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The Battle of Vizagapatam was a minor naval engagement fought in the approaches to Vizagapatam harbour in the Coastal Andhra region of British India on the Bay of Bengal on 15 September 1804 during the Napoleonic Wars. A French squadron under Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois in the ship of the line ''Marengo'' attacked the British Royal Navy fourth rate ship HMS ''Centurion'' and two East Indiaman merchant ships anchored in the harbour roads. Linois was engaged in an extended raiding campaign, which had already involved operations in the South China Sea, in the Mozambique Channel, off Ceylon and along the Indian coast of the Bay of Bengal. The French squadron had fought one notable engagement, at the Battle of Pulo Aura on 15 February 1804, in which Linois had attacked the Honourable East India Company's (HEIC) China Fleet, a large convoy of well-armed merchant ships carrying cargo worth £8 million. Linois failed to press the attack and withdrew with the convoy at his mercy, invoking the anger of Napoleon when the news reached France. Since his failure at Pulo Aura, Linois had been cruising the Indian Ocean, and during August and September 1804 had seized a number of valuable merchant ships as his squadron travelled north from Ceylon along the Indian coast of the Bay of Bengal. From a ship captured off Masulipatam, Linois learned of the presence of the East Indiamen at Vizagapatam and determined to attack, unaware that British Rear-Admiral Peter Rainier had replaced the small frigate HMS ''Wilhelmina'' with the larger ''Centurion'' as the convoy's escort. Arriving off the port at 06:00, Linois advanced on the convoy, causing one of the East Indiamen to drive ashore in panic. The other merchant vessel failed to support the outnumbered ''Centurion'' and was captured, but ''Centurion'' continued fighting alone. Initially supported by the fire of gun batteries on shore, ''Centurion'' later moved out of their range while engaging the French flagship ''Marengo'', which remained well offshore to avoid the coastal shoals. After an engagement lasting four hours ''Marengo'' withdrew, the badly damaged ''Centurion'' attempting to pursue but without success. Linois's squadron was forced to return to Île de France in the aftermath of the engagement, where ''Marengo'' required six months of repairs. ==Background== During the Napoleonic Wars, the British economy depended on the movement of trade from the British Empire, particularly the trading posts and colonies in British India, managed by the Honourable East India Company (HEIC). This company transported goods from India to Europe using a fleet of large and well-armed merchant ships named East Indiamen, which travelled in convoys for protection, and were escorted during wartime by ships provided by the Royal Navy.〔''The Victory of Seapower'', Gardiner, p. 102〕 The main Royal Navy base in the Bay of Bengal was at the city of Madras, but East Indiamen sailed from ports all around the Bay. As a result, the force in Madras was often dispersed to provide escorts to smaller convoys travelling to Madras or Calcutta to merge with other ships to form the large oceanic convoys. At the outbreak of the Napoleonic War, the commander of British forces in the Indian Ocean was Rear-Admiral Peter Rainier. The principal threat to British control of the region was a squadron sent from France shortly before war broke out, led by Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois in the ship of the line ''Marengo''.〔Woodman, p. 172〕 Rainier and Linois had clashed in June 1803, before news of the outbreak of war had reached India. Linois had anchored at Pondicherry, a French Indian port, and Rainier had led a powerful squadron to anchor off the harbour in anticipation of the declaration of war. Concerned that Rainier's numerically superior force would overwhelm his squadron before they could operate against the British merchant convoys in the region, Linois slipped away under cover of darkness and eventually reached Île de France, where he learned that the Napoleonic Wars had begun on 16 May.〔James, Vol. 3, p. 212〕 Sailing to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies, Linois resupplied and then departed for a cruise in the South China Sea on 28 December, seeking the large annual convoy of HEIC merchant ships from Canton, known as the China Fleet. This convoy was normally escorted from Canton by several Royal Navy ships of the line, but in 1804 the escort had been delayed.〔Woodman, p. 194〕 Linois discovered the convoy near the island of Pulo Aura at the eastern entrance to the Strait of Malacca at 08:00 on 14 February and advanced. The convoy commander Commodore Nathaniel Dance had disguised several of the East Indiamen as ships of the line in the hope of convincing Linois that the convoy was well protected.〔Rodger, p. 546〕 Linois hesitated for over a day, eventually attacking on the morning of 15 February. Dance resisted and Linois withdrew without contesting the engagement. Dance's merchant ships chased Linois's squadron away before resuming their course and meeting their escorts several days later. Linois's failure to engage and defeat the China Fleet infuriated a number of his officers and provoked an angry letter from Napoleon, who accused Linois of believing "that war can be made without running risks".〔Clowes, p. 339〕 In the aftermath of the engagement, Linois returned to Batavia and then to Île de France, arriving on 2 April. There he was criticised by the governor, General Charles Decaen, who wrote a letter to Napoleon complaining of Linois's conduct at the Battle of Pulo Aura.〔James, Vol. 3, p. 277〕 In mid-June 1804, Linois departed Île de France with ''Marengo'' and the frigates ''Atalante'' under Captain Camille-Charles-Alexis Gaudin-Beauchène and ''Sémillante'' under Captain Léonard-Bernard Motard, cruising off Madagascar in stormy weather before sailing to the coast of Ceylon. He enjoyed some success against individual merchant vessels, and gradually moved northwards during the late summer. The squadron passed Madras off the coast to avoid encountering Rainier's squadron and raided along the Coastal Andhra region, visiting Masulipatam and Coasanguay.〔 On 14 September 1804 off Masulipatam, Linois captured a country ship and learned from the crew that a small convoy was anchored at Vizagapatam to the north. The convoy was reported to consist of two East Indiamen with the 36-gun frigate HMS ''Wilhelmina'', a former Dutch vessel captured in 1798, as their escort.〔''Fleet Battle and Blockade'', Gardiner, p. 115〕 Linois immediately sailed for Vizagapatam, expecting an easy victory over the convoy.〔Clowes, p. 349〕 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「Battle of Vizagapatam」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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