Action of 18 September 1810 - Battle

Battle

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. 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, while Ceylon had lost all of her topmasts, which had destroyed much of the ship's rigging as they fell. With both ships now unable to manoeuvre, the action continued at close range until 04:00, when Vénus was able to haul herself away to await the arrival of Victor.

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 at Ceylon, the corvette was able to manoeuvre around the frigate and place herself in a raking position, from which her cannon could cause heavy damage and casualties to Ceylon without reply. Rather than have his ship destroyed, the wounded Gordon surrendered (although it is not clear whether Victor opened fire or not before the British surrender). Victor's men boarded Ceylon and Gordon and his officers, including Abercromby, were taken to Vénus as prisoners of war.

As dawn broke and visibility cleared, the sailors on Ceylon, Vénus and Victor realised that they were within sight of Saint Denis on Île Bourbon, and thus vulnerable to counterattack from Rowley's flagship Boadicea. Despite hasty repairs, neither Ceylon nor Vénus were seaworthy by 07:30, when British lookouts on the island spotted the three ships and sent word to Rowley. Within ten minutes, Rowley was at sea, taking 50 volunteers from Africaine to augment his crew. Hamelin made desperate efforts to limp back to Île de France, ordering Victor to tow Ceylon, but progress was slow and strong winds, which did not help the dismasted Ceylon and Vénus, repeatedly broke the tow rope.

During the day, Boadicea continued to close until Victor was forced to abandon Ceylon and sail in support of Vénus at 15:30. As soon as the French prize crew was removed, Lieutenant Philip Fitz Gibbon, the remaining officer on Ceylon, rehoisted British colours and assumed control of the ship. This allowed Boadicea to sail past the recaptured frigate and engage the French ships directly, reaching Vénus at 16:40. Hamelin recognised that the battered state of his flagship meant that he would not be able to adequately defend against Rowley's attack and ordered Victor to take news of his defeat back to Port Napoleon. Readying his ship for a token action, Hamelin fired at Boadicea as she came up but was forced to surrender within ten minutes.