The Battle of Camperdown was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797, between the British North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy (Dutch) fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter. The battle, the most significant action between British and Dutch forces during the French Revolutionary Wars, resulted in a complete victory for the British, who captured eleven Dutch ships without losing any of their own.
The Battle of Camperdown, 11 October 1797, Thomas Whitcombe
Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, Henri-Pierre Danloux, pre-1809, NPG.
The Battle of Camperdown, Thomas Whitcombe, 1798, Tate
The Battle of Camperdown, painted by Philip de Loutherbourg in 1799.
The French expedition to Ireland, known in French as the Expédition d'Irlande, was an unsuccessful attempt by the French Republic to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican group, in their planned rebellion against British rule during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French intended to land a large expeditionary force in Ireland during the winter of 1796–1797 which would join with the United Irishmen and drive the British out of Ireland. The French anticipated that this would be a major blow to British morale, prestige and military effectiveness, and was also intended to possibly be the first stage of an eventual invasion of Great Britain itself. To this end, the Directory gathered a force of approximately 15,000 soldiers at Brest under General Lazare Hoche during late 1796, in readiness for a major landing at Bantry Bay in December.
End of the Irish Invasion ; — or – the Destruction of the French Armada, James Gillray
Anchor from the French expedition of 1796, discovered off northeast of Whiddy island, Bantry Bay, 1981.
Battle between the French warship Droits de l'Homme and the frigates HMS Amazon and Indefatigable, 13 & 14 January 1797, Leopold Le Guen