The Battle of Tory Island was a naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on 12 October 1798 between French and British squadrons off the northwest coast of Donegal in Ireland. The last action of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Battle of Tory Island ended the final attempt by the French Navy to land substantial numbers of soldiers in Ireland during the war. In May 1798 the Society of United Irishmen, led by Theobald Wolfe Tone, precipitated an uprising against British rule in Ireland. At the urging of the rebels a small French force under General Humbert was landed at Killala, but by early September both this expedition and the rebellion had been defeated. Unaware of the defeat, on 16 September the French despatched reinforcements. However, having missed one invasion force, the Royal Navy was on alert for another, and when the squadron carrying the reinforcements left Brest they were soon spotted. After a long chase, the French were brought to battle in a bay off Donegal close to Tory Island. During the action the outnumbered French attempted to escape, but were run down and defeated piecemeal, with the British capturing four ships and scattering the survivors. Over the next two weeks, British frigate patrols scoured the passage back to Brest, capturing three more ships. Of the ten ships in the original French squadron, only two frigates and a schooner reached safety. British losses in the campaign were minimal. The battle marked the last attempt by the French Navy to launch an invasion of any part of the British Isles.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tory_Island
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1872:
HMS Challenger , commanded by Captain George Nares, sailed from Portsmouth, England, on a scientific expedition that eventually made many discoveries that laid the foundation of oceanography. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_expedition
1883:
The Royal Canadian Regiment and The Royal Canadian Dragoons, the oldest regular regiments of the Canadian Army, were both formed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Canadian_Regiment
1937:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length cel-animated feature in film history, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_%281937_film%29
1979:
The Lancaster House Agreement was signed, ending biracial rule in Zimbabwe Rhodesia following negotiations between representatives of the Rhodesian government and the Patriotic Front. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster_House_Agreement
1988:
A total of 270 people were killed when a bomb on board Pan Am Flight 103 exploded while the plane was in flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, launching an eventual three-year joint investigation by Britain's Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigation_into_the_bombing_of_Pan_Am_Flight_103
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
frowst (v): To enjoy a warm, stuffy room http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frowst
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination. --F. Scott Fitzgerald http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald
daily-article-l@lists.wikimedia.org