Retour à la Pointe de Barfleur, au Nord du Cotentin, pour un nouveau coup d'oeil sur le phare de Gatteville, en contre-jour, cette fois.
Et cette visite nous permet de continuer l'histoire de l'Amiral de Tourville et de la Bataille de la Hougue, qui commença au large de Gatteville.
Jacques II, roi d'Angleterre, dirigait son royaume en mettant en avant sa religion catholique. En 1688, il dut se réfugier auprès du roi de France, pour échapper à une coalition protestante Anglo-Hollandaise destinée à le renverser. Rappelé dans son royaume, en 1692, par une faction de ses sujets, il demanda à Louis XIV une flotte et des troupes pour débarquer en Angletterre. Il se rendit à La Hougue avec 16.000 hommes afin d'embarquer sur la flotte du Vice-Amiral de France, le Comte de Tourville, forte de 44 vaisseaux de guerre.
L'historien Cherbourgeois Voisin la Hougue raconte en 1740 le déroulement de la bataille: ..."Comme l'amiral venait à La Hougue pour y embarquer cette armée, il fit rencontre des flottes anglaise et hollandaise entre Barfleur et l'île de Wight; elles étaient composées de quatre-vingt-quatre vaisseaux de premier rang et de quantité de brûlots"... (bâteaux remplis de matière inflammable pour être lancés sur les navires ennemis).
..." Quoiqu'elles fussent doublement supérieures à la sienne, il les attaqua suivant l'ordre qu'il avait de la cour. Les ennemis, bien loin de se déclarer pour le roi Jacques comme on l'avait fait espérer, le reçurent à coups de canon. Le combat commença vers les dix heures du matin, le jeudi vingt-neuvième jour de mai. Tourville les fit plier pendant trois heures, fracassa tous les mâts des plus grands vaisseaux, en coula un à fond, et la plupart de leur brûlots, sans perdre ni vaisseaux ni mâts dans un combat si inégal. Un brouillard épais qui survint fit cesser le feu jusqu'à cinq heures; puis il recommença, et dura jusqu'à la nuit. L'obscurité sépara les flottes, de façon que dix de nos vaisseaux se trouvèrent écartés. Le jour ayant fait remarqué cette diminution, on ne se vit plus en état de joindre les ennemis; il fallut céder au nombre et se retirer "...
Mais ce n'est pas la fin de l'histoire...
Return visit to the Point of Barfleur, at the Northern tip of the Cotentin peninsula, for a fresh look at the lighthouse at Gatteville, completely in the shadows.
And this visit will be a pretext to continue the story of Admiral Tourville and of the battle of la Hougue, which started in the English Channel, just North of the Cape.-------------
King Louis XIV and his naval minister, Pontchartrain, planned to land an army in England and restore James II to the throne. They first planned to launch the invasion in April 1692 before the English and Dutch fleets had got to sea and joined up. Troops were collected at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and the cavalry and guns were to be loaded into transports at Le Havre. Tourville was to bring the French fleet up from Brest and collect the transports and the troops, then fight off the English fleet and land the army in England.
On 28 May off Cape Barfleur, Tourville perceived through the early morning mist a portion of the Anglo-Dutch Grand Fleet of 99 ships, 20 yachts and 19 fire ships commanded by Admiral Edward Russell who were looking for the French Fleet. Russell had aleady the previous day given the signal to form line of battle with the 27 Dutch ships under Lieutenant-Admiral Philips van Almonde leading. At 5 a.m. on 28 May the log of the English ship Monmouth records that the French fleet was spotted to windward. Tourville was heavily outnumbered and offered battle only because Louis XIV's strict orders compelled him to engage the enemy. The French sailed down wind onto the English fleet and after some time all the French fleet was engaged.
The power of guns of the largest French ships, their manoeuverabilty, and Tourville's superior formation enabled the French to deliver a fierce cannonade on the allies. One English and one Dutch ship were sunk. Some of the allied ships were hampered by the direction of the wind and could not start to close and engage until the wind shifted. Eventually the ships on the starboard wing of the allied line, under the command of Ashby, managed to get to windward of the French and envelop the centre of the French line. A calm fell and the early evening became foggy. When the fog lifted there was further engagement for a few hours. Tourville, who had suffered grevious damage to his flag ship and several other ships by then, recognised it was futile to continue any longer, and gave the order to disperse.
Although the French fought with great bravery and their most powerful ships inflicted losses on the allies, the numerical advantage of the allies had proved decisive in forcing Tourville to break off. Tactically, Barfleur was an impressive French victory born of a very uneven struggle, but Tourville was unable to extricate his badly damaged fleet and return safely to port
But this is not the end of the story...
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire