The court-martial of James, Lord Gambier, was a notorious British naval legal case during the summer of 1809, in which Admiral Lord Gambier requested a court-martial to examine his behaviour during the Battle of the Basque Roads in April of the same year. Noted for the acrimony and corruption of proceedings, it has been described as "one of the ugliest episodes in the internal history of the Royal Navy".Mostert, p. 572
Gambier was the Royal Navy commander of the Channel Fleet during the later Napoleonic Wars, primarily tasked with the blockade of the French Atlantic Fleet in Brest. In February 1809 the French fleet tried to break out into the Atlantic and was chased into the anchorage of Basque Roads near the river Charente. On 11 April a major attack was launched on the anchored fleet by fireships and over several days the French fleet was driven ashore and battered by an inshore squadron commanded by the maverick officer Lord Cochrane. Gambier, stationed just offshore with the main fleet, refused to support Cochrane and as a result, although damaged, most of the French fleet eventually escaped to safety.
On his return to Britain, Cochrane used his position as a Radical Member of Parliament to attempt to block an effort to thank Gambier formally for the victory, placing him in direct opposition to Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland's administration and First Lord of the Admiralty Henry Phipps, 3rd Baron Mulgrave. Mulgrave warned Gambier of the position taken by Cochrane, who responded by demanding a public examination of his conduct via a court-martial. Convened at Portsmouth on 26 July 1809, the members of the court were deliberately chosen by Mulgrave to favour Gambier, and over the next eight days a call was issued for particular witnesses who largely discredited Cochrane with misleading evidence. When Cochrane was called to give evidence he was subjected to aggressive questioning, lost his temper and was officially reprimanded.
At the conclusion of the court-martial the members of the court unanimously found in Gambier's favour and despite Cochrane's best efforts Parliament voted thanks to Gambier. Gambier was restored to command and served in the Navy until his death in 1833. Despite popular support, Cochrane's resistance had alienated much of the naval and political establishment in Britain and not long afterwards he was implicated in the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814, convicted and publicly humiliated. He was dismissed from the Royal Navy, although he was later pardoned and reinstated in 1832. Historians have subsequently sided with Cochrane.
Background In February 1809 the French Atlantic Fleet, based at Brest, was ordered to sail to the Caribbean. Since the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803 the French Navy had suffered a series of defeats and the British were now threatening to invade the Caribbean island of Martinique.Woodman, p. 263 The fleet, under Contre-amiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, sailed on 22 February but was unable to escape British pursuit and four days later anchored in the sheltered position of Basque Roads at the mouth of the Charente, later retreating into the more-sheltered Aix Roads nearby, under the batteries of the fortified Île-d'Aix. A fleet from the British Channel Fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Gambier, had followed Willaumez to the harbour and there enacted a close blockade.James, p. 98 Gambier was an unpopular officer, whose reputation rested on being the first captain to break the French line at the Glorious First of June in 1794 in HMS Defence.Cordingly, p. 179 Since then he had spent most of his career as an administrator at the Admiralty, earning the title Baron Gambier for his command of the fleet at the Bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807. A strict Methodist, Gambier was nicknamed "Dismal Jimmy" by his men.Adkins, p. 270
While Gambier debated what action to take, Willaumez was censured for his failure to escape the British fleet and was replaced by Contre-amiral Zacharie Allemand, who strengthened the fleet's defences and awaited a British attack.Clowes, p. 259 In Britain, First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Mulgrave called on one of the nation's most popular, maverick young naval officers for a solution, Captain Lord Cochrane. Cochrane had operated off the Charente and knew the area well, but he was also a controversial choice for the operation. Placing him in command would mean by-passing a number of more senior officers, inevitably causing offense, while his status as a Radical Member of Parliament for Westminster made him an outspoken opponent of Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland.Harvey, p. 110
Cochrane initially refused the offer, but was later directly ordered to prepare and lead the operation, sailing to join Gambier in his ship, the frigate HMS Imperieuse.Woodman, p. 267 Cochrane arrived on 3 April, his orders causing a storm of controversy among the officers of the fleet, several of whom had been passed over by Cochrane's appointment. Rear-Admiral Eliab Harvey was so furious that he directly accused Gambier of incompetence and was sent back to Britain to face a court-martial for insubordination.Mostert, p. 569 Gambier expressed his misgivings about the attack but could not ignore a direct instruction from Mulgrave and so allowed Cochrane to proceed with the operation.Adkins, p. 272
Battle of the Basque Roads
