Sunday, 29 July 2018

Memorial to the loss of the Droits de Homme 1797



Yesterday I tracked down the location of a monument to a famous frigate action in the Bay of Audierne in January 1797. This action resulted in the destruction of a French 74, the Droits de Homme, by the frigates HMS Indefatigable and HMS Amazon, although the latter was also run aground in the process:


The stone commemorating the loss of the Droits de Homme was put in place by one of the survivors of the wreck, who returned in 1840 to commission a memorial to the French and British crew who died in the battle and subsequent wreck. The only ship to escape destruction was the Indefatigable of Sir Edward Pellew, who became one of the most famous captains and later admirals of Nelson's navy.

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