Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811
Encyclopedia
The Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 was a series of amphibious operations and naval actions fought to determine possession of the French Indian Ocean territories of Île de France
and Île Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars
. The campaign lasted from the spring of 1809 until the spring of 1811, and saw both the Royal Navy
and the French Navy
deploy substantial frigate
squadrons with the intention of disrupting or protecting trade from British India. In a war in which the Royal Navy
was almost universally dominant at sea, the campaign is especially notable for the local superiority enjoyed by the French Navy
in the autumn of 1810 following the British disaster at the Battle of Grand Port
, the most significant defeat for the Royal Navy in the entire conflict.
The Royal Navy had been planning an operation against Île de France since the capture of the Dutch East Indies
in 1806, but was forced to act earlier than expected following the despatch from France of a powerful frigate squadron under Commodore Jacques Hamelin in late 1808. This force was able to capture a number of East Indiamen
and disrupt trade routes across the Indian Ocean by raiding the convoys in which the merchant ships travelled. Forced to confront this enemy, Admiral Albemarle Bertie
at the Cape of Good Hope
ordered Commodore Josias Rowley
to blockade the French islands and prevent their use as raiding bases.
For the next two years, the British raided ports and anchorages on the French islands while the French attacked trade convoys in the wider ocean. The British were able to slowly reduce the French presence by eliminating their bases through limited invasions, but suffered a major setback at Grand Port in August 1810 and were forced onto the defensive in the autumn. Hamelin was eventually defeated only after being personally captured on his flagship Vénus
by Rowley, shortly before substantial reinforcements arrived under Bertie to seize Île de France. Throughout the campaign Hamelin was unable to secure reinforcement from France — almost all attempts to break through the British blockade of French ports proved futile and only one frigate successfully reached in the Indian Ocean before the surrender of Île de France. The final such attempt arrived off Mauritius in May 1811, only to discover that the island was in British hands. On the return journey, the force was attacked by a British squadron off Madagascar
and defeated, leaving the British in complete control of the Indian Ocean.
The Indian Ocean
was a vital part of the chain of trade links that connected the British Empire
. Merchant ships from China
, Arabia and East Africa
crossed it regularly and at its centre was the British-held continent of India, from which heavily laden East Indiamen
brought millions of pounds worth of trade goods to Britain every year. Trade with India was vital to the financial security of Britain and consequently the trade routes across the Indian Ocean were a high priority for protection from the Royal Navy
and at serious risk from French raiders. The outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars
in 1803, following the brief Peace of Amiens that had ended the French Revolutionary Wars
, placed the Indian Ocean trade routes under threat from Dutch cruisers operating from Cape Town
and the Dutch East Indies
and French ships based on Île de France
and the newly renamed Île Bonaparte. By 1808, most the Dutch colonies had been neutralised in a series of brief but successful campaigns; the Cape by Sir Home Riggs Popham
in January 1806 and the Dutch island of Java
by Sir Edward Pellew in a campaign that ended in December 1807
. The French Indian Ocean islands were however far more defensible: heavily fortified, garrisoned by regular French soldiers and several months voyage from the nearest British port, they presented a much greater challenge to the limited British forces available in the region.
At the beginning of the war, as in the preceding conflict, French privateer
s operated from the islands, including a fleet of small vessels run by Robert Surcouf
. Supplementing these ships were occasional French naval vessels, principally the frigate
Piémontaise
(captured in March 1808) and the old frigates Sémillante
and Cannonière
. These ships operated independently of one another and achieved minor successes against smaller British warships and merchant vessels but were not powerful enough to have a serious effect on the Indian Ocean trade routes. In August 1808, Sémillante and Cannonière were downgraded to armed storeships and sent back to France. To replace these ships, four large frigates under Jacques Hamelin were sent to Governor Charles Decaen on Île de France in the late autumn of 1808. These vessels, Vénus
, Manche
, Caroline
and Bellone
were large and powerful ships under orders to operate from Île de France and Île Bonaparte against British trade in the Indian Ocean. Based on Île de France, these frigates had access to large numbers of unemployed sailors and several fortified anchorages from which to launch raids on the British trade routes. A fifth frigate, Niémen, was to have joined the force in the summer of 1809, but was intercepted and captured within hours of leaving France at the Action of 6 April 1809
.
To counteract the French deployment to the region, a small British force was organised by Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie
at Cape Town under the command of Commodore Josias Rowley
, with orders to blockade Île de France and Île Bonaparte and seize or destroy any French ships that operated from the islands. To perform this task, Rowley was given the old ship of the line
HMS Raisonnable
, the fourth rate HMS Leopard
, frigates HMS Nereide, HMS Sirius
and HMS Boadicea
and a number of smaller ships. Both the British and the French squadrons reached the Indian Ocean in the spring of 1809.
in the Bay of Bengal
and captured two, the Streatham and Europe. She seized several other small vessels on the cruise before slipping back to Île Bonaparte with her prizes in August. Hamelin too cruised in the Bay of Bengal during the summer and autumn, Vénus accompanied by Manche and the corvette
Créole. On 26 July, Vénus captured the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) warship Orient off the Nicobar Islands
.
