One of the most notable characteristics of warfare in the second half of the eighteenth century was the marked shift of naval activity to the West Indies. There, the lure of the immensely rich sugar-producing islands proved irresistible to the great powers and meant that, whenever England and France went to war, strategists on both sides also turned their attention westwards, across the Atlantic. The inevitable result of this preoccupation with colonial expansion was that some of the greatest sea battles of the Georgian Age took place in the Caribbean and, more often than not, their outcome determined the wider destinies of the European protagonists.

During the latter stages of the American War of Independence (1775-83), first France and then Spain allied themselves to the new ‘United States’ in the hope of making territorial gains at England’s expense. Various French offensives in the Caribbean had already been remarkably successful and when, in the spring of 1782, the French began preparations to attack Jamaica prior to an invasion, Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney realised that a full-scale fleet action was his only means of averting what would be a disaster were it to occur. Assembling a veritable armada of thirty-seven ships-of-the-line, Rodney made for Gros Inlet Bay, Martinique, where he waited for news from the frigates he had sent out to monitor enemy activity. On 8th April, the French task force of thirty-six ships-of-war, together with its transports, sailed from Fort Royal bound for Jamaica via Guadaloupe, where the Comte de Grasse, the French commander, was to embark more troops. Rodney put to sea as soon as he was informed that the French had left harbour and intercepted them for a brief but indecisive encounter the next day. In contrary winds, the two fleets were forced to disengage whereupon a running fight lasting three days ensued until, by the evening of the 11th, Rodney was confident that he could bring the French to action the following morning. The result was the most decisive encounter of the War and became known to history as the battle of the Saintes, so named from its location off Les Saintes, a small group of islands in the channel between Guadeloupe and Dominica. With victory assured, Rodney remained off Guadeloupe to effect repairs but, on 17th April, detached a squadron under Sir Samuel Hood, flying his flag in the 90-gun 2nd rate Barfleur, to pursue ten French ships which had escaped the carnage at the Saintes. Hood, under full sail, made for the Mona Passage, between Puerto Rico and Dominica, and, at daybreak on the 19th, sighted five enemy vessels and gave chase into a bay at the western end of Puerto Rico. In a short but spirited action, H.M.S. Magnificent, 74-guns, Captain Robert Linzee, rapidly reduced the French frigate Amiable to a dismasted hulk whilst the British 24-gun frigate Champion, Captain Alexander Hood, a cousin of Sir Samuel, pounded the French 18-gun corvette Cérès into submission equally speedily. In the event, both vessels were salvaged, refitted and absorbed into the Royal Navy, Amiable retaining her launching name with Cérès renamed as H.M.S. Raven. Two of the other French ships were also taken by Hood’s squadron and these successes were almost the last in Caribbean waters before the Treaty of Paris brought the War to an end in 1783.

In this work, the vessels depicted (from left to right) are H.M.S. Magnificent (inshore), Amiable (dismasted, with decks awash), Cérès and H.M.S. Champion (under way).

Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, later 1st Viscount Hood (1724-1816) entered the Royal Navy in 1741 and first served under Rodney in 1757, by which year he had attained the rank of Captain. In command of the North American station from 1767 to 1770, he was created a baronet in 1778 and, having joined Rodney in the expedition against St. Eustatius in 1781, thereafter served with great distinction for the remainder of the American War of Independence, including at the Saintes. A Lord of the Admiralty from 1788 to 1793, he was C. in C., Mediterranean, at the start of the War with Revolutionary France, capturing Toulon in 1793 and Corsica the following year. Recalled home for political reasons, he was created Viscount Hood in 1796 and was appointed a G.C.B. in January 1815 as the French Wars drew to a close.