2nd Battle of Lagos

18^th & 19^th August 1759

Vice-Admiral Broderick commanded in the Mediterranean. Early in the spring of 1759 his small squadron was reinforced by several ships from England, and he received, and was able to carry out, orders to watch Toulon. On April 14th, Admiral the Hon. Edward Boscawen, with three more sail of the line and some frigates, left Spithead to take over for a time the chief command on the station, and on April 27th he arrived at Gibraltar. There he made arrangements as to the dispositions of cruisers and convoys; and, sailing on May 3rd, joined Vice-Admiral Broderick off Cape Sicie on May 16th, and assumed the command.

The French squadron prepared at Toulon was in charge of M. de La Clue; and, when the British arrived off the port, it was almost ready for sea. The French were carefully blockaded, or rather, watched with a view to preventing them from leaving without being detected and followed. On June 7th, before they attempted to come out, Boscawen chased two French frigates, and drove them into a fortified bay near Toulon, whither on the 8th, he ordered the Culloden, Conqueror and Jersey, under the orders of Captain Smith Callis, to proceed, and, if possible, destroy them. The ships were gallantly taken in; but, when under the batteries, they were becalmed; and, after a sharp two hours' engagement, they had to be recalled without having accomplished their object. The Culloden lost 16 killed and 26 wounded : the Conqueror, 2 killed and 4 wounded : and the Jersey, 8 killed and 15 wounded; and all the vessels were badly damaged aloft.

The Admiral continued on his station until he was compelled, at the beginning of July, to go to Gibraltar for provisions and repairs. Preferring Salou for watering purposes, he put in there on the 8th, remaining until the 24th; and thus he only reached Gibraltar on August 4th. Meanwhile he ordered the Lyme, 24, Captain James Baker, to cruise off Malaga, and the Gibraltar, 24, Captain William M'Cleverty, to cruise between Estepona and Ceuta to keep watch for the enemy. On August 17th the latter descried the French fleet, consisting of ten sail of the line, two fifty-gun ships and three frigates, close in under the Barbary shore. Captain M'Cleverty made at once for Gibraltar, and arrived off Europa Point at 7.30 P.M., when he signalled the force and situation of the enemy to the Admiral, who sent off an officer to the Gibraltar, ordering her to keep sight of the foe and from time to time to signal to him accordingly. The British squadron was not quite ready for sea, and Boscawen's flag-ship, the Namur, in particular, had not so much as a single sail bent. Still, a little before 10 P.M., the whole fleet, of thirteen sail of the line and two fifty-gun ships besides frigates, was out of the bay.

Owing to the haste in which they had gone out, and to the Admiral, after leaving harbour, carrying a press of sail to the westward, the ships were, on the following morning, in two well defined divisions. The Warspite, Culloden, Swiftsure, Intrepid, America, Portland, and Guernsey, which had lain at anchor near the Namur and had put to sea along with her, were still with her. Vice-Admiral Broderick, in the Prince, with the rest of the squadron, was many miles astern. At 7 A.M. on the 18th, the advanced division sighted the enemy to the westward. There were then visible only seven sail, and it afterwards proved that the rest had gone, without orders, into Cadiz during the night. De La Clue first thought that the ships coming up behind him we're his own missing vessels; but he was disabused when Boscawen signalled a general chase to the N.W. At 9 A.M. the British Admiral ordered his sternmost ships to make more sail. This soon had the effect of bringing up the Vice-Admiral's division, which enjoyed a fine easterly breeze, while the enemy had barely enough wind to give them steerage way. Thus the British gained on the chase till, at about 1.25 P.M., Boscawen signalled to engage.

	The British Fleet of Admiral of the Blue the Honorable Edward Boscawen
	Ship's Name	Guns	Commander	Notes
	Namur	90	Mathew Buckle	(6) Flagship of Edward Boscawen
	Prince	90	Joseph Peyton	Flagship of Vice-Admiral of the Blue Thomas Broderick
	Newark	80	William Holbourne
	Warspite	74	John Bentley	(5)
	Culloden	74	Smith Callis	(1)
	Conqueror	70	William Lloyd
	Swiftsure	70	Thomas Stanhope	(7)
	Edgar	64	Francis William Drake
	Saint Albans	64	Edward Vernon
	Intrepid	60	Edward Pratten	(8)
	America	60	James Kirke	(2)
	Princess Louisa	60	Robert Harland
	Jersey	60	John Barker
	Guernsey	50	Michael Kerney	(4)
	Portland	50	Joseph Maplesden	(3)
	Vessels not of the Line
	Ship's Name	Guns	Commander	Notes
	Ambuscade	40	Richard Gwynn
	Rainbow	40	Christopher Basset
	Shannon	36	Charles Meadows
	Active	28	Herbert Sawyer
	Thetis	32	John Moutray
	Lyme	24	James Baker
	Gibraltar	24	[William Mcleverty
	Glasgow	24	Andrew Wilkinson
	Sheerness	24	John Clark
	Tartar's prize	24	Thomas Baillie
	Favorite	16	Timothy Edwards
	Gramont	16	Philip Affleck
	Etna	8	Richard Bickerton	Fireship
	Salamander	8	John Leveson Gower	Fireship
	The French Fleet of Admiral de La Clue-Sabran
	Ship's Name	Guns	Commander	Notes
	Ocean	80		Flagship of Admiral de La Clue-Sabran
	Redoutable	74
	Centaure	74
	Temeraire	74
	Modeste	64
	Souverain	74
	Guerrier	74
	French ships that put into Cadiz on August 17/18th
	Ship's Name	Guns	Commander	Notes
	Fantasque	64
	Lion	64
	Triton	64
	HMXMS Fier (1745)	50
	Oriflamme	50
	Chimere	26
	Minerve	24
	Gracieuse	24

