Cochrane the Dauntless

by David Cordingly

  A detail of a page copied from a captured French signal book which Cochrane sent back to the Admiralty. It shows the semaphore signals used on the coast between Port Vendres and La Spezia in 1808.

  When he had completed his self-appointed mission Cochrane delivered a set of the signal books to Admiral Thornborough who was commanding the British fleet off Toulon; and when he put into Gibraltar in October, he sent a copy of the signal codes to the Admiralty. He explained how the French sent signals four times a day with details of the number, strength, situation, bearing, distance and other details concerning British and other vessels on the stretch of coast between Spezie and Port Vendres. He asked their Lordships to note that the French system ‘appears more simple and clearer than the signals now used on our coast made with flags and balls on different staffs’. And to prove his point he enclosed a copy of the signals which he and his crew had noted and deciphered when the Imperieuse had been sailing off Vigie de Bandau, near the mouth of the Rhône.9

  After a week of operations against the signal posts the Imperieuse returned to the Bay of Rosas for a few days to take on board fresh supplies of water, wine and cattle. Cochrane now determined to cause further disruption along the enemy coast by subjecting the enemy to rocket attacks. Collingwood had recently expressed an interest in rockets and had told Thornborough that he was ‘very desirous that an experiment should be made on Marseilles – Lord Cochrane is expert in these sort of enterprises’.10 On 2 September the Imperieuse met up with the British squadron cruising off Toulon and Thornborough was able to supply Cochrane with six cases of rockets.11

  The rockets used by the British navy were the invention of Sir William Congreve, the eldest son of Lieutenant-General Sir William Congreve, the Comptroller of the Royal Laboratory at Woolwich. Inspired by accounts of the war rockets used against the British in India, Congreve had carried out experiments with rockets of different calibres and warheads in 1804. Through his father he was able to get a quantity of rockets manufactured at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. In the summer of 1805 he met the Prince Regent at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and persuaded him that a rocket attack should be made on the French invasion flotilla gathered at Boulogne. The Prince Regent was so impressed by the plan that he ‘wrote a letter in his own hand to Mr Pitt, recommending his immediate attention to its adoption and sent me round to Walmer Castle (at which place Mr Pitt was) in the cutter which attended His Royal Highness at Brighton that no time be lost’.12

  That autumn a flotilla of boats armed with rockets, and led by Sir Sidney Smith, sailed to Boulogne but rough weather caused the attack to be abandoned. In October 1806 the navy agreed to try again. This time the boats were led by Captain Owen and some four hundred rockets were fired at the unsuspecting inhabitants of Boulogne. According to The Times, ‘the enemy were so appalled that it was a considerable time before they manned the shore batteries’.13 Several buildings were set on fire and the experiment was considered a limited success. Cases of the giant rockets were distributed to a number of British squadrons but they were rarely used. Cochrane, however, was keen to try them out. He had met Congreve in the past and had had some useful advice from him on double-shotting his guns. He could see that rockets, which could be safely fired from the ship’s boats because they had no recoil, might prove an effective weapon against coastal towns and ports.

  Congreve rockets being launched from boats. An illustration from a treatise on his rocket system published by Major General Sir William Congreve.

  The first target of Cochrane’s rockets was the fishing port of Ciotat, situated between Toulon and Marseilles. The Imperieuse was anchored in the lee of an island and out of range of the guns of the fort defending the harbour. The boats were hoisted out, their masts were stepped and wooden launching frames were set up in the bows. During the course of the afternoon of 4 September they launched several rockets towards the town. Fires were started in two places ‘but as the houses were for the most part built of stone, the conflagration was confined to the spot where it had broken out’. Cochrane decided to abandon the rocket attack. He recalled the boats, weighed anchor and, sailing close inshore, he directed the guns of the Imperieuse at the fort. The bombardment continued until 8.00 p.m. when the onset of a fierce north-west wind caused them to break off the bombardment and drop anchor in Ciotat Roads.

