French invasion of Jersey (1779)

Invasion of Jersey Part of the Anglo-French War Prince of Nassau-Siegen, who led the invasion. Date May 1, 1779 Location Jersey Result British victory Belligerents  France  Great Britain Commanders and leaders Prince of Nassau-Siegen Phillipe de Rullecourt Moses Corbet Mariot Arbuthnot Strength Several warships 78th Regiment Convoy of British ships Casualties and losses 15-18 drowned; 20 captured Some men injured

Anglo-French War 1778–1783 Europe 17 June 1778 1st Ushant 1st Jersey English Channel Plymouth Gibraltar Flamborough Head 6 October 1779 Cape Santa Maria 13 August 1780 2nd Jersey Minorca 2nd Ushant 3rd Ushant Île-de-Batz Cape Spartel 12 December 1782 Caribbean Dominica 1st St. Lucia 2nd St. Lucia Saint Vincent 1st Grenada 2nd Grenada 1st Martinique Guadeloupe 2nd Martinique Bermuda Fort Royal Tobago Brimstone Hill Frigate Bay Demerara & Essequibo Montserrat The Saintes Mona Passage 18 October 1782 6 December 1782 15 February 1783 Grand Turk North America Rhode Island Charles Town Savannah 1st Long Island Cape Henry Cape Breton Cape Ann Yorktown Chesapeake Yorktown Hudson Bay 2nd Long Island Delaware Bay 2nd Chesapeake East Indies Pondicherry Porto Praya Sadras Providien Negapatam Pisang Trincomalee 1st Cuddalore 2nd Cuddalore

The French invasion of Jersey was a failed French attempt to take over Jersey from the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1779, during the Anglo-French War.

Battle

A letter from Major Moses Corbet, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, reported that on 1 May 1779, a French force attempted a landing at St Ouen's Bay. Early that morning, lookouts sighted five large vessels and a great number of boats some three leagues off the coast, proceeding towards the coast in order by a coup de main to effect a landing. Guns on the cutters, and small craft supporting the landing, fired grapeshot at the defenders on the coast. By fast marching, the 78th Regiment of Foot and Jersey militia had arrived in time to oppose the landing, dragging with them some field artillery through the sand of the beaches. The defenders were able to prevent the landing, suffering only a few men wounded when a cannon burst.^[1]

As the tide was ebbing, the French warships could not get close enough to support any landing, and without their support, the captains of the transports were unwilling to bring their vessels inshore. By some reports, the first and only vessel that attempted to land was either struck with a shot or dashed upon a rock. Twenty got ashore and surrendered, 15 or 18 men drowned, and the rest got off safe. The French vessels held off a league from the coast, but eventually left the area.^[1]

On 2 May, a vessel from Jersey fell in with a convoy under Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot that had left Spithead en route to North America. Arbuthnot sent the convoy to Torbay and proceeded to the relief of Jersey with his ships. However, when he arrived, he found that Captain Ford of HMS Unicorn had the situation well in hand.^[1] Arbuthnot returned to his convoy, but his deviation resulted in the convoy not clearing the Channel until end of June, with consequent hardship for the troops in North America who were awaiting it.^[2]

Postscript

In 1787 the British placed a battery of three 24-pounder guns on the spot where the Rector of St Ouen, le Sire du Parcq, had placed guns to repulse the French attack. In 1834, the British built a Martello tower there. Known as Lewis Tower (or St Ouen's No. 1), it survives to this day. During the German occupation of the Channel Islands 1940-1945, the Germans built a large bunker next to Lewis Tower; today it houses the Channel Islands Military Museum.

References

• Campbell, John, John Berkenhout, Henry Redhead Yorke, William Stevenson (1817) Lives of the British admirals: containing an accurate naval history from the earliest periods. (Printed for C.J. Barrington, and J. Harris)