| Action of 21 April 1806 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theNapoleonic Wars | |||||||
 Combat between the French Frigate “The Canonniere” and the English Vessel “The Tremendous”, 21st April 1806 Pierre-Julien Gilbert, 1835 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| France | United Kingdom | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| César-Joseph Bourayne | John Osborn | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1 frigate | 2 ships of the line | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 7 killed 25 wounded[1] | None[1] | ||||||
 | |||||||
Theaction of 21 April 1806 was a minor engagement between the French and British navies off theCape Colony during theNapoleonic Wars. TheIsle Bonaparte andIsle de France were two French colonies in the Indian Ocean, from which privateers and frigate squadrons could engage incommerce raiding and disrupt British shipping. After encountering a strongly escorted British convoy, the 40-gunCannonière attempted to flee, but was rejoined by the 74-gunHMS Tremendous. In the ensuing battle, Captain Bourayne displayed superior sailmanship and managed to fend off his much stronger opponent by a combination of manoeuvers that rendered the batteries ofTremendous ineffective, and threatened her with sustainingraking fire. The French frigate thus managed to evade and escape.
In 1806, a French squadron under Counter-admiralCharles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois operated in the Indian Ocean. In addition to the usual frigates and corvettes, in this case theBelle Poule,Sémillante,Berceau andAventurier, the flaghip of the squadron was a74-gun ship of the line, theMarengo. On 14 November 1805, the 40-gunCanonnière sailed from Cherbourg under CaptainCésar-Joseph Bourayne in order to reinforce and resupply Linois's squadron. She arrived at Ile de France in April, but failed to find Linois's forces; unbeknownst to Bourayne, the squadron had been destroyed in theaction of 13 March 1806. Hoping to join Linois,Canonnière sailed to patrol the Indian Ocean.
On 20 April, as she cruised off Natal,Canonnière spotted an 11-Indiamen convoy, escorted by the74-gunHMSTremendous, under Captain John Osborn, and the 50-gunHMSHindostan, under Captain Alexander Fraser.Tremendous gave chase, andCanonnière attempted to flee the much stronger opponent. The light wind favoured the frigate, which would have escaped had she not been forced to adjust her course to avoid the land. The wind then strengthened, favouringTremendous. At 15:30,Canonnière andTremendous began exchanging fire from theirchase guns. After a 7-hour chase,Tremendous had closed in enough to make the battle inevitable, andCanonnière turned hard to starboard and opened fire,Tremendous responding in kind. However,Canonnière had the initiative and had prepared her rigging before the manoeuver, whileTremendous had had to imitate the frigate in haste and was still sailing full sail, including herstudding sails.
This induced a pronounced heel inTremendous, hindering the efficiency of her artillery. The British had to adjust their sails in haste, which gave an advantage toCanonnière. At 17:15, the rigging ofTremendous had suffered from the fire of the frigate, and she was in danger of losing hermizen. Osborn then attempted the rakeCanonnière, but the frigate outmanoeuvred the 74-gun and took the position which would put the bow ofTremendous in her broadside at the end of her evolution, which Osborn thus cancelled. At 17:35, the two ships were sailing on almost parallel courses, but increasing distance. The IndiamanCharlton fired a broadside atCanonnière in passing, from a long distance, but her fire was ineffective and she did not press her attack.[2] The frigate and the British eventually broke contact.
In spite of the overwhelming superiority of her opponents,Canonnière had managed to escape with light damage, and Captain Bourayne wounded, but not seriously. The British historianWilliam James praised Bourayne for his sober and accurate account of the engagement: "No rodomontade; all is plainly, yet minutely told, and, in every material point, agrees with the entry in the British ship's log";[3] he furthermore cites the action as a textbook example of defence against a stronger opponent:
The action of theTremendous andCanonnière affords a lesson to officers, who find themselves suddenly assailed by a decidedly superior force. It teaches them that, by a judicious and protracted defence, their ship may escape, even when, in a manner, close under the guns of an opponent, whose single broadside, well directed (the chief point wherein theTremendous appears to have failed), must either sink or disable her.[4]
Canonnière was very nearly captured on 29 April, however, when she sailed into the harbour ofSimon's Town, ignorant of the fact that the Dutch colony had beencaptured by the British. A boat of the frigate was sent ashore with ensign Larouvraye, and as soon as it reach the ground, the Dutch flags on the buildings were replaced by the Union Jack, and the forts opened fire onCanonnière, which narrowly escaped without being seriously hit. Bourayne then return to Reunion, and from there cruised to the Philippines. He would continue to operate in theIndian Ocean and undertakecommerce raiding.