Battle of Cap-Français 1757
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 21 October 1757 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1757 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Haiti | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Seven Years' War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | France, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 19.8000, -72.2000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Cap-Français was a naval engagement during the Seven Years' War fought between squadrons of the French and British navies outside the harbour of Cap-Français, Saint-Domingue on 21 October 1757.
The British force, consisting of three ships of the line under Commodore Arthur Forrest had been sent to cruise off Saint-Domingue in the hope of intercepting a French merchant convoy bound for France, but found that the convoy's escort, under Guy François Coëtnempren de Kersaint, had been heavily reinforced. The French came out to drive the British away, whereupon the British ships attacked them. Fighting against a substantially superior force, the British inflicted considerable damage on their opponents, but were in turn badly damaged, and after several hours the French broke away and returned to port. The British squadron also returned to port to carry out repairs, and the French convoy left the following month.
Though the battle was tactically indecisive, the British officers involved became popular heroes for their daring in fighting against heavy odds. The young nephew of Maurice Suckling, one of the captains present, who was in time to also embark on a naval career, was Horatio Nelson.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Cap-Français (revision 1370436140), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Cap-Français (1793) 1793 · 4 km
- Battle of Vertières 1803 · 8 km
- Battle of Saint-Raphaël 1794 · 35 km
- Battle of Fort Rivière 1915 · 35 km
- Battle of Plaisance (1802) 1802 · 36 km
- Capture of Fort-Dauphin (1794) 1794 · 40 km
Other battles of the Seven Years' War
- Battle of Fort Oswego 1756
- Battle of Lobositz 1756
- Battle of Minorca (1756) 1756
- Siege of Fort St Philip (1756) 1756
- Siege of Pirna 1756
- Battle of Breslau (1757) 1757
- Battle of Chandannagar 1757
- Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf 1757
- Battle of Hastenbeck 1757
- Battle of Kolín 1757
All 102 battles of the Seven Years' War →
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