Jean Jacques Etienne Lucas
(1764 - 1819)
French naval officer, captain of the ship Rédoutable at the Battle of Trafalgar.
He was born on 28 April 1764 in Marennes, France. At the age of 15, he joined the ranks of the navy and served as a navigator from 1779 to 1782 on the l'Hermione. Aboard her he participated in the American War of Independence, where he gained his first combat experience.
In 1784 he rose up the ship's hierarchy and became assistant helmsman. He proved himself in his new position and in 1788 was appointed second coxswain and three years later first coxswain on the Fidele, with which he visited the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.
In 1792 he was promoted to lieutenant in the navy (Enseigne de vaisseau) and sailed to the Indian Ocean, where he remained until 1795. Promoted to lieutenant (Lieutenant de vaisseau) in 1794. In December 1796 he takes part in the unsuccessful invasion of Ireland [1].
He becomes a frigate captain (Capitaine de frégate) in 1799, distinguishing himself aboard the ship [i:aaaaa]L'Indomptable during the Battle of the Gulf of Algiers in July 1801 [2]. For his courage and ability, he is promoted to captain of a privateer later that year (Capitaine de vaisseau) and is given command of the 74-gun privateerHannibal, captured during the first phase of the Battle of the Gulf of Algiers. From this it can be inferred that Lucas was probably instrumental in the capture of this ship.
In 1803, he then became captain of the Rédoutable, with which he participated in the Battle of Trafalgar two years later, losing the ship and falling into captivity after a heroic battle. He does not return to France from English captivity until the following year and is personally decorated by Napoleon for his actions during the battle with the "golden cross of the Legion of Honour." This information seems somewhat puzzling, as the gold cross is for officers and commanders, while the silver cross was used for legionnaires (from 1804 onwards knights).
However, as early as 23 October 1805, two days after the battle, Lucas wrote a report on the loss of the Redoutable aboard the English ship Swiftsure, which he signed as "Captain and Officer of the Legion of Honour". It could therefore mean that Lucas had gained the rank of Legion of Honour officer earlier (probably at the Battle of the Gulf of Algiers) and Napoleon had promoted him from officer to commander after Trafalgar [3].
In 1806, however, he is relieved of his command because he defended Admiral Villeneuve's conduct during the Battle of Trafalgar to the Emperor. However, in 1809 he resumes command of the 74-gun ship Régulus, with which he participates in the Battle of Aix [4].
On the night of 11-12 April, the anchored French fleet was attacked by burning branders. Lucas's Régulus, in an attempt to flee the approaching flaming ships, ran aground. Lucas managed to free it in the morning, but had to sacrifice most of the guns he had dropped into the sea in the process. Régulus retained only 12 thirty-six-pounder guns and four eighteen-pounder guns. Régulus headed for Rochefort, pursued by several English brigades and bombardment boats. Lucas had holes punched in the mirror of the ship, and had two guns built on each gun deck level and even in his own cabin, giving Régulus a total of 6 guns aft. As early as 13 April these 6 guns must have fired 450 rounds in a fierce firefight with the English pursuers. Régulus was hit three times by explosive shells from mortars of English bombers; two exploded above the ship, showering her deck with shrapnel - but causing no damage. The last one hit the deck from above, pierced it and exploded all the way to the lower gun deck, injuring four men; in all, Régulus lost 1 dead and 5 wounded of her crew that day.
The following day the engagement lasted three hours and Régulus lost another dead and 4 wounded. At night the French ship managed to break away, but on 16 April Régulus ran aground again near Fouras. With the help of boats, however, he was towed back to the depths. Lucas knew he would be caught again and prepared for battle: he had most of the gunpowder stores soaked to reduce the risk of explosion, and he had a net spliced from spare ropes, which he then stretched over the upper deck to cushion the impact of mortar shells or their splinters. He then used the rolled-up spare sails to make a makeshift bandage for the sides of the ship as protection against cannonballs. He also remembered to prepare the water pumps.
All the preparations were put to good use on 20 April, when the pursuers again came within range. 173 mortar shells rained down on Régulus, 6 of which hit the target, but fortunately all of them were still in the air, but Régulus was badly damaged rigging, her stern was shot through like a sieve, and her deck was punctured several times. The fight lasted from 2 pm until 6:30 pm, with Régulus losing 2 dead and 4 wounded, firing 400 rounds from her rear 6 guns alone, and damaging two brigs.