Note: Bracket numbers (1), indicate the order in which the British vanguard came into action

Description of the action taken from Clowes The Royal Navy, Vol III

At 1.30 P.M. the enemy began to fire at the headmost British ships as they came up; and since Admiral Boscawen perceived that the French intended to make off as soon as the breeze should reach them, he naturally desired that the most advanced ships of his fleet should push on and attack the enemy's van, to stop their flight until his remaining ships could get up. He therefore ordered the America and Guernsey to make more sail. At about 2.30 P.M. the Culloden began to fire on the Centaur e, the rear ship of the enemy; and, very soon afterwards, the America, Portland, Guernsey and Warspite got into action. The wind had by that time dropped altogether, so far as the ships which were in action were concerned. The British rear division, however, still had a breeze, and was thus able to get up in time to have a share in the victory.

Boscawen, himself, in the Namur, was in action with the sternmost ships of the enemy at about 4 o'clock. The Swiftsure and Intrepid were at that time to windward of him; and, hailing the former, he ordered her to push on for the enemy's van ship. By about 4.30 P.M., the Namur was close alongside the Ocean; and, when the two had been engaged for about half-an-hour, the Namiir, having lost her mizenmast and both topsail yards, was disabled, and fell astern. De La Clue made every effort to take full advantage of this misfortune to the British flagship. Each of his vessels, except the Centaure, set all possible sail to get away; but the Centaure had been engaged by every ship as she came up, and had stood the brunt of the fight. At last, her fore and main topmasts had fallen; and she was so greatly damaged in every respect that she had no alternative but to strike.

The misfortune to the British flagship did not affect the energy and activity of the British Admiral, who ordered out his barge and was rowed at once to the Newark, and there hoisted his flag. But, by that time, the battle proper had almost ceased, and the pursuit had begun. Boscawen continued it during the whole night. Though there was a fine breeze, there was also a slight haze; and, under cover of this, two of the French ships, the Souverain and Guerrier, altered their course in the darkness and so escaped. Thus, at daylight on the 19th only four sail of the enemy were to be seen. The British were about three miles astern of them, and about fifteen miles from Lagos. Once more the wind had almost died away. At about 9 o'clock the Ocean ran among the breakers, and the three other ships anchored under the Portuguese batteries. Boscawen thereupon sent the Intrepid and America to destroy the Ocean, which, in taking the ground, had carried away all her masts. Captain Pratten had anchored; and he failed to carry out the order; but Captain Kirke, taking in the America very close, discharged a few guns into the enemy at point-blank range, and obliged her to strike. M. de La Clue, who had one leg broken and the other injured, and who eventually died of his wounds at Lagos, had been landed about half-an-hour previously. Captain Kirke took possession of the French flagship; and having removed such officers and men as were found in her, he set her on fire, deeming it impossible to bring her off. The Warspite was ordered in against the Temeraire, 74, and succeeded in bringing her out very little damaged. Vice-Admiral Broderick's division went against the remaining two ships, and, after about half-an-hour's action, captured the Modeste, 64. The Redoutable, 74, having been abandoned, and being found to be bilged, was burnt. In this action the enemy's loss was very severe in killed and wounded. In the Centaure alone, about '200 were killed. The loss of the British, on the other hand, was very small, amounting only to 56 killed and 196 wounded.

"The British," says Beatson, "as well as the French Admiral, was not quite well pleased with the behaviour of his captains, some of whom, he thought, did not make sail enough to get up with the van of the enemy's lleet, which the Admiral wished they should attack, in order to retard their (light until the rest of the squadron should be able to join in the action. ( ithers, through mismanagement, he thought, had allowed their ships to fall to leeward, after they had engaged the enemy some time, and therefore could not properly get into action again. But great allowance ought to be made for this, for just as the British ships came up with the enemy's rear, the wind died away. They attacked the enemy on the lee side, in order that they might be able to open their lower ports, some of the ships carrying them very low. Another reason why some of the British ships fell so much to leeward was that the French Admiral, on perceiving Admiral Boscawen in the Namur, and some ships along with him, pressing forward to attack his van and centre, made his fleet luff up as much as they possibly could, so as to form a sort of crescent; by which position the whole of his ships in their van and centre were enabled by their fire, not only to assist the rear, but each other, in their endeavours to repel the attack, which they looked for every moment from the British Admiral. By this manoeuvre of M. de La Clue's, such of our ships as first got up with the enemy's rear, and to leeward of their line, were thrown out of action; while, for want of sufficient breeze of wind, they could not get into it again. The Portland, having lost her foretopmast, dropped astern. The Intrepid was to windward of the Namur; she did not bear down close enough, but kept aloof, and fired at the enemy across the other ships."

Boscawen, who said of the battle, "It is well but it might have been a great deal better," presently rehoisted his flag in the Namur, and despatched Captain Matthew Buckle, in the Gibraltar, to England with dispatches. Buckle was graciously received by the King, and presented with 500 to buy a sword. The Admiral himself, as soon as his fleet had repaired damages, returned, in accordance with his instructions, to England, taking with him the Namur, Warspite, Swiftsure, Intrepid, America and Portland, the Salamander and Etna fire-ships, and the prizes Temeraire and Modeste. These were afterwards followed by the Edgar, Princess Louisa, and the prize Centaure. Vice-Admiral Broderick, who remained in the Straits, blockaded Cadiz, in which still lay that part of the French squadron which had taken refuge there.

Boscawen's rewards were a membership of the Privy Council and a generalship in the Marines. Captains Bentley, of the Warspite, and Stanhope, of the Swiftsure, were knighted for their share in the action; and the three prizes were purchased, and added to the Navy under their French names.

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