'If the French had landed in Bantry Bay in 1796'
Maurice Healy

In 1796, Ireland being full of discontent, the French Republic sent an expedition to Bantry Bay under General Hoche to assist the disaffected and set up an Irish Republic that would have been allied with France. The expedition was not intercepted by the British fleet and, although dispersed by the weather, almost all the ships arrived in Bantry Bay. There they stayed without landing the troops for two whole weeks, waiting for Hoche's ship. As it did not appear, the expedition returned to Brest having accomplished nothing.