18/08/2026
On this day in 1798...
HMS Leander, a 50-gun ship commanded by Captain Thomas Boulden Thompson, encountered the much larger French 74-gun Généreux off the coast of Crete.
Leander was carrying dispatches announcing the British victory at the Nile, but Thompson soon found himself in a very different kind of fight. For around six hours, the two ships exchanged fire. Despite being heavily outgunned, Leanderfought on until she was completely dismasted and reduced to a wreck. Thompson, badly wounded, finally had no choice but to surrender.
The numbers tell something of the ferocity of the action: Leander lost 35 men killed and 57 wounded, while Généreux suffered around 100 killed and 188 wounded. Thompson and his officers were later honourably acquitted and praised for their defence of the ship.
The aftermath was rather less gallant. French sailors plundered the British officers of almost everything they possessed. Among the items taken were Captain Thompson's clothes and a miniature portrait of his mother. Even the ship's surgeon was not spared: his surgical instruments were reportedly stolen while he was in the middle of an operation.
This is, of course, coming from an English source but one can't help wondering which is worse: stealing a surgeon's instruments mid-surgery, or stealing a portrait of someone's mum??
Thompson himself had plenty more fighting ahead. He returned to sea, commanded HMS Bellona at Copenhagen in 1801, and lost a leg during the battle. He nevertheless continued his naval career, eventually rising to Vice-Admiral and serving as Comptroller of the Navy and Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital. A memorial to him still stands in Greenwich today.
