The Channel Fleet 1801

The sheer size of this fleet, 49 battleships each of 74 guns or more, reflects the seriousness of Napoleon’s threat to invade England.  It is unlikely that the Royal Navy had ever assembled such a powerful fleet before.  Under the command of Admiral the Earl of St. Vincent (see The Battle of Cape St. Vincent) the task of this fleet was to prevent the French navy from entering the English Channel.  Napoleon knew that his invasion could only succeed if he gained control of the Channel for long enough to see his invasion force safely across . Elsewhere, the North Sea fleet patrolled the European coastline seeking to keep Dutch warships at bay and looking out for stray French ships.

But, where was Nelson?  His name is conspicuous by its absence from Lord St. Vincent’s Fleet, which was, after all, England’s main line of defence.

Lord Nelson was heavily engaged in action against the French invasion force.  The Admiralty, reacting to acute public pressure, had appointed Nelson to the command of a “Squadron for a Particular Service” consisting of dozens of frigates, gunbrigs, sloops and gunboats manned by sailors and several divisions of Marines with orders to carry out surprise attacks on enemy invasion barges and port installations. See Attack on Boulogne, which gives you a detailed contemporary account of the action.

Listed below is the Royal Navy’s Channel Fleet of 1801.  The officers highlighted were friends or colleagues of Nelson’s, most of whom had fought under his command at the Battle of The Nile and some later followed him at Copenhagen and Trafalgar both of which still lay in a dim and uncharted future.  Click on the highlighted officers to see short biographies. In square brackets [ ] after certain officers’ names we record the major fleet actions at which those officers were present.