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The Sunda Strait campaign of January 1794 was a series of manoeuvres and naval actions fought between warships and privateers of the French Republic and a squadron of vessels sent by the British East India Company to protect trade in the region, later augmented by Dutch warships. The campaign developed as French forces based on Île de France reacted more quickly than the British forces in the Indian Ocean to the expansion of the French Revolutionary Wars on 1 February 1793. French privateers rapidly spread along the British trade routes in the Far East, becoming concentrated around the narrow Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies. These ships were soon joined by French Navy frigates and began to inflict losses on shipping in the region. The Royal Navy forces in the Indian Ocean were deployed elsewhere and so the East India Company, the private enterprise that ruled much of British India in the 1790s and maintained their own fleet and navy, raised a squadron of armed merchant ships to patrol the Strait and drive off the raiders. The arrival of this British force on 2 January 1794 was initially a success, the squadron over-running and capturing two large and well-armed privateers on the on 22 January, not long after the French vessels had been beaten off during an attack on the British trading post at Bencoolen. On 24 January an action against a larger French squadron was fought in the Strait itself, but ended inconclusively and the squadrons divided, the British receiving the Dutch frigate ''Amazone'' as reinforcements. The French subsequently turned southwards out of the Strait and attacked Bencoolen again on 9 February, capturing an East Indiaman in the harbour before returning to Île de France with their prize. ==Background== On 1 February 1793, the French Republic declared war on Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, extending the already existing French Revolutionary Wars. It took several months for news of the outbreak of war to reach British India, messages arriving at Calcutta from Consul George Baldwin at Alexandria on 11 June.〔James, p. 119〕 The Royal Navy commander in the region, Commodore William Cornwallis, immediately set about demanding the surrender of the French trading posts in India. Most fell within a few days, but the major port of Pondicherry refused, and was besieged from 1 August. The siege lasted a month before the French commander capitulated under bombardment from British land and naval forces.〔 With the French presence eliminated from India, Cornwallis was ordered to return to Europe, leaving minimal naval forces in the Indian Ocean.〔 The Indian Ocean formed a vital part of Britain's trade links with the wider British Empire. India was controlled by the East India Company, a commercial organisation that maintained its own army and navy in Indian waters and owned a fleet of large merchant ships known as East Indiamen. These vessels ranged in size between 400 and 1500 tons burthen (bm), carried up to 30 cannons and were capable in certain conditions of fighting warships, although a frigate was usually more than a match for an individual East Indiaman.〔Clowes, Vol. 5, p. 337〕 These ships sailed on an annual route from China, the East Indies or India carrying trade goods such as spices, tea or silk to Britain. There the goods were sold, and replaced with general cargo including military equipment and troops for the journey back to the Indian Ocean.〔Gardiner, ''The Victory of Seapower'', p. 101〕 One of the most vital parts of the Indian trade route was through the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java in the Dutch East Indies, through which most of the China and East Indies trade passed on its journey to the Indian Ocean. French ships, both Navy warships and commercially owned privateers, operated along the Indian trade routes from their base at the isolated island of Île de France and recognised the strategic importance of the Sunda Straits. As soon as news of war arrived at Île de France French ships spread out into the Indian Ocean in search of British and Dutch merchant shipping, gathering in significant numbers off the Sunda Straits.〔 On 27 September 1793 French cruisers achieved their first major victory when three privateers mounting more than 20 guns each attacked the East Indiaman ''Princess Royal'', under Captain James Horncastle, off Anjier (or Anjere or Anger) Point in the Sunda Strait. Although Horncastle resisted, the privateers outgunned him and eventually forced him to strike.〔James, p. 196.〕 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「Sunda Strait campaign of January 1794」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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