The Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf was fought off the Îles Saint-Marcouf on 7 May 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Dislodging a British garrison on the islands was the main objective for F
1798 engraving of the battle
1798 engraving of the islands under British occupation
Political cartoon by Thomas Rowlandson mocking the French defeat
Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith was a British naval officer and politician. Serving in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, he rose to the rank of admiral in
Battle of the Îles Saint-Marcouf
…Wars, British warships patrolled the French coast, intercepting and destroying French maritime traffic and blockading French ports. In 1795 Captain Sir Sidney Smith, a prominent Royal Navy officer, recognised that if resupply points could be established on islands off the French coast then cruising warships could…
Portrait by Robert Ker Porter, 1802
Smith participating in the destruction of the French fleet at Toulon in 1793
Smith being captured by the French off Le Havre on 18 April 1796
1796 portrait of Smith in the Temple Prison by Philippe-Auguste Hennequin