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Linois's expedition to the Indian Ocean was a commerce raiding operation launched by the French Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois was ordered to the Indian Ocean in his flagship ''Marengo'' in March 1803 accompanied by a squadron of three frigates, shortly before the end of the Peace of Amiens. When war between Britain and France broke out in September 1803, ''Marengo'' was at Pondicherry with the frigates, but escaped a British squadron sent to intercept it and reached Isle de France (now Mauritius). The large distances between naval bases in the Indian Ocean and the limited resources available to the British commanders in the region made it difficult to concentrate sufficient forces to combat a squadron of this size, and Linois was subsequently able to sustain his campaign for three years. From Isle de France, Linois and his frigates began a series of attacks on British commerce across the Eastern Indian Ocean, specifically targeting the large convoys of East Indiamen that were vital to the maintenance of trade within the British Empire and to the British economy. Although he had a number of successes against individual merchant ships and the small British trading post of Bencoolen, the first military test of Linois squadron came at the Battle of Pulo Aura on 15 February 1804. Linois attacked the undefended British China Fleet, consisting of 16 valuable East Indiamen and 14 other vessels, but failed to press his military superiority and withdrew without capturing a single ship. In September 1804, Linois attacked a small British convoy at Vizagapatam in the Bay of Bengal and captured one ship, but was again driven off by inferior British forces. The damage ''Marengo'' suffered on the return to Isle de France was so severe that she had to be overhauled at Grand Port, and after subsequent cruises in the Red Sea and in the central Indian Ocean, where Linois was again driven away from a large British convoy by inferior British forces, he attempted to return to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. On the return journey, Linois's ships sailed into the cruising ground of a British squadron participating in the Atlantic campaign of 1806 and was captured by overwhelming forces at the Action of 13 March 1806, almost exactly three years after leaving France. Linois's activities in the Indian Ocean had caused panic and disruption across the region, but the actual damage inflicted on British shipping was negligible and his cruise known more for its failures than its successes. In France, Napoleon was furious and refused to exchange Linois for captured British officers for eight years, leaving him and his crew as prisoners of war until 1814. ==Background== During the early nineteenth century the Indian Ocean was a vital conduit of British trade, connecting Britain with its colonies and trading posts in the Far East. Convoys of merchant ships, including the large East Indiamen, sailed from ports in China, South East Asia and the new colony of Botany Bay in Australia, as well as Portuguese colonies in the Pacific Ocean.〔Henderson, p. 47〕 Entering the Indian Ocean, they joined the large convoys of ships from British India that carried millions of pounds of trade goods to Britain every year.〔''The Victory of Seapower'', Gardiner, p. 102〕 Together these ships crossed the Indian Ocean and rounded the Cape of Good Hope, sailing north until eventually reaching European waters. Docking at one of the principal British ports, the ships unloaded their goods and took on cargo for the return journey. This often consisted of military reinforcements for the Army of the Honourable East India Company (HEIC), whose holdings in India were constantly expanding at the expense of neighbouring states.〔Adkins, p. 342〕 During the French Revolutionary Wars (1793–1801), French frigates and privateers operated from the French Indian Ocean colonies of Isle de France and Réunion against British trade routes. Although protected by Royal Navy and the fleet of the HEIC, there were a number of losses among individually sailing ships, particularly the "country ships": smaller and weaker local vessels less able to defend themselves than the large East Indiamen.〔''The Victory of Seapower'', Gardiner, p. 88〕 Many of these losses were inflicted by privateers, in particular the ships of Robert Surcouf, who captured the East Indiaman ''Kent'' in 1800 and retired on the profits.〔Woodman, p. 150〕 However, these losses formed only a tiny percentage of the British merchant ships crossing the Indian Ocean: the trade convoys continued uninterrupted throughout the conflict. In 1801 the short-lived Peace of Amiens brought an end to the wars, allowing France to reinforce their colonies in the Indian Ocean, including the Indian port-city of Pondicherry on the Bay of Bengal.〔''Nelson Against Napoleon'', Gardiner, p. 185〕 Another feature of the French Revolutionary Wars was the effect of British blockade on French movements. The Royal Navy maintained an active close blockade of all major French ports during the conflict, which resulted in every French ship that left port facing attack from squadrons and individual ships patrolling the French and allied coasts. The losses the French Navy suffered as a result of this strategy were high, and the blockade was so effective that even movement between ports along the French coasts was restricted.〔''The Victory of Seapower'', Gardiner, p. 19〕 In the Indian Ocean however the huge distances between the French bases on Réunion and Isle de France and the British bases in India meant that close blockade was an ineffective strategy: the scale of the forces required to maintain an effective constant blockade of both islands, as well as the Dutch ports at the Cape of Good Hope and in the Dutch East Indies were too large to be worth their deployment to such a distant part of the world.〔Rodger, p. 546〕 As a result, the French raiders operating from the Indian Ocean bases were able to travel with more freedom and less risk of interception than those in the Atlantic or Mediterranean.〔''The Victory of Seapower'', Gardiner, p. 92〕 During 1802, tensions rose again between Britain and France, the latter country now under the rule of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte. Aware that a return to war was almost inevitable, Napoleon ordered the French Navy to prepare a force for extended service in the Indian Ocean, a force that would be capable of inflicting significant losses on the British trade from the region.〔''The Campaign of Trafalgar'', Gardiner, p. 24〕 The flagship of the squadron was to be the fast ship of the line ''Marengo'', a 74-gun vessel commanded by Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois.〔Woodman, p. 172〕 Linois was a highly experienced officer who had been engaged with the British on a number of occasions during the French Revolutionary Wars: in May 1794, he was captured when his frigate ''Atalante'' was run down in the mid-Atlantic by .〔Woodman, p. 42〕 Rapidly exchanged, his next ship ''Formidable'' was captured after a fierce defence at the Battle of Groix, and the following year he was captured again in his new frigate ''Unité'' and subsequently participated in the disastrous ''Expédition d'Irlande'' in the ship of the line ''Nestor'' after a third prisoner exchange.〔Henderson, p. 19〕 His most important battle was in July 1801, when he commanded the French squadron during their victory at the First Battle of Algeciras, where was captured. He was also in partial command at the defeat in the Second Battle of Algeciras four days later, but the action enhanced his reputation within the French Navy as a successful commander.〔Woodman, p. 160〕 ''Marengo'' was accompanied by the frigates ''Atalante'', ''Sémillante'' and ''Belle Poule'' and the transports ''Côte d'Or'' and ''Marie Françoise''. Ostensibly this squadron was despatched to the Indian Ocean to take possession of Pondicherry and install a new governor in the French Indian Ocean colonies, General Charles Decaen. The convoy carried 1,350 soldiers and a significant quantity of supplies for both the four-month journey to India and the anticipated extended operations that were to follow it.〔James, Vol. 3, p. 176〕 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「Linois's expedition to the Indian Ocean」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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