Invasion of Île Bonaparte
Encyclopedia
The Invasion of Île Bonaparte was an amphibious operation in 1810 that formed an important part of the British campaign to blockade and capture the French Indian Ocean
territories of Île Bonaparte (now Réunion
) and Île de France (now Mauritius
) during the Napoleonic Wars
. These islands formed a fortified base for a French frigate
squadron under Commodore Jacques Hamelin to raid British convoys of East Indiamen
travelling between Britain and British India. Hamelin's ships had destroyed two convoys the previous year despite the attention of a squadron of Royal Navy
ships under Commodore Josias Rowley
. Rowley had responded by raiding the fortified anchorage of Saint Paul
on Île Bonaparte and capturing one of Hamelin's frigates and two captured East Indiamen.
The raid had an unforeseen consequence, when the commander of Île Bonaparte General Nicolas Des Bruslys, committed suicide rather than lead the garrison against the British landing parties. This encouraged Rowley to consider a larger operation to seize the whole island. Using the small British-held island of Rodriguez
as a base, Rowley and his British Army
counterpart Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Keating
planned to land two forces either side of the island's capital Saint Denis and force the governor to capitulate before the island's militia could be mobilised against them.
The plan was launched on 7 July 1810 as two combined forces of British sailors, soldiers, sepoys and Royal Marines
landed at separate beaches. Although a number of men were drowned in the heavy surf, the majority of the invasion force reached the beaches safely and marched inland, attacking French outposts as they approached the capital. Recognising that his demoralised garrison would be unable to defend Saint Denis and that the militia would take too long to mobilise, the French commander Colonel Chrysostôme de Sainte-Suzanne surrendered the island, its garrison and its stores to Rowley.
islands of Île Bonaparte and Île de France
had provided a secure base for French privateers and French Navy
frigates to operate against British shipping in the region for the entire French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars
. In 1808, determined to capitalise on this poorly defended region of British trade, the French government ordered Commodore Jacques Hamelin in Vénus
to sail to Île de France where he would be joined by three other large and powerful frigates with specific orders to target British trade. Dispersing his frigates into the Bay of Bengal
, Hamelin had some success during 1809: Caroline
capturing two East Indiamen at the Action of 31 May 1809
and Hamelin himself seizing three at the Action of 18 November 1809
. The French squadron also captured a number of smaller British warships and the large Portuguese frigate Minerve.
To counteract Hamelin's ships, the British commander in the region Admiral Albemarle Bertie
had ordered Commodore Josias Rowley
to operate off the islands with a squadron of Royal Navy frigates, with instructions to disrupt French movements and prepare for future invasion attempts. Rowley's ships had some successes: one of the East Indiamen captured by Hamelin was retaken by a blockading frigate in December 1809, but he was largely powerless to prevent the large French ships leaving their fortified anchorages at will. Rowley's first action to address this problem was to request a British Army
force from the government in Madras. This force, made up of British soldiers and Honourable East India Company (HEIC) sepoys, was used to capture the tiny island of Rodriguez
. Rodriguez provided a secure harbour, at which Rowley's ships could collect supplies and repair minor damage within a short sailing distance of the French islands: previously the British ships had been forced to return to Madras or the Cape of Good Hope
, decreasing the time available for operations against the islands. Rodriguez also provided Rowley with a staging post from which he could prepare the planned invasions and, in September 1809, he led an amphibious operation against the defences of the harbour of Saint Paul
on Île Bonaparte.
The Raid on Saint Paul was an important demonstration of Rowley's ability to strike at the French anchorages directly. Landing men at unwatched beaches, the British soldiers, sailors and Royal Marines
of the landing party were able to storm the defences from the landward side and rout the defenders. This allowed Rowley's squadron to enter the harbour and capture Caroline and a number of smaller ships that were docked there. The attack caused consternation on the island and its commander, Nicolas Des Bruslys, committed suicide rather than order his troops to attack the British positions. Unopposed, Rowley was able to destroy the defences and public works in the town before leaving with large quantities of captured supplies and ships. Colonel Chrysostome Sainte-Suzanne replaced Des Bruslys but was unable to effectively defend the island with the remaining garrison in the event of a concerted invasion.
to attack British convoys in the Bay of Bengal. Duperré was initially unsuccessful, but after sailing to Madagascar
for a brief refit he encountered and defeated a convoy in the Action of 3 July 1810
. The British response to the French depredations was already in progress: in late June, Rowley sailed with two frigates to Rodriguez, leaving Captain Samuel Pym
off Île de France with the remainder. On Rodriguez, Rowley and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Keating
conferred on the best method of invading and rapidly subduing the island, determining that the best plan was to land soldiers either side of the island's capital Saint Denis and defeat the garrison outside the town, forcing the new governor to surrender.
