Sometimes the quirks of technology can reveal something really interesting! While compiling a list of objects in our Collection related to submarines, our Collections Management System threw me a curveball. For some unknown reason, my search caught a watercolor showing British ships anchored in Saint-Florent bay in Corsica around 1795. While I’m no expert, I’m pretty confident the Royal Navy didn’t use submarines during the French Revolutionary War.1If they did, then this image shows them submerged and without periscopes! At any rate, I was intrigued that the object record contained so little information despite the specificity of the scene. I began researching the story behind the image and it ended up being really interesting!
It all started on February 1, 1793, when revolutionary France declared war on Great Britain. The British immediately began assembling the various fleets they would need to fight the French. Throughout May and June, Lord Hood, commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet, gathered 15 ships-of-the-line and nine frigates at Gibraltar. On June 27, Hood sailed the fleet to Toulon, France, and instituted a blockade to lure the French Mediterranean fleet out for a fight. A short time later, the British blockade was joined by 24 Spanish ships-of-the-line under Admiral Juan de Langara. Faced with such a powerful force, it’s no surprise the 17 French ships (including two 100-gun vessels) weren’t willing to leave the safety of the port.
While the British fleet was assembling, pockets of resistance against the revolutionary forces broke out in cities like Marseilles, Lyon, Bordeaux, La Vendée and others. At Toulon, royalists and other counter-revolutionaries surrendered the port to the British, who landed 1,500 troops on August 28 and seized the port’s fortifications. As the crews of the French ships fled, the abandoned vessels were moved into the port’s inner harbor. The following day the British and Spanish fleets anchored in Toulon’s outer road.
革命部队不愿遭受法国舰队的重要阿森纳和指挥基地的损失，立即开始前往这座城市。到9月，土伦被15,000名士兵包围，每天都有更多的人到达。持有这座城市的部队仅包括5300名撒丁岛人，英国，西班牙和法国人。到11月中旬，有40,000名士兵包围了Toulon，而持有港口的盟友则有16,000人，其中许多人生病或受伤。法国和盟军一直在控制城镇周围高度的控制权，但显然，如果没有大量的增援，英国及其盟国就没有希望持有港口的希望 - 尤其是因为组织法国反应的关键人物之一是一位雄心勃勃的年轻炮兵官员拿破仑·布纳帕特（Napoleon Buonaparte）（是的，同一个人，又名Bonaparte！）。
在12月17日晚上，布纳帕特（Buonaparte）成功地袭击了三个堡垒（L'Eguillette堡，穆尔格雷夫堡（Fort L'Eguillette），穆尔格雷夫堡（Fort Mulgrave）和环法自行车赛（Tour De la Balaguier）），坐在骑着港口西侧的岬角上。捕获装置使法国人有能力轰炸内部和外港以及图伦市，迫使港口撤离。在出门的路上，英国和西班牙在内港摧毁了尽可能多的法国船只，而其他人则被撤离保皇党。胡德然后将船只搬到韦尔斯湾，以考虑他的选择。
随着图伦（Toulon）广泛的海军设施和前往法国的许多船只的恢复，英国人需要新的运营基地。这个地方需要拥有广泛的存储设施以及可以修复，改装和重新装修的船舶的设施。新基地还需要定位，它可以支持奥地利和撒丁岛军事行动。海军上将选择科西嘉岛。该岛提供了良好的港口，易于供应和大量的木材，并在战略上重要且脆弱的利古里亚海岸的范围内引用了。当时，该岛也主要是由由帕斯奎尔·保利（Pasquale Paoli）领导的科西斯（Corsican）分离主义者的控制，他们也恰好与英国人进行谈判，以与持有该岛的法国人打交道。英国人需要捕获三个强化的城市：圣菲奥伦佐（圣林），巴斯蒂亚和卡尔维以控制。
The British sailedfrom Îles d’Hyères for San Fiorenzoon Corsica’s northern coaston January 24, 1794. On the way, the fleet was caught by a three-day gale that pushed most of the ships past Corsica to Portoferraio on the island of Elba.1794年2月4日，胡德派遣了74艘船HMSAlcide, HMSEgmont, and HMSFortitude, and the 32-gun frigates HMSLowestoft和HMSJuno,and transports carrying 1,400 British troops to Corsica to begin the siege.
