History: The Battle of Camperdown

The Battle of Camperdown, fought between the Royal Navy and a fleet of Batavian (Dutch) ships on October 11, 1797, was part of France's pre-Napoleonic bid to expand their borders. The following was written by Captain William Mitchell of HMS Isis and gives a stunning snap-shot of the aftermath of a sea action:

At 15 minutes past 1, the two fleets were engaging. At half past 1, perceived a Dutch line-of-battle ship with her poop on fire, and she kept engaging some time in that condition, and fired a number of shot at us. She then fell off before the wind. At 2, a Dutch line-of-battle ship struck to us, after engaging us nearly one hour. I sent a boat on board (with Lieutenant William Lamb and a few men) to take possession of her. We kept engaging the enemy's ships as coming up with them. At half past 2, saw the Dutch Admiral's ship dismasted, still keeping firing in that situation for some time, and perceived several of the Dutch ships striking their colours and endeavouring to get away... 

During the action we had 2 men killed, the 2nd lieutenant of marines, two midshipmen and 18 men wounded, our mizen topmast shot away, fore and main bracess, mizen stay and several shrouds and back stays. Boats and sails much damaged, small bower anchor broke by a shot, coppers rendered useless, a number of shot in our hull, and lost our jolly-boat by the squally weather.

Header: The Battle of Camperdown by Thomas Whitcombe c 1798 via Wikipedia