by Dean King
December 19 Earl Spencer succeeds the Earl of Chatham as First Lord of the Admiralty.
December 19-23 British evacuate Toulon.
1794
March 22 Capture of Fort Bourbon and all of Martinique by General Sir Charles Grey and Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis in H.M.S. Boyne.
May 21 Capture of Bastia, Corsica, after a siege of 37 days, by troops under Lieutenant-Colonel William Villettes (69th Regiment) and seamen under Captain Horatio Nelson in H.M.S. Agamemnon.
June 1 The Glorious First of June. Admiral Earl Howe in his flagship H.M.S. Queen Charlotte defeats Rear-Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse (Montagne) west of Ushant.
June 10 (22 Prairial, Year II) The Terror begins in France.
June 12 Captain Nelson blinded in right eye while besieging Calvi, Corsica. Nelson writes, “At present I can distinguish light from dark, but no object: it confined me one day, when thank God I was able to do my duty.”
July 27 Death of Robespierre. End of the Terror.
1795
March 3 Evan Nepean succeeds Philip Stephens (in office since 1763) as Admiralty Secretary.
August 22 Directory established in France.
September 16 Vice-Admiral Sir George Elphinstone, later Lord Keith, and General Alfred Clarke capture the Cape of Good Hope in the name of the Prince of Orange.
1796
January 28 The Admiralty telegraph system, based on Murray’s shutter system, begins working between London and Portsmouth and London and Chatham. (It extends to Plymouth in 1806 and to Yarmouth in 1808.)
May 24 St. Lucia falls to Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby and Rear-Admiral Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian, in H.M.S. Thunderer.
August 19 First Idelfonso Treaty signed, allying France and Spain. As a result, British leaders decide to withdraw from Toulon and evacuate the Royal Navy from the western Mediterranean, moving to Gibraltar.
October 8 Spain declares war on Britain.
December 15 Expedition leaves France for Ireland.
December 21-27 Landing at Bantry Bay fails.
1797
February 14 Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 24 miles west by south of Cape St. Vincent. British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis in H.M.S. Victory defeats 27 Spanish sail of the line under Vice-Admiral Don Jose de Córdoba, flying his flag in Santissima Trinidad.
February 18 Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby and Rear-Admiral Henry Harvey in H.M.S. Prince of Wales capture Trinidad.
May 1 First Spithead mutiny ends with issue of Admiralty orders against abuses.
May 7 Second Spithead mutiny begins.
May 8 Parliament passes Sailors’ Bill to improve conditions of naval service.
May 12 Mutiny at the Nore begins in H.M.S. Sandwich.
May 15 Second Spithead mutiny ends.
June 14 Mutiny at the Nore ends. Many of the mutineers, including their leader, Richard Parker, are subsequently tried and executed.
July 3 Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson’s boat action with Spanish gunboats at Cadiz.
October 11 Battle of Camperdown. Admiral Adam Duncan in H.M.S. Venerable defeats the Dutch fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter, flying his flag in Vrijheid.
1798
July 1 Napoleon lands in Egypt.
August Battle of the Nile. Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson in H.M.S. Vanguard defeats Vice-Admiral Francois Brueys (Orient) at Aboukir Bay.
December 29 Second Coalition formed against France
1799
March 1 War breaks out between Second Coalition and France.
August 23 Napoleon leaves his troops in Egypt and returns to France on October 9, arriving in Paris on October 14.
November 11 (20 Brumaire, Year VIII) Provisional Consulate formed.
December 14 Napoleon made First Consul.
1800
February 18 H.M.S. Leander captures the French Généreaux.
March 14 Pope Pius VII elected.
June 14 Battle of Marengo.
September 5 Major-General Henry Pigot captures Malta, after a naval blockade begun in May. Captain, later Admiral, Ball becomes Governor.
October 7 Second Treaty of Idelfonso. Spain cedes Louisiana to France.
December 18 Second Armed Neutrality. In response to British claims of the right to search neutral shipping, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and Prussia revive the Armed Neutrality of 1780, threatening the effectiveness of Britain’s naval blockade of France, cutting off British supplies of timber and naval materials, and halting grain imports from the Baltic at a time of poor harvests at home.
1801
January 1 Current form of Union flag and naval ensigns established upon the union of Great Britain and Ireland.
February 19 Earl of St. Vincent succeeds Earl Spencer as First Lord of the Admiralty.
