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The Action of 18 September 1810 was a naval battle fought between British Royal Navy and French Navy frigates in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. The engagement was one of several between rival frigate squadrons contesting control of the French island base of Île de France, from which French frigates had raided British trade routes during the war. The action came in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Grand Port, in which four British frigates had been lost, and just four days after a fifth British frigate had been captured and subsequently recaptured in the Action of 13 September 1810. In consequence of the heavy losses the British force had suffered, reinforcements were hastily rushed to the area and became individual targets for the larger French squadron blockading the British base at Île Bourbon. HMS ''Ceylon'' had been despatched by the British authorities at Madras after the Battle of Grand Port to reinforce the remains of the squadron under Commodore Josias Rowley on Île Bourbon. Searching for Rowley off Île de France, ''Ceylon'' was spotted by French Commodore Jacques Hamelin who gave chase in his flagship ''Vénus'', supported by a corvette. ''Vénus'' was faster than ''Ceylon'', and although Captain Charles Gordon almost reached the safety of Île Bourbon, he was run down and forced to engage the French ship during the night, both frigates inflicting severe damage on one another before the wounded Gordon surrendered to the approaching corvette. As dawn broke, Rowley's flagship HMS ''Boadicea'' arrived, recaptured ''Ceylon'', drove off the corvette and forced the battered French flagship to surrender, capturing Hamelin. This was the last ship-to-ship action in the region before the successful invasion of Île de France in December 1810: without Hamelin the French squadron, short on supplies and low on morale, did not contest British control of the region and failed to even attempt to disrupt the invasion fleet. ==Background== The French Indian Ocean island bases of Île de France and Île Bonaparte had been ideal positions from which French cruisers could raid the valuable trade routes from Britain to India since the start of the war in 1803.〔Gardiner, p. 92〕 However, it was not until 1808 that the French authorities spared a significant force to operate from the region, providing a squadron of four frigates under Commodore Jacques Hamelin. In 1809 and early 1810, these frigates operated with impunity along British trade routes, capturing seven valuable East Indiamen, a number of smaller merchant ships and several small warships.〔Gardiner, p. 93〕 In response, the British admiral at the Cape of Good Hope, Albemarle Bertie, provided a small force of British warships to blockade the islands under Commodore Josias Rowley. Rowley knew that it would be almost impossible find and defeat the French ships out in the wider ocean with his limited resources, but he was able to limit French effectiveness by attacking their bases, raiding Saint Paul harbour in 1809 and capturing Île Bonaparte in 1810, renaming it Île Bourbon.〔Clowes, p. 458〕 In August 1810, a squadron of four of Rowley's frigates, making up the majority of the forces under his command and led by Captain Samuel Pym, were despatched to Île de France to blockade Grand Port on the south-eastern coast.〔Macmillan, p. 31〕 The arrival of a French squadron under Captain Guy-Victor Duperré on 20 August prompted Pym into ordering an inadequately planned attack on the harbour on 23 August and two of his vessels were wrecked on the reefs that protected the harbour entrance. Pym was unable to withdraw his remaining ships and the entire squadron was lost, leaving Rowley with only his flagship HMS ''Boadicea'' and two small brigs to conduct his campaign against six large French frigates.〔Macmillan, p. 37〕 Urgent reinforcements were requested, as French ships under Captain Pierre Bouvet blockaded Île Bourbon. The first ship to arrive was HMS ''Africaine'' under the Captain Robert Corbet. In the Action of 13 September 1810, Corbet engaged Bouvet's two frigates alone and was defeated, dying of his wounds shortly after the battle.〔Clowes, p. 467〕 Rowley in ''Boadicea'' was able to recapture ''Africaine'' later in the day, but the frigate was severely damaged and unable to provide any reinforcement to the British squadron. Bouvet retired to Grand Port several days later for repairs, and thus was not on blockade duty on 17 September when HMS ''Ceylon'' arrived. ''Ceylon'' was an unusual ship, constructed by the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) in Bombay as an East Indiaman merchant ship designed to operate as a 32–gun frigate during wartime. In 1805 she was purchased by the British government and commissioned into the Royal Navy for service in the Indian Ocean.〔 In 1810, her commander was Captain Charles Gordon, who had been ordered to sail to Rowley's aid when word of the losses suffered at Grand Port reached Madras. In his haste to depart, Gordon had been unable to obtain any Royal Marines, whose place was taken by 100 men of the 69th Regiment and the 86th Regiment from the Madras garrison.〔 Also embarked was General John Abercromby and his staff, who were to lead a planned assault on Île de France.〔Taylor, p. 322〕 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 18 September 1810」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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