From 1801 to 1803, Britain was at war with revolutionary France. During all of this time, the
Navy’s Channel Fleet was responsible for preventing the French fleet from threatening the South coast of England and thereby providing safe passage for Napoleon’s invasion barges. The story of how the Fleet accomplished this was recounted by local maritime historian Mark Rae in his talk ‘Torbay and the Blockade of Brest in the Napoleonic Era’.

The Admiral of the Channel Fleet held the Post of Honour as the guardian of the country. Although Plymouth was the main naval base, Torbay was widely used as a safe anchorage except at times of a strong Easterly wind. The ships in the fleet ranged from the First Rate 100gun three-deckers down to the fast frigates that were the ‘eyes’ of those forming the line of battle. The weight of shot by a single First Rater was larger than that fired by all of the French artillery at Waterloo.

For year after year and in every kind of weather, part of the fleet patrolled off-shore well out of sight of land whilst the frigates of the Inshore Squadron braved the hazards of rocks and currents to watch Le Goulet, the entrance to Brest harbour, for any signs of French ships attempting to leave port. Under St Vincent, who took over control of the fleet in 1800, the blockade was intensified. The time allowed as ‘pit-stops’ for ships returning to Torbay for fresh water and supplies was kept to the absolute minimum, and on anchoring ships were ordered to immediately hoist the ‘Blue Peter’ to signify departure was imminent. When, aged over 70 and forced by illness to remain ashore, St Vincent handed over direct control at sea to Cornwallis who had been in charge of the Inshore Squadron, and then set up his headquarters in Torre Abbey.

A crisis was reached in 1804 when an invasion army assembled by Napoleon near Boulogne needed only four days of clear weather for barges to transport it across to Britain. This was not possible while the Channel Fleet was in complete command of the Channel and the plan was postponed and eventually abandoned. Finally, after ten more years of war and his eventual capture after Waterloo, Napoleon was brought to Torbay on board the ‘Bellerephon’ (known by her crew as the ‘Billy Ruffian’) in August 1815. This attracted much local excitement, before his departure to Plymouth and exile to St Helena. His downfall was brought about in no small degree by ‘the long line of distant ships…’.