Rowley's force had also been active: Nereide under Captain Robert Corbet
captured a number of small vessels off Port Napoleon in the late spring, including the brig Aigle, which he sent to the Cape of Good Hope with a prize crew that mutinied, killed their officer and took the ship to Île Bonaparte. The brig
HMS Otter
, under Captain Nesbit Willoughby
, raided an anchorage at Rivière Noire
on 14 August, capturing a coastal vessel (which he later had to abandon) under heavy fire. Willoughby also recaptured Aigle shortly afterwards. Rowley himself had chased the Bellone in Raisonnable as the French ship emerged from Port Napoleon on 17 August, but had been unable to catch her. Most significant of all was the seizure of the island of Rodriguez
by a British Army
force from India under Lieutenant Colonel Henry Keating
. This small island was close enough to Île de France to provide an effective base for the British blockade squadron and a staging area for a future invasion of the French islands.
Rowley's first co-ordinated action was prompted by the return of Caroline with her prizes. Sheltering under the guns of Saint-Paul
harbour, Caroline made an inviting target for an expeditionary force from Rodriguez in practice for the anticipated invasion of the whole island. On 21 September, a force of over 600 soldiers, sailors and Royal Marines
under Keating and Willoughby landed on Île Bonaparte and marched around the town's seaward fortifications, storming them from the rear at first light. Capturing each in succession and routing opposition from French militia, the force secured the gun batteries overlooking the port, allowing Rowley to bring his squadron directly into the harbour and bombard the shipping anchored within. The French naval officers, outnumbered and unsupported, drove their ships on shore and abandoned them, allowing the British to seize and carry off Caroline, the two captured East Indiamen and a number of smaller vessels. French attempts to recapture the town were undermined by the failure of the island's commander, General Nicolas Des Bruslys, to engage the British with his main force. Des Bruslys later committed suicide. With the garrison leaderless, a truce was agreed that granted the British five days in control of the town. In this time they were able to remove all government supplies and demolish the town's government buildings. Rowley and his force eventually departed from Saint-Paul on 28 September. As a reward for their services, Willoughby was promoted to command Nereide and Corbet sent back to Britain in Caroline, renamed HMS Bourbonaise.
While Rowley was attacking Saint-Paul, Hamelin and his ships Vénus, Manche, Bellone and Créole
were cruising in the Bay of Bengal. On 10 October, Hamelin attacked the Honourable East India Company's base at Tappanooly on Sumatra
and burnt it to the ground: the entire population was taken prisoner, although the women were sent to Padang
in a small schooner. On 2 November, the British brig HMS Victor was captured by Bellone after a running fight and two weeks later Hamelin intercepted a convoy of three East Indiamen, Windham, Streatham and Charlton, capturing all three in the Action of 18 November 1809
. On 22 November, Bellone chased, caught and defeated the 52-gun Portuguese frigate Minerva. With their crews now dispersed among their prizes and cyclone season rapidly approaching, Hamelin ordered his squadron back to Ile de France. En route, the convoy was struck by a storm and scattered: Vénus was especially badly damaged and at one point was only saved from sinking by the efforts of the English prisoners aboard. By 31 December, all ships had returned to Île de France except Windham, which had been recaptured by the recently arrived British frigate HMS Magicienne.
in Bellone and Captain Pierre Bouvet in the ex-Portuguese Minerva (renamed Minerve
) departed Île de France on 14 March to raid in the Bay of Bengal and subsequently along the South-East coast of Africa. Despite an initial lack of targets, Duperré's cruise was successful: in July he discovered and defeated a convoy of East Indiamen at the Action of 3 July 1810
, seizing Windham for a second time and Ceylon.
Shortly after Duperré's departure, a British squadron under Captain Henry Lambert
consisting of HMS Magicienne, HMS Iphigenia
and HMS Leopard arrived off Île de France to restore the blockade. Rowley subsequently increased Lambert's forces, detaching Willoughby in Nereide with instructions to raid coastal anchorages on the island. On 24 April, Willoughby sighted the recently arrived Astrée, and on 30 April attacked the protected anchorage at Jacolet. His target was a large French merchant ship protected by two batteries and a detachment of regular infantry. Landing at night under heavy fire, Willoughby's men seized one battery, drove off a French attack on their beachhead and captured the second battery despite having to advance across a river, under fire, in broad daylight. On returning to their boats, Willoughby's men were attacked by a second French force which they also routed and drove more than a mile inland. Shortly afterwards however, Willoughby was seriously wounded when a musket
he was firing exploded, shattering his jaw. As a result, he was forced to spend several months recovering from his injuries on Rodriguez.
During the late spring, Rowley's force was shorn of Raisonnable and Leopard, sent back to Britain for refit. Although reduced to five frigates and a few smaller vessels, Rowley began preparations for the invasion of Île Bonaparte
by increasing the number of soldiers available on Rodriguez with detachments sent from Madras. Bonaparte was the smaller of the French bases and was more weakly defended, the island's defences damaged in the raid at Saint Paul the previous year. On 24 June, Rowley withdrew Boadicea and Nereide to Rodriguez and collected Keating's force of over 3,000 soldiers. Meeting the rest of his squadron off Bonaparte, Rowley organised two landings on 7 July, either side of the island's capital Saint Denis. Advancing rapidly against weak French defences, the British landing parties forced the island's governor Chrysostôme de Sainte-Suzanne to surrender the following day. It was in the days after this operation that Commander Matthew Flinders
, an explorer who had been arrested by Decaen at Port Napoleon eight years earlier and held prisoner despite instructions from Napoleon himself to release him, was freed. Flinders was able to supply Rowley and later Bertie with detailed information about the defences on Île de France.
