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Coog
06-08-2012, 04:34
On 8 June,1796 the French frigate Tribune, and her remaining two companions, the frigate Tamise and the corvette Legere, were sailing off the south coast of Ireland. Tribune was under the command of Commodore John Moulston, an American who had served in the French Navy for 16 years. At daybreak the British frigates Unicorn and Santa Margarita spotted the three French vessels and proceeded to chase them.

Tamise eventually turned to engage her pursuers, but Santa Margarita captured her after a 20-minute battle. Legere escaped. Separately, Dryad captured Proserpine a few days later; the British took her into service as Amelia.

Tribune continued to attempt to escape Unicorn in a running fight that lasted ten hours. Unicorn eventually pulled alongside and an intense engagement that lasted for 35 minutes ensued. Tribune attempted to drop astern to rake Unicorn's vulnerable stern, but was foiled by the good handling of the Unicorn, which again came alongside and continued to fire upon Tribune. Finally, when all her masts except her mizzenmast had been shot away, Tribune struck her colours.

Tribune had lost 37 men killed of her crew of 337 men, as well as 15 wounded, including Moulston. Unicorn, despite having only 140 of her normal complement of 151 aboard, with a lieutenant and her best seamen taking a prize to Cork, had suffered no casualties.

The victory earned Unicorn's captain a knighthood. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the remaining survivors of this action the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Unicorn 8 June 1796". The crews of Santa Margaritta and Dryad also won the Naval General Service Medal with clasps "Sta. Margaritta 8 June 1796" for the capture of Tamise and "Dryad 13 June 1796" for the capture of Proserpine.

Coog
06-08-2012, 04:43
The Action of 8 June 1755 was a naval battle between France and Great Britain early in the French and Indian War. The British captured the third-rate French ships Alcide and Lys off Cape Race, Newfoundland in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The battle contributed to the eventual war declarations that in 1756 formally began the Seven Years' War.

In 1754, French and British colonial forces clashed in 1754, first in the Battle of Jumonville Glen, and then in the Battle of Fort Necessity, over control of the upper Ohio River valley, near present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When word of these conflicts reached London, government leaders decided to send regular army troops to occupy the site on which the French had constructed Fort Duquesne. Word of the British military planning leaked to France, where convoys of troops were also rushed into readiness for service in North America. The Royal Navy, aware of the French plans, dispatched Vice Admiral Edward Boscawen and a fleet of eleven ships of the line to the Gulf of St. Lawrence to intercept French shipping headed for Quebec City. Boscawen patrolled along the southern shore of Newfoundland. Three weeks later, a second fleet of seven ships was despatched under Admiral Holbourne to intercept French shipping.

The French fleet, under the command of Admiral Dubois de la Motte, for the most part managed to avoid these British forces. Many of its ships landed at Louisbourg, and some successfully eluded Boscawen's fleet to reach Quebec. However, three ships became separated from the rest of the fleet in fog, and encountered some of Boscawen's ships.

HMS Dunkirk, HMS Defiance and HMS Torbay caught sight of the Dauphin Royal, Alcide, and Lys under the command of Toussaint Hocquart. The Lys was sailing en flūte, and had been reduced to 22 cannons because it was carrying soldiers of the regiment de la Reine and the Languedoc regiment; eight companies in all. The Alcide had 64 guns and these ships soon fell in with the British ships. Hocquart of the Alcide called out to the commander of the Dunkirk Richard Howe, "Are we at war, or at peace?" to which the English replied, "At peace, at peace." After a brief discussion, the Royal Navy ships opened fire on the three French ships. The Alcide being better armed than the other two French ships, returned fire and fought bravely for five hours. However after sustaining much damage it surrendered along with the Lys. The Dauphin Royal escaped in the fog to tell the tale.

After this action and further harassment of French shipping by British naval forces, the two countries declared war on each other in the spring of 1756. The prisoners of this battle, most of them French land troops intended for service in New France, were held at Georges Island in Halifax Harbour and were treated as prisoners of war.

On board the ships Alcide and Lys are found to contain 10,000 scalping knives for Acadians and Indians under MicMac Chief Cope and Acadian Beausoleil as they continue to fight Father Le Loutre's War.

Hocquart became Boscawen's prisoner for the third time; he had been captured by him in a frigate action back in 1744. He was then captured again in the First Battle of Cape Finisterre (1747) before finally being captured in the Alcide.

Coog
06-08-2012, 04:50
On 8 June 1761 Belle Īle was captured. The Capture of Belle Īle was a British amphibious expedition to capture the French island of Belle Īle off the Brittany Coast in 1761, during the Seven Years War. After an initial British attack was repulsed, a second attempt under General Studholme Hodgson forced a beachhead. A second landing was made, and after a six week siege the island's main citadel at Le Palais was stormed, consolidating British control of the island. A French relief effort from the nearby mainland was unable to succeed because of British control of the sea. The British occupied the island for two years before returning it in 1763 following the Treaty of Paris.