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The Action of 9 September 1796 was an inconclusive minor naval engagement between small French Navy and British Royal Navy squadrons off northeastern Sumatra, near Banda Aceh, during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French squadron comprised six frigates engaged on a commerce raiding operation against British trade routes passing through captured parts of the Dutch East Indies, and posed a considerable threat to the weakened British naval forces in the region. The British force consisted of two 74-gun ships of the line hastily paired to oppose the eastward advance of the French squadron. The French squadron, commanded by Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey, had left their base on Île de France in July, cruising off Ceylon and Tranquebar before sailing eastwards. Their movements had so far been unopposed as British forces in the East Indies were concentrated at Simon's Town in the west and Malacca in the east. After raiding the shipping at Banda Aceh on 1 September the squadron sailed eastwards to attack Penang. On 8 September, while the French were removing supplies from a captured British merchant ship east of Banda Aceh, two large sails were spotted. These were HMS ''Arrogant'' and HMS ''Victorious'', sent to drive off the French before they could attack the scattered British shipping and ports in the region. Although the British ships were substantially larger than any individual French vessel, the frigates were more numerous and more manoeuverable. Neither side could afford to take significant damage in the battle, so each sought to drive the other off rather than achieve an outright victory. On 9 September Sercey's frigates formed a line of battle, successfully engaging first ''Arrogant'' and then ''Victorious'' and inflicting damage on each while preventing them from supporting one another. The French frigates, particularly ''Vertu'' and ''Seine'', also suffered and by late morning both sides disengaged, the British retiring to Madras for repairs while Sercey anchored at King's Island in the Mergui Archipelago, eventually sheltering in Batavia. ==Background== At the start of 1796 French and allied forces had been almost completely driven from the Indian Ocean, most of the colonies of the French-allied Batavian Republic falling to British invasions during 1795.〔Clowes, p.294〕 The only significant French presence was on Île de France and a few other nearby islands, from which a squadron of two frigates periodically operated against British trade.〔James, p.196〕 The British were so confident of supremacy that they had split their forces, with a large squadron based at Simon's Town in the Cape Colony of Southern Africa under Sir George Keith Elphinstone and a smaller dispersed force operating under Peter Rainier in the Dutch East Indies, based at the captured port of Malacca.〔Parkinson, p.95〕 The important trading ports of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay were largely undefended, as were the valuable trade routes which supported them.〔Parkinson, p.96〕 On 4 March 1796 significant French reinforcements were dispatched when a squadron of four frigates and two corvettes sailed from Rochefort under the command of Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey. Both corvettes were lost before the squadron had left the Bay of Biscay and frigate ''Cocarde'' forced to return to port after running aground.〔James, p.347〕 After resupplying at La Palma and joining with replacement frigate ''Vertu'', the squadron enjoyed unimpeded progress, seizing several British and Portuguese ships, including two Indiamen in the South Atlantic and Western Indian Ocean.〔James, p.348〕 The squadron had not been dispatched primarily to increase the French military presence in the East Indies, but rather to enforce the National Convention's decree that Île de France abolish slavery. The agricultural economy of the island depended on slavery to remain profitable, and the colonial committee had simply ignored the decree when it first arrived in 1795.〔Parkinson, p.97〕 The matter was then taken up by the Committee for Public Safety, which sent agents Baco and Burnel to ensure the ruling was carried out, supported by 800 soldiers under General François-Louis Magallon.〔Parkinson, p.98〕 On arrival at Port Louis on 18 June, the agents were confronted by a large body of heavily armed militia opposed to the abolition of slavery. Although they ordered Magallon to attack the islanders, the general refused and the agents were sent back to sea in a small corvette, eventually returning to Europe.〔Parkinson, p.99〕 Sercey remained in the East Indies, refitting his ships and joining his squadron to that already at Île de France. This force he divided, sending ''Preneuse'' and a corvette to patrol the Mozambique Channel.〔Parkinson, p.100〕 The remaining six frigates, comprising ''Vertu'', ''Régénérée'', ''Forte'', ''Seine'', ''Prudente'' and ''Cybèle'', with the privateer schooner ''Alerte'', Sercey took eastwards on 14 July, towards the Bay of Bengal.〔Roche, p.33〕 Sercey was unaware of how scattered Brutish forces were in the region, and sent ''Alerte'' to scout ahead after the squadron arrived off Ceylon. Captain Drieu of ''Alerte'' made the miscalculation of attacking a ship on 14 August which turned out to be the 28-gun British dispatch frigate HMS ''Carysfort'', and on board ''Alerte'' the British captors discovered documents revealing the exact extent of Sercey's strength and intentions.〔James, p.349〕 ''Carysfort'' On 1 September Sercey raided Banda Aceh, capturing a number of merchant ships and on 7 September seized the small merchant ship ''Favourite'' off the northeastern coast of Sumatra ''en route'' to attack the British port of Penang. The following morning, as his squadron transferred rice from the prize, two large sails appeared in the distance to the northeast.〔 These sails belonged to the 74-gun British ships of the line HMS ''Arrogant'' under Captain Richard Lucas and HMS ''Victorious'' under Captain William Clark. These ships had been sent to the East Indies from the Cape at the start of August on orders from Elphinstone and were engaged in protecting British trade with China. When news reached Penang that Sercey was in the region, Lucas ordered Clark to join him in a search for the French in the Straits of Malacca.〔Parkinson, p.102〕 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 9 September 1796」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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