Even before the French garrison on Île Bonaparte had surrendered, Rowley had turned his attention eastwards to Île de France. The British commander had decided that the best way to eliminate the threat of Hamelin's squadron was to blockade the island's principal ports by seizing the coral islands that marked the entrances to the harbours through the complicated coral reefs that surrounded Île de France. These islands were fortified, and once in British hands could prevent French ships leaving or entering the harbours, effectively containing Hamelin's ships until Rowley was ready to launch an invasion. Detailed to lead this campaign was Captain Samuel Pym
in Sirius and Willoughby in Nereide, with instructions to begin by seizing Île de la Passe
at the entrance to the harbour of Grand Port
on the south-eastern coast of Île de France.
Willoughby stormed Île de la Passe on 13 August and captured it, blocking the entrance to Grand Port. With the harbour secure, Willoughby raided along the coastline while Pym, reinforced by Henry Lambert
in Iphigenia and Lucius Curtis in Magicienne, blockaded Port Napoleon. On 20 August, sails were spotted approaching Grand Port and Willoughby determined to trick the approaching ships into entering the channel under Île de la Passe, where he could attack and capture them. The squadron was Duperré's squadron returning from the African coast with their prizes and, despite misgivings from Captain Bouvet, Duperré was determined to enter Grand Port and reassured by recognition signals flown by Willoughby, who had captured the French codes on Île de la Passe. As the French passed the fort, Willoughby sprang his trap and opened fire, but a false French tricolour flying from Île de la Passe accidentally ignited as it was lowered. The fire spread to a ready magazine in the fort, which exploded, causing severe damage and casualties. In the confusion all but one of Duperré's ships successfully entered the harbour.
Willoughby appealed to Pym for assistance and Pym brought Sirius, Iphigenia and Magicienne to support Nereide, launching an assault on Grand Port on 23 August. Pym had failed to properly reconnoitre the channel and Duperré had had the warning buoys removed, so that Pym's squadron was blindly sailing into a complicated system of reefs and channels. Sirius and Magicienne were soon irretrievably grounded while Iphigenia struggled to find a passage and was unable to close with the French squadron. Only Nereide reached Duperré's line and Willoughby's initial attack was so determined that the entire French squadron was rapidly driven ashore, only Bellone remaining in a position to exchange fire with the British frigate. A fortunate shot from Bellone cut Nereide' s anchor cable and the British frigate swung around, presenting her stern to the French ships which raked
her repeatedly. Willoughby managed to mitigate some of the effects by cutting the other anchor cable, which brought some of his guns within range of the French, but the balance of the battle had shifted. Over the next few hours his frigate was battered from the French ships and from guns ashore until she was a dismasted, battered hulk with over 220 of her crew killed or wounded.
Nereide surrendered on the morning of 24 August and over the next three days Magicienne and Sirius were abandoned and burnt to prevent their seizure by the French. On the morning of 28 August, Iphigenia, laden with survivors from the grounded frigates, was confronted by Hamelin and his main squadron, which had taken seven days to travel from Port Napoleon. Hugely outnumbered, Lambert had no choice but to surrender, ending the worst British naval defeat of the entire war. Rowley arrived in Boadicea on 29 August but was unable to influence the outcome of the battle and was chased back to Saint Denis by Hamelin on Vénus. On the defensive, Rowley sent messages to Rodriguez, Madras and the Cape of Good Hope requesting urgent reinforcements as Bouvet began a blockade of Île Bourbon in the hope of trapping Boadicea.
On 11 September the frigate HMS Africaine arrived from Rodriguez, commanded by Captain Robert Corbet who had served in the raid on Saint Paul in 1809. Corbet was a deeply unpopular commander and when his frigate was attacked and captured by Bouvet's frigates at the Action of 13 September 1810
, rumours spread that his death was the result or suicide or even murder. Rowley was able to recapture Africaine the following day, but the danger that Hamelin's ships posed to British frigates sailing independently was further emphasised at the Action of 18 September 1810
, when HMS Ceylon
was captured by Hamelin's flagship Vénus. Again, Rowley was able to recapture the British frigate and on this occasion the damage done to Vénus was so severe that she was unable to outrun Boadicea and she too was captured, with Hamelin on board.
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In September, October and November 1810, British forces arrived from Madras, Bombay and the Cape of Good Hope, warships joining Rowley's squadron off Île de France and soldiers gathering at Rodriguez. The build up of forces was prompted by the defeat at Grand Port combined with the heavy losses of East Indiamen during 1809 and 1810; the British authorities were determined to end the threat posed by the French squadron on Île de France before the hurricane season made travel in the region too dangerous. In fact, the threat from Île de France was already substantially reduced: the damage suffered by the French frigates in the engagements at Grand Port and during September could not be repaired with the available naval supplies on Île de France. In addition, food supplies were running low due to the large number of British prisoners on the island and morale had collapsed in the aftermath of Hamelin's defeat.
