The check was a shrewd one, for nothing could hide the fact that six English ships of the line had attacked three French, supported by batteries and gunboats it is true, and had drawn off with the loss of one of their number. We had 121 killed and 240 wounded. The Hannibal contributed 74 to the list of killed, and the survivors were prisoners. The French confessed to 306 killed, and the wounded must have been more numerous, but there is a doubt as to the numbers. The Spaniards too lost men. Yet the allies could claim a success, though after all it only helped to prove the essential weakness of Napoleon’s plan. Linois was sure that he would be attacked by fireships, and appealed to his friends at Cadiz for help. On the 9th the Spanish admiral, Moreno, came round with six sail of the line to escort Linois. On the 12th the nine, having their prize the Hannibal in tow, sailed for Cadiz. Their fortunes before they got there showed how unfit they were to contend with English squadrons at sea. Saumarez’ squadron had been refitted with energy. The Cæsar was got ready by miracles of hard work on the part of her crew and of seamanship on the part of her captain, Jahleel Brenton. The Superb, at once rejoined, and the six followed the nine allies, who went off in flight. During the night the pursuing English squadron forced on an action. The enemy, going off in what was to have been a line abreast, but rapidly became a confused huddle, could only fight feebly in retreat. Two of the Spanish ships, the mighty three-deckers, San Hermenegildo and Real Carlos, caught fire and blew up, with the loss of nearly all the 2000 men they carried. The rest of the allies hurried as best they could to Cadiz, followed by the English. Luck again helped the French, for the Venerable grounded on the San Pedro rock while tackling the Formidable. But the combination scheme had broken down, and Saumarez, in spite of the check in Algeciras Bay, had, said St. Vincent, “put us on velvet.”
Turning movements, evasions, combinations, and coalitions had all failed. The threat of direct attack was kept up till the armistice, which was the preliminary to the Peace of Amiens, was signed on the 1st October. Napoleon persevered in collecting small craft to be used for the purpose of carrying an army to the shore of England. The scheme was as old as the reign of Louis XV., and, as we have seen, had been revived by the Directory in a feeble way. The invasion flotilla was to be taken up again by Napoleon himself on a far larger scale two years after 1801. It will be most appropriately discussed under the later date. The policy of the First Consul in 1801 cannot be taken as indicating a serious intention to attempt the invasion of England at that time and with the resources then at his disposal. He brought troops to the coast, and collected small transports, in order to inspire fear in England, and thereby put pressure on her Government to make the peace which was greatly desired by the country, tired as it was by the strain of a long and laborious war. His aim was attained to some extent. The seamen indeed treated the flotilla with contempt for substantial reasons, which were excellently stated by Captain Beaver in a paper which the reader will find printed as an appendix to his life by Admiral Smyth. He pointed out that a swarm of small craft built flat, so that they could work in shallow water and be beached, and therefore leewardly, would be swept hither and thither in the currents of the Channel. But the seamen failed to persuade their countrymen. It has also been at all times impossible to convince soldiers that the Channel and the North Sea cannot be crossed by an army as if they were rivers. All the persons rudely described by St. Vincent as the “old women” in and out of Parliament were greatly disturbed by the invasion flotilla.
The Government was manifestly under an obligation to act against the flotilla with vigour. It took the very best course it could find both to quiet the mind of the country and to make sure that its directness would be vigorously applied. It put Nelson in command of what may be called a counter flotilla, operating from the coast between Orfordness and Beachy Head, against the French flotilla, which was being concentrated for the threatened dash at Boulogne. He hoisted his flag in the Medusa frigate in the Downs on the 30th July, and went instantly to work like the born fighter he was. The effectual course would have been to land soldiers, take Boulogne, and burn the flotilla. But our small army was quite unable to provide the 80,000 or 100,000 men needed for an offensive movement against the numerous troops of Napoleon. There was nothing for it but to hit at his naval forces with naval forces. The result of the manful efforts we made was no surprise to the seamen. It was found to be impossible to prevent small flat-bottomed craft, which could take the ground at low tide, and hug the shore at high tide, from creeping along from creek to creek, and shore battery to shore battery. The large vessels could not get near enough to them on the shallow coast to do harm with the artillery of the time, which had an effective range of about 1200 yards. With the help of support from the shore they could generally deal with small craft and boats. Therefore they could be concentrated at Boulogne. When there they were collected at that point, and they could be protected. The Boulogne flotilla was bombarded with some, but not much, effect at its anchorage on the 4th August. We could not bring a sufficiently heavy force near enough to do serious harm. But to bring the flotilla to Boulogne was a useless preliminary to real work unless it could get out. Its inability to make a sortie in open daylight, and with a good wind, was confessed. What chance it had of succeeding in the venture, in calm, fog, or long winter night, was shown on the 15th August.
A quadruple cutting-out expedition on a large scale was then despatched by Nelson. It consisted of four divisions of armed boats, commanded respectively by Captain E. T. Parker, Captain P. Somerville, Captain Cotgrave, and Captain R. Jones. Parker reached the flotilla with his division about midnight, but found that vessels swarming with men, barricaded and swathed in boarding nettings, anchored head and stern, fastened to one another by chains, constituted a floating fortress too strong for his boats. He was himself mortally wounded, and his boats repulsed with a loss of 21 killed and 42 wounded. The divisions of Captain Cotgrave and Captain Somerville were more affected by the tide than Parker’s. They reached the French anchorage later than he, and not with their boats together. They too were repulsed with loss. Captain Jones’ boats were swept to the eastward and failed to reach the enemy. If this happened to the active, well-manned men-of-war boats, what must have been the helplessness of the flat-bottomed craft of the flotilla in the Channel currents. Our total loss was 44 killed and 126 wounded, who all fell victims to the necessity for quieting the fears of the “old women.”
The longing of both countries for peace could no longer be disregarded by their Governments. An armistice was signed on the 1st October, and a so-called peace was signed at Amiens on the 27th March 1802, though Napoleon most assuredly did not mean it to endure, and no wise man in England believed that it could last.
CHAPTER XV
TRAFALGAR
Authorities.—The last and the most complete collections of the evidence for the events dealt with in this chapter will now be found in Projets et Tentatives de Débarquement aux Iles Britannique, and in the supplementary volume, La Campagne Maritims de 1805—Trafalgar, by Captain E. Desbrière. See also Trafalgar and the Nelson Touch, a series of articles with ensuing correspondence in the Times for September and October 1905.
The peace signed at Amiens in March 1802 served two useful purposes. It gave the nation a breathing space, and it allowed Napoleon an opportunity to convince all Englishmen who were not beyond being taught by experience that with him no lasting peace was possible. His annexations, his insolent denial to England of any right to a voice in the affairs of the Continent, his dishonesty in the matter of the withdrawal of the French troops from Holland, his persistence in calling on England to evacuate Malta, and the hostile measures against English trade which he adopted, soon convinced all but a few that war with him was inevitable. There could be no peace with a ruler who endeavoured to force England to adhere to the letter of a treaty which he was himself violating daily in spirit and substance. He did not believe that peace could be permanent, but trusted that it would last till he had found the means to arm against us at sea. In the hope that he could revive French shipping by means of a colonial trade, he sent a great armament to reoccupy the French part of the island of San Domingo, which had been lost by a revolt of the slaves. Another was sent to the East Indies provided with instructions how to attack our possessions. The English Government, urged by public opinion, defeated his plans by forcing on war in May 1803.