The government in Madras had augmented the garrison of Rodriguez over the previous year, so that by June 1810 it stood at over 3,650 men: 1,800 British Army regulars and 1,850 HEIC Army sepoys under Keating's overall command. To transport these troops, Rowley called up his own frigate HMS Boadicea
and HMS Nereide under Captain Nesbit Willoughby
, a veteran of the raid on Saint Paul who was still recovering from an accidental explosion two months before that had inflicted severe facial injuries. Among the passengers on Boadicea was Robert Townsend Farquhar
, a diplomat and trader with the HEIC who had been sent from London
to assume governorship of the islands once they had been captured. On 6 July, Rowley's force rendezvoused with the squadron under Pym, consisting of his frigate HMS Sirius
, HMS Iphigenia
under Captain Henry Lambert
and HMS Magicienne under Captain Lucius Curtis.
at 14:00, to draw French forces away from Grande Chaloupe, where Sirius was secretly landing the first "brigade" under Lieutenant Colonel Frazier. This force of 950 soldiers, a small battery of howitzer
s and the supplies needed for the campaign was landed without loss under the direction of Navy Lieutenant John Wyatt Watling, who had landed first and secured the beach with a party of seamen, distributing the soldiers and supplies as they came ashore. Advancing rapidly to seize the heights over the beach, Frazier drove off French outposts and snipers and cut the main road between Saint Denis and Saint Paul, hampering French communications and the movement of reinforcements.
To the east, on the other side of Saint Denis, Rowley ordered his forces to land. The first ashore was intended to be Nesbit Willoughby in a schooner
named Estafette, to secure the beach and organise the landing forces. However as this boat approached the beach the wind strengthened and built up a powerful surf, which smashed the schooner ashore with enough force to break it apart: four of the 150-strong landing party were drowned. Realising that the smaller transports would be similarly overwhelmed by the waves, Keating ordered a small brig named Ulney driven on shore as a breakwater
. This allowed a number of additional boats to safely reach the beach but did not provide enough cover for a full landing before nightfall.
By the morning of 8 July, the French had still failed to concentrate their forces, which consisted of 576 regular French Army
soldiers and 2,717 militia dispersed across the island. Seeing that a landing on the beach at Grande Chaloupe was still practical, Captains Rowley and Lambert successfully landed their contingents, providing Keating with sufficient force to march on Saint Denis. While Keating was landing, Frazier had advanced on the capital from the west, storming a French barricade on the road from Saint Paul and routing its defenders with minimal casualties. Brushing aside French resistance in a series of minor skirmishes, Keating and Frazier's forces closed on Saint Denis. The advancing British were met at 18:00 by representatives of Sainte-Suzanne, who later signed a capitulation that surrendered the entire island to Rowley, Keating and Farquhar with its garrison and supplies.
Offshore, Sirius had blockaded Saint Paul after landing her soldiers and, on 9 July, observed a ship attempting to break out of the harbour after hearing news of the surrender. The Sirius' s barge was sent to pursue the fugitive, under the command of Lieutenant George Norman. In an exhausting twelve hour chase, Norman was able to catch and board the ship, revealed to be a privateer named Edward carrying four guns and 30 men. Norman was able to defeat the crew in a brief struggle in which three men were wounded, and discovered that she was carrying despatches from the French government for the authorities on Île de France, all of which fell into British hands.
name of Bourbon following the invasion, and Farquhar briefly assumed the governorship before moving to Mauritius upon that island's capture in December 1810. Keating replaced him in command and remained in the position until 1814, when the island was restored to France at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
The success allowed British forces to concentrate against the one remaining French territory in the Indian Ocean, Île de France. Bourbon provided a number of secure anchorages and plentiful supplies for the British frigate squadron, becoming Rowley and Keating's new headquarters. With a safe harbour only a short journey away, Rowley was able to despatch his frigates against French ports on Île de France more frequently and more aggressively, developing a plan to seize small offshore islands near the main harbours on Île de France to disrupt the passage of shipping and the ability of French frigates to use these ports as raiding bases. This plan ultimately led to the disastrous attempt
to seize the shipping in Grand Port
in which four frigates of Rowley's squadron were lost.
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...
territories of Île Bonaparte (now 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...
) and Île de France (now Mauritius
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...
