Battle of the Basque Roads
The Battle of the Basque Roads, also known as the Battle of Aix Roads, was a major naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars, fought in the narrow Basque Roads at the mouth of the Charente River on the Biscay coast of France. The battle, which lasted from 11–24 April 1809, was unusual in that it pitted a hastily-assembled squadron of small and unorthodox British Royal Navy warships against the main strength of the French Atlantic Fleet. The circumstances were dictated by the cramped, shallow coastal waters in which the battle was fought. The battle is also notorious for its controversial political aftermath in both Britain and France.
Destruction of the French Fleet in Basque Roads, Thomas Whitcombe
A view of the British Squadron, led by the Theseus, preventing the French Orient squadron from joining with their Brest squadron near the Isle of Grouais (Île de Groix) on 21 February 1809.
Lord Cochrane by Peter Edward Stroehling, 1807, GAC
Régulus under attack by British fireships, during the evening of 11 April 1809. Louis-Philippe Crépin
James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier
Admiral of the Fleet James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier, was a Royal Navy officer. After seeing action at the capture of Charleston during the American Revolutionary War, he saw action again, as captain of the third-rate HMS Defence, at the battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars, gaining the distinction of commanding the first ship to break through the enemy line.
James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier
The third-rate HMS Defence, commanded by Gambier, at the Glorious First of June in 1794
Gambier commanded the British fleet during the bombardment of Copenhagen
Iver Grove, Gambier's home in Buckinghamshire