Lieutenant Elias Pipon and the wreck of the Droits de L'Homme
Tonight marks the anniversary of the famous engagement between the British frigates Indefatigable, Captain Sir Edward Pellew, and Amazon, Captain Robert Carthew Reynolds, and the French 74 Droits de L'Homme, Captain Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse. After a six hour chace, the action commenced in the early evening and went on through the night in a rising storm until just after four the following morning when the Indefatigable's Lieutenant George Bell spotted land directly to leeward. The rigging of the Droits de L'Homme had been much damaged by shot and storm and the ship was unable to avoid being driven onto the lee shore of Hodierne Bay. The Indefatigable immediately wore to the south which saved her from the immediate threat of the lee shore but put her in danger of being wrecked on the Penmark Rocks. The Amazon wore to the north and was unable to avoid grounding a mile or so to the north of the French 74 which was lying on her side with the waves breaking over her. By eleven in the morning Pellew had narrowly managed to weather the Penmarks and the Indefatigable was on her way home to report the engagement to the Admiralty. Although Pellew had observed the Droits de L'Homme broadside uppermost in the surf, he believed the Amazon had weathered the bay and got away to the north.
Back in Hodierne Bay Captain Reynolds was evacuating his ship by means of rafts and the entire ships company were safely ashore by nine o'clock in the morning, barring six seamen who stole one of the ships boats and were drowned. The crew of the Droits de L'Homme were much less fortunate.
The dreadful events of the wreck were recorded by a British Lieutenant of the 63rd Regiment, Elias Pipon, who had been returning home from the West Indies in the British letter of marque Cumberland when she was taken by the Droits de L'Hommes off the coast of Ireland. Pipon's account, which is corroborated by official French reports, makes harrowing reading. Despite being so close to the shore, all attempts to reach the stricken ship were defeated by and the rising storm and the ship quickly started to break up. Many of those aboard were swept into the sea and drowned immediately and panic broke out among those left on the ship. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the ship was crowded with around 800 troops intended for the failed Expedition to Ireland. The second day after the ship grounded Pipon relates how the English prisoners were able to reach land by means of a small boat, this encouraged the French to strike out for shore in rafts and boats but all were drowned. On the third day the ship's largest boat was got over the side with the intention of bringing the women and children to safety. However in defiance of orders, over a hundred men crowded into the boat which was swamped by a huge wave, drowning all aboard. By the third night, those left were suffering terribly from exposure and dreadfully weakened from huger and thirst as all the ships supplies been washed away and her water casks stove in. Pipon described how the survivors vainly tried to ease their thirst by sharing a hogshead of vinegar that floated up from below. Eventually on the fourth day, the 18th of January, the brig Arrogante and cutter Aiguille finally reached the wreck and took off the remaining survivors. Of an estimated 1300 troops and sailors aboard the ship only 300 survived. Captain De LaCrosse, General Humbert, Lieutenant Pipon and two English officers were the last to leave the wreck of the Droits de L'Hommes.
Elias Pipon and the other British prisoners were immediately returned home in a French cartel in recognition of their suffering and bravery. Many years later, in 1840, Elias Pipon returned to Hodierne Bay and erected a memorial to those that lost their lives there in January 1797. The memorial, known as the Menhir des Droits de l'Homme, is still there to this day.
If you have the heart for it, you can read Lieutenant Pipon's original account of the wreck here: Narrative of the Dreadful Shipwreck of the French ship Droits de L'homme