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The Action of 10 September 1782 was a minor engagement between five merchant vessels — four East Indiamen of the British East India Company and a country-ship — on the one side, and a French frigate on the other. The action resulted in only a few casualties and was inconclusive. What was noteworthy was that the Indiamen sought out the French man-of-war and attacked it; it would have been more usual for the merchantmen to have avoided combat as they had little to gain from a battle. ==Background== Since at least the mid-18th Century, and to a great degree even earlier, the EIC would annually dispatch a fleet of Indiamen from England to trade with India, South East Asia, and China. The vessels would generally, and particularly during wartime, stay together for mutual protection and support to the Cape of Good Hope, and then sail independently, or in smaller groups to Bombay, Madras, Bengal (Calcutta), and on. During wartime the Royal Navy would often provide warships to escort the fleet well into the Atlantic, and possibly as far as St Helena. Country ships, i.e., ships based in India, some sailing for the EIC, some independent, might join up in India with vessels going on to China, again for mutual protection against pirates, and in wartime privateers and enemy vessels. On the homeward journey, the vessels that had gone to China would return in convoy, generally stopping at St Helena to pick up escorts back to England. Frequently other vessels, such as whalers returning from the South Seas fisheries might join at St Helena too. The British vessels involved in the action of 9 September 1782, had sailed from Portsmouth on 13 March 1781, bound for Bombay and China as part of a convoy of Indiamen accompanying a British squadron under Commodore George Johnstone.〔(''Lloyd's List'' no. 1250 - accessed 2 August 2015 )〕 At about the same time a French squadron under the command of Bailli de Suffren left France. Both squadrons were en route to the Cape of Good Hope, the British to take it from the Dutch, the French aiming to help defend it and French possessions in the Indian Ocean, including Rodriguez Island, Ile Bourbon (Réunion), Île de France (Mauritius), and Pondicherry. The two squadrons, including the Indiamen, met in the battle of Porto Praya. Though the battle was inconclusive, it did enable the French to forestall the British attack on the Cape. The British sailed on to the Cape, where Johnstone captured five Dutch East Indiamen at the battle of Saldanha Bay. The British Indiamen then sailed on, directly, or indirectly, to India. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Action of 10 September 1782」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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