Action of 9 September 1796

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 manoeuvrable. 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 British 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'''s captain was unable to warn any allied ships as his small frigate was the only British warship in the Bay of Bengal, and so he instead arranged for false information to be passed to Sercey regarding a fictional British battle squadron at Madras. This was sufficient to deter Sercey from lingering in the area, and after a raiding sweep along the coast to Tranquebar his squadron sailed eastwards once more.Parkinson, p.101

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

Battle

Lucas first sighted the French at 06:00 on 8 September, approximately east of Point Pedro, the northeastern tip of Sumatra. By 10:00 Sercey had determined that the new arrivals were probably hostile and formed his frigates into a line of battle, tacking to investigate. Lucas and Clark conferred at 14:00, Clark believing that two of the ships were French ships of the line while Lucas correctly insisted that they were six frigates, accompanied by the captured East Indiaman ''Triton''. The captains agreed to pursue the French and bring them to battle when possible.James, p.350 At 14:30, ''Forte'' determined that the approaching ships were British ships of the line and Sercey turned away, unwilling to risk suffering severe damage in a pointless engagement with two such powerful opponents. Sercey's squadron attempted to seek shelter in coastal waters, closely pursued by Lucas' ships; by 21:30 the British were just behind the French.James, p.351

By the morning of 9 September the wind had dropped and the French frigates were sailing in line slowly eastwards along the northern coast of Sumatra, the British ships close behind. With battle inevitable, Sercey gave orders at 06:00 for his line to put about and seize the weather gage while Lucas led ''Arrogant'' on a path to intercept. At 07:25 Lucas opened fire on the lead French ship ''Vertu'' at the range of .James, p.352 The British ship was able to fire two broadsides before Captain Lhermitte on ''Vertu'' could reply, the first French volley snatching away the ensign. ''Arrogant'' then progressively came under fire from the whole French line, as ''Seine'', ''Forte'' and ''Cybèle'' passed, the more distant ''Régénéree'' and ''Prudente'' joining the fusillade. During this exchange of fire both ''Arrogant'' and ''Vertu'' suffered damage to their sails and rigging, the ''Arrogant'' temporarily unmaneuverable as the winds dropped almost completely.

''Victorious'' was also hit, Captain Clark forced to retire wounded after being struck in the thigh by debris at 08:00. At 08:30 the rearmost French ship, ''Prudente'', passed out of range of ''Arrogant'' leaving the ship isolated. With Lucas unable to participate, Lieutenant William Waller on ''Victorious'' assumed command and ordered his ship to engage the French at 08:40, a string of signal flags hoisted on ''Arrogant'' unreadable in the light winds.James, p.353 ''Victorious'' was soon surrounded by the French, with two frigates on the port bow and four on the port beam, all firing into the ship of the line from approximately . By 10:15, when the wind suddenly returned, ''Victorious'' had been badly damaged. Using the wind to turn towards the distant ''Arrogant'', Waller exposed his ship's stern and was repeatedly raked. The winds remained unreliable, and ''Victorious'' took further damage for the next half-hour, the French ships remaining outside the arcs of fire from the British ship.Clowes, p.503

The damage ''Vertu'' had taken early in the combat rendered Lhermitte unable to continue the action, and his ship gradually fell out of the line to the south. Captain Pierre Julien Tréhouart turned ''Cybèle'' away too, using sweeps to reach ''Vertu'' and take the ship under tow. With ''Vertu'' secured and ''Arrogant'' slowly coming back into range, Sercey ordered his squadron to turn away to the north at 10:55, the last shots fired at long range from ''Victorious'' at 11:15.

Combatant summary

''In this table, "Guns" refers to all cannon carried by the ship, including the maindeck guns which were taken into consideration when calculating its rate, as well as any carronades carried aboard.James, p.32 Broadside weight records the combined weight of shot which could be fired in a single simultaneous discharge of an entire broadside.''

Aftermath

Losses on both sides were heavy. ''Arrogant'' had been damaged early in the battle and lost seven killed and 27 wounded while ''Victorious'' which bore the brunt of the French attack, suffered 17 killed and 57 wounded, the latter including Clark. Neither British ship was in sufficient repair to continue the engagement; ''Arrogant'' had several cannon dismounted and her sail's and rigging were tattered. ''Victorious'' was less badly damaged, but had more than one in five of the crew unfit for duty. All of the French ships suffered damage and casualties, although ''Régénérée'' reported no losses in the aftermath. ''Vertu'' was damaged early on and took 24 casualties, ''Seine'' was hit by heavy fire later in the battle and lost 62 dead and wounded, with the captain among the former. The remainder of the squadron suffered lighter losses, with 12 on ''Prudente'', 17 on ''Cybèle'' and 23 on ''Forte''.James, p.354

Lucas and Clark remained off Sumatra until basic repairs could be completed before ''Arrogant'' then took ''Victorious'' under tow, leading the damaged ship back to Penang and then Madras for repairs, arriving on 6 October. Sercey abandoned plans for an attack on Penang and sailed northwards to King's Island in the Mergui Archipelago. There his ships underwent extensive repairs, some even replacing their lower masts. In October the squadron swept eastwards to the Ceylon coast before turning back west towards Batavia, where Sercey hoped the supply depots would provide more support than those on Île de France. The squadron remained at Batavia throughout the winter, ceding control of the Indian Ocean trade routes to the British.Parkinson, p.104

The action has been described as inconclusive by British historian C. Northcote Parkinson as neither side could achieve a decisive result. Parkinson is also scathing of his criticism of both Clark and Waller, accusing them of failing to properly to prepare for battle or effectively manoeuvre their ship under fire. During the battle neither side had actually sought a decisive result, both unwilling to risk damage which would jeopardise their mission. Sercey's orders were to raid British trade routes, not to engage heavy warships and suffer the consequent damage: the battle severely curtailed his opportunities to prey on British merchant shipping in the East Indies during 1796.Parkinson, p.105 Lucas sought to block Sercey's passage through the Malacca Straits, but was aware that his ships, though large and powerful, were outnumbered and outgunned in the engagement, particularly given the size of the main French line, composed of ships with batteries of 18-pounder long guns and including ''Forte'', one of the most massive frigates then at sea. William James considers that had the winds been more favourable Lucas might have been able to cut off and capture at least two French frigates, but had Sercey attempted a boarding action against the ships of the line his more numerous crews would probably have successfully seized them.

References

Bibliography

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* {{cite book, first=Jean-Michel , last=Roche , year=2005 , language = fr , title=Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870 , isbn=978-2-9525917-0-6

Conflicts in 1796
Naval battles of the French Revolutionary Wars
Naval battles involving France
Naval battles involving Great Britain
History of Sumatra
France–United Kingdom military relations
France–Great Britain relations