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Action of 10 February 1809
The Action of 10 February 1809 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, in which a British Royal Navy squadron chased and captured the French frigate ''Junon'' in the Caribbean Sea. ''Junon'' was on a mission to carry trade goods from the Îles des Saintes near Guadeloupe back to France and was part of a succession of French warships sent during 1808 and the early months of 1809 in an effort to break the British blockade of the French Caribbean, which was destroying the economies and morale of the islands. Having landed supplies, ''Junon'''s return cargo was intended to improve the economic situation on Guadeloupe with much needed oceanic trade.
The patrolling British warships first sighted ''Junon'' in the Virgin Islands on 8 February. They then chased her north into the Atlantic Ocean for two days until the frigates HMS ''Horatio'' and HMS ''Latona'' were able to bring her to action. In a bitterly contested running engagement, ''Junon'' was badly damaged and suffered heavy casualties before surrendering to the numerically superior British force. She was later commissioned into the Royal Navy under the same name and remained in the Caribbean. Less than a year after her capture, a French convoy to Guadeloupe recaptured and destroyed ''Junon''; the British subsequently intercepted and defeated the convoy in turn.
==Background==
By 1809, the Napoleonic Wars were six years old and the British Royal Navy was dominant at sea. Blockaded in their home ports by British squadrons, French warships, merchant ships and transports were unable to sail and, as a result, the French colonies in the West Indies were largely cut off from France.〔Gardiner, p. 17〕 These colonies were also closely blockaded themselves and, as a result, their ability to trade independently was severely curtailed, resulting in economic collapse, severe food shortages and social unrest.〔James, p. 206〕 Messages warning of the deteriorating situation in the colonies had been sent during the summer of 1808, particularly from the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. In response supplies had been sent from France in small convoys and individual frigates in the autumn. The British blockading ships had also intercepted the communications from the island, and relayed the information to the Admiralty in London, who had ordered Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane to assemble a force and invade the French colonies before reinforcements and supplies could reach them.〔Clowes, p. 283〕
The majority of the French attempts to reach the Caribbean ended in failure. Several ships were intercepted in the Bay of Biscay, while others reached the Caribbean, only to be defeated by ships from Cochrane's squadron, which was focused on preparations for the invasion of Martinique, planned for February.〔Gardiner, p. 78〕 Only two ships reached the islands safely, the 40–gun frigates ''Junon'' at Guadeloupe and ''Amphitrite'' at Martinique. By February 1809, Martinique was under attack, distracting most of the available British ships from the blockade of Guadeloupe. Taking advantage of the temporary absence of enemy shipping, ''Junon'' slipped out of the Îles des Saintes to the south of Guadeloupe on 4 February and sailed north.〔 The French captain, Jean-Baptiste-Augustin Rousseau, had dropped off his military and food supplies and taken on board large quantities of trade goods for sale in France in an effort to revive the Guadeloupe economy.〔Brenton, p. 374〕
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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