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The Action of 26 July 1806 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars fought off the southern coast of the island of Celebes in the Dutch East Indies. During the battle, a small British squadron attacked and defeated a Dutch force defending a valuable convoy, which was also captured. The British force—consisting of the frigate and brig-sloop under the command of Captain Edward Elphinstone—was initially wary of the Dutch, mistaking the Dutch East Indiaman merchant ship ''Victoria'' for a ship of the line. Closer observation revealed the identity of the Dutch vessels the following day and Elphinstone led his frigate against the leading Dutch warship ''Pallas while ''Harrier'' engaged the merchant vessels and forced them to surrender. Only the corvette ''William'' escaped, taking no part in the engagement. The battle was the first in a series of actions by the Royal Navy squadron based at Madras with the intention of eliminating the Dutch squadron maintained at Java. ''Greyhound'' had been sent to the Java Sea and the Molucca Islands to reconnoitre the Dutch ports in preparation for a raid on Java by a larger force under Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew later in the year. Elphinstone's success was followed by a second frigate action by Captain Peter Rainier in which the Dutch ship was captured. In November 1806, Admiral Pellew led the main body of his squadron against the capital of the Dutch East Indies at Batavia and a year later eliminated the last vessels of the Dutch East Indies squadron at Griessie. ==Background== The Dutch squadron in the Dutch East Indies was a constant threat to the British system of trade routes during the Napoleonic Wars. The Dutch—under the guise of the Kingdom of Holland and ruled by the French Emperor Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte—had joined the war against Britain following the end of the Peace of Amiens in 1803. Although the primary function of the Dutch East Indies squadron was the suppression of piracy, their presence threatened British shipping in the Malacca Straits, in particular the lucrative trade with China.〔 At the start of every year, the "China Fleet"—a large convoy of British East Indiamen merchant ships—sailed from Canton and passed through the South China Sea and the Malacca Strait on their journey to the Indian Ocean and eventually to Britain. Worth millions of pounds, these convoys were vital to the British economy, but they faced considerable danger in passing though waters that were within easy reach of the Dutch ports in Java.〔Clowes, p. 336〕 In 1804, a French squadron under Rear-Admiral Charles Linois used Batavia on Java as a base to attack the China Fleet, although the attempt ended in failure at the Battle of Pulo Aura.〔Clowes, p. 336〕 Java presented a clear threat to British maritime interests in the South China Sea, but the British squadron based in the Indian Ocean was too weak in 1805 to consider operations so far from its main base at Madras while Linois remained active. By the start of 1806, Linois had sailed into the Atlantic and an expeditionary force had seized the Dutch base at the Cape of Good Hope, securing the western Indian Ocean and providing reinforcements that allowed Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew to begin operations against the Dutch forces in the East Indies.〔Gardiner, p. 81〕 Pellew's first action, during the spring of 1806, was to deploy several frigates to the Java Sea with instructions to reconnoitre the Dutch squadron and its main port at Batavia. The first British ship to reach the Java Sea was the 32-gun frigate under Captain Edward Elphinstone, which arrived in July 1806. In company with the brig-sloop under Commander Edward Troubridge, the two vessels cruised in search of Dutch activity in the area. On 4 June they successfully destroyed the armed brig ''Christian Elizabeth'' at Manado and two days later captured the ''Belgica'' at Tidore. During the evening of 25 July, lookouts spotted four sails passing through the Selayar Strait that separates Selayar Island from the southern tip of Celebes. These four vessels were a Dutch convoy from the Molucca Islands, consisting of: The Dutch national frigate ''Pallas'', of 36 guns, under Captain N. S. Aalbers; Dutch East India Company corvette ''William'', of twenty 24-pounder guns and 110 men, under Captain P. Feteris; Dutch East Indiaman ''Victoria'' (or in some sources ''Vittoria''), of about 800 tons burthen (bm), under Captain Klaas Kenkin and Dutch East Indiaman ''Batavier'', of some 500 tons (bm) under Captain William De Val.〔〔James, p. 251〕 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 26 July 1806」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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