| Action of 10 September 1782 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theAmerican Revolutionary War | |||||||
 Present-day view of the Strait of Malacca | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 East India Company |  France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Patrick Lawson |  Jacques Boudin de Tromelin | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5 merchantmen | 1 frigate | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2 killed | 4 killed | ||||||
 | |||||||
Theaction of 10 September 1782 was a minor engagement between five merchant vessels — fourEast Indiamen of the BritishEast India Company and a country-ship — on the one side, and a French frigate on the other. The action resulted in only a few casualties and was inconclusive. What was noteworthy was that the Indiamen sought out the French man-of-war and attacked it; it would have been more usual for the merchantmen to have avoided combat as they had little to gain from a battle.
Since at least the mid-18th Century, and to a great degree even earlier, the East India Company would annually send a fleet of Indiamen from England to trade withIndia, South East Asia, and China. The vessels would generally, and particularly during wartime, stay together for mutual protection and support to theCape of Good Hope, and then sail independently, or in smaller groups, toBombay,Madras,Bengal (Calcutta), and on. During wartime theRoyal Navy would often provide warships to escort the fleet well into the Atlantic, and possibly as far asSt Helena. Country ships, i.e., ships based in India, some sailing for the Company, some independent, might join up in India with vessels going on to China, again for mutual protection against pirates, and in wartime privateers and enemy vessels.
On the homeward journey, the vessels that had gone to China would return in convoy, generally stopping at St Helena to pick up escorts back to England. Frequently other vessels, such aswhalers returning from the South Seas fisheries, might join at St Helena too.
The British vessels involved in the action of 9 September 1782 had sailed from Portsmouth on 13 March 1781, bound forBombay and China as part of a convoy of Indiamen accompanying a British squadron underCommodoreGeorge Johnstone.[1] At about the same time, a French squadron under the command ofBailli de Suffren left France. Both squadrons were sailing for theCape of Good Hope, the British to take it from the Dutch, the French aiming to help defend it and French possessions in the Indian Ocean, includingRodriguez Island,Ile Bourbon (Réunion),Île de France (Mauritius), andPondicherry. The two squadrons, including the Indiamen, met in thebattle of Porto Praya. Though the battle was inconclusive, it did enable the French to forestall the British attack on the Cape.
The British sailed on to the Cape, where Johnstone captured five Dutch East Indiamen at thebattle of Saldanha Bay. The British Indiamen then sailed on, directly, or indirectly, to India.
On 8 August 1782 the IndiamenAsia,Essex,Locko, andOsterley, and the country shipShah Byram Gore, left Bombay, bound for China.[2][Note 1] The captains were Patrick Lawson ofLocko, who was the senior captain, Samuel Rodgers ofOsterley, Robert Maw ofAsia, Arthur Morris ofEssex,[Note 2] and Maugham ofShah Byram Gore.
As the squadron was sailing through theStrait of Malacca on 6 September, it sighted a Malay vessel at anchor by the shore near Mount Formosa (1°49′N102°55′E / 1.817°N 102.917°E /1.817; 102.917), some 40 miles southeast of Malacca. The captain of the Malay vessel reported that there was a French frigate and two brigs anchored atPisang Island, and that the captain of the frigate had asked him if he had seen five ships coming from Bombay. This intelligence led Lawson to believe that the French were cruising, looking for his squadron, but did not believe themselves stronger than the Indiamen.[2]
On 9 September the ships encountered the 38-gun French frigatePourvoyeuse, which was under the command of LieutenantJ. M. Boudin de Tromelin.[5][Note 3] That eveningLocko andPourvoyeuse came quite close, but no engagement ensured.Locko did fire on and take possession of a Malay sloop that he feared the French captain had dispatched to summon the two brigs that had been reported accompanying the frigate.[2]
The engagement began at 10 minutes past 2 p.m. on 10 September, whenPourvoyeuse opened fire with herbow chasers.Locko,Osterley, andShah Byram Gore were closest but withheld their fire. WhenPourvoyeuse fired her broadside atLocko, Lawson responded with a broadside. The engagement lasted some two-and-a-half hours, withLocko andOsterley bearing the brunt of it. AlthoughAsia andEssex did fire onPourvoyeuse, Lawson tried to keep them out of the battle as felt they were weakly manned, with a large portion of their crews beinglascars.[2]
Towards dusk, the two opponents separated.Locko pursuedPourvoyeuse, whose two 18-pounder stern guns took away some ofLocko's rigging. At about 8p.m.Pourvoyeuse extinguished her lights and steered towards Malacca. At 8:15 Lawson gave up the chase, which would have taken the squadron in the opposite direction from China, and signalled to his squadron to resume their voyage.Locko brought up the rear as they sailed, so that shouldPourvoyeuse wish to resume the actionLocko would be the first vessel she would encounter.[2]
On the British side,Osterley had two men killed, andLocko andEssex had several men injured from exploding cartridges.[2]Pourvoyeuse had four seamen killed, and two officers and several seamen wounded.
Pourvoyeuse withdrew, sailing for Malacca where she could take shelter under the guns of the Dutch fort there. On 26 December she arrived atTrincomalee, which the French under Bailli de Suffren had captured from the British at thebattle of Trincomalee on 3 September 1782, having left him and his squadron atAceh, where they were wintering. At Trincomalee the memoristWilliam Hickey met Tromelin. Later, Hickey describedPourvoyeuse as "Almost tumbling to pieces, and in want of every kind of stores."[6][Note 4]
The British: Lawson considered pursuingPourvoyeuse but decided that doing so might take too long. As it was late in the sailing season, if the British vessels lost their passage to China there was no friendly port where they could winter. He lamented the lost opportunity to capturePourvoyeuse, believing that if there had been one more hour of light he would have been able to capture her.[2] The five British vessels sailed on to China, where they arrived safely in early October.[citation needed]
After the return to Britain of the four captains of the Indiamen, the East India Company awarded them prizes. Robert Maw received a silversalver made in 1787 by Joseph Heriot, of London, and inscribed "The Gift of the Hon’ble East India Company to Robert Maw Esq’r Commander of the Asia East Indiaman for gallantly defending the said ship against a French frigate of 44 guns in the Straights of Malacca September, 1782."[9] We can safely assume that Arthur Morris received a similar piece of plate. We do not know what Samuel Rogers received, or if Patrick Lawson even received anything as by 1787 he had fled Britain for India to escape a fine of £100,000 for having smuggled goods back to Britain onLocko.[citation needed]
The French: Upon his return, Tromelin suffered the scorn ofSuffren, who blamed him for failing to press his attack on the East Indiamen. Suffren repeatedly accused Tromelin of "disgracing the flag",[Note 5] but when he offered to resign, Suffren refused.[11][12]