) 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...
. These islands formed a fortified base for a French 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"...
squadron under Commodore Jacques Hamelin to raid British convoys of 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...
travelling between Britain and British India. Hamelin's ships had destroyed two convoys the previous year despite the attention of a squadron of Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
ships under Commodore Josias Rowley
Josias Rowley
Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, 1st Baronet GCB, GCMG , known as "The Sweeper of the Seas", was a naval officer who commanded the campaign that captured the French Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius in 1810.-Naval career:...
. Rowley had responded by raiding the fortified anchorage of Saint Paul
Saint-Paul, Réunion
Saint-Paul is the second-largest commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the extreme west side of the island of Réunion.Until 1999, near Saint Paul there was the 428 metres tall mast OMEGA Chabrier transmitter.- Transport :...
on Île Bonaparte and capturing one of Hamelin's frigates and two captured East Indiamen.
The raid had an unforeseen consequence, when the commander of Île Bonaparte General Nicolas Des Bruslys, committed suicide rather than lead the garrison against the British landing parties. This encouraged Rowley to consider a larger operation to seize the whole island. Using the small British-held island of Rodriguez
Rodrigues (island)
Rodrigues , sometimes spelled Rodriguez but named after the Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues, is the smallest of the Mascarene Islands and a dependency of Mauritius...
as a base, Rowley and his British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
counterpart Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Keating
Henry Sheehy Keating
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Sheehy Keating KCB was born at Bansha, County Tipperary in Ireland and was an officer of the British Army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who served in two important operations against French colonies...
planned to land two forces either side of the island's capital Saint Denis and force the governor to capitulate before the island's militia could be mobilised against them.
The plan was launched on 7 July 1810 as two combined forces of British sailors, soldiers, sepoys and Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
landed at separate beaches. Although a number of men were drowned in the heavy surf, the majority of the invasion force reached the beaches safely and marched inland, attacking French outposts as they approached the capital. Recognising that his demoralised garrison would be unable to defend Saint Denis and that the militia would take too long to mobilise, the French commander Colonel Chrysostôme de Sainte-Suzanne surrendered the island, its garrison and its stores to Rowley.
Background
The French Indian OceanIndian 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...
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...
had provided a secure base for French privateers and 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...
frigates to operate against British shipping in the region for the entire French Revolutionary
French 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 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...
. In 1808, determined to capitalise on this poorly defended region of British trade, the French government ordered Commodore Jacques Hamelin in Vénus
French frigate Vénus (1808)
The Vénus was a Junon class frigate of the French Navy.On 10 November 1808, she departed Cherbourg, bound for Île de France, where she served as Hamelin's flagship, leading a squadron also comprising the frigate Manche and the sloop Créole....
to sail to Île de France where he would be joined by three other large and powerful frigates with specific orders to target British trade. Dispersing his frigates into the Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
, Hamelin had some success during 1809: Caroline
French frigate Caroline (1806)
The Caroline was a 40-gun Hortense Class frigate of the French Navy.On 12 November 1808, the French authorities sent four new 40 gun frigates to the Indian Ocean...
capturing two East Indiamen at the Action of 31 May 1809
Action of 31 May 1809
The Action of 31 May 1809 was a naval skirmish in the Bay of Bengal during the Napoleonic Wars. During the action, an Honourable East India Company convoy carrying goods worth over £500,000 was attacked and partially captured by the French frigate Caroline...
and Hamelin himself seizing three at the Action of 18 November 1809
Action of 18 November 1809
The Action of 18 November 1809 was the most significant engagement of a six month cruise by a French frigate squadron in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. The French commander, Commodore Jacques Hamelin, raided across the Bay of Bengal with his squadron and achieved local superiority,...
. The French squadron also captured a number of smaller British warships and the large Portuguese frigate Minerve.
To counteract Hamelin's ships, the British commander in the region Admiral Albemarle Bertie
Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet
Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, KCB, was a long-serving and at time controversial officer of the British Royal Navy who saw extensive service in his career but also courted controversy with several of his actions....
had ordered Commodore Josias Rowley
Josias Rowley
Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, 1st Baronet GCB, GCMG , known as "The Sweeper of the Seas", was a naval officer who commanded the campaign that captured the French Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius in 1810.-Naval career:...
to operate off the islands with a squadron of Royal Navy frigates, with instructions to disrupt French movements and prepare for future invasion attempts. Rowley's ships had some successes: one of the East Indiamen captured by Hamelin was retaken by a blockading frigate in December 1809, but he was largely powerless to prevent the large French ships leaving their fortified anchorages at will. Rowley's first action to address this problem was to request a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
force from the government in Madras. This force, made up of British soldiers and Honourable East India Company (HEIC) sepoys, was used to capture the tiny island of Rodriguez
Rodrigues (island)
Rodrigues , sometimes spelled Rodriguez but named after the Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues, is the smallest of the Mascarene Islands and a dependency of Mauritius...
