HMS Tonnant

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HMS Tonnant (Template:Lit) was an 80-gun ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She had previously been Tonnant of the French Navy and the lead ship of the Template:Sclass. The British captured her in August 1793 during the Siege of Toulon but the French recaptured her when the siege was broken in December. Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson captured her at Aboukir Bay off the coast of Egypt at the Battle of the Nile on 1 August 1798. She was taken into British service as HMS Tonnant. She went on to fight at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars.

Tonnant became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane when he assumed command of the North American Station in March of 1814 during the War of 1812 with the United States. On 7 September 1814 Francis Scott Key and John Stuart Skinner dined aboard the ship while seeking the release of a captured civilian prisoner, several days before the Battle of Baltimore. Key went on to write what later became the words to the American national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" after watching the British attack on Baltimore's Fort McHenry. Tonnant was broken up in 1821.

French serviceEdit

File:Tonnant at Abukir-Mayer-img 3185.jpg

Death of Du Petit-Thouars, by Auguste Mayer

Tonnant was the lead ship in a class of 80-gun two-deckers built to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané, and ordered on 19 October 1787. She was laid down at the Toulon Dockyard in November 1787 and launched on 24 October 1789. Anglo-Spanish forces captured her there in August 1793, but left her when they withdrew in December. She then reverted to the French Navy.Template:Sfnp

Tonnant fought in the battles of Genoa on 14 March 1795 and The Nile on 1 August 1798 under Aristide Aubert Du Petit Thouars. During the battle, she severely damaged Template:HMS, causing nearly two hundred casualties, including 50 killed and 143 wounded. Among the dead was MajesticTemplate:'s captain, George Blagdon Westcott. Du Petit-Thouars, who had both legs and an arm shot off, commanded his ship until he died. Tonnant was the only French ship still engaged in the morning, with her colours flying, though aground. It was not until 3 August that she finally struck her colours.

The British took her into their service, registering and naming her as HMS Tonnant on 9 December 1798. She arrived at the naval base at Plymouth, England on 17 July 1799.Template:Sfnp Even before she formally entered British service, she was among the vessels that participated in the capture of the Greek vessel Ardito on 24 October 1798.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Tonnant was commissioned under Captain Loftus Bland in January 1799, with Captain Robert Lewis Fitzgerald taking over in February. He sailed her to Gibraltar and then back to Britain. Upon her arrival in Plymouth in 1800 she was laid up in ordinary.Template:Sfnp

British serviceEdit

Napoleonic WarsEdit

Tonnant underwent repairs between December 1801 and April 1803. She was commissioned in March 1803 under Captain Sir Edward Pellew. Under his command she participated in the Blockade of Ferrol.Template:Sfnp

On 24 May the cutter Resolution captured Esperance and Vigilant, with Tonnant sharing in the capture.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Next, Tonnant, Template:HMS and Template:HMS captured the Dutch ships Coffee Baum and Maasluys on 2 and 4 June.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Tonnant then was one of the vessels that shared in the recapture on 27 August of Template:Ship.Template:Efn

Tonnant was part of Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Calder's squadron off Cape Ortegal when she encountered the French ships Duguay-Trouin and Guerrière on 2 September 1803. The two French Navy warships had broken out of the blockade when they met Tonnant. They escaped her but British naval forces of varying strengths harried them during their journey back to port and they only just made it to the safety of A Coruña.

Tonnant shared in the capture of Perseverance on 28 October, though the prize money was much less.Template:Efn Then on 29 November, Template:HMS destroyed Bayonnoise; Tonnant was among the vessels sharing, by agreement, in the bounty money.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> In the new year, on 18 February 1804, Tonnant and the ships of the squadron recaptured the brig Eliza.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Later in 1804 Tonnant was in the Channel under Captain William Henry Jervis. He drowned off Brest when going in his gig from Tonnant to Template:HMS on 26 January 1805.Template:Sfnp Jervis had just arrived from Rochefort and was anxious to impart his intelligence to the commander-in-chief.<ref>Marshall (1824), Vol. 2, p.292.</ref> Captain Charles Tyler replaced Jervis in March.Template:Sfnp

