This minor engagement marks the first wartime action of Captain Horatio Nelson, who later became one of Britain's most celebrated naval commanders.
Key Facts
- Date
- 22 October 1793
- British ship
- HMS Agamemnon (64 guns)
- French ship engaged
- Melpomène (large frigate)
- French squadron commander
- Commodore Jean-Baptiste Perrée
- Theatre
- Mediterranean Sea
- Nelson's role
- Captain, first action of the war
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the War of the First Coalition, British naval forces operated in the Mediterranean to contest French power. The French maintained a squadron supporting their garrison on Corsica, where the local population was in open revolt, creating conditions for confrontation between rival naval forces operating in the region.
The lone 64-gun British ship of the line HMS Agamemnon, commanded by Captain Horatio Nelson, attacked the French frigate Melpomène off the Sardinian coast. Agamemnon pursued and damaged Melpomène through the night, but could not prevent the frigate's escape when the remainder of the French squadron under Commodore Jean-Baptiste Perrée arrived to protect it.
The French squadron successfully landed reinforcements for the French garrison on Corsica before the island's eventual fall. The following year, Nelson led naval shore parties during the Invasion of Corsica, in which the entire French squadron was captured or destroyed. Nelson went on to achieve prominence in several decisive engagements of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Captain Horatio Nelson.
Side B
1 belligerent
Commodore Jean-Baptiste Perrée.