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The Action of 13 March 1806 was a naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought when a British and a French squadron met unexpectedly in the mid-Atlantic. Neither force was aware of the presence of the other prior to the encounter and were participating in separate campaigns. The British squadron consisted of seven ships of the line accompanied by associated frigates, led by Rear-Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, were tasked with hunting down and destroying the French squadron of Contre-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, which had departed Brest for raiding operations in the South Atlantic in December 1805, at the start of the Atlantic campaign of 1806. The French force consisted of one ship of the line and one frigate, all that remained of Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois' squadron that had sailed for the Indian Ocean in March 1803 during the Peace of Amiens. Linois raided British shipping lanes and harbours across the region, achieving limited success against undefended merchant ships but repeatedly withdrawing in the face of determined opposition, most notably at the Battle of Pulo Aura in February 1804. With his stores almost exhausted and the French ports east of the Cape of Good Hope that could have offered him replenishment eliminated, Linois decided to return to France in January 1806, and by March was inadvertently sailing across the cruising ground of Warren's squadron. Linois had twice failed to capture, or even seriously engage, large and valuable British merchant convoys on his cruise. When he saw scattered sails in the distance at 03:00 on 13 March 1806, he decided to investigate in his ship of the line ''Marengo'', in the hope that the ships would again prove to be a merchant convoy. By the time he realised that the approaching ships were actually a powerful naval squadron, he was too close to outrun the lead ship, Warren's flagship HMS ''London''. As ''London'' engaged ''Marengo'', the French frigate ''Belle Poule'' attempted to escape from the approaching squadron independently, but was also run down and brought to battle by the British frigate HMS ''Amazon''. Both engagements lasted over three hours and were bloody, the French ships surrendering after three and a half hours and losing nearly 70 men between them. The battle marked the end of Linois's three-year campaign against British trade and was the second British victory of the Atlantic campaign, following the Battle of San Domingo the previous month. Willaumez eventually returned to France, although without many of his squadron who were destroyed by British operations or Atlantic gales. Linois, despite the criticism levelled at him for his failures in the Indian Ocean, was considered to have fought hard and been unlucky to have encountered such an overwhelming force. Made a prisoner of war, Linois was not exchanged by Napoleon, who criticised his behaviour during the campaign and refused to employ him at sea again. ==Background== By March 1806, the French squadron under Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois had been operating against British trade in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere since the start of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803. Despatched to India before war was declared, Linois left Brest in March 1803, sailing to the South China Sea in an effort to intercept the China Fleet, a huge merchant convoy from Canton to Britain via Madras that carried goods worth in excess of £8 million.〔James, Vol. 3, p. 248〕 On 15 February 1804, Linois encountered the China Fleet, which due to delays with the squadron in India had sailed without its Royal Navy escort.〔Woodman, p. 194〕 The loss of this undefended convoy could have devastated the British economy and been the highlight of Linois's career, but instead the French admiral was fooled by a ruse of the convoy commander, Commodore Nathaniel Dance. Dance pretended that some of his East Indiaman merchant ships were disguised ships of the line and engaged Linois at long range, dissuading the French commander from pressing the attack. Dance's merchant ships even pursued the fleeing French squadron for some distance, before resuming their original course.〔Clowes, p. 338〕 This affair, known as the Battle of Pulo Aura, was a humiliation for Linois and provoked Napoleon's fury when the Emperor was informed of it by the governor of Île de France, Charles Decaen.〔James, Vol. 3, p. 377〕 Six months later, Linois was operating off the Indian port of Vizagapatam when his squadron encountered the British warship HMS ''Centurion'' and two merchant ships under her protection. In the ensuing Battle of Vizagapatam, ''Centurion'' was badly damaged; one of the merchant ships was captured and the other driven ashore.〔James, Vol. 3, p. 279〕 Rather than ensure the capture or destruction of ''Centurion'', Linois refused further combat for fear of damaging his ships in shallow coastal waters and withdrew, again provoking censure from Napoleon.〔Clowes, p. 350〕 In August 1805, Linois was engaged with another convoy of East Indiamen in the central Indian Ocean, but on this occasion was confronted by the ship of the line HMS ''Blenheim'' under Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge.〔''The Campaign of Trafalgar'', Gardiner, p. 29〕 After some ineffectual skirmishing, Linois withdrew again, unwilling to risk taking fatal damage to his ships so far from a safe port. Although he had seized five Indiamen and a number of small ships that had been sailing individually during his three-year cruise, he failed to make a significant impact on British trade in the region and ruined his reputation as a successful naval commander.〔Rodger, p. 547〕 Deciding to switch his operations to the Atlantic after discovering that a squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew was searching for him, Linois visited the Cape of Good Hope, where one of his frigates was wrecked. He subsequently cruised the coast of West Africa, capturing two small ships but again failing to make a significant impact on British trade in the region.〔James, Vol. 4, p. 222〕 Learning from an American ship that a British expeditionary force had captured Cape Town, Linois decided to return to France with his remaining ships, the 74-gun ship of the line flagship ''Marengo'' and the frigate ''Belle Poule'', sailing northwards and crossing the equator on 17 February.〔 Unknown to Linois, he was sailing directly into the middle of a complex series of manoeuvres by British and French squadrons known as the Atlantic campaign of 1806. On 13 December, two large French squadrons sailed from Brest under orders to operate against British Atlantic trade. The first, under Vice-Admiral Corentin-Urbain Leissegues, consisting of the 120-gun ''Impérial'', four other ships of the line and three smaller vessels, sailed for the Caribbean. The second under Contre-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, who commanded six ships of the line and four smaller vessels, sailed for the South Atlantic.〔James, Vol. 4, p. 185〕 These squadrons were able to escape due to the reduction in the size and diligence of the British continental blockade that had been relaxed in the aftermath of the Trafalgar campaign of 1805, in which 13 French and 12 Spanish ships of the line had been captured or destroyed. These losses significantly reduced the ability of the French and their allies to operate in the Atlantic.〔''The Victory of Seapower'', Gardiner, p. 17〕 However, all of these ships came from the Mediterranean fleets: the Brest fleet had failed to even leave port in support of the campaign and thus survived unscathed. When the blockade was relaxed, the squadrons were able to break out into the Atlantic without resistance, following their orders to avoid combat with significant British forces and to cruise British trade routes in search of lightly protected merchant convoys.〔 In response, the British rapidly mustered three squadrons of their own in pursuit. The first, under Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, was ordered to the South Atlantic, to operate in the region of Saint Helena. The second under Rear-Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren was sent to the mid-Atlantic, based around Madeira, while the third under Sir John Thomas Duckworth was detached from the blockade of Cadiz. Duckworth pursued Lessigues to the Caribbean and on 6 February annihilated his force at the Battle of San Domingo, but Willaumez avoided encountering any of the squadrons sent to intercept him. Anticipating Willaumez's return to France, the remaining British squadrons took up station in the Mid-Atlantic.〔James, Vol. 4, p. 186〕 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 13 March 1806」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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