison on Santo Domingo under General Jean-Louis Ferrand, and was then required to spend two months blockading Jamaica before cruising along the American Eastern Seaboard to Newfoundland, returning to France when food supplies ran low. The other squadron was given to Contre-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez in Foudroyant, with orders to cruise the shipping lanes of the South Atlantic before sailing to the Leeward Islands, communicating with the French colonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Cayenne and blockading Barbados. When British opposition became too strong, he was to return to the South Atlantic off Saint Helena, also returning to France once food supplies ran low. His squadron consisted of six ships of the line, two frigates and two brigs, and included among its captains Jérôme Bonaparte, the Emperor's younger brother. Although both squadrons carried six months provisions, they were expected to capture more during their voyages and it was intended that their raiding operations should last as long as 14 months, causing severe indirect damage to the British economy by restricting the movement of trade.
caption: Allemand's squadron in pursuit of the Calcutta convoy, 25 September 1805, Thomas Whitcombe
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