The fourth and last engagement began at 7 a.m. on 24 April and was fought until 4 p.m. This time the English attempted to take Régulus in a pincer attack from such an angle that it was impossible to fire either the stern or side guns at their vessels (a brig was attacking from one side and several mortar boats from the other). Lucas had the glass galleries on the stern smashed, which allowed him to bring the stern guns in obliquely. Régulus again fired 500 shots and damaged one brig; he himself was hit 15 times. The sails were particularly hard hit, but the English mortars were not very effective this time - few shrapnel fell on deck. None of the crew were killed, but 6 men were wounded.
The English finally abandoned the pursuit on the night of 25-26 April. Régulus, whose stern "was completely shattered, both by enemy cannonballs and by the concussion from the 1,380 cannon shots we fired during our four engagements", arrived at her anchorage in Rochefort three days later to the thunderous cheers of the townspeople.
For all the merits he had achieved in the service, Lucas would surely become an admiral. However, after the Battle of Aix, he criticised Admiral Allemand for his choice of anchorage, and in particular the concentration of all the French ships close together, which had just exposed them to the threat of a brander attack. This criticism caused him to remain only a captain.
In 1810 he took command of the 74-gun ship Nestor, which served as a school ship for training naval gunners. He remained in this position for six years, but when Napoleon returned from Elba, Lucas again pledged allegiance to him, so after Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, Lucas's further service (in the now Royal Navy) became undesirable and he was retired.
He died in Brest three years later on 29 May 1819 at the age of 55.
Notes:
1 - This was a spectacular action designed to land French troops in Ireland, to ally with the numerous Irish nationalists, and to foment rebellion against English rule. After the defeat of the English forces, the island of Ireland was to become the base for the actual invasion of England. In December, a flotilla of 48-50 ships with 13,000-15,000 troops on board set sail from Brest, avoided the blockading English fleet and headed for Irish shores. However, the fleet was scattered by a violent storm, and only some of the French ships reached the landing site at Bantry Bay in southwest Ireland, but none of the commanders were present. Bad weather prevented the troops from coming ashore, and the ships waited in the storm-battered bay for several days before heading for France, where only 35 ships returned.
2 - The Battle of the Gulf of Algiers refers to two separate engagements between the English and the combined Franco-Spanish fleets, fought on 8-12 July 1801. French Admiral Linois arrived at anchor in the Gulf of Algiers with three privateers and one frigate. The harbour in the bay was protected by four coastal forts and was thus considered a safe anchorage despite its proximity to Gibraltar. The proximity of French ships near Gibraltar was, of course, a thorn in the side of the English and a force was promptly dispatched to eliminate the threat.
In the first phase of the battle, the English, under the command of Admiral Sir James Saumarez, with a force of six ships of the line (a seventh, accompanied by a brig, failed to arrive in time), boldly entered the bay, where French ships were anchored under the protection of the port fortress guns, and were even deliberately run aground to prevent their capture. After a fierce fight, where manoeuvring was made difficult by light winds and numerous shoals, the English lost one ship which ran aground and was captured, 121 English sailors were killed and 240 wounded, the French had 306 dead and 280 wounded. The English then sailed out of the bay and for the next 4 days both sides repaired the damage, the French then pulled their ships off the shoal and prepared them for sailing.
On 12 July the French squadron, reinforced in the meantime by 5 Spanish privateers, put to sea, immediately followed by the English fleet. The English 74-gun ship HMS Superb boldly sailed between the Spanish 112-gun ships Real Carlos and San Hermenegildo and attacked them simultaneously with fire from both sides. In the ensuing confusion and clouds of smoke, the Spanish failed to notice that Superb had passed between them and attacked the French ship St. Antoine, which she later captured. The two Spanish ships, meanwhile, continued to fire, mistakenly shelling each other until they both blew up. Then the battle was over, the English losing 17 dead and 100 wounded, and the Allied losses amounted to 2,000 men, of which, however, 1,700 sailors died on board the two exploded Spanish ships.
3 - as commander, he is identified by http://home.arcor.de/thomas_siebe/lucas.html
4 - It is also referred to as the Battle of Aix Roads or Basque Roads. It is a narrow shipping lane between the shallows off the islet of Aix in the Bay of Biscay, bounded by Ile dˇOléron to the west and Ile de Re to the north. To the north of the islet of Aix is the port of La Rochelle, and down to the south-east is the other important port of Rochefort.