Cochrane fitted out 24 fireships and explosion vessels from the fleet transports and on the night of 11 April led them into the Roads, accompanied by a squadron of small vessels and the bomb vessel HMS Aetna. The fireships failed to ignite any of the French warships, but their presence caused panic among the French crews, who cut their anchor cables and drifted onto the rocks and shoals of the anchorage.James, p. 111 When morning came, Cochrane found that almost the entire French fleet was at his mercy, and signalled to Gambier suggesting that if he would lead the British fleet into the Roads they could destroy the entire French force.Cordingly, p. 194 Gambier did not respond, and eventually in frustration Cochrane led his own small force directly into combat with the French battle fleet. Unable to leave his subordinate unsupported, Gambier sent a small squadron of ships of the line to reinforce Cochrane, and on 12 April three French ships of the line and a large storeship were battered into surrender and then set on fire as damaged beyond repair.Cordingly, p. 200
Gambier then ordered the reinforcements to withdraw, leaving Cochrane again unsupported against the rest of the main French fleet which was gradually dragging itself off the shoals and into the relative safety of the Charente River. Despite a letter from Gambier suggesting he withdraw, Cochrane renewed his attack on 13 April but was unable to cause any significant damage to the French ships as they threw stores and guns overboard to facilitate their escape.Clowes, p. 267 On the morning of 14 April Gambier directly ordered Cochrane to retire, turning command of the operation over to Captain George Wolfe. Cochrane reluctantly complied, and on 15 April sailed back to Britain with dispatches.James, p. 121
Wolfe renewed attacks on the remaining stranded ships of the French fleet over the next week, but with little effect. The frigate Indienne, stuck since 11 April, was later burned by her own crew, but one by one the rest of the ships escaped until on 29 April the last, the ship of the line Régulus was withdrawn into the river.Clowes, p. 268 The battle concluded, Gambier sailed his fleet back to Britain. The engagement was a victory for the British, with five French ships destroyed and several others badly damaged, but there was much discontent in Britain, both among the Navy and the public, that a larger victory had been lost through over-caution. Cochrane was himself a leading voice in this discontent and very shortly provoked the anger of the Admiralty.Cochrane, p. 245
The thanks
Although Gambier's dispatch issued after the action stated that "I cannot speak in sufficient terms of admiration and applause of the vigorous and gallant attack made by Lord Cochrane",Harvey, p. 131 it also however contained many prevarications and inaccuracies: for example, he attributed command of the initial attack to Captain John Woolridge, who had commanded the biggest fireship, not to Cochrane who had planned, orchestrated and led the assault in person. He also claimed to have ordered an attack by the whole fleet on the beleaguered French force at daylight on the morning of the 12 April, but was frustrated by adverse winds, which was simply untrue; he had sent in a small squadron several hours after Cochrane's signal suggesting an attack, by which time several of the French ships had already escaped. He concluded by praising both Rear-Admiral Robert Stopford or Captain Sir Harry Neale, neither of whom took part in the fighting, stating that "handsome and earnest Manner in which both these meritorious Officers had volunteered their Services . . . and that, had not their Lordships fixed upon [Cochrane] to conduct the Enterprize, I have full Confidence that the Result of their Efforts would have been highly credible to them". He later produced a second dispatch that, under instruction from Mulgrave, failed to mention Cochrane at all.
Cochrane was already a popular and flamboyant figure in British public life, with a long history of outspoken military and political activity. He was lauded as the hero of the action and awarded membership of the prestigious Order of the Bath on 26 April, almost immediately after his return,Cochrane, p. 244 but concern was already being expressed both within the Navy and in the press about the failure of the fleet to secure a greater victory over a vulnerable and panicked French force; an editorial in The Times attacked Gambier for hesitation.Cordingly, p. 209 The government, seeking to capitalise on the victory, proposed a vote of thanks to Lord Gambier in the Houses of Parliament.Harvey, p. 134
Cochrane was incensed, and visited Lord Mulgrave to warn him in no uncertain terms that if such thanks were proposed Cochrane would, in his position as Member of Parliament, lead a faction to oppose it. He made no direct reference to Gambier's conduct, but instead criticised the notion of giving thanks for only a partial victory, rendered incomplete by the inaction of the fleet. He described the vote as "public misrepresentation".Cochrane, p. 245 Mulgrave was furious, replying that "Such a course will not only prove injurious to the Government, but highly detrimental to yourself, by raising up against you a host of enemies".Harvey, p. 134 Cochrane was unmoved, and refused to back down when Mulgrave first threatened him with the government's displeasure and then offered him a frigate squadron and infantry regiment of his own to conduct operations against the French as he wished without oversight should he drop the complaint.Mostert, p. 573
Gambier demands a court-martial