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The Action of 4 August 1800 was a highly unusual naval engagement that took place off the Brazilian coast during the French Revolutionary Wars. A French frigate force that had been raiding British commerce off West Africa approached and attempted to attack a convoy of valuable East Indiamen, large and heavily armed merchant vessels sailing from Britain to British India and China, two ships sailing for Botany Bay, and a whaler sailing for the South Seas' whale fishery. The small British ship of the line escorted the convoy, which otherwise had to rely on the ships' individual armament to protect them from attack. Due to their large size, the East Indiamen could be mistaken for ships of the line at a distance, and the French commander Commodore Jean-François Landolphe was un-nerved when the convoy formed a line of battle. Assuming his target to be a fleet of powerful warships he turned to escape and the British commander, Captain Rowley Bulteel, immediately ordered a pursuit. To preserve the impression of warships he also ordered four of his most powerful East Indiamen to join the chase. ''Belliqueux'' rapidly out ran Landolphe's flagship ''Concorde'', leaving Landolphe with no option but to surrender without any serious resistance. The rest of the French squadron continued to flee separately during the night, each pursued by two East Indiamen. After an hour and a half in pursuit, with darkness falling, the East Indiaman ''Exeter'' came alongside the French ''Médée'', giving the impression by use of lights that she was a large ship of the line. Believing himself outgunned, Captain Jean-Daniel Coudin surrendered, only discovering his assailant's true identity when he came aboard. The action is the only occasion during the war in which a British merchant vessel captured a large French warship. ==Background== By 1800, the British and French had been at war for seven years and the British dominated the sea, following a number of significant victories over the French, Dutch and Spanish fleets.〔''Nelson Against Napoleon'', Gardiner, p.11.〕 Off every French port, large squadrons of British ships of the line and frigates awaited French movements and whenever possible intercepted and destroyed French merchant vessels and warships. While British trading ships travelled in large, well-armed convoys, French ships were forced to slip between harbours to avoid the British blockade. To counter British control of the seas, the French periodically despatched squadrons of ships to raid British trade lanes, particularly off West Africa and in the South Atlantic, where the stretched Royal Navy maintained only minimal forces.〔''Nelson Against Napoleon'', Gardiner, p. 12〕 The large convoys of East Indiamen were among the principal targets for any French raider. These huge ships sailed from Britain with general cargo, or often military stores and troops, to India or other ports in the Indian Ocean, South East Asia, or China. There they would sell their cargoes and take on spices, tea, silk and other luxury goods before making the return journey to Britain. A round trip took over a year and an East Indiaman sailing to Britain would routinely carry hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of trade goods; one large convoy that sailed from Canton in January 1804 was worth over £8 million.〔''The Victory of Seapower'', Gardiner, p. 88.〕 East Indiamen were well-protected, armed with up to 30 guns, and generally travelled in large convoys in which the ships could provide one another with mutual protection. Such convoys often had a Royal Navy escort, usually including a ship of the line.〔''The Victory of Seapower'', Gardiner, p. 101〕 On 6 March 1799, a French squadron had sailed from Rochefort. Consisting of the frigates ''Concorde'', under Commodore Jean-François Landolphe, ''Médée'', under Captain Jean-Daniel Coudin, and ''Franchise'', under Captain Pierre Jurien, it was a powerful force, capable of inflicting significant damage on lightly defended merchant shipping.〔 Eluding the blockade force off Rochefort, the squadron sailed southwards until it reached the coast of West Africa. There Landolphe's ships began an extended commerce raiding operation, inflicting severe damage on the West African trade during the rest of the year.〔 Eventually the strain of serving in tropical waters told on the ships and all three were forced to undergo an extensive refit in the nearest available allied shipyards, which were located in the Spanish-held River Plate in South America.〔James, Vol. 3, p. 45〕 Repairs continued for six months, until Landolphe considered the squadron once again ready to sail in the early summer of 1800. The squadron almost immediately captured an American schooner, which it fitted out as a tender.〔''Nelson Against Napoleon'', Gardiner, p. 148.〕 At the time, France and the United States had been engaged for two years in the Quasi War. 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 4 August 1800」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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