It was under the protection of the fortress guns of the Aix islet that the French fleet, consisting of 10 ships of the line, four frigates and one supply ship, under the command of Admiral Zacharie Allemand, took refuge, its mission being to break through to the French possessions overseas. The English Admiralty, alarmed by the concentration of such a force, naturally wanted to destroy the French fleet, but the problem arose as to how to do this among the shoals and near the powerful coastal batteries. The English Admiral John Gambier was advised by the Admiralty to use branders, but Gambier, as a strongly religious man, refused to use this "terrible method of warfare". Captain Lord Thomas Cochrane was therefore put in charge of the action. He decided to use four explosive boats in addition to the 20 branders, as he believed that their explosions would deter the French from attempting to tow the branders away or otherwise approach them. Cochrane personally led the attack on the night of 11-12 April 1809 on the first explosive ships. The ship exploded prematurely, and the crew only just managed to save themselves, but its explosion broke the floating curtain of floating logs (of which the English had no idea) that prevented entry into the fairway. This allowed the other branders to enter. Although only 4 of the branders came within range of the French ships (on which in places they set fire to some of the rigging), and not a single French ship was burned, it became apparent after daylight that the branders had caused such panic among the French that all but two of their ships ran aground in a desperate flight as far away from the flaming branders as possible. Cochrane urged Gambier to attack at once with all his strength, but the latter, fearing the shoals and the shore batteries, refused. Eventually Cochrane attacked alone with his ship, with Gambier hesitantly supporting him with 6 ships only after the tide had reduced the risk of shoals. In the meantime, however, most of the French ships managed to break free of the shoals and sail away; they achieved this, however, only at the cost of dropping most of the guns overboard. Eventually, the English captured three ships, and one was burned by her crew to prevent her falling into enemy hands. The French had 250 killed, 800 wounded, and 650 captured; the English lost only 32 killed and wounded. Cochrane, on his return to England, accused Gambier of having had the opportunity to completely destroy the enemy fleet and failing to do so. Gambier demanded a court-martial, and it acquitted him. In reality, the French fleet was not combat capable without guns and so no supplies or reinforcements sailed to the French colonies.
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org
perso.orange.fr
www.napoleon.org
http://www.histoirepassion.eu/spip.php?article539
www.everything2.com
en.wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Algeciras
cgi.ebay.fr
http://home.arcor.de/thomas_siebe/lucas.html
uk.encarta.msn.com
www.bbc.co.uk
[url][/url]
(1764 - 1819)
French naval officer, captain of the ship Rédoutable at the Battle of Trafalgar.
He was born on 28 April 1764 in Marennes, France. At the age of 15, he joined the ranks of the navy and served as a navigator from 1779 to 1782 on the l'Hermione. Aboard her he participated in the American War of Independence, where he gained his first combat experience.
In 1784 he rose up the ship's hierarchy and became assistant helmsman. He proved himself in his new position and in 1788 was appointed second coxswain and three years later first coxswain on the Fidele, with which he visited the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.
In 1792 he was promoted to lieutenant in the navy (Enseigne de vaisseau) and sailed to the Indian Ocean, where he remained until 1795. Promoted to lieutenant (Lieutenant de vaisseau) in 1794. In December 1796 he takes part in the unsuccessful invasion of Ireland [1].
He becomes a frigate captain (Capitaine de frégate) in 1799, distinguishing himself aboard the ship [i:aaaaa]L'Indomptable during the Battle of the Gulf of Algiers in July 1801 [2]. For his courage and ability, he is promoted to captain of a privateer later that year (Capitaine de vaisseau) and is given command of the 74-gun privateerHannibal, captured during the first phase of the Battle of the Gulf of Algiers. From this it can be inferred that Lucas was probably instrumental in the capture of this ship.
In 1803, he then became captain of the Rédoutable, with which he participated in the Battle of Trafalgar two years later, losing the ship and falling into captivity after a heroic battle. He does not return to France from English captivity until the following year and is personally decorated by Napoleon for his actions during the battle with the "golden cross of the Legion of Honour." This information seems somewhat puzzling, as the gold cross is for officers and commanders, while the silver cross was used for legionnaires (from 1804 onwards knights).
However, as early as 23 October 1805, two days after the battle, Lucas wrote a report on the loss of the Redoutable aboard the English ship Swiftsure, which he signed as "Captain and Officer of the Legion of Honour". It could therefore mean that Lucas had gained the rank of Legion of Honour officer earlier (probably at the Battle of the Gulf of Algiers) and Napoleon had promoted him from officer to commander after Trafalgar [3].