By late November 1810, the invasion force was assembled and Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie assumed command at Rodriguez. Upon consultation with his commanders, Bertie decided to land at Grand Baie
to the north of the island's capital. The landing itself would be commanded by Captain Philip Beaver
in HMS Nisus and the first troops ashore would be a specially selected vanguard under Keating and a naval brigade under Captain William Augustus Montagu
. These forces would advance on Port Napoleon with subsequent reinforcement by the main force under General John Abercromby over the following days. This force, nearly 7,000 in number, was significantly larger than the reliable troops available to Decaen, which numbered approximately 1,300, and were intended to achieve a quick resolution to the campaign before the hurricane season began in December.
Sailing from Rodriguez on 22 November, the 70 vessels of the invasion fleet reached Grand Baie on 29 November. The French made no attempt to resist the landing either at sea or on land and Keating was able to rapidly advance on the capital, hastily mobilised militia units falling back before the British advance. On 30 November, Keating crossed the Rivière du Tombeau
after the militia garrison withdrew and in the evening his forward units were skirmishing with Decaen's garrison of Port Napoleon a few miles from the capital. The following morning, Decaen's field commander, Edmé-Martin Vandermaesen
made a stand, forming a line on a rise outside the town that blocked Keating's advance. Engaging the centre, Keating used his superior numbers to outflank and defeat the French garrison and Port Napoleon fell. A ceasefire was agreed on 2 December and the following day Decaen surrendered, although he and his men were repatriated to France with their standards and personal weapons.
and in the Seychelles
. Due to the length of time it took for communications to travel between the Indian Ocean and Europe however, the French government were still unaware of the fall of the island in February 1811, when a squadron of reinforcements under François Roquebert, with the supplies needed to repair Hamelin's squadron, was despatched to the Indian Ocean. The squadron arrived on 6 May and was almost brought to battle by a British force off Grand Port, before escaping into the western Indian Ocean. Stopping at Tamatave on Madagascar, the French squadron was caught by a British force under Captain Charles Marsh Schomberg
on 20 May and defeated. The Battle of Tamatave
was characterised by very light winds, which left the combatants becalmed for much of the day, engaging in periodic fighting as the breeze increased.
Two French frigates were lost at Tamatave, taking the number of frigates lost by the French Navy during the campaign to ten. The defeat marked the end of the campaign and the end of French hopes of seriously disrupting British trade with India: the only remaining safe harbours in the region were a few Dutch colonies on Java, which became the next target of the Royal Navy forces in the region. The Mauritius campaign also had an effect on British post-war strategy in the Indian Ocean, demonstrated by the retention of Mauritius as a colony (although Bourbon was returned to France in 1814 after Napoleon's abdication). With strategic bases placed along their trade routes, British convoys were assured a greater degree of safety and the Royal Navy provided with the infrastructure to operate worldwide.
Culturally, the campaign captured the public imagination in Britain and France: the Battle of Grand Port is the only naval battle that appears on the Arc de Triomphe
, while in Britain Rowley and Bertie were both made baronet
s for their services in the Indian Ocean. The campaign has been studied extensively, both by naval historians such as William James
and William Laird Clowes
and popular writers, such as Alexandre Dumas
, who features the campaign from a French perspective in his 1843 novel Georges
, and Patrick O'Brian
, whose 1977 novel The Mauritius Command
closely follows the British campaign with Rowley replaced by the fictional Jack Aubrey.
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...
and Île Bonaparte 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...
. The campaign lasted from the spring of 1809 until the spring of 1811, and saw both the 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...
and the 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...
deploy substantial 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"...
squadrons with the intention of disrupting or protecting trade from British India. In a war in which the 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...
was almost universally dominant at sea, the campaign is especially notable for the local superiority enjoyed by the 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...
in the autumn of 1810 following the British disaster at the Battle of Grand Port
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...
, the most significant defeat for the Royal Navy in the entire conflict.
The Royal Navy had been planning an operation against Île de France since the capture of the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
in 1806, but was forced to act earlier than expected following the despatch from France of a powerful frigate squadron under Commodore Jacques Hamelin in late 1808. This force was able to capture a number 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...
and disrupt trade routes across the Indian Ocean by raiding the convoys in which the merchant ships travelled. Forced to confront this enemy, 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....
at 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...
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 blockade the French islands and prevent their use as raiding bases.
For the next two years, the British raided ports and anchorages on the French islands while the French attacked trade convoys in the wider ocean. The British were able to slowly reduce the French presence by eliminating their bases through limited invasions, but suffered a major setback at Grand Port in August 1810 and were forced onto the defensive in the autumn. Hamelin was eventually defeated only after being personally captured on his flagship 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....
by Rowley, shortly before substantial reinforcements arrived under Bertie to seize Île de France. Throughout the campaign Hamelin was unable to secure reinforcement from France — almost all attempts to break through the British blockade of French ports proved futile and only one frigate successfully reached in the Indian Ocean before the surrender of Île de France. The final such attempt arrived off Mauritius in May 1811, only to discover that the island was in British hands. On the return journey, the force was attacked by a British squadron off Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
and defeated, leaving the British in complete control of the Indian Ocean.
Background
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 a vital part of the chain of trade links that connected the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. Merchant ships 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...
, Arabia and East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
crossed it regularly and at its centre was the British-held continent of India, from which heavily laden 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...
brought millions of pounds worth of trade goods to Britain every year. Trade with India was vital to the financial security of Britain and consequently the trade routes across the Indian Ocean were a high priority for protection from the 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...
and at serious risk from French raiders. The outbreak of 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...
in 1803, following the brief Peace of Amiens that had ended the French Revolutionary Wars
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...
