The fate of the French fleet at the siege of Toulon marked one of the earliest significant operations by the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. In August 1793, five months after the National Convention declared war on Great Britain, thus drawing Britain into the ongoing War of the First Coalition, the government of the French Mediterranean city of Toulon rose up against the Republican national government in favour of the Royalist faction. Toulon was the principal French naval port on the Mediterranean and almost the entirety of the French Mediterranean Fleet was anchored in the harbour. After negotiations with the British commander in the Mediterranean, Admiral Lord Hood, the city's Royalists seized control and British forces, alongside allies from Spain, Naples and Sardinia entered the city, seizing the fleet and preparing defences against the inevitable Republican counterattack.
Although powerfully fortified against attack by sea, Toulon's extensive defences on the landward side of the city had been designed to be held by substantial numbers of troops, something the allies conspicuously lacked. This weakness would be ruthlessly exposed by a highly effective Republican artillery campaign commanded by Captain Napoleon Bonaparte. Political disputes with the Italian allies prevented reinforcements reaching the defenders and the defeat of Royalist forces elsewhere in France gave strength to the besieging army. On 17 December the Republican forces captured heights overlooking the harbour and the defenders' situation became untenable. Hood ordered an evacuation and as the Allied forces staged a fighting withdrawal British Captain Sir Sidney Smith and Spanish Don Pedro Cotiella volunteered to lead boat parties into the harbour to destroy the French fleet, which remained at anchor.
The boat parties came under heavy fire from the shore as they used fireships to ignite the anchored warships, Smith concentrating on those ships in the New Arsenal while the Spanish were instructed to burn the warehouses and Old Arsenal. For reasons that remain unclear, but which British historians have sometimes attributed to treachery, the Spanish failed to destroy the ships they were tasked with, and as the force withdrew detonated two powder hulks they were instructed to sink dangerously close to Smith's men, killing several. By morning of 19 December, eight French ships of the line and three frigates had been destroyed, while Hood had successfully removed three ships of line and six frigates which were distributed to the Allied navies. As Smith burnt the fleet, ships from the British squadron at Toulon successfully removed the Allied garrison as well as more than 14,000 Royalist refugees. The remainder of the French Mediterranean Fleet survived and was repaired during 1794, participating in many of the battles which followed.
Siege of Toulon
The War of the First Coalition, the first of the French Revolutionary Wars, began on 20 April 1792 when the French Assembly voted to declare war on the Austrian Empire.Chandler, p.269 Fighting was confined mainly to the Austrian Netherlands and Northern Italy until the execution of King Louis XVI on 21 January 1793. Within days, France had also declared war on Great Britain, the Netherlands and Spain. By the summer of 1793 the increasing radicalisation of the French Assembly had alienated much of Southern France, and a series of Royalist uprisings broke out in August.James, p.67
One of the most serious rebellions was at Toulon, a large port city on the Mediterranean Sea and the principal naval base for the formidable French Mediterranean Fleet, numbering 31 ships of the line under the command of the Royalist Counter-admiral Jean-Honoré de Trogoff de Kerlessy.James, p.66 This powerful force was blockaded by a Royal Navy fleet of 21 ships of the line sent from Britain at the outbreak of war under the command of Admiral Lord Hood and on 23 August two representatives of Royalist governments from across Southern France approached Hood's flagship HMS Victory to negotiate terms of an alliance. There were however no delegates from the city of Toulon, the loyalty of which was central to control of the region.Mostert, p. 103
Capture of Toulon
Royalist control of Toulon was not assured, particularly since there was a strong Republican faction in the fleet, led by Counter-admiral , and to establish which faction controlled the city Hood sent Lieutenant Edward Cooke into the harbour on 24 August with instructions to meet with the Royalist leader in Toulon. Cooke was forced to approach the harbour in darkness to avoid Republican naval patrols, but was successful in bypassing them, having visited the harbour under during temporary truce in July, and sending a message to the Royalist party. Julien learned of Cooke's presence and spread word that if he should capture Cooke he was to have him hanged, but Cooke, who had sheltered on shore overnight, returned to the city the following day to meet with the Royalist delegates. During the discussions he was able to negotiate for the seizure and disarmament of the French fleet by the British in exchange for protection for the city of Toulon, on the understanding that when the Republicans had been defeated and the French monarchy restored all would be returned to France.Mostert, p. 105 On his return to the British fleet, his boat was intercepted by a French frigate, and it was only by careful manoeuvres in shallow water under fire from the frigate's boats that he returned safely.James, p.68 On 26 August Cooke returned to the port with a Royalist naval officer, to discover that Julien had seized control of the fleet and promised to resist the British if they entered the port. To this end, Republican sailors had occupied Fort Lamalgue and other defensive positions on the western bluffs overlooking the harbour. On 27 August Hood landed a small expeditionary force under Captain George Elphinstone and drove the Republican forces off, Julien and more than 5,000 French sailors retreating inland.Tracy, p. 21