File:Nicholas Pocock - In action at Trafalgar, H.M.S. Tonnant engaging the Spanish '74' Monarca.jpg

In action at Trafalgar, HMS Tonnant engaging the Spanish '74' Monarca

File:Nicholas Pocock - In action at Trafalgar, H.M.S. Tonnant accepting Monarca's surrender.jpg

Tonnant accepting MonarcaTemplate:'s surrender, painted by Nicholas Pocock

During the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) she captured the 74-gun Template:Ship. Tonnant lost 26 officers and men killed and 50 officers and men wounded in the battle, with Tyler being among the wounded.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>Template:Efn

Tonnant underwent a refit at Portsmouth between January and June 1806.Template:Sfnp She was recommissioned in May under Captain Thomas Browne.Template:Sfnp She then served as flagship for Rear-Admiral Eliab Harvey. While under his command Template:HMS distinguished herself in a number of small cutting out expeditions.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

In July 1807 she was under Captain Richard Hancock and served as flagship for Rear-Admiral Michael de Courcy.Template:Sfnp In 1809 she was under the command of Captain James Bowen when she recaptured Ann of Leith on 8 April.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Tonnant then was among the vessels sharing in the captures of Goede Hoop on 9 July and Carl Ludwig on 2 August.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Between November and December 1809 she was under repair at Plymouth.Template:Sfnp In 1810 she served under Captain Sir John Gore. Lloyd's List reported on 14 June 1811 that French privateer Adolphe had captured George and Mary, but that Tonnant had recaptured George and Mary, which had been sailing from the West Indies and which arrived in Plymouth on 11 June.<ref>Lloyd's List No. 4571.</ref>

On 24 March 1812, still under the command of Gore, Tonnant was off Ushant when she captured the French privateer Emilie. Emilie was armed with twelve 10-pounder guns and had a crew of 84 men. She was nine days out of Saint-Malo and had captured one vessel, a Spanish merchant ship that the Royal Navy had recaptured on the 24th.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> At the time that she captured Emilie, Tonnant was in company with Template:HMS, Template:HMS, Template:HMS, and Template:HMS.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Then on 18 April Tonnant captured Martha.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> On 12 May, Template:HMS captured Betsy. Abercrombie was in company with Tonnant, Template:HMS, Template:HMS, Template:HMS and Template:HMS.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>Template:Efn Tonnant then again underwent repair between August and December 1812, this time at Chatham.Template:Sfnp

War of 1812Edit

Tonnant joined the War of 1812 late. She was fitted for sea in the first quarter of 1814, being recommissioned in January under Captain Alexander Skene.Template:Sfnp Tonnant served as the flagship for Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane during the final months of the campaign in Chesapeake Bay. From her he directed attacks on Washington, D.C., Baltimore and then the final Battle of New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico. From March 1814 she was under the command of Captain John Wainwright. In October 1814 Captain Charles Kerr assumed command.

"Star-Spangled Banner"Edit

It was aboard Tonnant near the mouth of the Potomac River, on 7 September 1814 that the Americans, Colonel John Stuart Skinner and Francis Scott Key, dined with Vice Admiral Cochrane, Major General Robert Ross, Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn and Rear Admiral Edward Codrington. They were pleading for the release of a civilian prisoner, Dr. William Beanes.Template:Efn After his release, Skinner, Key and Beanes were then transferred to the frigate HMS Surprise and later allowed to return to their own truce vessel sloop, but were not allowed to return to Baltimore because they had become familiar with the strength and position of British units and knew of the British intention to attack Baltimore. As a result, Key witnessed the bombarding of Fort McHenry (September 13 and 14) and was inspired to write a poem called Defence of Fort M'Henry, later named "The Star-Spangled Banner". During the bombardment, HMS Template:HMS provided the "rockets red glare" whilst HMS Meteor (along with four other bomb vessels) provided the "bombs bursting in air" that feature in the lyrics.<ref>Vogel, Steve. "Through the Perilous Fight: Six Weeks That Saved the Nation" - Random House, New York. 2013. (pp 271-274, pp 311-341)</ref><ref>Skinner, John Stuart "Incidents of the War of 1812" From The Baltimore Patriot. Reprinted: Maryland Historical Magazine, Baltimore. Volume 32, 1937. (pp 340-347) https://archive.org/details/marylandhistoric3219mary/page/340/mode/2up</ref>

