Episode 5 of 8
First contact and convoy escort, 9 April
- When
- 9 April 1782
- Where
- waters between Dominica and Guadeloupe
- Part of
- Battle of the Saintes
The faster copper-sheathed British fleet caught the French; de Grasse formed his line to cover the convoy's retreat to Guadeloupe.
On 9 April 1782 the copper-sheathed British fleet caught up with the French, who were surprised by their speed. De Grasse ordered the convoy into Guadeloupe for repair, forcing him to escort the two 50-gun ships Fier and Experiment, and placed his fleet in line of battle to cover the retreat. The British awaited Rodney's red flag signal from Formidable, about six miles behind, to engage the enemy.
Sources
- Battle of the Saintes Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.