The Battle of Quiberon Bay, 1759

Hawke and the Defeat of the French Invasion

Nicholas Tracy

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Maritime
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781848841161
• eBook ISBN: 9781844681662
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early Modern History
• Index: History

This authoritative history chronicles the Royal Navy's decisive yet little-known victory over the French during the Seven Years' War.

In the mid-18th century, with virtually no regular troops at home, Britain was especially vulnerable to the immanent threat of French invasion. In a cunning naval offensive, the British fleet under Admiral Edward Hawke intercepted French ships on their way to rendezvous with invasion troopships gathered at the mouth of the Loire. Unfairly overlook in history books, the Battle of Quiberon Bay not only spoiled the planned French invasion, but also established British naval dominance.
Once under attack, the French changed course for Quiberon Bay, assuming the British would not follow them among its treacherous shoals in stormy weather. Yet Hawke pursued them under full sail. The French ships were destroyed, captured, run aground or scattered—while the British only suffered two ships run aground. In this insightful narrative, Nicholas Tracy studies the battle, its strategic consequences, and its effect on the war for North America.

Index

Académie Marine 132

Académie Royale des Sciences 143

Acadia 1

d’Aché, Chef d’Escadre Anne-Antoine Comte 8

Additional Instructions 59–60

Aden 53

Admiral, Lord High 36

Admiralty Board 2–4, 21, 27, 34–44, 52–53, 59, 66–71, 76–79, 83–86, 89, 91, 94–106, 109–10, 113–15, 118–29, 131–32, 157, 161, 169, 174, 178–86

Admiralty, Course of 25

d’Aiguillon, Emmanuel-Armand de Bignerod du Plessis de Richelieu, Duc 86, 135–36, 154–56, 160, 169, 172

Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of 5, 8, 66, 89

Alderney 53

Amherst, Major General Jeffrey 5–7, 128, 167

Andrews, Captain Thomas 74

Anne, Queen 37

Annual Register 8, 16–18, 22, 87–88, 101, 112, 116, 149, 152

Anson, Admiral George Lord 2, 4, 21–22, 44–46, 50–52, 59–61, 66, 70–74, 81–82, 86, 89, 92, 100, 104–06, 117, 121–23, 128–30, 146, 157–59, 164–67, 171–74, 179

Anson, Elizabeth 171

Antwerp 31, 44

Appeals Court 17

Aranjuez, Convention of 188

Arbuthnot, Captain Marriott 130

d’Argenson, Pierre-Marc de Voyer, Comte 12

Army of Observation 13, 23, 42, 115

Atlantic Fleet 48, 93

Atlantic Ocean 4, 8, 24, 33, 73, 135, 137, 186

Audierne Bay 96

Auray 113, 129

Austria 1, 8–15, 30–32, 132, 188, 200, 224

Balearic Islands 9

Baltic 27–31, 43, 93, 185, 188

Bankruptcies 39

Bantry Bay, Battle of 47

Barham, Cha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Description
• Preface
• List of Illustrations
• List of Maps
• Context
• Britain’s Naval Strategy
• Admiral Sir Edward Hawke
• Hawke in Command
• The Watch on Brest
• The Battle of Quiberon Bay
• Victory
• An Armed Peace and an Empire Lost
• From the Captain’s Log of Swiftsure
• Neptune’s Resignation
• References
• Bibliography
• Index