The body of Major General RossEdit

After Major General Robert Ross's death in the Battle of North Point, his body was stored in a barrel of 129 gallons (586 L) of Jamaican rum aboard Tonnant.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> When she was diverted to New Orleans for the forthcoming battle (see above), the body was later shipped on the British ship Template:HMS to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where his body was interred on 29 September 1814 in the Old Burying Ground.

New OrleansEdit

Tonnant continued to serve Cochrane as a flagship when he directed the British naval forces at the Battle of New Orleans. Immediately before the battle, ship's boats from Tonnant participated in the British victory at the Battle of Lake Borgne.

On 8 December 1814, two US gunboats fired on Template:HMS, Template:HMS and the sixth-rate frigate Template:HMS while they were passing the chain of small islands that runs parallel to the shore between Mobile and Lake Borgne.<ref name=LG16991>Template:London Gazette</ref>

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Between 12 and 15 December 1814, Captain Lockyer of Sophie led a flotilla of 42 boats, barges, launches and 3 unarmed gigs to attack the US gunboats. Lockyer drew his flotilla from the fleet that was massing against New Orleans, including the 74-gun third rates Template:HMS and Tonnant, and a number of other vessels including Armide, Seahorse, Template:HMS and Meteor.

Lockyer deployed the boats in three divisions, of which he led one. Captain Montresor of the gun-brig Manly commanded the second, and Captain Roberts of Meteor commanded the third.<ref name=LG16991/> After rowing for 36 hours, the British met the Americans at St. Joseph's Island.<ref name=LG16991/> On 13 December 1814, the British attacked the one-gun schooner Template:USS. On the morning of 14 December, the British engaged the Americans in a short, violent battle. One longboat from Tonnant, commanded by Lieutenant James Barnwell Tattnall grappled the largest gunboat and was sunk,Template:Sfn its boarding party transferred to the other ships' boats.Template:Sfn<ref name=Lockyer18Dec1814>Letter from Lockyer to Cochrane dated 18 December 1814, reproduced in Template:London Gazette</ref>

The British captured the American flotilla, comprising the tender, Template:USS, and five gunboats. The British lost 17 men killed and 77 wounded; Tonnant had three men killed and 15 wounded, one of whom died later. Template:HMS then evacuated the wounded. In 1821 the survivors of the flotilla shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of the American gunboats and sundry bales of cotton.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>Template:Efn In 1847 the Admiralty issued a clasp (or bar) marked "14 Dec. Boat Service 1814" to survivors of the boat service who claimed the clasp to the Naval General Service Medal.Template:Efn

Tonnant was off New Orleans in January 1815, and in the vicinity of the attack on Fort Bowyer in February 1815. She left the anchorage off Mobile Bay on 18 February and arrived in Havana on 24 February 1815, accompanied by Template:HMS and Template:HMS.<ref>Letter from Admiral Cochrane to the Admiralty dated 25 February 1815. This is within WO 1/143 folio 14, which can be downloaded for a fee from the UK National Archives website</ref>

Post-war and fateEdit

Tonnant returned to England in May 1815. She then served as the flagship for Admiral Lord Keith when she took part in the exiling of Napoleon to St. Helena in 1815, though she was not part of the flotilla that took him there.

Captain John Tailour assumed command in November. From 1816 to 1817 she was the Flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell on the Cork station.Template:Sfnp

Tonnant was paid off into ordinary in November 1818. She was broken up at Plymouth in March 1821.Template:Sfnp