  It was during this period, when Cochrane was at his most active as a coastal raider, that his methods were observed at close hand by another distinguished frigate captain. For several days Captain Jahleel Brenton, in command of the 38-gun ship Spartan, sailed in company with the Imperieuse and took part in joint attacks on the French coast. He would later testify to the energy, skill and seamanship demonstrated by Cochrane at this time. Brenton had sailed from the Bay of Rosas on 4 September and headed for Marseilles. On 7 September he rounded Cape Couronne and saw the Imperieuse firing at three merchant vessels lying at anchor in a small cove. The Spartan joined in the attack, directing her guns at the French soldiers who had gathered along the shore while Cochrane sent in his boats to destroy the merchant vessels. The next day the boats from the two frigates were sent ashore and demolished a signal post in the Bay of Saintes Maries. But it was Cochrane’s actions on 10 September that made a lasting impression on Brenton. As the two frigates were sailing along the coast near Port Vendres they came under fire from several gun batteries. Cochrane had previously carried out a reconnaissance of the area and was determined to silence the batteries. Before dawn on the 10th the boats from the two ships landed near the southernmost batteries. The enemy soldiers fled at the sight of the armed seamen and marines approaching along the shore. The guns in the battery were spiked, the gun carriages wrecked and the barracks blown up. By the time the boats had returned to the frigates the alarm had been raised up and down the coast and a large body of troops with cavalry and artillery had assembled along the shore.

  Cochrane and Brenton now formed their shore parties into two divisions. At around 1.00 p.m. the boats of the first division set off towards the northernmost battery. This was a feint intended to deceive the enemy and caused the troops to set off along the coast to receive them. While they were absent the two frigates moved close inshore and fired their broadsides at the central gun battery which retaliated with a brisk fire, causing some damage to the rigging of the British ships. After an hour of steady bombardment the marines of both ships were sent ashore and had no difficulty in taking the battery and spiking the guns. However, the French troops had now discovered the deception and were heading back along the coast road. In his memoirs Brenton recalled what happened next:

  A beautiful instance of ready seamanship was displayed by Lord Cochrane upon this occasion. Having already reconnoitred the coast, he requested he might be permitted to lead upon the occasion. The Spartan was following the Imperieuse, at less than a cable’s length distance, the ships going about three knots; when the Imperieuse was observed suddenly to swing round, with much more rapidity than any action of the helm could have produced. The fact was that Lord Cochrane from the masthead saw a squadron of the enemy’s cavalry galloping towards a gorge on the coast, which, had they passed, they would have cut off the retreat of our people, who were employed in spiking the guns. His Lordship immediately ordered the ship’s anchor to be let go, and then swinging round brought her starboard broadside to enfilade this gorge, by which the cavalry were instantly turned.14

  The use of the anchor to swing the frigate round at speed so that she could bring her guns to bear on a particular point on shore was a masterly demonstration of ship handling. The cavalry having been driven back with grape shot, the coast was clear for the marines to return to their respective ships. That evening the larger boats, each armed with a carronade in the bows, were sent to destroy the northernmost battery. Having carried out this mission they attacked two anchored vessels with guns and rockets. One was set on fire and the other blown up. The next day they moved up the coast and at 8.00 p.m. they anchored off the French port of Séte.
The old harbour was full of fishing boats and merchant vessels and was protected by a mole and gun batteries. The houses were built around the harbour and climbed up the lower slopes of Mont St-Clair, the upper slopes of which were thickly wooded with pines. Oblivious to the picturesque qualities of the town Cochrane decided to launch another rocket attack.

  In the early hours of 12 September two boats from the Imperieuse and one from the Spartan set off in the darkness and fired a succession of rockets at the shipping in the harbour and the buildings on the waterfront. Apart from terrifying the inhabitants the rockets caused minimal damage. Brenton blamed the defective state of many of the rockets, some of which burst because they were decayed, while ‘the rockets which were in good order fell either burning a considerable time but meeting with nothing combustible produced no effect’.15 Later that morning the boats were despatched a second time and burnt two large pontoons and destroyed a signal post in the vicinity of the town.

