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The Raid on Batavia of 27 November 1806 was an attempt by a large British naval force to destroy the Dutch squadron based on Java in the Dutch East Indies that posed a threat to British shipping in the Straits of Malacca. The British admiral in command of the eastern Indian Ocean, Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, led a force of four ships of the line, two frigates and brig to the capital of Java at Batavia (later renamed Djakarta), in search of the squadron, which was reported to consist of a number of Dutch ships of the line and several smaller vessels. However the largest Dutch ships had already sailed eastwards towards Griessie over a month earlier, and Pellew only discovered the frigate ''Phoenix'' and a number of smaller warships in the bay, all of which were driven ashore by their crews rather than engage Pellew's force. The wrecks were subsequently burnt and Pellew, unaware of the whereabouts of the main Dutch squadron, returned to his base at Madras for the winter. The raid was the third of series of actions intended to eliminate the threat posed to British trade routes by the Dutch squadron: at the Action of 26 July 1806 and the Action of 18 October 1806, British frigates sent on reconnaissance missions to the region succeeded in attacking and capturing two Dutch frigates and a number of other vessels. The raid reduced the effectiveness of Batavia as a Dutch base, but the continued presence of the main Dutch squadron at Griessie concerned Pellew and he led a second operation the following year to complete his defeat of the Dutch. Three years later, with the French driven out of the western Indian Ocean, British forces in the region were strong enough to prepare an expeditionary force against the Dutch East Indies, which effectively ended the war in the east. ==Background== In early 1806, Pellew was relieved by the news that a large French squadron under Rear-Admiral Charles Linois had sailed out of the Indian Ocean and into the Atlantic. The departure of Linois after three years of operations in eastern waters freed Pellew's small squadron based at Madras for operations against the Dutch East Indies. Pellew's particular target was the island of Java, where the principal Dutch squadron and their base at Batavia were located.〔Gardiner, p. 81〕 The Dutch Kingdom of Holland was a French client state under Emperor Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte and Batavia had been used by Linois in his preparations for the Battle of Pulo Aura, in which a valuable British convoy came under attack, and its position close to the Straits of Malacca threatened British trade with China.〔Clowes, p. 336〕 Pellew's departure for the East Indies was delayed by the Vellore Mutiny in the spring, and instead he sent frigates to reconnoitre the situation of the Dutch forces in the region. In July, HMS ''Greyhound'' under Captain Edward Elphinstone cruised in the Molucca Islands and captured a Dutch convoy at the Action of 26 July 1806 off Celebes.〔James, p. 252〕 Three months later another frigate, HMS ''Caroline'' under Captain Peter Rainier, cruised successfully in the Java Sea and managed to capture a Dutch frigate at the Action of 18 October 1806 from the entrance to Batavia harbour.〔Henderson, p. 79〕 Shortly before Rainier's engagement, the principal ships of the Dutch squadron, the two ships of the line ''Pluto'' and ''Revolutie'', had sailed westwards towards the port of Griessie, Rear-Admiral Hartsinck seeking to divide his forces in preparation for the coming British attack to prevent their complete destruction.〔 Pellew sailed from Madras in the early autumn of 1806, expecting the full Dutch squadron to be present and preparing accordingly with the ship of the line HMS ''Culloden'' under Captain Christopher Cole as his flagship, accompanied by HMS ''Powerful'' under Captain Robert Plampin, HMS ''Russell'' under Captain Thomas Gordon Caulfield and HMS ''Belliqueux'' under Captain George Byng. The ships of the line were accompanied by the frigate HMS ''Terpsichore'' under Captain Fleetwood Pellew, Admiral Pellew's son, as well as the brig HMS ''Seaflower'' under Lieutenant William Fitzwilliam Owen.〔James, p. 267〕 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「Raid on Batavia (1806)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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