In 1806, however, he is relieved of his command because he defended Admiral Villeneuve's conduct during the Battle of Trafalgar to the Emperor. However, in 1809 he resumes command of the 74-gun ship Régulus, with which he participates in the Battle of Aix [4].
On the night of 11-12 April, the anchored French fleet was attacked by burning branders. Lucas's Régulus, in an attempt to flee the approaching flaming ships, ran aground. Lucas managed to free it in the morning, but had to sacrifice most of the guns he had dropped into the sea in the process. Régulus retained only 12 thirty-six-pounder guns and four eighteen-pounder guns. Régulus headed for Rochefort, pursued by several English brigades and bombardment boats. Lucas had holes punched in the mirror of the ship, and had two guns built on each gun deck level and even in his own cabin, giving Régulus a total of 6 guns aft. As early as 13 April these 6 guns must have fired 450 rounds in a fierce firefight with the English pursuers. Régulus was hit three times by explosive shells from mortars of English bombers; two exploded above the ship, showering her deck with shrapnel - but causing no damage. The last one hit the deck from above, pierced it and exploded all the way to the lower gun deck, injuring four men; in all, Régulus lost 1 dead and 5 wounded of her crew that day.
The following day the engagement lasted three hours and Régulus lost another dead and 4 wounded. At night the French ship managed to break away, but on 16 April Régulus ran aground again near Fouras. With the help of boats, however, he was towed back to the depths. Lucas knew he would be caught again and prepared for battle: he had most of the gunpowder stores soaked to reduce the risk of explosion, and he had a net spliced from spare ropes, which he then stretched over the upper deck to cushion the impact of mortar shells or their splinters. He then used the rolled-up spare sails to make a makeshift bandage for the sides of the ship as protection against cannonballs. He also remembered to prepare the water pumps.
All the preparations were put to good use on 20 April, when the pursuers again came within range. 173 mortar shells rained down on Régulus, 6 of which hit the target, but fortunately all of them were still in the air, but Régulus was badly damaged rigging, her stern was shot through like a sieve, and her deck was punctured several times. The fight lasted from 2 pm until 6:30 pm, with Régulus losing 2 dead and 4 wounded, firing 400 rounds from her rear 6 guns alone, and damaging two brigs.
The fourth and last engagement began at 7 a.m. on 24 April and was fought until 4 p.m. This time the English attempted to take Régulus in a pincer attack from such an angle that it was impossible to fire either the stern or side guns at their vessels (a brig was attacking from one side and several mortar boats from the other). Lucas had the glass galleries on the stern smashed, which allowed him to bring the stern guns in obliquely. Régulus again fired 500 shots and damaged one brig; he himself was hit 15 times. The sails were particularly hard hit, but the English mortars were not very effective this time - few shrapnel fell on deck. None of the crew were killed, but 6 men were wounded.
The English finally abandoned the pursuit on the night of 25-26 April. Régulus, whose stern "was completely shattered, both by enemy cannonballs and by the concussion from the 1,380 cannon shots we fired during our four engagements", arrived at her anchorage in Rochefort three days later to the thunderous cheers of the townspeople.
For all the merits he had achieved in the service, Lucas would surely become an admiral. However, after the Battle of Aix, he criticised Admiral Allemand for his choice of anchorage, and in particular the concentration of all the French ships close together, which had just exposed them to the threat of a brander attack. This criticism caused him to remain only a captain.
In 1810 he took command of the 74-gun ship Nestor, which served as a school ship for training naval gunners. He remained in this position for six years, but when Napoleon returned from Elba, Lucas again pledged allegiance to him, so after Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, Lucas's further service (in the now Royal Navy) became undesirable and he was retired.
He died in Brest three years later on 29 May 1819 at the age of 55.
Notes:
1 - This was a spectacular action designed to land French troops in Ireland, to ally with the numerous Irish nationalists, and to foment rebellion against English rule. After the defeat of the English forces, the island of Ireland was to become the base for the actual invasion of England. In December, a flotilla of 48-50 ships with 13,000-15,000 troops on board set sail from Brest, avoided the blockading English fleet and headed for Irish shores. However, the fleet was scattered by a violent storm, and only some of the French ships reached the landing site at Bantry Bay in southwest Ireland, but none of the commanders were present. Bad weather prevented the troops from coming ashore, and the ships waited in the storm-battered bay for several days before heading for France, where only 35 ships returned.