, placed the Indian Ocean trade routes under threat from Dutch cruisers operating from Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
and French ships based on 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...
and the newly renamed Île Bonaparte. By 1808, most the Dutch colonies had been neutralised in a series of brief but successful campaigns; the Cape by Sir Home Riggs Popham
Home Riggs Popham
Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham KCB was a British Royal Naval Commander who saw service during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars...
in January 1806 and the Dutch island of Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
by Sir Edward Pellew in a campaign that ended in December 1807
Java campaign of 1806–1807
The Java campaign of 1806–1807 was a minor campaign during the Napoleonic Wars by British Royal Navy forces against a naval squadron of the Kingdom of Holland, a client state of the French Empire, based on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies...
. The French Indian Ocean islands were however far more defensible: heavily fortified, garrisoned by regular French soldiers and several months voyage from the nearest British port, they presented a much greater challenge to the limited British forces available in the region.
At the beginning of the war, as in the preceding conflict, French privateer
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...
s operated from the islands, including a fleet of small vessels run by 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 :...
. Supplementing these ships were occasional French naval vessels, principally the 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"...
Piémontaise
French frigate Piémontaise (1804)
The Piémontaise was a 40-gun Consolante-class frigate of the French Navy. She served as a commerce raider in the Indian Ocean until her capture in March 1808...
(captured in March 1808) and the old frigates Sémillante
French frigate Sémillante (1792)
The Sémillante was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was involved in a number of multi-vessel actions against the Royal Navy, particularly in the Indian Ocean. She captured a number of East Indiamen before the she became so damaged that the French disarmed her and...
and Cannonière
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...
. These ships operated independently of one another and achieved minor successes against smaller British warships and merchant vessels but were not powerful enough to have a serious effect on the Indian Ocean trade routes. In August 1808, Sémillante and Cannonière were downgraded to armed storeships and sent back to France. To replace these ships, four large frigates under Jacques Hamelin were sent to Governor Charles Decaen on Île de France in the late autumn of 1808. These vessels, 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....
, Manche
French frigate Manche (1803)
The Manche was a 40-gun Hortense Class frigate of the French Navy.She took part in operations at Île de France under Captain François-Désiré Breton....
, 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...
and Bellone
French frigate Bellone (1807)
The Bellone was an 44-gun frigate of the French Navy.She departed Saint-Malo on 18 January 1809, bound for the Indian Ocean, under Guy-Victor Duperré....
were large and powerful ships under orders to operate from Île de France and Île Bonaparte against British trade in the Indian Ocean. Based on Île de France, these frigates had access to large numbers of unemployed sailors and several fortified anchorages from which to launch raids on the British trade routes. A fifth frigate, Niémen, was to have joined the force in the summer of 1809, but was intercepted and captured within hours of leaving France at the Action of 6 April 1809
Action of 6 April 1809
The Action of 6 May 1809 was a small naval battle fought between the French frigate and several British frigates, principally , as part of the blockade of Brest, France during the Napoleonic Wars...
.
To counteract the French deployment to the region, a small British force was organised by Vice-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....
at Cape Town under the command of 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:...
, with orders to blockade Île de France and Île Bonaparte and seize or destroy any French ships that operated from the islands. To perform this task, Rowley was given the old 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 Raisonnable
HMS Raisonnable (1768)
HMS Raisonnable was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, named after the ship of the same name captured from the French in 1758. She was built at Chatham Dockyard, launched on 10 December 1768 and commissioned on 17 November 1770 under the command of Captain Maurice Suckling,...
, the fourth rate HMS Leopard
HMS Leopard (1790)
HMS Leopard was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812.-Construction and commissioning:...
, frigates HMS Nereide, 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...
and 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 a number of smaller ships. Both the British and the French squadrons reached the Indian Ocean in the spring of 1809.
First exchanges
Hamelin's forces were immediately effective: Caroline attacked a westbound convoy of East Indiamen in the Action of 31 May 1809Action 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...
in 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...
and captured two, the Streatham and Europe. She seized several other small vessels on the cruise before slipping back to Île Bonaparte with her prizes in August. Hamelin too cruised in the Bay of Bengal during the summer and autumn, Vénus accompanied by Manche and the corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
Créole. On 26 July, Vénus captured the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) warship Orient off the Nicobar Islands
Nicobar Islands
The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean...
.
Rowley's force had also been active: Nereide under Captain Robert Corbet
Robert Corbet
Captain Robert Corbet RN , often spelled Corbett, was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who was killed in action in highly controversial circumstances...
captured a number of small vessels off Port Napoleon in the late spring, including the brig Aigle, which he sent to the Cape of Good Hope with a prize crew that mutinied, killed their officer and took the ship to Île Bonaparte. The brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
HMS Otter
HMS Otter (1805)
HMS Otter was a Royal Navy 16-gun Merlin-class ship sloop, launched in 1805 at Hull. She participated in two notable actions in the Indian Ocean and was sold in 1828.-Armament:...
, 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....
