Action of 9 July 1806
Encyclopedia
The Action of 9 July 1806 was a minor engagement between a French privateer
frigate
and British forces off Southern Ceylon during the Napoleonic Wars
. French privateers operating from the Indian Ocean islands of Île Bonaparte and Île de France
were a serious threat to British trade across the Indian Ocean
during the Wars, and the British deployed numerous methods of intercepting them, including disguising warships as merchant vessels to lure privateers into unequal engagements with more powerful warships. Cruising near the Little Basses Reef
on the Southern coast of Ceylon, the 34-gun privateer Bellone was sighted by the 16-gun British brig HMS Rattlesnake, which began chasing the larger French vessel. At 15:15, a third ship was sighted to the south, which proved to be the 74-gun ship of the line
HMS Powerful
, disguised as an East Indiaman.
Although Bellone would normally be much faster than the large British warship, the light winds and Rattlesnake' s determined pursuit prevented the privateer from escaping and at 17:00, Powerful was close enough to open fire. Despite the uneven nature of the combat, Bellone unexpectedly resisted the British attack for another hour and 45 minutes, causing more damage to Powerful than she received herself. The privateer was later taken into British service as a sixth rate frigate and prize money was paid for the captured vessels, but the action prompted questions in subsequent histories about the lack of efficiency in British gunnery.
and the Napoleonic Wars
that followed them, British dominance in the Indian Ocean
was repeatedly challenged by the depredations of French vessels sailing from the isolated and well protected French colonies of Réunion
(later Île Bonaparte) and Île de France
. Although French Navy
cruisers were periodically stationed on the islands, the majority of ships that preyed on British commerce from the islands were privateers, independently funded armed ships issued with letters of marque giving them permission to attack military and civilian ships belonging to the enemies of France. French naval strategy in the Indian Ocean was so reliant on privateers that entire squadrons developed, including a powerful force under the wealthy privateer captain Robert Surcouf
. Although most privateers were small, carrying only a few cannon
, some could be very large, rivalling professional warships in size. One such ship was the Bellone, which carried 34-guns, a crew of nearly 200 men and was commanded by Captain Jacques Perroud, a notorious privateer who had caused significant damage to British trade in the Indian Ocean. In 1803, Perroud had gained significant notoriety with the capture of the valuable East Indiaman Lord Nelson on 14 August 1803.
The principle target of the privateers were the East Indiamen
, huge and well-armed merchant vessels operated by the Honourable East India Company, which controlled British mercantile operations to the east of Africa. These ships often weighed over 1,000 tons and carried as many as 30 cannon, although their crews were not military men and they could not usually resist a determined attack by a well-trained warship. Despite the size and power of these vessels, they were a primary target for French ships operating in the Indian Ocean as they often carried goods worth thousands of pounds: the annual convoy from China
alone was worth over $8 million in 1804. To combat these ships, the British naval authorities at Madras tried a number of solutions, including blockades of the French island colonies which failed due to the huge distances involved, armed military convoys escorting the most valuable ships and small fast cruisers patrolling the most dangerous trade routes. One solution tried in 1806 was to disguise Royal Navy warships as the East Indiamen they superficially resembled in the hope of luring French ships into attacking them, unaware of their true identity.
In December 1805, two French squadrons departed Brest
under orders to disrupt British trade in the Atlantic Ocean
, beginning the Atlantic campaign of 1806
. Several British squadrons were despatched in pursuit, including one under Vice-Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth
originally assigned to blockade Cadiz
. On 25 December, Duckworth discovered one of the French squadrons, under Vice-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, in the mid-Atlantic and gave chase. For the next two days the squadrons sailed westwards across the Atlantic, until Duckworth abandoned the pursuit, believing that his dispersed squadron was in danger of piecemeal defeat by Willaumez's force. In the aftermath of the pursuit, Willaumez turned towards the South Atlantic while Duckworth, in urgent need of supplies, turned northwest towards the British West Indies. Duckworth was concerned that Willaumez might attempt to pass the Cape of Good Hope
and operate in the Indian Ocean, and so despatched one of his ships to augment Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew's small squadron at Madras. This ship was HMS Powerful
, a 74-gun ship of the line commanded by Captain Robert Plampin
.
was cruising off the Southern coast of the British colony of Ceylon in search of French privateers that had been attacking small British traders, known as country ships, in the region. Most notorious of these was the Bellone, known to be operating in the area. In the early afternoon, lookouts on Rattlesnake spotted sails near the Little Basses Reef
and approached the ship, which turned with the wind and fled to the southwest. Bastard immediately gave chase, and soon came close enough to identify the vessel as the Bellone. Although Bellone was much larger than the British warship, Captain Perroud was unwilling to risk his vessel in an unprofitable confrontation with Rattlesnake and seemed to be making an effective withdrawal when, at 15:15, a large ship came within sight directly ahead.