2 - The Battle of the Gulf of Algiers refers to two separate engagements between the English and the combined Franco-Spanish fleets, fought on 8-12 July 1801. French Admiral Linois arrived at anchor in the Gulf of Algiers with three privateers and one frigate. The harbour in the bay was protected by four coastal forts and was thus considered a safe anchorage despite its proximity to Gibraltar. The proximity of French ships near Gibraltar was, of course, a thorn in the side of the English and a force was promptly dispatched to eliminate the threat.
In the first phase of the battle, the English, under the command of Admiral Sir James Saumarez, with a force of six ships of the line (a seventh, accompanied by a brig, failed to arrive in time), boldly entered the bay, where French ships were anchored under the protection of the port fortress guns, and were even deliberately run aground to prevent their capture. After a fierce fight, where manoeuvring was made difficult by light winds and numerous shoals, the English lost one ship which ran aground and was captured, 121 English sailors were killed and 240 wounded, the French had 306 dead and 280 wounded. The English then sailed out of the bay and for the next 4 days both sides repaired the damage, the French then pulled their ships off the shoal and prepared them for sailing.
On 12 July the French squadron, reinforced in the meantime by 5 Spanish privateers, put to sea, immediately followed by the English fleet. The English 74-gun ship HMS Superb boldly sailed between the Spanish 112-gun ships Real Carlos and San Hermenegildo and attacked them simultaneously with fire from both sides. In the ensuing confusion and clouds of smoke, the Spanish failed to notice that Superb had passed between them and attacked the French ship St. Antoine, which she later captured. The two Spanish ships, meanwhile, continued to fire, mistakenly shelling each other until they both blew up. Then the battle was over, the English losing 17 dead and 100 wounded, and the Allied losses amounted to 2,000 men, of which, however, 1,700 sailors died on board the two exploded Spanish ships.
3 - as commander, he is identified by http://home.arcor.de/thomas_siebe/lucas.html
4 - It is also referred to as the Battle of Aix Roads or Basque Roads. It is a narrow shipping lane between the shallows off the islet of Aix in the Bay of Biscay, bounded by Ile dˇOléron to the west and Ile de Re to the north. To the north of the islet of Aix is the port of La Rochelle, and down to the south-east is the other important port of Rochefort.
It was under the protection of the fortress guns of the Aix islet that the French fleet, consisting of 10 ships of the line, four frigates and one supply ship, under the command of Admiral Zacharie Allemand, took refuge, its mission being to break through to the French possessions overseas. The English Admiralty, alarmed by the concentration of such a force, naturally wanted to destroy the French fleet, but the problem arose as to how to do this among the shoals and near the powerful coastal batteries. The English Admiral John Gambier was advised by the Admiralty to use branders, but Gambier, as a strongly religious man, refused to use this "terrible method of warfare". Captain Lord Thomas Cochrane was therefore put in charge of the action. He decided to use four explosive boats in addition to the 20 branders, as he believed that their explosions would deter the French from attempting to tow the branders away or otherwise approach them. Cochrane personally led the attack on the night of 11-12 April 1809 on the first explosive ships. The ship exploded prematurely, and the crew only just managed to save themselves, but its explosion broke the floating curtain of floating logs (of which the English had no idea) that prevented entry into the fairway. This allowed the other branders to enter. Although only 4 of the branders came within range of the French ships (on which in places they set fire to some of the rigging), and not a single French ship was burned, it became apparent after daylight that the branders had caused such panic among the French that all but two of their ships ran aground in a desperate flight as far away from the flaming branders as possible. Cochrane urged Gambier to attack at once with all his strength, but the latter, fearing the shoals and the shore batteries, refused. Eventually Cochrane attacked alone with his ship, with Gambier hesitantly supporting him with 6 ships only after the tide had reduced the risk of shoals. In the meantime, however, most of the French ships managed to break free of the shoals and sail away; they achieved this, however, only at the cost of dropping most of the guns overboard. Eventually, the English captured three ships, and one was burned by her crew to prevent her falling into enemy hands. The French had 250 killed, 800 wounded, and 650 captured; the English lost only 32 killed and wounded. Cochrane, on his return to England, accused Gambier of having had the opportunity to completely destroy the enemy fleet and failing to do so. Gambier demanded a court-martial, and it acquitted him. In reality, the French fleet was not combat capable without guns and so no supplies or reinforcements sailed to the French colonies.
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org
perso.orange.fr
www.napoleon.org
http://www.histoirepassion.eu/spip.php?article539
www.everything2.com
en.wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Algeciras
cgi.ebay.fr
http://home.arcor.de/thomas_siebe/lucas.html
uk.encarta.msn.com
www.bbc.co.uk
[url][/url]