Escort

Posted by Anne Douglas on Thursday 3rd of June 2021 16:50

From the lieutenant's journals for the period June 1757 to August 1758, I read that the HMS Escorte only travelled as far as La Rochelle (not the Mediterranean) where it participated in the attempted destruction of a fort. The Raid on Rochefort (or Descent on Rochefort) was a British amphibious attempt to capture the French Atlantic port of Rochefort in September 1757 during the Seven Years' War. The raid pioneered a new tactic of "descents" on the French coast, championed by William Pitt who had taken office a few months earlier. The resulting skirmish with French frigates forced the British to retreat but it did succeed in creating the distraction which William Pitt wanted. - the Escorte and several other ships were damaged and returned to Portsmouth for repair and then anchored at Plymouth until returning to Greenwich in summer 1758.