March 17 Henry Addington succeeds William Pitt the Younger, who has been Prime Minister since 1783.
March 23 Czar Paul I assassinated; succeeded by Alexander I.
April 2 First Battle of Copenhagen. When Vice-Admiral Nelson’s Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, orders the ships to break off the action, Nelson puts his spyglass to his blind eye and says, “I really do not see the signal.”
May 6 Captain Thomas Cochrane in the Speedy captures the much more powerful Spanish Gamo southwest of Barcelona.
May 25 Admiralty Hydrographic Office publishes its first dated Admiralty charts, which are of Alexandria and the Egyptian coast. (The previous year it had published its very first chart, Quiberon Bay.)
July 3 French squadron under Linois takes H.M.S. Speedy.
July 6-12 Battle of Algeciras. Rear-Admiral Sir James Saumarez, in H.M.S. Caesar, defeats Franco-Spanish squadron of nine ships under Vice-Admiral Don Juan de Moreno and Rear-Admiral Durand-Linois, both in Sabina, in the Gut of Gibraltar.
October 1 Preliminaries of Peace of Amiens signed.
1802
March 25 Peace of Amiens.
May 8-14 Plebiscite on Life Consulship; proclaimed on August 2.
1803
March 18 Resumption of hostilities between Britain and France.
May 3 France sells Louisiana to United States.
May 17 Britain declares war on France.
August 23 Invasion camps form at St. Omer and Bruges. French invasion flotilla assembles.
October 9 Franco-Spanish alliance signed.
1804
January 7 Commodore Samuel Hood (Centaur) seizes the Diamond Rock, an island southwest of Martinique. Fortified and commissioned by Lieutenant Maurice.
March 11 French Navy ordered to prepare to invade England.
March 21 William Marsden succeeds Evan Nepean as Admiralty Secretary.
May 5 Commodore Samuel Hood, in H.M.S. (Centaur), with troops under Brigadier-General Sir Charles Green, captures Surinam.
May 10 Succeeding Addington, William Pitt forms his second administration as Prime Minister.
May 15 Viscount Melville succeeds the Earl of St. Vincent as First Lord of the Admiralty.
May 18 Napoleon proclaimed Emperor.
October 5 H.M. ships Lively, Indefatigable, Medusa, and Amphion intercept, off Cadiz, Bustamante with four Spanish frigates carrying treasure from Montevideo.
December 2 Napoleon’s coronation.
December 14 Spain declares war on the United Kingdom.
1805
March 29 Admiral Villeneuve and his fleet evade the blockade of Toulon and pass Gibralter en route to the West Indies on April 9.
April 11 Anglo-Russian Alliance signed.
May 2 Lord Barham succeeds Lord Melville as First Lord of the Admiralty.
June 2 After enduring three days’ bombardment, Commander James Maurice surrenders the island called H.M.S. Diamond Rock to a strong French squadron under Captain Cosmao-Kerjulien, in Pluton.
July 22 In a precursor to Trafalgar, Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Calder, in H.M.S. Prince of Wales, reinforced by Rear-Admiral Stirling with five ships, fights Vice-Admiral Pierre Villeneuve with 19 French and
Spanish ships, 150 miles west-northwest of Ferrol.
August 9 Austria completes formation of the Third Coalition against France.
October 20 Capitulation of Ulm.
October 21 Battle of Trafalgar, eight leagues off Cadiz. Vice-Admiral Viscount Nelson in H.M.S. Victory defeats the Franco-Spanish fleet of 33 sail of the line under Vice-Admiral Pierre Villeneuve and Admiral Don Federico Gravina. British ships destroy 16 ships and capture four, but Nelson is killed.
December 2 Battle of Austerlitz.
December 26 Surrender of Austria under the terms of the Treaty of Pressburg.
1806
January 9 Funeral of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
January 10 Cape Town capitulates to British forces under Major-General Sir David Baird and Commodore Sir Home Riggs Popham in H.M.S. Diadem. The entire Cape Colony surrenders on January 18. (It had been previously taken on September 16, 1795, but was returned to the Dutch in 1802.)
January 23 Death of William Pitt. The “Ministry of All the Talents” formed, headed by Lord Grenville as Prime Minister.
February 6 Battle of San Domingo. Vice-Admiral Sir John Duckworth in H.M.S. Superb defeats a French squadron of five under Rear-Admiral Leissegues in San Domingo Bay.
