Skip to content
🇭🇹   BETA  ·  9,776 entries published  ·  90,224 entries away from the 100k milestone.       🇭🇹   BETA  ·  9,776 entries published  ·  90,224 entries away from the 100k milestone.       
You are offline — some content may not be available
1796-03-18

Admiral Parker’s fleet bombards Fort Ça-Ira and is driven off by Pétion

Haitian

An English fleet, under the orders of Admiral Parker, bombarded Fort Ça-Ira on 18 March 1796; it was made up of nine vessels: the frigate Cérès of 32 guns, Captain Newman; the sloop Lark of 16 guns, Captain O’Gilly; the frigate Iphigénie of 32 guns, Captain Gardner; the sloops Cormorant and Syrène; the Serin of 16 guns, Captain Guérin; the ships of the line Swiftsure of 74, Leviathan of 74, Africa of 74, commanded by Captains R. Parker, Duckworth and Rod. Home. The fort was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Pétion. The Leviathan, the Swiftsure and the Africa, in spite of a sustained cannonade of 4 hours against the fort, could not put out the fire of this redoubt, which was at that time armed with only 4 pieces of cannon. Colonel Pétion, whose artillery was well served, answered the fire of Admiral Parker so happily that before the end of the day the English squadron, taking advantage of a land breeze, broke its line of bombardment and went to anchor out at sea. The Leviathan counted five men killed and 12 wounded, the Africa 1 man killed and 7 wounded; these two ships had their masts…

Rouzier tells this under the entry Ça-Ira.

Source  ·  p. t. I, p. 161 Sémexant Rouzier, Dictionnaire géographique et administratif universel d'Haïti (t. I) (1892), p. t. I, p. 161