. Rodriguez provided a secure harbour, at which Rowley's ships could collect supplies and repair minor damage within a short sailing distance of the French islands: previously the British ships had been forced to return to Madras or 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...
, decreasing the time available for operations against the islands. Rodriguez also provided Rowley with a staging post from which he could prepare the planned invasions and, in September 1809, he led an amphibious operation against the defences of the harbour of Saint Paul
Saint-Paul, Réunion
Saint-Paul is the second-largest commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the extreme west side of the island of Réunion.Until 1999, near Saint Paul there was the 428 metres tall mast OMEGA Chabrier transmitter.- Transport :...
on Île Bonaparte.
The Raid on Saint Paul was an important demonstration of Rowley's ability to strike at the French anchorages directly. Landing men at unwatched beaches, the British soldiers, sailors and Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
of the landing party were able to storm the defences from the landward side and rout the defenders. This allowed Rowley's squadron to enter the harbour and capture Caroline and a number of smaller ships that were docked there. The attack caused consternation on the island and its commander, Nicolas Des Bruslys, committed suicide rather than order his troops to attack the British positions. Unopposed, Rowley was able to destroy the defences and public works in the town before leaving with large quantities of captured supplies and ships. Colonel Chrysostome Sainte-Suzanne replaced Des Bruslys but was unable to effectively defend the island with the remaining garrison in the event of a concerted invasion.
Preparation
In early 1810, as the cyclone season came to an end, Hamelin ordered a squadron of frigates under Captain Guy-Victor DuperréGuy-Victor Duperré
Guy-Victor Duperré was a French admiral, Peer of France and thrice Naval Minister....
to attack British convoys in the Bay of Bengal. Duperré was initially unsuccessful, but after sailing to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
for a brief refit he encountered and defeated a convoy in the Action of 3 July 1810
Action of 3 July 1810
The Action of 3 July 1810 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, in which a French frigate squadron under Guy-Victor Duperré attacked and defeated a convoy of Honourable East India Company East Indiamen near the Comoros Islands...
. The British response to the French depredations was already in progress: in late June, Rowley sailed with two frigates to Rodriguez, leaving Captain Samuel Pym
Samuel Pym
Sir Samuel Pym KCB was a British admiral, brother of Sir William Pym.In June 1788, Pym joined the Royal Navy as captain's servant of the frigate Eurydice...
off Île de France with the remainder. On Rodriguez, Rowley and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Keating
Henry Sheehy Keating
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Sheehy Keating KCB was born at Bansha, County Tipperary in Ireland and was an officer of the British Army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who served in two important operations against French colonies...
conferred on the best method of invading and rapidly subduing the island, determining that the best plan was to land soldiers either side of the island's capital Saint Denis and defeat the garrison outside the town, forcing the new governor to surrender.
The government in Madras had augmented the garrison of Rodriguez over the previous year, so that by June 1810 it stood at over 3,650 men: 1,800 British Army regulars and 1,850 HEIC Army sepoys under Keating's overall command. To transport these troops, Rowley called up his own frigate HMS Boadicea
HMS Boadicea (1797)
HMS Boadicea was a frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the Channel and in the East Indies during which service she captured many prizes. She participated in one action for which the Admiralty would award the Naval General Service Medal...
and HMS Nereide under Captain Nesbit Willoughby
Nesbit Willoughby
Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby was an officer in the British Royal Navy who was knighted in 1827, and made rear-admiral in 1847. He is related to Sir Hugh Willoughby , who also figures in British naval history....
, a veteran of the raid on Saint Paul who was still recovering from an accidental explosion two months before that had inflicted severe facial injuries. Among the passengers on Boadicea was Robert Townsend Farquhar
Robert Townsend Farquhar
Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar, 1st Baronet was an influential British merchant of the early nineteenth century who served as a colonial governor and Member of Parliament.During his lengthy service for both the East India Company and the British government,Farquhar gained a reputation as an...
, a diplomat and trader with the HEIC who had been sent from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to assume governorship of the islands once they had been captured. On 6 July, Rowley's force rendezvoused with the squadron under Pym, consisting of his frigate HMS Sirius
HMS Sirius (1797)
HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe...
