Something of the bloody determination that made great victories possible

Stephen Taylor's Storm and Conquest. Excellent. Page 325.

On the courage, motivated by sense of duty, which could tragically veer into rashness. The whole speaks to the importance of culture in an organization or country. Great things can be accomplished with single minded motivation but only if it is applied in the right circumstances.

A comparison with his foes is instructive. In reflecting on the recklessness of men such as Willoughby and Corbet, the contemporary historian William James declared: 'Ten frigates, lost like Africaine, weigh less, as a national misfortune, than one frigate given up without any, or even with an inadequate, resistance.

It seems an absurd statement, a bombastic expression of nationalism typical of its author. As a sentiment, it also reflected a dangerous notion of invincibility that had infiltrated the Navy since Trafalgar, which had been at the root of the madness at Grand Port and would continue to affect its officers. And yet it captures something of the bloody determination that made great victories possible. The sacrifices of Nereide and Africaine had not been entirely pointless, for they had taken three of Hamelin's frigates out of action. More importantly, they had unnerved the French.