  The next day was grey and overcast with lightning and the distant rumble of thunder giving warning of bad weather to come. As they sailed along the coast they sighted a convoy of nine merchant vessels close inshore. The convoy altered course on seeing the two British warships and took refuge in a deep bay which was protected by shoals off the entrance. By taking careful soundings the Imperieuse and the Spartan gained access to the bay but once inside they were hit by a fierce northwesterly wind. This drove most of the convoy onshore and the frigates were only saved from grounding by each of them letting go a second anchor. When the wind dropped they hoisted out the boats and took possession of a ship, two brigs, a xebec and a bombard. These had to be heaved off the shore and they had no sooner anchored them near the frigates than the wind got up again, rose to gale force and continued to blow hard for three days. On 16 September they emerged from the bay with four prizes under sail and the brig under tow. Later that day the Spartan parted company, taking the prizes with her. Brenton sent a despatch to Admiral Thornborough in which he described the joint actions carried out with the Imperieuse and praised the conduct of Lord Cochrane, describing it as, ‘a most animating example of intrepidity, zeal, professional skill and resources.’16

  The next two months were comparatively uneventful, mainly because autumn gales restricted the opportunities for coastal raids. The logbook for this period is filled with entries such as ‘Heavy swell from the SE. Rain and thunder…. Squally with lightning… Dark and cloudy with thunder, lightning and rain.’ After a week lying at anchor in the Bay of Rosas they returned to the mouth of the Rhône. Running low on fresh water for the crew Cochrane devised an ingenious method of collecting it. He got the sailmakers to prepare huge bags from the studding sails and these were taken in the boats up the great river until they reached the point where the water was pure and no longer brackish. The bags were filled, towed back to the ship, and the fresh water pumped into the barrels in the hold by using the ship’s fire engine. They were less successful in augmenting their supply of meat. A party was sent ashore to capture some of the cattle seen grazing along the river banks. The area was so marshy that the sailors kept sinking up to their waists and after pursuing the cattle for some way they abandoned the chase. However, it was not an entirely wasted foray because a new telegraph station was spotted nearby. The boats were despatched and the men set the building on fire; when this failed to destroy it they blew it up.

  From the Rhône estuary they sailed east past Ciotat and then south to Minorca where they encountered the Royal Sovereign, the flagship of Vice-Admiral Thornborough who gave Cochrane despatches to take to Gibraltar. The Imperieuse arrived in the Bay of Gibraltar on 12 October and remained anchored there and in the nearby Zaffarine Bay for the next seventeen days. It was an opportunity to clean up the ship and the crew after three and a half months of continuous cruising in which they had made dozens of raids on coastal targets, had frequently been under fire from gun batteries and had ridden out several Mediterranean storms. The ship’s company was sent ashore to wash and dry their clothes and bedding; the sails were mended; the rigging was repaired and then tarred; the guns and gun carriages were scraped and painted; and the ship was painted inside and out.

  By the time Lord Collingwood received Cochrane’s report on his recent raids on the French coast he must already have seen Jahleel Brenton’s description of the joint attacks of the Spartan and Imperieuse. The letter which Collingwood sent to the Admiralty echoes Brenton’s praise for Cochrane’s energy and skill and it also contains a flattering assessment of the effect of Cochrane’s operations:

  I enclose a letter which I have just received from the Right Honourable Lord Cochrane, captain of the Imperieuse, stating the services in which he has been employed on the coast of Languedoc. Nothing can exceed the zeal and activity with which his Lordship pursues the enemy. The success which attends his enterprises clearly indicates with what skill and ability they are conducted, besides keeping the coast in constant alarm – causing a general suspension of the trade and harassing a body of troops employed in opposing him.