, raided an anchorage at Rivière Noire
Black River (district)
Black River is a district of Mauritius on the western side of the island. Famous areas include Tamarin Falls and the Chamarel coloured earth. The district capital is Bambous. Previously it was Tamarin. It is the third largest District of Mauritius in area, but the smallest in terms of population...
on 14 August, capturing a coastal vessel (which he later had to abandon) under heavy fire. Willoughby also recaptured Aigle shortly afterwards. Rowley himself had chased the Bellone in Raisonnable as the French ship emerged from Port Napoleon on 17 August, but had been unable to catch her. Most significant of all was the seizure of the 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...
by 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 India under 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...
. This small island was close enough to Île de France to provide an effective base for the British blockade squadron and a staging area for a future invasion of the French islands.
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 :...
harbour, Caroline made an inviting target for an expeditionary force from Rodriguez in practice for the anticipated invasion of the whole island. On 21 September, a force of over 600 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...
under Keating and Willoughby landed on Île Bonaparte and marched around the town's seaward fortifications, storming them from the rear at first light. Capturing each in succession and routing opposition from French militia, the force secured the gun batteries overlooking the port, allowing Rowley to bring his squadron directly into the harbour and bombard the shipping anchored within. The French naval officers, outnumbered and unsupported, drove their ships on shore and abandoned them, allowing the British to seize and carry off Caroline, the two captured East Indiamen and a number of smaller vessels. French attempts to recapture the town were undermined by the failure of the island's commander, General Nicolas Des Bruslys, to engage the British with his main force. Des Bruslys later committed suicide. With the garrison leaderless, a truce was agreed that granted the British five days in control of the town. In this time they were able to remove all government supplies and demolish the town's government buildings. Rowley and his force eventually departed from Saint-Paul on 28 September. As a reward for their services, Willoughby was promoted to command Nereide and Corbet sent back to Britain in Caroline, renamed HMS Bourbonaise.
While Rowley was attacking Saint-Paul, Hamelin and his ships Vénus, Manche, Bellone and Créole
French brig Créole (1809)
The Créole was a three-masted schooner sloop of war of the French Navy.On 26 April 1809, she left île de France under captain Bouvet, part of Hamelin's squadron. She sailed to Manilla, where she captured a British and a Portuguese prize...
were cruising in the Bay of Bengal. On 10 October, Hamelin attacked the Honourable East India Company's base at Tappanooly on Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
and burnt it to the ground: the entire population was taken prisoner, although the women were sent to Padang
Padang, Indonesia
Padang is the capital and largest city of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located on the western coast of Sumatra at . It has an area of and a population of over 833,000 people at the 2010 Census.-History:...
in a small schooner. On 2 November, the British brig HMS Victor was captured by Bellone after a running fight and two weeks later Hamelin intercepted a convoy of three East Indiamen, Windham, Streatham and Charlton, capturing all three in 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,...
. On 22 November, Bellone chased, caught and defeated the 52-gun Portuguese frigate Minerva. With their crews now dispersed among their prizes and cyclone season rapidly approaching, Hamelin ordered his squadron back to Ile de France. En route, the convoy was struck by a storm and scattered: Vénus was especially badly damaged and at one point was only saved from sinking by the efforts of the English prisoners aboard. By 31 December, all ships had returned to Île de France except Windham, which had been recaptured by the recently arrived British frigate HMS Magicienne.
Invasion of Île Bonaparte
Although the French Navy considered 1809 to have been a success, they reinforced Hamelin with only one frigate, the Astrée, which arrived early in 1810. Hamelin was quick to act at the end of the cyclone season: Captain Guy-Victor DuperréGuy-Victor Duperré
Guy-Victor Duperré was a French admiral, Peer of France and thrice Naval Minister....
in Bellone and Captain Pierre Bouvet in the ex-Portuguese Minerva (renamed Minerve
French frigate Minerve (1809)
The Minerva was a 48-gun frigate of the Portuguese navy.She was captured on 22 November 1809 by Duperré's Bellone, who gave her command to Pierre Bouvet. She subsequently served in the French Navy as Minerve. The two ships sailed together, capturing the East Indiamen Windham and Ceylan in the...
) departed Île de France on 14 March to raid in the Bay of Bengal and subsequently along the South-East coast of Africa. Despite an initial lack of targets, Duperré's cruise was successful: in July he discovered and defeated a convoy of East Indiamen at 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...
, seizing Windham for a second time and Ceylon.
Shortly after Duperré's departure, a British squadron 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...
consisting of HMS Magicienne, 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....
and HMS Leopard arrived off Île de France to restore the blockade. Rowley subsequently increased Lambert's forces, detaching Willoughby in Nereide with instructions to raid coastal anchorages on the island. On 24 April, Willoughby sighted the recently arrived Astrée, and on 30 April attacked the protected anchorage at Jacolet. His target was a large French merchant ship protected by two batteries and a detachment of regular infantry. Landing at night under heavy fire, Willoughby's men seized one battery, drove off a French attack on their beachhead and captured the second battery despite having to advance across a river, under fire, in broad daylight. On returning to their boats, Willoughby's men were attacked by a second French force which they also routed and drove more than a mile inland. Shortly afterwards however, Willoughby was seriously wounded when a musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
he was firing exploded, shattering his jaw. As a result, he was forced to spend several months recovering from his injuries on Rodriguez.
