‘You are now the theme of every conversation, the toast of every table, the hero of every woman, and the boast of every Englishman.’ A favourite sister-in-law may perhaps be permitted to indulge in a little hyperbole, but there is no doubt that Admiral Sir James Saumarez was held in great esteem both by the general public and by his fellow-officers when he carved victory out of disaster in the two battles of Algeciras in July 1801. A letter of the same date from Earl St Vincent said:

He was not to be disappointed. But it was to be in a very different way and under circumstances that St Vincent would hardly have imagined. Saumarez lacked the charisma of Nelson: he also lacked the latter's flair for self-publicity. But in his ability and determination as a fighting captain, he showed himself throughout his early career to be the equal of any, combining these qualities with a skill in ship-handling and seamanship – born beside the tricky waters of the Channel Islands and hardened in years of blockade off Brest – that put him with Richard Goodwin Keats in a class of their own. He was the first to use Douarnenez Bay to shelter during westerly gales rather than running to Torbay, and claimed that not a single French ship escaped from Brest during his time. His predecessor, Knight, had recommended this tactic, and both Warren and Pellew had done so previously but were ordered not to use it by Lord Bridport. But Saumarez backed his own judgement and went ahead on his own initiative, being congratulated afterwards by St Vincent: ‘Your taking the anchorage in Douarnenez Bay during the late equinoctial gales has been of the utmost importance, and prevented the crippling of one or more of your squadron’. Three years later, Admiral Cornwallis refused to use this anchorage, despite pressure from Lord Melville, the First Lord, since he considered it was not possible ‘on nautical grounds’.

However, what distinguishes him from the many other able captains and admirals of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, was his diplomatic skill.