Battle at The Lizard

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle at the Lizard


caption=Battle at The Lizard (1707), by Jean Antoine Théodore de Gudin.
partof=the War of the Spanish Succession
date=October 21 1707
place=Lizard Point, Cornwall
result=French victory
combatant1=flagicon|UK|1606 Britain
combatant2=flagicon|France|royal France
commander1=Richard Edwards
commander2=René Duguay-Trouin
Claude de Forbin
strength1=5 warships
80-130 merchant ships
strength2=13 warships
casualties1=1 warship destroyed, 3 captured
Approx. 15 merchant ships captured
casualties2=No ships lostThe naval Battle at the Lizard (French: "Combat du Cap Lézard") took place on 21 October 1707 during the War of the Spanish Succession near Lizard Point, Cornwall between two French squadrons under René Duguay-Trouin and Claude de Forbin and an English convoy protected by a squadron under Commodore Richard Edwards.

During this war the French and Spanish fleet could not face the English and Dutch in an open sea battle and therefore had switched to privateering. Duguay-Trouin and Forbin were two of the most successful and they had caused much damage to the allied merchant fleet.

The battle

On 20 October 1707 a large merchant fleet consisting of 80 to 130 English ships left Plymouth for Portugal with supplies for the war in Spain. There were five escorting English ships under command of Commodore Edwards.

The next day near Lizard Point they were spotted by 2 French squadrons of 6 ships each. Technically Forbin was the senior French officer, but Duguay-Trouin was the more aggressive, and his ships led the attack and suffered most of the damage, after Forbin's had discovered the British convoy.

This battle was almost a complete victory for the French; "Cumberland", "Chester" and "Ruby" were taken, but "Royal Oak" escaped into Kinsale with a few merchantmen. "Devonshire" defended herself for several hours against seven French ships until she caught fire and blew up, only two men escaping out of 900.

Ships involved:

France

Duguay-Trouin's squadron
"Lys" 74 (2nd flag)
"Achille" 66
"Jason" 54
"Maure" 50
"Gloire" 40
"Amazon" 36

Forbin's squadron
"Mars" 60 (flag)
"?"
"?"
"?"
"Blackwall" 54 (recently captured from the British)
"Salisbury" 52 (recently captured from the British)

Britain (Richard Edwards)

"Cumberland" 80 - Captured by "Lys" and "Gloire"
"Devonshire" 80 - Exploded
"Royal Oak" 76 - Escaped
"Chester" 50 - Captured
"Ruby" 50 - Captured
80 to 130 merchant ships

Notes

There is no unanimity on the number of merchant ships captured. French sources speak of 60 ships out of 80, some British of none at all. The fact that René Duguay-Trouin and Claude de Forbin quarrelled for many years about which of the two squadrons had the biggest role in the victory, points to a considerable number of ships captured. Probably the truth is somewhere in between: Polak in "Bibliographie maritime française" speaks of 15 merchant ships captured.

External links

*http://perso.orange.fr/vieillemarine/biblio/pages/Duguay_Memoires_1730.htm Jean et Michèle Polak: "Bibliographie maritime française"]
* [http://www.stratisc.org/pub_hcb_seapower_3.html Commission Française d'Histoire Militaire] (English)
* [http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/18c.HTM HMS "Chester"]
* [http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/18d.HTM HMS "Devonshire"]