During the late spring, Rowley's force was shorn of Raisonnable and Leopard, sent back to Britain for refit. Although reduced to five frigates and a few smaller vessels, Rowley began preparations for the invasion of Île Bonaparte
Invasion of Île Bonaparte
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 and Île de France during the Napoleonic Wars...
by increasing the number of soldiers available on Rodriguez with detachments sent from Madras. Bonaparte was the smaller of the French bases and was more weakly defended, the island's defences damaged in the raid at Saint Paul the previous year. On 24 June, Rowley withdrew Boadicea and Nereide to Rodriguez and collected Keating's force of over 3,000 soldiers. Meeting the rest of his squadron off Bonaparte, Rowley organised two landings on 7 July, either side of the island's capital Saint Denis. Advancing rapidly against weak French defences, the British landing parties forced the island's governor Chrysostôme de Sainte-Suzanne to surrender the following day. It was in the days after this operation that Commander Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
, an explorer who had been arrested by Decaen at Port Napoleon eight years earlier and held prisoner despite instructions from Napoleon himself to release him, was freed. Flinders was able to supply Rowley and later Bertie with detailed information about the defences on Île de France.
Battle of Grand Port
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...
in Sirius and Willoughby in Nereide, with instructions to begin by seizing Île de la Passe
Île de la Passe
Ile de la Passe is a rocky islet in the bay off Grand Port on the island of Mauritius. Between 20–25 August 1810, during the British campaign to capture the island from the French, it was the scene of the Battle of Grand Port...
at the entrance to the harbour of 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...
on the south-eastern coast of Île de France.
Willoughby stormed Île de la Passe on 13 August and captured it, blocking the entrance to Grand Port. With the harbour secure, Willoughby raided along the coastline while Pym, reinforced by 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...
in Iphigenia and Lucius Curtis in Magicienne, blockaded Port Napoleon. On 20 August, sails were spotted approaching Grand Port and Willoughby determined to trick the approaching ships into entering the channel under Île de la Passe, where he could attack and capture them. The squadron was Duperré's squadron returning from the African coast with their prizes and, despite misgivings from Captain Bouvet, Duperré was determined to enter Grand Port and reassured by recognition signals flown by Willoughby, who had captured the French codes on Île de la Passe. As the French passed the fort, Willoughby sprang his trap and opened fire, but a false French tricolour flying from Île de la Passe accidentally ignited as it was lowered. The fire spread to a ready magazine in the fort, which exploded, causing severe damage and casualties. In the confusion all but one of Duperré's ships successfully entered the harbour.
Raking fire
In naval warfare, raking fire is fire directed parallel to the long axis of an enemy ship. Although each shot is directed against a smaller target profile than by shooting broadside and thus more likely to miss the target ship to one side or the other, an individual cannon shot that hits will pass...
her repeatedly. Willoughby managed to mitigate some of the effects by cutting the other anchor cable, which brought some of his guns within range of the French, but the balance of the battle had shifted. Over the next few hours his frigate was battered from the French ships and from guns ashore until she was a dismasted, battered hulk with over 220 of her crew killed or wounded.
Nereide surrendered on the morning of 24 August and over the next three days Magicienne and Sirius were abandoned and burnt to prevent their seizure by the French. On the morning of 28 August, Iphigenia, laden with survivors from the grounded frigates, was confronted by Hamelin and his main squadron, which had taken seven days to travel from Port Napoleon. Hugely outnumbered, Lambert had no choice but to surrender, ending the worst British naval defeat of the entire war. Rowley arrived in Boadicea on 29 August but was unable to influence the outcome of the battle and was chased back to Saint Denis by Hamelin on Vénus. On the defensive, Rowley sent messages to Rodriguez, Madras and the Cape of Good Hope requesting urgent reinforcements as Bouvet began a blockade of Île Bourbon in the hope of trapping Boadicea.
On 11 September the frigate HMS Africaine arrived from Rodriguez, commanded by Captain Robert Corbet who had served in the raid on Saint Paul in 1809. Corbet was a deeply unpopular commander and when his frigate was attacked and captured by Bouvet's frigates at the Action of 13 September 1810
Action of 13 September 1810
The Action of 13 September 1810 was an inconclusive frigate engagement during the Napoleonic Wars between British Royal Navy and French Navy frigates during which a British frigate was defeated by two French vessels near Île de France, but British reinforcements were able to recapture the ship...
, rumours spread that his death was the result or suicide or even murder. Rowley was able to recapture Africaine the following day, but the danger that Hamelin's ships posed to British frigates sailing independently was further emphasised at the Action of 18 September 1810
Action of 18 September 1810
The Action of 18 September 1810 was a naval battle fought between British Royal Navy and French Navy frigates in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. The engagement was one of several between rival frigate squadrons contesting control of the French island base of Île de France, from which...
, when HMS Ceylon
HMS Bombay (1805)
HCS Bombay, later HMS Bombay and HMS Ceylon, was a 672 ton fifth rate, 38-gun wooden warship built in the Bombay Dockyard for the Honourable East India Company and launched in 1793. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1805 and renamed her HMS Bombay. She served with the Royal Navy under that name...
was captured by Hamelin's flagship Vénus. Again, Rowley was able to recapture the British frigate and on this occasion the damage done to Vénus was so severe that she was unable to outrun Boadicea and she too was captured, with Hamelin on board.
