Qualla: Battle of Tory Island

Battle of Tory Island: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Thomas Whitcombe (British, born circa 1760-died circa 1824), Public domain. Wolfe Tone watched the chase from the deck of the Hoche. He had spent seven years - in Dublin, in Paris, in front of every French official who would listen - building toward this moment. A French army on Irish soil. An end to British rule. Behind him, his flagship was already crippled, her topmasts blown down in the gale of the night before, her rigging in tatters. Ahead, the British squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren was closing fast off the rugged Donegal coast, very near a small granite island called Tory. On 12 October 1798, the last hope of the United Irishmen would die in the saltwater off County Donegal. And Tone would be taken alive.

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Image: Thomas Whitcombe (British, born circa 1760-died circa 1824) | Public domain

Battle of Tory Island: The Lawyer Who Went to France

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. Theobald Wolfe Tone was a Dublin lawyer who had read his Paine and his Rousseau and concluded that liberty, equality, and brotherhood meant the same thing in Cork as in Marseille. In 1791 he co-founded the Society of United Irishmen, an alliance of Protestants, Catholics, and Dis...

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Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

Battle of Tory Island: Two Earlier Catastrophes

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nicholas Pocock (1799), Public domain. The Expedition d'Irlande sailed in December 1796 under Admiral Morard de Galles: seventeen ships of the line, twenty-seven smaller vessels, up to 25,000 men. The fleet reached Bantry Bay. The weather did not let them land. After a week of contrary gales, 13 ships were lost and ov...

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Image: Nicholas Pocock (1799) | Public domain

Battle of Tory Island: Bompart's Doomed Squadron

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nicholas Pocock (1799), Public domain. Commodore Jean-Baptiste-Francois Bompart left Brest on 16 September 1798 with the ship of the line Hoche and eight frigates and a schooner - 3,000 French troops aboard, Tone among them, bound for Lough Swilly to support an Irish uprising that had already been crushed. They did no...

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Image: Nicholas Pocock (1799) | Public domain

Battle of Tory Island: Hoche Surrenders

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nicholas Pocock (1799), Public domain. The gale of the previous night had already done half of Warren's work. All three of Hoche's topmasts were down. The frigate Resolue was leaking badly. Bompart formed his battered squadron into line and turned to fight. At 0850 Captain Edward Thornbrough on HMS Robust closed with ...

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Image: Nicholas Pocock (1799) | Public domain

Battle of Tory Island: Tone in the Inkwell

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium, CC BY-SA 2.0. When Hoche was boarded, a French officer with red hair and a polished manner stepped forward. He gave his name as Adjutant-General Smith. An old acquaintance, Sir George Hill, was waiting at Buncrana when the prize was brought into Lough Swilly. Hill recognised Tone instantly. Th...

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Image: Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium | CC BY-SA 2.0