french was responsible for keeping british ships out of the waterways off the coast of virginia.
who was responsible for keeping british ships out of the waterways off the coast of virginia?
french
on 17 july 1805 verhuell himself took command of 32 gunboats and four french prams under command of cdr. bernard-isidore lambour to venture the trip to ambleteuse. arriving at the latitude of gravelines he discovered a fleet of 15 british ships that attacked him, and forced several gunboats to beach themselves (though some of those managed to regain the flotilla later on). the british force broke off the fight at nightfall and verhuell decided to anchor in the roadstead of calais. during the night his chief-of-staff captain a.a. buyskes, back in dunkirk, sent off more gun schooners, which joined verhuells flotilla without being molested, in the morning of 18 july. the british with 19 ships (among which two ships of the line) again engaged the flotilla in a long-range gun duel, that however did little damage to the batavian ships. the french shore batteries also took part in the duel. the combined fire of gun schooners and french heavy artillery forced the british ships to break off the fight after two hours. the flotilla suffered the loss of 11 gunboats, that had to enter the harbour of calais. his flotilla thus reduced to 21 gun schooners, verhuell decided to round cap gris-nez, well aware that the british were waiting for him. much against his better judgment, the french marshal davout joined him aboard the schooner "heemskerk", and around 3 pm verhuell weighed anchor to proceed toward the cape. he was now faced by a british squadron of two ships of the line, six frigates and thirteen brigs that neared him to often only the distance of a pistol shot. two brigs attempted to board "heemskerk", but were repelled. the batavian ships were from the shore supported by davout's horse artillery, and the british ships mostly over-shot the low-lying dutch vessels, so that the damage remained limited. finally, verhuell's flotilla managed to round the cape, after which the british attack abated, though they followed the flotilla till it had safely reached ambleteuse around 7 pm. the british then made a final attempt to destroy the flotilla, lying at anchor below the shore batteries, by gunfire, but were driven off by the french heavy guns after an hour.
batavian navy
hazelwood played a major role in the american effort in keeping british ships from reaching philadelphia by way of the delaware river. in the months leading up to the british siege of fort mifflin washington's headquarters at this time was located north of philadelphia in whitemarsh where he maintained frequent communication with hazelwood, sending him reports, orders and advice. fort mifflin, commanded by lieutenant colonel samuel smith, was located on an island in the middle of this river and was a key point of defense for the americans. the fortress, along with fort mercer on the east bank, were the only obstacles preventing the british naval access to philadelphia.
john hazelwood