Action of 18 November 1809 - Background

Background

In the late autumn of 1808, the French Navy despatched four large frigates to the East Indies. These ships, stationed on Île de France and Île Bonaparte, were ordered to attack and disrupt British trade routes from the Far East, in particular British India. This disruption was intended to have a negative financial effect on the British economy and force the Royal Navy to send ships into the Indian Ocean, expending valuable resources in doing so. The commander of this French force was Commodore Jacques Hamelin, a highly skilled officer who ordered his frigates to disperse in the Bay of Bengal to hunt British East Indiamen, large and well armed merchant ships that carried millions of pounds worth of goods between Britain and her Empire ever year.

During the late spring, the most active of the French frigates was Caroline, which intercepted a convoy of East Indiamen in the Action of 31 May 1809. Due to a brief but determined resistance by the larger vessels, one of the East Indiamen was able to escape, but two others were captured and brought to Île Bonaparte. During the spring of 1809, the Royal Navy in the region, represented by Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope, had also been active. Bertie had gathered a squadron of available ships which he ordered to blockade the French Indian Ocean islands and probe them for weaknesses that would assist future invasion attempts. The force was led by Commodore Josias Rowley in HMS Raisonnable and mainly consisted of frigates, in roughly equivalent numbers to the French force under Hamelin. Rowley's first significant operation was the successful Raid on Saint Paul on 21 September 1809.