French Invasion Longboat Captured Bantry Bay Ireland 1796 | Season 4 – Episode 10
Floats Feb 20, 2024
The liberation of Ireland and the achievement of a strategic advantage by the French over the British was the intention when in December 1796 thirty French warships, escorting fourteen transport ships, under the command of Vice-admiral Morard de Galles sailed from the port of Brest in north-western France bound for Bantry Bay in southwestern Ireland.
Sailing aboard the ships on the Expédition d’Irlande were a fighting force of some 14,000 French soldiers and Theobald Wolfe Tone the leader of the United Irishmen.
The eventual outcome of the Expédition d’Irlande in support of the Society of United Irishmen could have been very different had it not been for the timely intervention of a violent December storm in Bantry Bay.
Lashed by the powerful storm, the invasion fleet was scattered and several vessels lost their masts to collisions including the frigate La Résolue, who struck the 74-gun Redoutable.
Seeing his ship was in serious distress, Commander Montalan of La Résolue ordered a Lieutenant Proteau to lower the 38ft long longboat into the raging sea to try and locate the frigate Immortailté to tow his ship to safety. However, the Lieutenant and his crew were severely hampered by the storm and were forced ashore onto Cloughland Strand on Bere Island in Bantry Bay and were later captured by British forces.
Such was the severity of the storm that the only members of the French invasion force from the forty-four ship fleet to reach the shores of Ireland alive, were those taken as prisoner
While the Expédition d’Irlande was an operational failure the propaganda generated by this ‘near’ French invasion was greatly valued by the Society of United Irishmen, especially as the Royal Navy had failed to spot such a large invasion fleet so close to home waters.
While the remaining French fleet limped home and the fate of longboat’s crew remains uncertain, the 38ft longboat, was considered a valuable propaganda trophy. The British used it to downplay the potential of what was a large-scale invasion, which was only narrowly averted due to a fortunate storm at sea.
The longboat was held for a while on Bere Island before being gifted to the local Irish militia commander, Richard White of Bantry House. A period of conservation by isolation was to allow the longboat to survive largely intact over the next 148-years in the boathouse at Bantry House.
Around 1943 the longboat was donated to the National Museum of Ireland and placed in secure storage until 1974 when it became the centre-piece display at the Maritime Museum of Ireland in Dun Laoghaire.
From there the longboat underwent work at the ship conservation department at Liverpool University and now the 234-year old French longboat is on permanent display in the Collins Barracks section of the National Museum in Dublin.
The “Bantry Longboat” has sparked numerous replica projects undertaken by individuals and community organisations across Ireland and beyond. Fionnbarra, crafted by Meitheal Mara, participates in annual races in Cork Harbour. Additionally, since 1986, the “Bantry Longboat” has been the prototype for the Atlantic Challenge class of replica vessels where young sailors engage in competitions to showcase their skills.
Sources of Information and Photo Credits:
Afloat
Atlantic Challenge
Atlantic Challenge Bantry 2012 Team Ireland – Colleen Kelleher
Bantry Bay Longboat – Mark Cafferkey
History of Ireland
National Museum of Ireland – Collins Barracks