Although it was not immediately obvious to the men on Bellone, the new arrival was Plampin's Powerful, which had arrived in Indian waters on 13 June 1806. Finding no trace of Willaumez, who had elected to remain in the Atlantic, Plampin briefly anchored at Madras and subsequently cruised off Ceylon. There, following intelligence sent by Pellew, he captured the 20-gun French privateer Henriette near Trincomalee
after an 11 hour chase. From information possibly supplied by prisoners removed from Henriette or possibly from a merchant ship sailing from Colombo
, Plampin learned of Perroud's operations and had arranged to meet Rattlesnake off the Little Basses Reef. In the hope of luring the privateer into a confrontation, he disguised his large warship to look like an East Indiaman. Perroud rapidly saw through the disguise, and also noticed that while the wind remained strong off the coast, Powerful was further out to sea and appeared becalmed. Realising that his only option was to sail between Powerful and the shore, Perroud turned eastwards, but the wind gradually strengthened for Powerful and by 17:00 the ship of the line was within range of Bellone with her bow chasers, long cannon situated at the front of the ship.
Although faced with overwhelming opposition, Perroud did not surrender, maintaining a steady cannonade on the approaching ship of the line with Bellone' s own stern chasers and occasionally turning to release a full broadside. The variable winds prevented Rattlesnake joining the battle and also delayed Powerful' s approach; Bellone succeeded in causing casualties on Plampin's deck but failed to damage the ship of the line's rigging or sails, which would have facilitated her own escape. For an hour and 45 minutes the battle continued with neither ship able to land a decisive blow on the other, until, at 18:45, it was clear that Powerful would soon be within range with her main broadside
. Perroud surrendered rather than see his ship destroyed.
Historical reaction to the engagement has focused on two aspects: Perroud's bravery in attempting to combat a vastly superior British force and the inaccuracy of Plampin's gunnery. Contemporary historian William James
described Perroud's actions as "extraordinary" and notes that this was the second engagement in the Indian Ocean during 1806 in which British gunnery had proven ineffective, citing an inconclusive engagement on 21 April in which the 74-gun HMS Tremendous had been outgunned by the French frigate Canonnière
, the frigate escaping pursuit by damaging the larger vessel's rigging. He also notes that Powerful was able to being six guns into regular use during the engagement as opposed to Bellone' s four, concluding that Plampin "might have made a better use of [the extra cannon]". Later historian William Laird Clowes
, writing in 1900, agreed with James' assessment, commenting that "This action serves to again illustrate the lamentable decline in British gunnery".
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
and British forces off Southern Ceylon during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. French privateers operating from the Indian Ocean islands of Île Bonaparte and Île de France
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
were a serious threat to British trade across the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
during the Wars, and the British deployed numerous methods of intercepting them, including disguising warships as merchant vessels to lure privateers into unequal engagements with more powerful warships. Cruising near the Little Basses Reef
Little Basses Reef Lighthouse
Little Basses Reef Lighthouse is an offshore Lighthouse in South of Sri Lanka and it is operated and maintained by the Sri Lanka Navy. It is located on a reef called Kuda Ravana Kotuwa ,but when British invaded Ceylon the named this as Little bases Little Basses Reef Lighthouse is an offshore...
on the Southern coast of Ceylon, the 34-gun privateer Bellone was sighted by the 16-gun British brig HMS Rattlesnake, which began chasing the larger French vessel. At 15:15, a third ship was sighted to the south, which proved to be the 74-gun ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
HMS Powerful
HMS Powerful (1783)
HMS Powerful was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 April 1783 at Blackwall Yard, London.In 1805 the ship arrived too late to take part in the Battle of Trafalgar but was then detached to reinforce the East India squadron. On 13th June 1806 she captured the French...
, disguised as an East Indiaman.