, HMS Iphigenia
HMS Iphigenia (1805)
HMS Iphigenia was a Royal Navy 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate. She was built at Chatham Dockyard by Master Shipwright Robert Seppings....
under Captain Henry Lambert
Henry Lambert
Captain Henry Lambert RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During his career, Lambert served in numerous ships and several military actions with success, participating in the capture of Île Bonaparte in the Indian Ocean as second in...
and HMS Magicienne under Captain Lucius Curtis.
Invasion
Rowley's squadron and a number of supporting transport ships reached Île Bonaparte on 7 July. The main body, under Rowley, approached Sainte-MarieSainte-Marie, Réunion
Sainte-Marie is a commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the north side of the island of Réunion, just east of, and adjacent to, the capital of Saint-Denis....
at 14:00, to draw French forces away from Grande Chaloupe, where Sirius was secretly landing the first "brigade" under Lieutenant Colonel Frazier. This force of 950 soldiers, a small battery of howitzer
Howitzer
A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...
s and the supplies needed for the campaign was landed without loss under the direction of Navy Lieutenant John Wyatt Watling, who had landed first and secured the beach with a party of seamen, distributing the soldiers and supplies as they came ashore. Advancing rapidly to seize the heights over the beach, Frazier drove off French outposts and snipers and cut the main road between Saint Denis and Saint Paul, hampering French communications and the movement of reinforcements.
To the east, on the other side of Saint Denis, Rowley ordered his forces to land. The first ashore was intended to be Nesbit Willoughby in a schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
named Estafette, to secure the beach and organise the landing forces. However as this boat approached the beach the wind strengthened and built up a powerful surf, which smashed the schooner ashore with enough force to break it apart: four of the 150-strong landing party were drowned. Realising that the smaller transports would be similarly overwhelmed by the waves, Keating ordered a small brig named Ulney driven on shore as a breakwater
Breakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
. This allowed a number of additional boats to safely reach the beach but did not provide enough cover for a full landing before nightfall.
By the morning of 8 July, the French had still failed to concentrate their forces, which consisted of 576 regular French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
soldiers and 2,717 militia dispersed across the island. Seeing that a landing on the beach at Grande Chaloupe was still practical, Captains Rowley and Lambert successfully landed their contingents, providing Keating with sufficient force to march on Saint Denis. While Keating was landing, Frazier had advanced on the capital from the west, storming a French barricade on the road from Saint Paul and routing its defenders with minimal casualties. Brushing aside French resistance in a series of minor skirmishes, Keating and Frazier's forces closed on Saint Denis. The advancing British were met at 18:00 by representatives of Sainte-Suzanne, who later signed a capitulation that surrendered the entire island to Rowley, Keating and Farquhar with its garrison and supplies.
Offshore, Sirius had blockaded Saint Paul after landing her soldiers and, on 9 July, observed a ship attempting to break out of the harbour after hearing news of the surrender. The Sirius
Aftermath
The invasion cost the British a combined total of 22 dead and 79 wounded, including those drowned in the wreck of Estafette. Most of the other casualties had been incurred in the skirmishes on the road to Saint Denis and French casualties, although not known, were probably of a similar number. The French failed to put up a meaningful resistance to the British force, which rapidly established beachheads and carried French outposts without facing significant opposition. The island reverted to its pre-RevolutionaryFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
name of Bourbon following the invasion, and Farquhar briefly assumed the governorship before moving to Mauritius upon that island's capture in December 1810. Keating replaced him in command and remained in the position until 1814, when the island was restored to France at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
The success allowed British forces to concentrate against the one remaining French territory in the Indian Ocean, Île de France. Bourbon provided a number of secure anchorages and plentiful supplies for the British frigate squadron, becoming Rowley and Keating's new headquarters. With a safe harbour only a short journey away, Rowley was able to despatch his frigates against French ports on Île de France more frequently and more aggressively, developing a plan to seize small offshore islands near the main harbours on Île de France to disrupt the passage of shipping and the ability of French frigates to use these ports as raiding bases. This plan ultimately led to the disastrous attempt
Battle of Grand Port
The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle between squadrons of frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy. The battle was fought during 20–27 August 1810 over possession of the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France during the Napoleonic Wars...
to seize the shipping in Grand Port
Grand Port
Grand Port is a district encompassing much of the south-eastern part of the island of Mauritius. Its capital is Rose-Belle but the most important town of the district is Mahebourg...
in which four frigates of Rowley's squadron were lost.