Speed, shoals, and the loss of HMS Hannibal

The British plan depended on getting quickly among the French ships, launching boats to board them, and supporting those attacks with heavy naval guns. Speed was meant to prevent the defended anchorage from becoming an insurmountable obstacle. Instead, the harder Saumarez pressed, the more his ships were delayed or grounded by shoals. Two French ships also grounded, but on the protected side of the bay where their allies could support them. HMS Hannibal stranded on the exposed side and was captured by French and Spanish forces. A false-flag operation, sometimes claimed to have been accidental, nearly lured rescuing British ships into capture as well. Local geography and deception had overturned an aggressive tactical idea.