Coog
05-26-2012, 20:02
On 26 May 1811, HMS Alacrity under Commander Nisbit Palmer, an 18-gun Cruizer class brig sloop, encountered the French brig-of-war Abeille, of twenty 24-pounder carronades, off Bastia, Corsica. After an action that lasted about half an hour, during which Abeille outmaneuvered Alacrity, Alacrity struck. French accounts give her casualties as 15 killed and 20 wounded, including her captain. British accounts give her casualties as four dead and 18 wounded, including four fatally. Abeille suffered seven dead and 15 wounded.
The fight might well have gone the other way. Alacrity had a broadside of 262 pounds vs. 240 pounds for Abeille. Alacrity had also suffered fewer casualties than Abeille. However, Palmer retired to his cabin with a hand wound early in the action; once Alacrity had lost all her leadership with her officers dead, wounded or absent, this was enough to demoralize most of her crew.
For his role, the French promoted the French captain, Ange René Armand-Mackau, to the rank of Lieutenant de Vaisseau. He was also inducted into the Legion of Honour.
Probably fortunately for Palmer, within a month of the battle he died of tetanus from his otherwise minor wound. The court martial of the survivors on 30 May 1814 attributed the loss to the lack of leadership. It acquitted all the survivors and commended the boatswain, James Flaxman, who had remained on deck though wounded and had attempted to rally the crew to Alacrity's defence.
The fight might well have gone the other way. Alacrity had a broadside of 262 pounds vs. 240 pounds for Abeille. Alacrity had also suffered fewer casualties than Abeille. However, Palmer retired to his cabin with a hand wound early in the action; once Alacrity had lost all her leadership with her officers dead, wounded or absent, this was enough to demoralize most of her crew.
For his role, the French promoted the French captain, Ange René Armand-Mackau, to the rank of Lieutenant de Vaisseau. He was also inducted into the Legion of Honour.
Probably fortunately for Palmer, within a month of the battle he died of tetanus from his otherwise minor wound. The court martial of the survivors on 30 May 1814 attributed the loss to the lack of leadership. It acquitted all the survivors and commended the boatswain, James Flaxman, who had remained on deck though wounded and had attempted to rally the crew to Alacrity's defence.