The Battle of Beachy Head: Sussex, England, 1690

Torrington, upon reaching the Thames, ensured that all navigation buoys were removed in his wake which made it too dangerous for the French to consider following on.

Hail the non-conquering heroes!

The situation caused a real panic throughout England.  The English considered that, by retreating, Torrington had given the French a foothold and were expecting a French invasion at any time.  Tourville did indeed have temporary control over the English Channel but on 11 July the situation swung into England’s favour.  William and his troops managed to defeat James in Ireland and James immediately fled to France where he begged Louis XIV to invade the British Isles.  This gave some of the British troops based in Ireland an opportunity to set out for the Channel to assist in defending the east coast.

Tourville, having returned to France to refit his ships and allow his sick and wounded to be taken ashore, reported back the events of the battle to the naval officer, who duly reported back to King Louis.  They were furious with Tourville – despite winning the battle off Beachy Head, Tourville had, in their eyes, failed to take full advantage of the situation as he hadn’t entrenched himself and cleared the way through the Thames for a full invasion.  So James’ begging and pleading went unheeded.  As a result, Tourville was relieved of his command.

On the other side of the Channel, back in England, Torrington, likewise, was receiving a dressing down from William.  He was told that he shouldn’t have withdrawn and hadn’t used his best endeavours to damage the enemy.  William also claimed that Torrington hadn’t properly assisted the British fleet and that his native countrymen from Holland had all but been abandoned.  So, Torrington was taken to the Tower of London to await a Court Martial.  Fortunately the Court acquitted him and he eventually found himself sitting in the House of Lords.

Ultimately, it seems, the battle was a bit of a folly – both Tourville and Torrington had followed orders as best they could, lives and ships had been lost, and two well respected commanders, on opposing sides, had each been lambasted for their efforts.

And finally a bit of trivia – for those of you who enjoy some of our wonderful ‘Olde English’ sea songs and shanties, you may like to know that, in the late 1700s Beachy Head was recognised in one of the ‘top ten hits’ of the day – Spanish Ladies:

The first land we sighted was called the Dodman,

Next Rame Head off Plymouth, off Portsmouth the Wight;

We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dover,

And then we bore up for the South Foreland light…