  On 29 October 1808 the Imperieuse left the shelter of Zaffarine Bay, rounded Europa Point and the lines of forts and ramparts beneath the Rock of Gibraltar, and headed back towards Catalonia. The three-week passage along the Spanish coast was similar to their previous one: a warm welcome and much hospitality during a ten-day stop in the harbour of Cartagena; and a rocket attack on a seaport – on this occasion Barcelona, which was still in the hands of the French. The French troops manning the shore batteries proved more accurate than on their previous visit: one shot hit the bows of the Imperieuse and another smashed through two of the ship’s boats stowed on deck.

  On 15 and 16 November, in company with the frigate Cambrian, they sailed close inshore and endeavoured to support the Spanish patriot forces in the hills overlooking Barcelona but the heights occupied by the enemy were beyond the range of their guns. On 19 November Cochrane learnt that the French forces had taken possession of the town of Rosas ‘and knowing that Lord Collingwood attached considerable importance to this place, I considered it my duty, in accordance with his Lordship’s instructions, to proceed in that direction, hoping that the Imperieuse might there render substantial service’.17

  10

  The Defence of Fort Trinidad

  1808

  The old fishing port of Rosas, or Puerto de Roses, lies at the northern end of the great Bay of Rosas. Stretching for eight miles in a sweeping curve, the bay provides shelter for shipping from the fierce north-west wind, the tramontana, which can strike from a clear blue sky without warning. The coast along the southern shores of the bay is low and sandy but at the northern end the land rises to a rocky promontory which overlooks the harbour of Rosas. Behind the town are the mountainous slopes of the Pyrenees. Two fortresses used to guard the approaches to the town: Fort Trinidad, which was built out on the promontory, and the larger citadel which commanded the coast road linking Barcelona to the south with the French border twelve miles away to the north.

  Collingwood appreciated the strategic importance of Rosas and, following the Spanish rebellion in the summer of 1808, he had ensured that there was a permanent British presence in the bay. When a French division marched on Rosas in July 1808 the British ship Montague, Captain Otway, was anchored off the town. Otway sent a party of marines to help the local militia defend the citadel and on 23 July, backed up by the guns of the Montague, they succeeded in driving off the enemy. Meanwhile, the French garrison in Barcelona under General Duhesme was under siege from several thousand Spanish troops and by early November was so low on supplies that Duhesme doubted whether he could hold out beyond the end of December. Belatedly Napoleon recognised that more troops were needed in Catalonia and he gathered two divisions from northern Italy and one from Germany. By November there were 25,000 troops on the Spanish frontier under the able command of General St Cyr with orders to relieve Barcelona at all costs. If the Spanish, assisted by the guns and men of the British warships in the vicinity, could
delay the advance of St Cyr’s army for long enough there was every chance that the French garrison in Barcelona would be forced to surrender to the overwhelming number of Spanish soldiers surrounding the city.1

  St Cyr despatched 12,000 Italian troops under General Reille to make a major assault on the defences of Rosas. When they reached the outskirts of the town on 7 November there were two British ships in the bay: the 74-gun Excellent under the command of Captain West and the bomb vessel Meteor, Captain Collins. The citadel was manned by 3000 Spaniards under Colonel Pedro O’Daly but its fortifications were in need of repair and reinforcement. Cochrane later reported to Collingwood that one of its bastions had been destroyed by an explosion in the last war: ‘a few thin planks and dry stones had been put up by Spanish engineers, perhaps to hide the defect; all things were in the most deplorable state without and within’.2 Fort Trinidad was a more impregnable structure but was currently defended by no more than eighty Spanish soldiers and twenty-five marines from the Excellent. Although the fort was built on high ground beside the sea there was another hill, Puig-Rom, beyond and higher than the fort. The first action of General Reille’s forces was to occupy these heights while the remainder of his army set up camp in front of the citadel and prepared to lay siege to it. On 15 November an attempt was made to storm Fort Trinidad but the attackers were driven off with the loss of sixty men. Captain West sent more of his marines to defend the fort while the enemy set up a battery of three 24-pounder guns on the summit of Puig-Rom. The fire from this elevated position knocked a breach in the walls of Fort Trinidad and threatened the British warships anchored in the bay below.