page_title: Action of 24 October 1793
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Action of 24 October 1793 / Battle
caption_attribution_description: The Action of 24 October 1793 between Uranie and HMS Thames
context_page_description: The Action of 24 October 1793 was a minor naval engagement during the first year of the French Revolutionary Wars. While cruising in the Northern Bay of Biscay, the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Thames, under Captain James Cotes, encountered the much larger French frigate Uranie, under Captain Jean-François Tartu. The ships engaged, with each suffering severe damage until they separated after nearly four hours of continual combat. Cotes ordered his crew to make hasty repairs, intending to resume the battle, but Uranie's crew, with their captain dead, slipped away while Thames was unable to manoeuvre. At 16:00, with repairs on Thames ongoing, a French squadron of three frigates and a brig, under Captain Zacharie Allemand, arrived, firing on Thames as they approached. Outnumbered, Cotes surrendered his ship to Allemand, who commended Cotes on his resistance to the far larger Uranie.
  The French brought Thames into Brest, where sailors from Allemand's squadron looted the frigate. The British officers were imprisoned for the next two years. The frigate was commissioned into the French Navy as Tamise, and Uranie was renamed Tartu in honour of her deceased captain.
context_section_description: At 10:15 the weather cleared, leaving both frigates well in sight of one another, both Tartu and Cotes identifying the opposing ship as an enemy and clearing for action, Tartu hoisting the French tricolour. With both captains determined on battle, the frigates approached one another rapidly on opposing tacks. Uranie was the first to fire, discharging a full broadside at Thames and then wearing around to pull alongside Thames on the same tack. The manoeuvre placed the two frigates directly alongside one another and a close engagement began, each discharging broadside after broadside at the another. At 12:15, a round shot swept Uranie's quarterdeck, killing a helmsman, cutting a boy in half, wounding another, and severing Tartu's leg under the knee; Tartu was brought below deck and Lieutenant Wuibert assumed command of Uranie. The fight continued in this manner for several hours, until 14:20, when Uranie was able to pull ahead of Thames and fire several broadsides into the bows of the British ship, raking her. British historian William James  recorded that the crew of Uranie then attempted to board via the starboard bow of Thames, but were driven off by fire from Cotes' bow guns, which had been double–shotted for this reason. However the after action report by Lieutenant Wuibert on Uranie states that no boarding action was attempted.
  With the boarding attempt thwarted Uranie pulled back, turning southwards to put distance between the vessels. Tartu, brought below deck and dying, had ordered a retreat for fear that his prisoners would revolt and because the engagement was drifiting in the east-north-east direction, where two sails, assumed to be British warships, had been sighted. It was assumed on Thames that the French ship was retreating, the British crew cheering as the firing ceased. Cotes however anticipated a resumption of the action and ordered his men to begin making repairs immediately: Thames was so badly damaged that pursuit was out of the question. All three of Thames' masts had been shot through, most of the rigging had been torn away, the hull and decks were badly damaged and 34 men were killed or wounded. Uranie was in a similar state, and hauled up approximately 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) away, the masts intact but damaged with most of the rigging shot through and numerous holes smashed through the hull. It was also evident on Thames that the crew of the French ship were pumping water over the side, an indication that the ship had been damaged below the waterline.
  Cotes' ship was fit only to sail with the wind, and the captain urged his men to make greater efforts to repair their ship before Uranie could come up with them again. So engrossed was the British crew with their repairs that it was not until 16:00 that it was realised that the French frigate was no longer holding station within sight, and had completely disappeared. This led some on the British ship to assume that Uranie had sunk, although in fact the ship had simply turned away in an effort to make it back to Rochefort to repair the damage suffered in the engagement. Also apparent were a number of sails in the distance. These rapidly approached and were revealed to be a frigate squadron flying the Union Flag. Cotes was unable to manoeuvre his ship or respond to the new arrivals, which were soon identified as French vessels wearing false flags. The leading frigate pulled up close to Thames and fired a broadside at the British frigate. Cotes immediately hailed the French, announcing that he was in no position to fight them due to the damage his ship had suffered and that he was striking his flag.
caption: The Action of 24 October 1793 between Uranie and HMS Thames
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