The French had blockaded the British Army at Chesapeake Bay the year before, during the Siege of Yorktown, and supported the eventual American victory in their revolution.

[15] The courts at Paris and Madrid perceived the invasion of Jamaica as an alternative to the Spanish and French attempts to take Gibraltar, which for two years had been a costly disaster.

In addition de Grasse was to rendezvous with 15,000 troops at Saint Domingue, who were earmarked for the conquest and intended to land on Jamaica's north coast.

[18] The British ships' hulls by this time had been given copper sheathing to protect them from marine growth, fouling, and saltwater corrosion, dramatically improving speed and overall sailing performance in good wind.

Rodney had been dispatched from Britain with 12 well-fitted ships to rescue the West Indies from a series of attacks from the French, which had already resulted in the loss of several islands.

Rodney had been in communication with de Grasse during March, organising the exchange of prisoners, who were conveyed by HMS Alert under Captain Vashon.

Other commanders included Captains Blair, Buckner, Burnett, Charrington, Cornish, Dumaresq, Graves, Inglefield, Inglis, Knight, Parry, Saumarez, Savage, Symons, Truscott, Wilkinson, Williams, and Wilson.

[22] A lookout squadron, a line of frigates headed by Captain George Anson Byron on HMS Andromache, reported all of de Grasse's movements at Fort Royal.

The initial wind only reached Barfleur and its eight support ships, causing them to detach ahead of the main fleet, which lay in the lee of Dominica.

[27] After an inconclusive encounter during which both sides suffered damage, de Grasse realised that the remainder of the British fleet would soon be upon them and broke off the engagement to withdraw a safe distance.

Virtually a sitting duck due to damage in the previous 10 minutes from Duke, she was quickly pounded and dismasted by intense fire.

In the confusion four French ships beginning with Diadem broke out of sequence, partly due to the uncontrollable speed of the mastless Glorieux.

French casualties were greatly increased due to the high number of troops packed onto the lower decks: a minimum of 900 per ship and no fewer than 1,300 on Ville de Paris.

At 1:00 pm the frigate Richemont, under the command of Captain De Mortemart, but with Denis Decrès in charge of the marines, was sent to join a towing cable to the heavily crippled Glorieux.

Souverain and Richmond retreated under heavy fire, and Kerlessi had little choice but to tear the flag from the mast and surrender, which was done to Royal Oak.

[40] In the next action, around 1:30 pm, Centaur and Bedford attacked the stricken César, captained by Bernard de Marigny, who refused to surrender and was seriously wounded in the first five minutes.

With little support and suffering huge losses in men, de Grasse made another attempt to signal the fleet and gave the order "to build the line on the starboard tack," but again this was not done.

HMS Russell under Captain Saumarez then moved diagonally along the stern of the flagship and fired a broadside that ripped the entire length of the ship.

[45] Ville de Paris was in desperate condition, with all masts damaged, the rudder shot away, and at least 300 men dead or injured in the cockpit.

Around 6:00 pm, overwhelmed and suffering terrible losses, Ville de Paris eventually struck her colours, signaling surrender.

[49] Later that night around 9:00 pm, fire broke out on César, begun by the entrapped French crew on the lower decks, who had broken into the liquor stores.

A poem purportedly written by him includes the lines: Had a chief worthy Britain commanded our fleet,Twenty-five good French ships had been laid at our feet.

[60] The French finance minister, Jean-François Joly de Fleury, successfully secured the addition of a Vingtième income tax, the third and last one of its kind in the ancien régime.

He presented the Comte de Grasse personally to King George III as a prisoner, and was created a peer with £2,000 a year settled on the title in perpetuity.

[29] Following the Franco-American victory at Yorktown six months earlier and the change of Government in England, peace negotiations in Paris had begun among Britain, the American colonies, France, and Spain in early 1782.

American General Nathanael Greene had high hopes of French assistance in the recapture of Charleston, but the defeat led to its abandonment.

[69] Not only did they drop their minimum demands and insist on the single precondition of recognition of their independence, they also put forward America's abandonment of its commitment to make no separate peace treaty without the French.

If intentional, who should receive credit is ambiguous: Rodney,[b] his Scottish Captain-of-the-Fleet and aide-de-camp, Sir Charles Douglas,[c] or John Clerk of Eldin.

[74] A huge ornate monument to the three captains lost in the battle—William Blair, William Bayne and Robert Manners—was erected to their memory in Westminster Abbey.

In the verse epic Omeros by Nobel-prize-winning poet Derek Walcott, which is set largely on St. Lucia, the retired British officer Major Plunkett is researching the battle.