The last major open-water engagement between British and French ships of the line in the Napoleonic Wars, ending in total destruction of the French squadron.
Key Facts
- Date
- 6 February 1806
- French ships of the line
- 5 (all captured or destroyed)
- British ships lost
- 0
- French casualties
- ~1,500 men
- British casualties
- fewer than 100 killed men
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the War of the Third Coalition, France maintained naval squadrons in the Caribbean to challenge British sea power. Counter-admiral Corentin Urbain de Leissègues commanded a French squadron operating off the southern coast of the French-occupied Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, drawing the attention of a British force under Vice-admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth.
On 6 February 1806, Duckworth's Royal Navy squadron engaged Leissègues's five French ships of the line off the coast of San Domingo in the Caribbean. The British defeated the French decisively, capturing or destroying all five French ships of the line while sustaining no ship losses themselves and fewer than one hundred killed.
The French lost approximately 1,500 men, and only a small portion of their squadron escaped. The battle proved to be the final significant open-water engagement between British and French ships of the line in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, cementing British naval dominance in the Caribbean and beyond.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Vice-admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth.
Side B
1 belligerent
Counter-admiral Corentin Urbain de Leissègues.