Securing the anchorage at San Fiorenzo required gaining control over two tall round fortresses, the Torra di Mortella and the Torra di Fornali, which commanded the seaward approaches to the western side of Saint-Florent bay. The heavily fortified and seemingly impenetrable tower on Mortella Point had walls fifteen feet thick and mounted one 6-pound and two 18-pound cannons. On February 8th, troops under Lt. Colonel John Moore landed on the coast west of the Torra di Mortella and marched seven or eight miles “through a rocky, desert and mountainous country, destitute of roads”2to reach the heights overlooking the tower. With them was a detachment of sailors hauling a small howitzer and a 6-pound cannon (These things aren’t light! They can weigh several 1,000 pounds!).建立一个小电池后,军队开放ned fire on the tower from a distance of just 150 yards3但是枪对要塞的影响很小。
To assist the army, two British ships, the 74-gunFortitudeand 32-gunJuno, spent two and a half hours of arduous work bombarding the tower to little effect. It wasn’t quite the same situation for the ships on the receiving end of the tower’s fire. Two 18-pound shot significantly damagedFortitude’smainmast, nine shrouds were cut, large holes were battered in the ship’s side, and three guns on the lower deck were dismounted. Several heated shot lodged inFortitude’s sides also caused fires, but these were quickly extinguished, causing little damage. Unfortunately, one red hot shot hit a powder box and caused an explosion that killed six sailors and injured another 56.
最终，在拖拉了18磅重的大炮（约3,000-4,760磅，取决于长度）之后，两个9磅重的大炮（每个约2,800-3,500磅）和一支带有俯瞰塔的高度的汽轮。对于水手来说，这绝对是一项惊人的壮举，并且在整个革命性和拿破仑战争中经常重复。随着电池的扩大，英国人在法国人投降之前轰炸了托拉·迪·莫特拉（Torra Di Mortella）两天。令人难以置信的是，投降不是由射击引起的，而是由于射击火烧了18磅重的大炮时造成的火灾。这些塔显然很有效，因为只有33个人设法推迟了700多个英国人！
随着托拉·迪·莫特拉（Torra Di Mortella）的投降，英国人将注意力转移到了更为强化的托拉·迪纳利（Torra di Fornali）上，该托拉·迪纳利（Torra di Fornali）保护了两个强大的电池，指向海。它后面的山丘举行了封闭的“公约堡垒”，配备了21大炮。
Again, the key to taking the fortress was by mounting heavy cannons on the heights above the redoubt. Yet again, the navy saved the day! Over the course of four days sailors from the five ships hauled four 18-pound cannons, a large howitzer, and a 10-inch mortar (5,600 lbs!) 700 feet UP a mountain to establish two batteries the army could use to rain shot down upon the French.
After two days of unremitting fire, a fifth 18-pound cannon was “brought up by the seamen”4and a sixth was placed at another point on the shoreline to prevent two French frigates anchored in the bay from joining the action. On the night of the 17th, the British troops swarmed the redoubt and drove the French out. The French then abandoned the tower and batteries, escaping to the waiting frigates. According to Lt. General David Dundas, who had led the troops, “on the 18th the squadron anchored in perfect security in Mortella Bay.”5The French abandoned San Fiorenzo proper and headed for Bastia the following day. It would take another six months before the whole island was under British control – but that’s a story for another day.
To the British, the towers of Mortella and Fornali had proved their worth as defensive coastal fortifications. Worried about the invasion of their home island, the British adopted the tower idea. Between 1796 and 1815, they built about 194 towers along Britain’s coast as well as others along its colonies’ shorelines. Of course, in typical British fashion of the time, the pronunciation and spelling of the word ‘mortella’ was corrupted to suit the British tongue. And these days, the towers are more well known as ‘martello’ towers.
Endnotes:
1Robert Fulton did try to convince both the British and French that submarines were a good idea but neither country formally implemented his ideas. If you don’t know, Robert Fulton was an American inventor and engineer who is credited with developing the world’s first commercially successful steamboat. He also designed submarines, canals, and various forms of naval armament.
2从1794年2月21日的一封信，戴维·邓达斯将军中尉。出版于The London GazettE，1794年3月11日至15日。
3After digging around in a few resources in the Museum’s Library Collection I was able to determine that the point blank range of a 6-pound cannon is 250 yards. So under normal circumstances, the power of a cannonball hitting a target from just 150 yards would have been devastating.
4从1794年2月21日的一封信，戴维·邓达斯将军中尉。出版于The London Gazette, March 11-15, 1794.
5同上。
You mustlog into post a comment.