Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier

The Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier, was a notorious British naval legal case during the summer of 1809, in which Admiral Lord Gambier requested a court-martial to examine his behaviour during the Battle of Basque Roads in April of the same year. Noted for the acrimony and corruption of proceedings, it has been described as "one of the ugliest episodes in the internal history of the Royal Navy."

Gambier was the Royal Navy commander of the Channel Fleet during the later Napoleonic Wars, primarily tasked with the blockade of the French Atlantic Fleet in Brest. In February 1809 the French fleet tried to break out into the Atlantic and was chased into the anchorage of Basque Roads near the Charente River. On 11 April a major attack was launched on the anchored fleet by fireships and over several days the French fleet was driven ashore and battered by an inshore squadron commanded by the maverick officer Lord Cochrane. Gambier, stationed just offshore with the main fleet, refused to support Cochrane and as a result, although damaged, most of the French fleet eventually escaped to safety.

On his return to Britain, Cochrane used his position as a Radical Member of Parliament to attempt to block an effort to officially thank Gambier for the victory, placing him in direct opposition to Prime Minister Lord Portland's administration and First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Mulgrave. Mulgrave warned Gambier of Cochrane's position, who responded by demanding a public examination of his conduct via a court-martial. Convened at Portsmouth on 26 July 1809, the members of the court were deliberately chosen by Mulgrave to favour Gambier, and over the next eight days a series of witnesses were called who largely discredited Cochrane with misleading evidence. When Cochrane was called to give evidence he was subject to aggressive questioning, lost his temper and was officially reprimanded.

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