| Action of 18 September 1810 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theMauritius campaign of 1809–1811 | |||||||
.jpg) Capture of the English frigate The Ceylon by the French frigate La Vénus Antoine Roux,c. 1825 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| United Kingdom | France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Charles Gordon Josias Rowley | Jacques Hamelin  | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2 frigates | 1 frigate 1 corvette | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 10 killed 33 wounded | 9 killed 15 wounded 1 frigate captured | ||||||
Theaction of 18 September 1810 was fought betweenfrigates of theBritish andFrench navies in theIndian Ocean during theNapoleonic Wars. The engagement was one of several between rival frigate squadrons contesting control of the French colony ofIsle de France, from which French frigates had raided British trade routes during the war. The action came in the immediate aftermath of theBattle of Grand Port, in which four British frigates had been lost, and just four days after a fifth British frigate had been captured and subsequently recaptured in theaction of 13 September 1810.
Due to the heavy losses suffered by the British forces, reinforcements were urgently dispatched to the area but they became individual targets for the larger French squadron blockading the British base atIsle Bourbon.HMSCeylon had been despatched by the British authorities atMadras after the Battle of Grand Port to reinforce the remains of the squadron under CommodoreJosias Rowley on Isle Bourbon. Searching for Rowley off Isle de France,Ceylon was spotted by French CommodoreJacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin who gave chase in his flagshipVénus, supported by acorvette.
Vénus was faster thanCeylon, and although CaptainCharles Gordon almost reached the safety of Isle Bourbon, he was run down and forced to engage the French ship during the night, both frigates inflicting severe damage on one another before the wounded Gordon surrendered to the approaching corvette. As dawn broke, Rowley's flagshipHMSBoadicea arrived, recapturedCeylon, drove off the corvette and forced the battered French flagship to surrender, capturing Hamelin. This was the last ship-to-ship action in the region before the successfulinvasion of Isle de France in December 1810: without Hamelin the French squadron, short on supplies and low on morale, did not contest British control of the region and failed to even attempt to disrupt the invasion fleet.
The FrenchIndian Ocean colonies ofIsle de France andIsle Bonaparte had been ideal positions from which French cruisers could raid the valuable trade routes from Britain toIndia since the start of the war in 1803.[1] However, it was not until 1808 that the French authorities spared a significant force to operate from the region, providing a squadron of four frigates under CommodoreJacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin. In 1809 and early 1810, these frigates operated with impunity along British trade routes, capturing seven valuableEast Indiamen, a number of smaller merchant ships and several small warships.[2] In response, the British admiral at theCape of Good Hope,Albemarle Bertie, provided a small force of British warships to blockade the islands under CommodoreJosias Rowley. Rowley knew that it would be almost impossible find and defeat the French ships out in the wider ocean with his limited resources, but he was able to limit French effectiveness by attacking their bases, raidingSaint Paul harbour in 1809 andcapturing Isle Bonaparte in 1810, renaming it "Isle Bourbon".[3]
In August 1810, a squadron of four of Rowley's frigates, making up the majority of the forces under his command and led by CaptainSamuel Pym, were despatched to Isle de France to blockadeGrand Port on the south-eastern coast.[4] The arrival of a French squadron under CaptainGuy-Victor Duperré on 20 August prompted Pym into ordering an inadequately planned attack on the harbour on 23 August and two of his vessels were wrecked on the reefs that protected the harbour entrance. Pym was unable to withdraw his remaining ships and the entire squadron was lost, leaving Rowley with only his flagshipHMSBoadicea and two smallbrigs to conduct his campaign against six large French frigates.[5] Urgent reinforcements were requested, as French ships under CaptainPierre Bouvet blockaded Isle Bourbon.
The first ship to arrive wasHMSAfricaine under the CaptainRobert Corbet. In theaction of 13 September 1810, Corbet engaged Bouvet's two frigates alone and was defeated, dying of his wounds shortly after the battle.[6] Rowley inBoadicea was able to recaptureAfricaine later in the day, but the frigate was severely damaged and unable to provide any reinforcement to the British squadron. Bouvet retired to Grand Port several days later for repairs, and thus was not on blockade duty on 17 September whenHMSCeylon arrived.Ceylon was an unusual ship, constructed by theHonourable East India Company (HEIC) inBombay as an East Indiaman merchant ship designed to operate as a 32–gun frigate during wartime. In 1805 she was purchased by the British government and commissioned into theRoyal Navy for service in the Indian Ocean.[7] In 1810, her commander was CaptainCharles Gordon, who had been ordered to sail to Rowley's aid when word of the losses suffered at Grand Port reachedMadras. In his haste to depart, Gordon had been unable to obtain anyRoyal Marines, whose place was taken by 100 men of the69th Regiment and the86th Regiment from the Madras garrison.[7] Also embarked was GeneralJohn Abercromby and his staff, who were to lead a planned assault on Isle de France.[8]
Gordon arrived offPort Napoleon on 17 September, hoping to find Rowley maintaining the blockade off the port inBoadicea. Rowley was however off Isle Bourbon, sparring with Bouvet's frigates, and therefore Gordon only found Hamelin's squadron in the harbour. This force consisted of the frigatesVénus andManche with thecorvetteVictor. Recognising that he was heavily outnumbered, Gordon sailed westwards towards Isle Bourbon to meet with Rowley and pass on the location of Hamelin's squadron.[9] French lookouts on shore spottedCeylon but mistook her for atroopship due to her unusual construction. The sighting was rapidly passed on to Hamelin, who immediately gave chase withVénus andVictor.[10]
At 14:00,Ceylon spotted Hamelin's ships in pursuit and her crew increased their efforts to escape, mistakingVictor, which carried threemasts, for a larger ship and therefore considering themselves significantly outnumbered.[7] As night fell, Gordon slowedCeylon by shortening sail in the hope of meetingVénus (which had outdistancedVictor) alone. However, the French flagship also slowed to allow the corvette to catch up and so Gordon increased sail once more, leading Hamelin southwest towards Isle Bourbon.
