What was the Battle of the Glorious First of June?
The Battle of the First of June, 1794; Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, 1795. The battle was fought between the British, with 34 line-of-battle ships under the command of Admiral Earl Howe and a French fleet of 26 ships of the line under Rear-Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse. During April and May 1794, the British fleet had been searching the Western Approaches for a convoy of grain ships from America bound for France, which the upheaval of the Revolution had reduced to a starving condition. The French fleet had left Brest in mid-May to escort this vital convoy to harbour. This, the first great battle between British and French fleets in the French Revolutionary War, was actually a series of engagements, beginning with skirmishes and manoeuvring on the 28th May 1794, and a more serious brush on the following day. The rival fleets maintained distant contact during the two subsequent days of foggy weather. The first of June (13 Prairial, An 2 in the Revolutionary calendar) was fine and clear, a
