Conclusion
This has been my digital humanities project on the naval mechanics of the Battle of the Saints. During my course of the project, I have gained substantial knowledge of the way in which wars were fought.
What I discussed are; the major admirals in the battle, the flagships involved as well as the naval vessel rating system of the 18th century, tactics and important factors which assisted in creating advantage for a fleet, and casualties amassed by the various ships.
Prior to completion of the project, I believed that a fleet comprised of many types of ships. However, this information is not entirely true. There were sloops of war, small vessel under the unrated category, which relayed messages from the admiral but most of the fleet comprised of heavily armed vessels capable of taking damage and dishing out twice as much. These ships formed the line formation.
Numbers have proven to be a very important factor in the ships of the line formation. As seen in the Battle of the Saints, the British fleet consisted of an additional three ships of the line over the French fleet. This number advantage coupled with the favourable wind proved beneficial to the British fleet and devastating to the French fleet.
The French fleet held the weather gauge advantage for the first few days of the battle and thus were able to retreat and reposition with little risk. However, a variable is subject to change and the wind did just that. Admiral Francois Comte de Grasse may have had more success in the battle if some of his fellow captains did not disobey orders and break formation.
War is riddled with casualties. This isn’t often taken into consideration, but on inspection the numbers are shocking. A fifth rate ship of the line houses a crew of two hundred to three hundred men. Most ships of the line are of rates three and higher which translates to an excess of five hundred men per ship. Take for instance a fleet has twenty ships of the line. If the opponent savagely defeat them and all ships are sunk, five hundred multiplied by twenty equals to ten thousand men dead potentially dead. The number is even greater because the opposing fleet would also have sustained casualties. In the case of the Battle of the Saints, the British fleet did well in battle and a whopping one thousand and one casualties were recorded (239 killed, 762 wounded). Records of the losses of the French fleet were not found but all ships were of rate three and higher.
A ship’s motto may not always be true. As seen with the Ville de Paris whose motto stated that she could not sink, not anything written is true.
Information regarding the states of the colonies following the project could not be acquired. Nevertheless, the fact that a statue of Admiral Sir George Rodney was erected in Jamaica depicts a grateful attitude from the island of Jamaica.
In conclusion, the topic of naval warfare is extremely intriguing and a look at modern day naval warfare will be done at some point in the near future.