At 00:15 on the morning of 18 September,Vénus caught up withCeylon, which began firing on the larger French frigate as she passed. Hamelin, recognising that his vessel had the advantage in size and weight of shot, did not wait forVictor but attacked immediately, passingCeylon and turning across her bows to open araking fire.[11]
For an hour the frigates exchanged broadsides, until 01:15 when Hamelin, who had realised that he was fighting a warship not a troopship or East Indiaman, dropped back to effect repairs after suffering damage to his rigging.[7]Ceylon was more severely damaged than the French ship and when Hamelin returned at 02:15, her repairs were not complete, preventing her escape. The battle began again, both frigates suffering serious damage in the second encounter. By 03:00,Vénus had lost her mizzenmast and two topmasts, whileCeylon had lost all of her topmasts, which had destroyed much of the ship's rigging as they fell.[12] With both ships now unable to manoeuvre, the action continued at close range until 04:00, whenVénus was able to haul herself away to await the arrival ofVictor.[11]
The French corvette had been struggling to catch up during the night and did not arrive until dawn approached, revealing the flagship in a damaged state and the British vessel even more stricken. Sailing directly atCeylon, the corvette was able to manoeuvre around the frigate and place herself in a raking position, from which hercannon could cause heavy damage and casualties toCeylon without reply.[11] Rather than have his ship destroyed, the wounded Gordon surrendered (although it is not clear whetherVictor opened fire or not before the British surrender).Victor's men boardedCeylon and Gordon and his officers, including Abercromby, were taken toVénus asprisoners of war.[13]
As dawn broke and visibility cleared, the sailors onCeylon,Vénus andVictor realised that they were within sight ofSaint Denis on Isle Bourbon, and thus vulnerable to counterattack from Rowley's flagshipBoadicea. Despite hasty repairs, neitherCeylon norVénus were seaworthy by 07:30, when British lookouts on the island spotted the three ships and sent word to Rowley.[10] Within ten minutes, Rowley was at sea, taking 50 volunteers fromAfricaine to augment his crew. Hamelin made desperate efforts to limp back to Isle de France, orderingVictor to towCeylon, but progress was slow and strong winds, which did not help the dismastedCeylon andVénus, repeatedly broke the tow rope.[14]
During the day,Boadicea continued to close untilVictor was forced to abandonCeylon and sail in support ofVénus at 15:30.[15] As soon as the French prize crew was removed, Lieutenant Philip Fitz Gibbon, the remaining officer onCeylon, rehoisted British colours and assumed control of the ship. This allowedBoadicea to sail past the recaptured frigate and engage the French ships directly, reachingVénus at 16:40.[11] Hamelin recognised that the battered state of his flagship meant that he would not be able to adequately defend against Rowley's attack and orderedVictor to take news of his defeat back to Port Napoleon.[14] Readying his ship for a token action, Hamelin fired atBoadicea as she came up but was forced to surrender within ten minutes.[16]
With the assistance ofHMSOtter, which had followedBoadicea from Saint Denis, Rowley was able to return his prize and the batteredCeylon to Isle Bourbon without significant difficulty. British casualties had been relatively minor for such a difficult engagement,Ceylon suffering 10 men killed and 31 wounded andBoadicea just 2 wounded. French losses were also comparatively light, with only 9 dead and 15 wounded onVénus and none at all onVictor.[16] Rowley repairedCeylon and restored Gordon in command.Vénus was also repaired, and entered British service as HMSNereide to replace theNereide lost at Grand Port.[17] Nearly four decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by the clasps "BOADICEA 18 SEPT. 1810", "OTTER 18 SEPT. 1810" and "STAUNCH 18 SEPT. 1810" attached to theNaval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.[18]
With the British squadron bolstered and the French commander and best frigate in British hands, the campaign stalemated. The French were no longer able to repair or maintain their ships due a lack of naval stores on Isle de France, and so remained in port and prepared for the inevitable invasion.[19] Rowley meanwhile was busy preparing troops, stores and his squadron forthe coming attack, which was led by Admiral Bertie in November 1810.[20] The French squadron made no attempt to disrupt the invasion forces and were captured intact in their harbours. Bertie was credited with the final defeat of Isle de France and was made abaronet as reward for the successful campaign, sending Rowley back to Britain with despatches.[21] Acourt martial, held onHMSIllustrious in the aftermath of the invasion cleared Gordon of any blame in the defeat of his ship, although historianWilliam James criticised Gordon's assumption during the battle thatVictor was a French frigate rather than a much smaller corvette, and identified discrepancies between Gordon's published account and the ship's log.[22]
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