A British frigate squadron captured the French raider Révolutionnaire off Ushant, curtailing French disruption of Atlantic trade routes.
Key Facts
- Date
- 21 October 1794
- French frigate guns
- 40-gun Révolutionnaire
- British frigate guns
- 38-gun HMS Artois
- Duration of single combat
- 45 minutes
- Distance from Ushant headland
- 25–30 nautical miles nautical miles
- French departure port
- Le Havre, 13 October 1794
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
French frigates had raided British Atlantic trade routes effectively since the start of the French Revolutionary Wars. In response, the British Admiralty formed a frigate squadron under Commodore Sir Edward Pellew to patrol the French Channel and Atlantic coasts. On 13 October 1794, the 40-gun French frigate Révolutionnaire under Captain Thévenard departed Le Havre on a raiding cruise against British commerce.
On 21 October 1794, Révolutionnaire encountered Pellew's squadron while rounding Ushant. Pellew ordered a chase and the 38-gun HMS Artois under Captain Edmund Nagle outpaced her consorts, cutting off the French frigate from the shore. Artois engaged the larger Révolutionnaire alone for 45 minutes until British reinforcements arrived, at which point the French crew surrendered against their captain's wishes. Casualties and damage were described as light on both sides.
Révolutionnaire was quickly commissioned into the Royal Navy and incorporated into the very squadron that had taken her. She subsequently participated in the capture of the French frigate Unité at the action of 13 April 1796, demonstrating how captured French raiders were turned against France's own commerce-disruption strategy.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Commodore Sir Edward Pellew, Captain Edmund Nagle.
Side B
1 belligerent
Captain Antoine René Thévenard.