February 10 Hon. Charles Grey (from April 1806, Viscount Howick) succeeds Lord Barham as First Lord of the Admiralty.
April 6 Cochrane in H.M.S. Pallas drives the French vessels Garonne, Gloire, and Malicieuse ashore at the mouth of the Gironde, while most of his men were in boats engaged upstream in cutting out Tapageuse.
May 16 Royal Navy begins blockade of French ports.
June 27 Commodore Sir Home Riggs Popham, in H.M.S. Diadem, and Major-General William Carr Beresford capture Buenos Aires.
July 20 Peace treaty between France and Russia signed; Czar Alexander refuses to ratify it on August 24.
September 29 Thomas Grenville succeeds Viscount Howick as First Lord of the Admiralty.
October 6 Formation of Fourth Coalition against France.
October 14 Battle of Jena-Auerestadt.
October 27 Napoleon enters Berlin.
November 21 Napoleon issues Berlin Decree, closing European ports to British goods and inaugurating the Continental system.
1807
January 1 Captain Charles Brisbane in H.M.S. Anson, with Arethusa, Fisgard, and Latona, captures Curasao.
January 7 British Orders in Council against contraband aim to further isolate France but increase tension with neutrals.
February 3 Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty and Rear-Admiral Charles Stirling, in H.M.S. Diadem, capture Montevideo.
February 19 Vice-Admiral Sir John Duckworth in H.M.S. Royal George forces the passage of the Dardanelles and anchors off Constantinople, destroying 11 Turkish ships and capturing two.
March 24 Whigs leave office for the last time in the reign of George III. Duke of Portland succeeds as Prime Minister.
April 6 Lord Mulgrave succeeds Thomas Grenville as First Lord of the Admiralty.
June 22 After sailing from Hampton Roads, Virginia, U.S.S. Chesapeake refuses to be searched for British deserters, and H.M.S. Leopard fires into her, killing three, including the captain, and wounding 18 American seamen.
September 2 The fleet under Admiral James Gambier in H.M.S. Prince of Wales and shore batteries erected by Lieutenant-General Lord Cathcart bombard Copenhagen.
September 7 Seventy Danish ships surrender to Admiral Gambier.
June 24 Hon. William Wellesley Pole succeeds William Marsden as Admiralty Secretary.
July 7-9 Peace and treaties of Tilsit.
September 7 British forces seize Danish fleet.
November 11 British Orders in Council require British vessels trading with Europe to stop first at a British port to unload, pay duties, and reload.
December 17 Napoleon issues Milan Decree, authorizing French ships to seize any vessel stopping in a British port or that has been searched at sea by British warships.
December 22 In response to French and British attacks on neutral American shipping, U.S. Congress enacts Embargo, prohibiting U.S. vessels from sailing to foreign ports until March 1809.
1808
April 17 Napoleon issues Bayonne Decree, authorizing French authorities to sequester American vessels in Europe.
August 30 Convention of Cintra signed.
November 5 Napoleon takes personal command in Spain
December 24 General Sir John Moore begins his retreat.
1809
January 16 Battle of Corunna. General Moore killed while covering the embarkation of the Army.
February 24 Lieutenant-General George Beckwith and Rear-Admiral the Hon. Sir Alexander Cochrane in H.M.S. Neptune capture Martinique.
March 1 U.S. Embargo repealed and replaced by Non-Intercourse Act, prohibiting American trade withboth belligerents until May 1810 or until repeal of their restrictions on U.S. commerce.
April 9 Fifth Coalition against France formed.
April 11 Captain Lord Cochrane’s fireship attack on the French fleet at Basque Roads.
May 18 Occupation of the island of Anholt in the Kattegat.
July 5-6 Battle of Wagram.
July 26 Admiral Gambier court-martialed for his conduct at Aix Roads.
July 30-December 23 The Walcheren Campaign. The Royal Navy supports a large invasion force that attempts to seize control of the mouth of the River Scheldt, where the French have established a naval base. The French force the expedition to withdraw.
October 12 John William Croker succeeds William Wellesley Pole as Admiralty Secretary. (He remains in office until 1830.)
December 2 Spencer Perceval succeeds the Duke of Portland as Prime Minister.
1810
February 5 Lieutenant-General Sir George Beckwith and Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir Alexander Cochrane, in H.M.S. Pompee, capture Guadeloupe.
