Battle of Carrickfergus (1760)

The Battle of Carrickfergus took place in February 1760 in Carrickfergus, Kingdom of Ireland during the Seven Years War. A force of 600 French troops landed under the command of the Privateer François Thurot overwhelmed the small garrison of the town and captured its castle.^[1]

When word of the capture reached Dublin a small force of dragoons were despatched by the Lord Lieutenant Duke of Bedford who feared, incorrectly, that it was a feint to draw British forces to the north while a main French force was to attack Cork or Dublin.

Thurot held the town for five days, menacing nearby Belfast and demanding supplies and a ransom. In the face of the mobilisation of large numbers of local militia under General Strode, and the appearance of a Royal Navy squadron off the coast - Thurot re-embarked his force and departed the town.^[2]

Aftermath

Thurot was subsequently killed in a sea battle, but his feat in landing on enemy soil was widely hailed in France and he became a national hero, partly because his perceived daring was in sharp contrast to the incompetence shown by French naval officers at the recent Battle of Quiberon Bay.^[3]

See also

• Great Britain in the Seven Years War
• France in the Seven Years War

References

1. ^ McLynn p.385
2. ^ Longmate p.181
3. ^ McLynn p.386-87

Bibliography

• Longmate, Norman. Island Fortress: The Defence of Great Britain, 1603-1945. Harper Collins, 1993
• McLynn, Frank. 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World. Pimlico, 2005.
• Rodger NAM. Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815. Penguin Books, 2006.

Further reading

[1]