Although Bellone would normally be much faster than the large British warship, the light winds and Rattlesnake
Background
During the French Revolutionary WarsFrench Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
that followed them, British dominance in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
was repeatedly challenged by the depredations of French vessels sailing from the isolated and well protected French colonies of Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
(later Île Bonaparte) and Île de France
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
. Although French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
cruisers were periodically stationed on the islands, the majority of ships that preyed on British commerce from the islands were privateers, independently funded armed ships issued with letters of marque giving them permission to attack military and civilian ships belonging to the enemies of France. French naval strategy in the Indian Ocean was so reliant on privateers that entire squadrons developed, including a powerful force under the wealthy privateer captain Robert Surcouf
Robert Surcouf
Robert Surcouf was a famous French corsair. During his legendary career, he captured 47 ships and was renowned for his gallantry and chivalry, earning the nickname of Roi des Corsaires .- Youth :...
. Although most privateers were small, carrying only a few cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
, some could be very large, rivalling professional warships in size. One such ship was the Bellone, which carried 34-guns, a crew of nearly 200 men and was commanded by Captain Jacques Perroud, a notorious privateer who had caused significant damage to British trade in the Indian Ocean. In 1803, Perroud had gained significant notoriety with the capture of the valuable East Indiaman Lord Nelson on 14 August 1803.
The principle target of the privateers were the East Indiamen
East Indiamen
An East Indiaman was a ship operating under charter or license to any of the East India Companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries...
, huge and well-armed merchant vessels operated by the Honourable East India Company, which controlled British mercantile operations to the east of Africa. These ships often weighed over 1,000 tons and carried as many as 30 cannon, although their crews were not military men and they could not usually resist a determined attack by a well-trained warship. Despite the size and power of these vessels, they were a primary target for French ships operating in the Indian Ocean as they often carried goods worth thousands of pounds: the annual convoy from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
alone was worth over $8 million in 1804. To combat these ships, the British naval authorities at Madras tried a number of solutions, including blockades of the French island colonies which failed due to the huge distances involved, armed military convoys escorting the most valuable ships and small fast cruisers patrolling the most dangerous trade routes. One solution tried in 1806 was to disguise Royal Navy warships as the East Indiamen they superficially resembled in the hope of luring French ships into attacking them, unaware of their true identity.
In December 1805, two French squadrons departed Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
under orders to disrupt British trade in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, beginning the Atlantic campaign of 1806
Atlantic campaign of 1806
The Atlantic campaign of 1806 was a complicated series of manoeuveres and counter-manoeuveres conducted by squadrons of the French Navy and the British Royal Navy across the Atlantic Ocean during the spring and summer of 1806, as part of the Napoleonic Wars...
. Several British squadrons were despatched in pursuit, including one under Vice-Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth
John Thomas Duckworth
Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British naval officer, serving during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as the Governor of Newfoundland during the War of 1812, and a member of the British House of Commons during his...
originally assigned to blockade Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. On 25 December, Duckworth discovered one of the French squadrons, under Vice-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, in the mid-Atlantic and gave chase. For the next two days the squadrons sailed westwards across the Atlantic, until Duckworth abandoned the pursuit, believing that his dispersed squadron was in danger of piecemeal defeat by Willaumez's force. In the aftermath of the pursuit, Willaumez turned towards the South Atlantic while Duckworth, in urgent need of supplies, turned northwest towards the British West Indies. Duckworth was concerned that Willaumez might attempt to pass the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
and operate in the Indian Ocean, and so despatched one of his ships to augment Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew's small squadron at Madras. This ship was HMS Powerful
HMS Powerful (1783)
HMS Powerful was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 April 1783 at Blackwall Yard, London.In 1805 the ship arrived too late to take part in the Battle of Trafalgar but was then detached to reinforce the East India squadron. On 13th June 1806 she captured the French...
, a 74-gun ship of the line commanded by Captain Robert Plampin
Robert Plampin
Vice-Admiral Robert Plampin was a British Royal Navy officer during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, serving in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, but best known for his time as commander of the British colony of Saint Helena...
.