February 17 Captain Tucker in H.M.S. Cornwallis, with the Dover and the Samarang and a detachment from the Madras European Regiment, capture Amboina, in the Molucca Islands.
March 7 Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood dies at sea in the Mediterranean, off Minorca, on his way home after being granted sick leave.
March 23 Napoleon issues Rambouillet Decree, authorizing confiscation of ships and cargos sequestered under the Bayonne Decree.
May 4 Charles Philip Yorke succeeds Lord Mulgrave as First Lord of the Admiralty.
July 8 The island of Bourbon (Reunion) captured by H.M. ships Boadicea, Iphigenia, Magicienne, Nereide, and Sirius,along with British troops, including the Bombay Artillery Pioneers and the Madras Native Infantry.
August 23-28 Battle of Grand Port, Mauritius, in which the French capture H.M.S. Neride and H.M.S. Iphigenia, and the British burn H.M.S. Magicienne and H.M.S. Sirius to avoid capture.
September 12 The British ships Bodicea, Africaine, Otter, and Staunch engage the French Iphigenie (ex-British Iphigenia).
September 17 Action between H.M.S. Ceylon and H.M.S. Bodicea with the French Venus.
December 3 Vice-Admiral Albermarle Bertie in H.M.S. Africaine and Major-General the Hon. John Abercromby capture Île de France (Mauritius).
1811
February 5 Parliament passes the Regency Act and the Prince of Wales is accepted as Regent by hereditary right. Royal assent to the act was signified by a commission.
May 16 The U.S.S. President takes H.M.S. Little Belt.
September 18 Lord Minto, with Rear-Admiral the Hon. Robert Stopford in H.M.S. Scipion and Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty, captures Java.
December 23 Napoleon begins preparations against Russia.
1812
March 25 Viscount Melville succeeds Charles Philip Yorke as First Lord of the Admiralty, remaining in office until 1830, except for 16 months in 1827-1828.
May 11 Bellingham assassinates Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in the House of Commons.
June 8 Earl of Liverpool becomes Prime Minister and remains in office for nearly
15 years.
June 18 The United States declares war against Britain.
June 20 Sixth Coalition formed against France.
August 13 Wellington enters Madrid.
August 19 U.S.S. Constitution takes H.M.S. Guerriere about 55 miles southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
September 7 Battle of Borodino.
September 14 Napoleon enters Moscow.
October 19 French begin to leave Moscow.
October 25 U.S.S. United States takes H.M.S. Macedonian about 600 miles west-southwest of Madeira.
December 18 Napoleon returns to Paris.
December 29 U.S.S. Constitution takes H.M.S. Java 30 miles east of Bahia, Brazil.
1813
February 24 U.S.S. Hornet takes H.M.S. Peacock off the mouth of the Demerara River, British Guiana.
March 16 Prussia declares war on France.
April 29-May 9 Boats from the squadron under Rear-Admiral George Cockburn destroy American shipping and stores in Virginia.
June 1 H.M.S. Shannon takes U.S.S. Chesapeake off Boston, killing her captain, James Lawrence, whose dying words—“Don’t give up the ship!”—become an American battle cry in the War of 1812.
August 10 Commodore Sir James Yeo in H.M.S. Wolfe engages an American squadron under Commodore Isaac Chauncey on Lake Ontario, capturing the American schooners Growler and Julia.
August 17 Austria declares war on France.
September 10 The American Lake Squadron on Lake Erie under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry defeats the British Lake Squadron.
October 16-19 Napoleon defeated at the Battle of Leipzig, pushing all his forces west of the Rhine.
1814
February 3 H.M.S. Majestic gives up pursuing U.S.S. Wasp to capture the French Terpsichore, 300 miles north-northwest of Madeira.
March 13 The allies at Vienna declare Napoleon an outlaw.
March 25 Seventh Coalition formed against France.
March 31 Allies enter Paris.
April 4 Wellington arrives in Brussels.
April 6 Napoleon abdicates at Fontainbleau.
April 28 Napoleon surrenders to Captain Ussher in H.M.S. Undaunted for his passage to Elba.
May 1 First Navy List published officially by the Admiralty.
May 3 Louis XVIII enters Paris.
June 28 U.S.S. Wasp takes H.M.S. Reindeer 240 miles west of Ushant.