page_title: Cornwallis's Retreat
section_title: Retreat
hierarchical_section_title: Cornwallis's Retreat / Retreat
caption_attribution_description: First phase of Admiral Cornwallis's fight: the two squadrons fight each other 1 2 3
context_page_description: Cornwallis's Retreat was a naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars in which a British Royal Navy squadron of five ships of the line and two frigates was attacked by a much larger French Navy fleet of 12 ships of the line and 11 frigates. The action took place in the waters off the west coast of Brittany on 16–17 June 1795.
  A British naval squadron under Vice-Admiral William Cornwallis began operating off Brittany on 7 June; in the following week he attacked a French merchant convoy and captured several ships. In response, Vice-admiral Villaret de Joyeuse led the main French fleet out of port to attack the British, who were spotted on 16 June. Heavily outnumbered, Cornwallis turned away from the French and attempted to escape into open water, with the French fleet in pursuit. After a full day's chase the British squadron lost speed, due to poorly loaded holds on two of their ships, and the French vanguard pulled within range on the morning of 17 June. Unwilling to abandon his rearguard, Cornwallis counter-attacked with the rest of his squadron.
context_section_description: Captain Robert Stopford on Phaeton signaled to Cornwallis that the French fleet contained 30 vessels, but did not return to join Cornwallis, causing the British admiral to misunderstand the signal to mean that the French ships, while more numerous than his own, were of inferior strength. Under this misapprehension, Cornwallis, who could only see the ship's sails rather than their hulls, ordered his squadron to advance on the French fleet. Stopford subsequently signaled the exact composition of Villaret's fleet at 11:00 and Cornwallis, realising his error, issued urgent orders for his squadron to haul away to the southwest, tacking to starboard in an effort to escape pursuit with Brunswick leading the line, followed by Royal Sovereign, Bellerophon, Triumph and Mars.  Phaeton was sent to scout ahead, while Pallas was ordered to keep company with Royal Sovereign in order to relay Cornwallis's signals to the rest of the squadron. Villaret had immediately ordered his fleet to give chase, and the French followed the British south westwards into the Atlantic, taking advantage of the strengthening wind.
  At 14:00 Villaret split his forces, one division sailing northwards to take advantage of the breeze coming off the land, while the other maintained passage to the south. Cornwallis tacked his squadron at 06:00 and 17:00, but Villaret de Joyeuse's plan worked well and a shift in the wind at 18:00 allowed the northern squadron to weather and the southern to lay up, the British squadron now lying directly between them about 9 nautical miles (17 km) from either French division. During the night the chase continued into the Atlantic, the British squadron struggling to maintain formation due to the slow speed of two members: Brunswick's sailing deficiencies had already been noted, but it became clear that Bellerophon was similarly suffering. In an effort to decrease the weight of the ships and thus increase their speed and allow them to keep pace with the rest of the squadron, captains Lord Charles Fitzgerald and Lord Cranstoun ordered the anchors, boats and much of the provisions and fresh water carried aboard to be thrown over the side: Bellerophon was sailing so slowly that Cranstoun even ordered four carronades to be jettisoned with a large amount of roundshot.
  During the night Villaret had split his forces further, creating a windward division of three ships of the line and five frigates, a centre division of five ships of the line and four frigates and the lee division of four ships of the line, five frigates and three smaller vessels. Of these forces, the weather division was closest to Cornwallis's squadron and at 09:00 the leading French ship Zélé began to fire on the British rearguard ship, Mars under Captain Sir Charles Cotton. Cotton returned fire with his stern-chasers, but was unable to prevent the 40-gun frigate Virginie from approaching his ship's port quarter and firing repeated broadsides at Mars. The rest of the French frigates held station to windward of the British force without approaching within range. Concerned that Bellerophon, which was close to the developing action, might lose a sail, a loss that Cranstoun would be unable to replace, Cornwallis ordered Triumph and Royal Sovereign to fall back and allow Bellerophon to join Brunswick in the vanguard.
  Following the reorganisation, the entire British squadron was now within range of the leading French ships, all firing at Villaret's advancing line. To facilitate the positioning of more cannon in the stern of the vessels, the British captains ordered their men to cut holes in the stern planks: so many were cut that several ships needed extensive repairs in the aftermath of the action and Triumph especially had much of her stern either cut or shot away. At 13:30 the British fire achieved some success when Zélé fell back with damaged rigging, allowing the second French ship to take up the position at the head of the line. This ship, which had been firing distantly on the British force for half an hour, opened a heavy fire on Mars as did a number of following French
caption: First phase: the two squadrons fight each other
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