Battle
On 9 July 1806, the small British brig HMS Rattlesnake under Commander John BastardJohn Bastard (Royal Navy officer)
John Bastard was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812, rising to the rank of post-captain...
was cruising off the Southern coast of the British colony of Ceylon in search of French privateers that had been attacking small British traders, known as country ships, in the region. Most notorious of these was the Bellone, known to be operating in the area. In the early afternoon, lookouts on Rattlesnake spotted sails near the Little Basses Reef
Little Basses Reef Lighthouse
Little Basses Reef Lighthouse is an offshore Lighthouse in South of Sri Lanka and it is operated and maintained by the Sri Lanka Navy. It is located on a reef called Kuda Ravana Kotuwa ,but when British invaded Ceylon the named this as Little bases Little Basses Reef Lighthouse is an offshore...
and approached the ship, which turned with the wind and fled to the southwest. Bastard immediately gave chase, and soon came close enough to identify the vessel as the Bellone. Although Bellone was much larger than the British warship, Captain Perroud was unwilling to risk his vessel in an unprofitable confrontation with Rattlesnake and seemed to be making an effective withdrawal when, at 15:15, a large ship came within sight directly ahead.
Although it was not immediately obvious to the men on Bellone, the new arrival was Plampin's Powerful, which had arrived in Indian waters on 13 June 1806. Finding no trace of Willaumez, who had elected to remain in the Atlantic, Plampin briefly anchored at Madras and subsequently cruised off Ceylon. There, following intelligence sent by Pellew, he captured the 20-gun French privateer Henriette near Trincomalee
Trincomalee
Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...
after an 11 hour chase. From information possibly supplied by prisoners removed from Henriette or possibly from a merchant ship sailing from Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, Plampin learned of Perroud's operations and had arranged to meet Rattlesnake off the Little Basses Reef. In the hope of luring the privateer into a confrontation, he disguised his large warship to look like an East Indiaman. Perroud rapidly saw through the disguise, and also noticed that while the wind remained strong off the coast, Powerful was further out to sea and appeared becalmed. Realising that his only option was to sail between Powerful and the shore, Perroud turned eastwards, but the wind gradually strengthened for Powerful and by 17:00 the ship of the line was within range of Bellone with her bow chasers, long cannon situated at the front of the ship.
Although faced with overwhelming opposition, Perroud did not surrender, maintaining a steady cannonade on the approaching ship of the line with Bellone
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
. Perroud surrendered rather than see his ship destroyed.
Aftermath
Although the defeat of Bellone by such an overwhelming force of professional warships would seem inevitable, the resistance given by the French privateer was considered impressive both at the time and by subsequent historians. Although largely undamaged, Powerful had suffered two men killed and 11 wounded, compared to French losses of one dead and six or seven wounded. Bellone was also largely undamaged, only surrendering when Powerful was in position to open a full broadside. After the battle, Bellone was taken into port and subsequently commissioned as HMS Blanche albeit with a reduction in class to a 28-gun sixth rate frigate. Head-money, a reward for the men captured or killed aboard enemy ships, was subsequently paid to the men of Powerful and Rattlesnake, as was head money for Henriette, although in both cases there was a delay in payment until January 1814. Pellew especially was delighted by the capture of Bellone, writing "I reflect with much pleasure on the capture of La Bellone in particular, as from her superior sailing, as her uncommon success in the present and preceding war against the commerce, in the Indian and European seas".Historical reaction to the engagement has focused on two aspects: Perroud's bravery in attempting to combat a vastly superior British force and the inaccuracy of Plampin's gunnery. Contemporary historian William James
William James (naval historian)
William M. James was a British lawyer turned naval historian who wrote important naval histories of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815.-Career:...
described Perroud's actions as "extraordinary" and notes that this was the second engagement in the Indian Ocean during 1806 in which British gunnery had proven ineffective, citing an inconclusive engagement on 21 April in which the 74-gun HMS Tremendous had been outgunned by the French frigate Canonnière
French frigate Minerve (1794)
The Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured twice by the British and recaptured once by the French. She therefore served under four names:*Minerve, 1794–1795*HMS Minerve, 1795–1803*Canonnière, 1803–1810...
, the frigate escaping pursuit by damaging the larger vessel's rigging. He also notes that Powerful was able to being six guns into regular use during the engagement as opposed to Bellone
William Laird Clowes
Sir William Laird Clowes was a British journalist and historian whose principal work was The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, a text that is still in print. He also wrote numerous technical pieces on naval technology and strategy and was also noted for his articles concerning...
, writing in 1900, agreed with James' assessment, commenting that "This action serves to again illustrate the lamentable decline in British gunnery".