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QUIBERON, CAMPAIGN AND BATTLE OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 748 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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QUIBERON, See also:CAMPAIGN AND See also:BATTLE OF . Quiberon See also:Bay, on the S. See also:coast of See also:Brittany, See also:France, was the See also:scene of the See also:great See also:naval battle which defeated the See also:plan laid by the ministers of See also:King See also:Louis XV. of France, for the invasion of See also:England in 1759, during the Seven Years' See also:War (q.v). An See also:army had been collected at See also:Vannes, in the See also:south-See also:east of Brittany, and transports had been brought together in the landlocked See also:waters of the See also:Morbihan which are connected with Quiberon Bay. The See also:scheme of the See also:French ministers was to combine twenty-one See also:ships of the See also:line lying at See also:Brest under the command of M. de Conflans, with twelve which were to be brought See also:round from See also:Toulon by M. de la See also:Clue. The army was then to be carried to some point on the coast of England or See also:Scotland by the See also:united squadrons. The See also:British See also:government was well informed of its enemy's intentions, and took vigorous See also:measures of See also:defence. See also:Admiral See also:Sir E. See also:Hawke, afterwards See also:Lord Hawke, was directed to See also:blockade Brest with a See also:fleet of twenty-five See also:sail of the line, four ships of fifty guns and nine frigates. The four ships of fifty guns together with four frigates were detached, first under See also:Commodore See also:John See also:Reynolds, and then under Commodore See also:Robert See also:Duff, to See also:lie in Quiberon Bay and See also:watch the entry to the Morbihan. During the whole summer, from the beginning of See also:June, Sir E. Hawke kept his station off Brest, and the detached See also:squadron occupied Quiberon Bay. The task of blockading M. de la Clue at Toulon was given 1 Preserved specimens, exposed to the See also:light, lose much of their beauty.to See also:Edward See also:Boscawen, who had with him fourteen sail of the line.

Boscawen reached his station on the 16th of May 1959. At the beginning of See also:

July want of stores and See also:water, together with the injury inflicted on some of his vessels by a French See also:battery, compelled him to go to See also:Gibraltar to See also:provision and refit. He reached the See also:port on the 4th of See also:August. On the 5th M. de la Clue See also:left Toulon, and on the 17th passed the straits of Gibraltar, where he was sighted by the look-out ships of Boscawen. The British fleet hurried out to See also:sea, and pursued in two divisions, separated by a distance of some See also:miles owing to the haste with which they left port. During the See also:night of the 17th and 18th of August five of M. de la Clue's ships lost sight of his See also:flagship, and steered for See also:Cadiz. The other seven, which had been delayed for a See also:time in the See also:hope of rejoining their consorts, were overtaken by Boscawen and attacked in the after-See also:noon of the 18th. One, the " Centaur " (74), was captured after a very gallant resistance, in which the British flagship was severely damaged., During the night of the 18th—19th of August, two of the French ships altered course to the See also:west, and escaped. The remaining four fled to the See also:north, and into Portuguese waters, where two were driven ashore and destroyed, while two were captured near See also:Lagos. The five in Cadiz were blockaded by Boscawen's second-in-command, Admiral Broderick. La Clue was mortally wounded, and died ashore in See also:Portugal. Although the defeat of his squadron had ruined the scheme for the See also:combination of their forces, the French ministers decided to persevere with the invasion.

M. de Conflans was ordered to put to sea. On the 9th of See also:

November a severe See also:gale forced Sir E. Hawke from in front of Brest, and as his ships were in want of stores he sailed for See also:Torquay. Finding the way clear, Conflans put to sea on the 14th, and steered for Quiberon. Sir E. Hawke left Torquay to resume his station on the same See also:day. On the 15th he learnt from a look-out See also:ship that the French had been seen at sea to the north-west of Belleisle, and steering south-west. Concluding that they were See also:bound for the Morbihan he followed. Calms and contrary winds prevented either fleet from making much progress till the evening of the 19th, when the French were rather over 6o m. to the south-west of Belleisle, which is south of Quiberon. The See also:wind had now changed to the north-west and was beginning to See also:blow hard. M. de Conflans made for Quiberon under reduced See also:canvas for fear of making the See also:land in the night, the coast being one of the most dangerous in the See also:world, on See also:account of the rocky islands of Houat and Hoedik, and the See also:long See also:string of reefs which lie inside Belleisle. Hawke was steering in the same direction farther out at sea.

On the See also:

morning of the loth of November, Conflans was nearing the south point of Belleisle. The small squadron of Commodore Duff, warned of his approach, endeavoured to See also:escape to sea before he could shut them in at Quiberon. One of the ships worked out through the very dangerous passage to the north of Belleisle; the others came round the south of the See also:island, where they were nearly cut off and captured. As the pursuers came See also:close to them the sails of Hawke's fleet were seen rising over the See also:horizon. M. de Conflans immediately called off the pursuers, and endeavoured to See also:form his line of battle. By midday he was able to estimate the full strength of Hawke's fleet of twenty-three sail of the line, which with the four 50-See also:gun ships of Commodore Duff made twenty-seven vessels to his twenty-one. He therefore altered his mind, and decided to run inside the islands of Houat and Hoedik, and gain the anchorage of Quiberon. He concluded that as the day was far advanced and the wind was increasing, the British admiral would not dare to follow him into so dangerous a See also:place. But Sir E. Hawke considered that the circumstances justified him in taking all risks, and seeing his enemy in See also:retreat he ordered a pursuit. As the See also:van of the French led by their admiral was turning inside the See also:Cardinal rocks at the See also:southern end of the reefs, his See also:rear was attacked. The two fleets entered the Bay See also:late in the evening, and there followed a battle unique in naval See also:history, for it was fought in the dark, among rocks, in a severe gale, and on a See also:lee See also:shore.

Two of the British liners were wrecked on a See also:

rock called the Four, but five of the French were taken or destroyed, among the latter was the flagship of Conflans, who escaped to the shore on a spar. Seven of the French ships ran into the little See also:river Vilaine, being compelled to throw their guns overboard to lighten themselves before See also:crossing the See also:bar. Nine escaped to the south. The small number of prizes taken gives no measure of the importance of the victory, which See also:broke the spirit and strength of the French fleet so effectually that it did not appear at sea again during the See also:rest of the war, i.e. until 1763. See Beatson's Naval and Military See also:Memoirs of Great See also:Britain, vol. ii. p. 321 et seq.; Burrows's See also:Life of Lord Hawke; Tronde, Batailles navales de la France, vol. i. p. 379 et seq. (D.

End of Article: QUIBERON, CAMPAIGN AND BATTLE OF

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