Blockade of Saint-Domingue

Who Fought

History & Significance

The blockade of Saint-Domingue was a naval campaign fought during the first months of the Napoleonic Wars in which a series of British Royal Navy squadrons blockaded the French-held ports of Cap-Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas on the northern coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue, soon to become Haiti, after the conclusion of the Haitian Revolution on 1 January 1804. In the summer of 1803, when war broke out between the United Kingdom and the French Consulate, Saint-Domingue had been almost completely overrun by the rebel Indigenous Army led by Jean-Jacques Dessalines. In the north of the country, the French forces were isolated in the two large ports of Cap-Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas and a few smaller settlements, all supplied by a French naval force based primarily at Cap-Français.

At the outbreak of war on 18 May 1803, the Royal Navy immediately despatched a squadron under Sir John Duckworth from Jamaica to cruise in the region, seeking to eliminate communication between the French outposts and to capture or destroy the French warships based in the colony. On 28 June, the squadron encountered a French convoy from Les Cayes off Môle-Saint-Nicolas, capturing one ship although the other escaped. Two days later, an independently-sailing French frigate was chased down and captured in the same waters. On 24 July, another British squadron intercepted the main French squadron from Cap-Français, which was attempting to break past the blockade and reach France. The British, led by Commodore John Loring gave chase, but one French ship of the line and frigate escaped. Another ship of the line was trapped against the coast and captured after coming under fire from rebel shore batteries. The remainder of the squadron was forced to fight two more actions on their return to Europe but eventually reached the Spanish port of Corunna.

On 3 November, the frigate HMS Blanche captured a supply schooner near Cap-Français, and by the end of the month, the garrison was starving and agreed to terms with Dessalines that permitted it to evacuate safely if it left the port by 1 December. Loring, however, refused the French permission to sail. The French commander, General Donatien de Rochambeau, procrastinated until the last possible moment but eventually was forced to surrender to the British commander. One of Rochambeau's ships was almost wrecked while it left the harbour but was saved by a British lieutenant acting alone, who not only rescued the 900 people on board but also refloated the ship. At Môle-Saint-Nicolas, General Louis Marie de Noailles refused to surrender and instead sailed to Havana, Cuba in a fleet of small vessels on 3 December but was intercepted and mortally wounded by a Royal Navy frigate. The few remaining French-held towns in Saint-Domingue surrendered soon afterwards, and on 1 January 1804, the newly-independent nation of Haiti was established.

The ground they fought on

The site of Blockade of Saint-Domingue lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scheduled Monuments near Blockade of Saint-Domingue

Engine Arm Aqueduct, Warley

Scheduled monument · ~1.5 mi

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Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Smeaton's Summit Bridge

Scheduled monument · ~2.1 mi

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Brianboru100 / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Sandwell Priory, a Benedictine monastery

Scheduled monument · ~2.3 mi

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Sjwells53 / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Perry Bridge

Scheduled monument · ~2.6 mi

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Oosoom / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Chances Glassworks, Smethwick

Scheduled monument · ~2.8 mi

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Row17 / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Roman forts at Metchley

Scheduled monument · ~3 mi

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Chris Allen / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

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Battles near Blockade of Saint-Domingue

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• Blockade of Saint-Domingue · Wikipedia