Capture of Île de France
By late November 1810, the invasion force was assembled and Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie assumed command at Rodriguez. Upon consultation with his commanders, Bertie decided to land at Grand Baie
Grand Baie
Grand Baie, is a seaside village and large tourist beach in the district of Rivière du Rempart on the island of Mauritius. The village is on the western side of the northernmost point of Mauritius and was the site of the British Invasion of Île de France in November 1810.Grand Baie may well be the...
to the north of the island's capital. The landing itself would be commanded by Captain Philip Beaver
Philip Beaver
Philip Beaver was an officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries...
in HMS Nisus and the first troops ashore would be a specially selected vanguard under Keating and a naval brigade under Captain William Augustus Montagu
William Augustus Montagu
Vice-Admiral Sir William Augustus Montagu, KCH, CB was a senior and successful officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who served in a number of sea battles and was also in command of the naval brigade in the brief land campaign to capture Île de...
. These forces would advance on Port Napoleon with subsequent reinforcement by the main force under General John Abercromby over the following days. This force, nearly 7,000 in number, was significantly larger than the reliable troops available to Decaen, which numbered approximately 1,300, and were intended to achieve a quick resolution to the campaign before the hurricane season began in December.
Sailing from Rodriguez on 22 November, the 70 vessels of the invasion fleet reached Grand Baie on 29 November. The French made no attempt to resist the landing either at sea or on land and Keating was able to rapidly advance on the capital, hastily mobilised militia units falling back before the British advance. On 30 November, Keating crossed the Rivière du Tombeau
Rivière du Tombeau
Rivière du Tombeau is a river in northwestern Mauritius. Its source is on the slopes of Pieter Both Mountain, from where it flows north and then west for a total of 16 kilometres, reaching the Indian ocean at Baie du Tombeau, north of the capital of Port Louis....
after the militia garrison withdrew and in the evening his forward units were skirmishing with Decaen's garrison of Port Napoleon a few miles from the capital. The following morning, Decaen's field commander, Edmé-Martin Vandermaesen
Edmé-Martin Vandermaesen
Edmé-Martin Vandermaesen was a French general of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars...
made a stand, forming a line on a rise outside the town that blocked Keating's advance. Engaging the centre, Keating used his superior numbers to outflank and defeat the French garrison and Port Napoleon fell. A ceasefire was agreed on 2 December and the following day Decaen surrendered, although he and his men were repatriated to France with their standards and personal weapons.
End of the campaign
The fall of Île de France marked the end of the active British campaign and saw six frigates and over 200 cannon fall into British hands, in addition to the island itself, which was returned to its original Dutch name of Mauritius and remained under British control until granted independence in 1968. The British forces in the region were scaled back, command passing to Beaver, who sent ships to eliminate French ports on MadagascarMadagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
and in the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
. Due to the length of time it took for communications to travel between the Indian Ocean and Europe however, the French government were still unaware of the fall of the island in February 1811, when a squadron of reinforcements under François Roquebert, with the supplies needed to repair Hamelin's squadron, was despatched to the Indian Ocean. The squadron arrived on 6 May and was almost brought to battle by a British force off Grand Port, before escaping into the western Indian Ocean. Stopping at Tamatave on Madagascar, the French squadron was caught by a British force under Captain Charles Marsh Schomberg
Charles Marsh Schomberg
Sir Charles Marsh Schomberg was the youngest son of the naval officer Alexander Schomberg and Arabella Susannah Chalmers, and followed his father's profession...
on 20 May and defeated. The Battle of Tamatave
Battle of Tamatave
The Battle of Tamatave was fought off Tamatave in Madagascar between British and French frigate squadrons during the Napoleonic Wars...
was characterised by very light winds, which left the combatants becalmed for much of the day, engaging in periodic fighting as the breeze increased.
Two French frigates were lost at Tamatave, taking the number of frigates lost by the French Navy during the campaign to ten. The defeat marked the end of the campaign and the end of French hopes of seriously disrupting British trade with India: the only remaining safe harbours in the region were a few Dutch colonies on Java, which became the next target of the Royal Navy forces in the region. The Mauritius campaign also had an effect on British post-war strategy in the Indian Ocean, demonstrated by the retention of Mauritius as a colony (although Bourbon was returned to France in 1814 after Napoleon's abdication). With strategic bases placed along their trade routes, British convoys were assured a greater degree of safety and the Royal Navy provided with the infrastructure to operate worldwide.
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
, while in Britain Rowley and Bertie were both made baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
s for their services in the Indian Ocean. The campaign has been studied extensively, both by naval historians such as 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:...
and William Laird Clowes
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...
and popular writers, such as Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
, who features the campaign from a French perspective in his 1843 novel Georges
Georges (novel)
Georges is a short novel by Alexandre Dumas, père set on the island of Mauritius, from 1810 to 1824. This novel is of particular interest to scholars because Dumas reused many of the ideas and plot devices later in The Count of Monte Cristo, and because race and racism are at the center of this...
, and Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
, whose 1977 novel The Mauritius Command
The Mauritius Command
The Mauritius Command is a historical naval novel by British author Patrick O'Brian. It is fourth in the Aubrey-Maturin series of stories that follow the partnership of Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin. It retells in fictional form the real campaign carried out by the Royal...
closely follows the British campaign with Rowley replaced by the fictional Jack Aubrey.