With British forces controlling the batteries overlooking the harbour, the remaining Republicans capitulated. On 28 August those ships of the French fleet still anchored in the roads were moved into the arsenals as Hood brought the British fleet, supported by 17 Spanish ships of the line under Admiral Juan de Lángara into port. Command of the city was granted to Rear-admiral Samuel Goodall and command of the defences to the Spanish Admiral Federico Gravina.Clowes, p.206 During early September French Republican armies slowly advanced on Toulon under the command of General Jean François Carteaux to the west and General Jean François La Poype to the east.James, p.70 Concerned by the lingering Republican faction in Toulon, most strongly represented by 5,000 discharged sailors, Hood ordered that four ships and a corvette be released from the seized French fleet, disarmed, and used as cartels to convey the sailors to Republican ports on the Atlantic. These ships, Apollon, Entreprenant, Orion, and Patriote, plus the corvette Pluvier, sailed on 14 September, arriving at their destinations in mid-October.Tracy, p. 22
Fighting on the heights
In late September heavy fighting began for control of the high ground which overlooked the harbour. Republican shore batteries exchanged fire with Royal Navy ships during which HMS Princess Royal suffered heavy casualties in an ammunition explosion, and on 30 September Republican troops under Captain Napoleon Bonaparte captured the hill of Pharon, only to be driven off the following day by a combined force of British, Spanish, Neapolitan and Sardinian soldiers under Lord Mulgrave.Tracy, p. 24 In early October Neapolitan reinforcements encouraged a series of successful assaults on the Republican held heights, but later in the month Hood and Lángara had a serious disagreement over command of the siege, Lángara going so far as to threaten Hood's flagship Victory before ultimately backing down.Mostert, p. 113 At the end of the month the allies mustered more than 16,000 men, including 6,000 Spanish troops. The British contribution was just over 2,000 men, reduced by the Royal Navy's commitments elsewhere in the Mediterranean. A substantial body of Austrian reinforcements was expected from Genoa, but were prevented from embarking by a combination of Austrian intransigence and Genoese anger at the British violation of their neutrality during the raid on Genoa.Gardiner, p.99 So short of troops were the Allies that Hood hired 1,500 mercenaries from the Knights of Malta, although they did not arrive before the conclusion of the siege.Gardiner, p. 95 Republican forces were growing rapidly during this period as reinforcements released by the conclusion of the Siege of Lyon reached the besiegers at Toulon, the Republican army mustering approximately 33,000 soldiers under General Jacques François Dugommier.James, p.75
Fall of Toulon
A major Republican attack was repulsed on 15 November but an Allied counterattack on 30 November was also defeated.Tracy, p. 27 After further reinforcement, Dugommier ordered a three-pronged assault on the defences of Toulon on 14 December. On 17 December the Spanish-held redoubt of Fort Mulgrave and the heights of Pharon were taken and Republican batteries mounted. The French cannon now covered the harbour and city, forcing the Allied fleets to withdraw from the roads to avoid bombardment.Mostert, p. 115 With the British and Spanish fleets traveled those French ships which remained in the roads crewed by French Royalist volunteers, including three ships of the line Pompée, Puissant and the huge 120-gun Commerce de Marseille, six frigates and eight corvettes.James, p.384
With the defences now fatally undermined, a council of the senior officers concluded that evacuation was the only option for the Allied forces. The defenders would conduct a fighting withdrawal to the docks while Lángara undertook to destroy the seized French fleet.James, p.77 The plan was almost immediately undermined by a panic among the Neapolitan contingent, who abandoned their posts and fled into the city. By the evening of 18 December however all of the Allied troops had retreated to the waterfront in preparation for embarkation.Clowes, p.208
Destruction of the French fleet
Lángara ordered Don Pedro Cotiella to take three boats into the arsenal to destroy the French fleet, and the recently arrived Sir Sidney Smith volunteered to accompany him with his ship Swallow and three British boats. The flotilla was augmented by the fireships HMS Vulcan and San Luis Gonzago.Ireland, p.275 Cotiella was tasked with sinking Toulon's powder hulks, one a disarmed former British frigate captured during the American Revolutionary War, Montréal, and the other the frigate Iris.Clowes, p.209 These ships contained the gunpowder stores for the entire fleet and due to the danger of explosion were anchored in the outer roads, some distance from the city. He was then instructed to enter the Old Arsenal and destroy the ships there. Smith's boats approached the dock gates, which had been barred against attack and manned by 800 former galley slaves freed during the retreat whose sympathies were with the advancing Republicans. To ensure that they did not interfere, Smith kept his boat's guns trained on them throughout the operation. Dockyard workers, rapidly abandoning Royalist insignia, also attempted to block Smith's operation but were successfully locked out of the Arsenal. In addition, Smith's boats had been spotted by the Republican batteries on the heights and cannonballs and shells rained into the arsenal, although none struck Smith's men. As darkness fell Republican troops reached the shoreline and contributed musketry to the fusillade, Smith replying with grape shot from his boat's guns.