In 1812 and 1813, the
British colonial government in Java sent two military expeditions against the
Sultanate of Sambas
The Sultanate of Sambas () was a traditional Malay state on the Western coast of the island of Borneo, in modern-day Indonesia.
History
At first governed by governors, Sambas became a kingdom in 1609 with the descendant of Sepudak. She marri ...
in modern
West Borneo
West Kalimantan () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak, Indonesia, Pontianak. It ...
, with the first expedition being forced to retreat while the second expedition succeeded in capturing the town of
Sambas. The expeditions were launched with the intent of suppressing pirate activity operating from Sambas, led by son of the sultan Pangeran Anom. Although defeated, the Sultan of Sambas would reach a settlement with the British shortly after, with the Sultanate retaining its status. Pangeran Anom would also be pardoned by the British and later became Sultan.
Background
Following the
1811 British invasion of Java, the status of
Dutch colonies in the East Indies became tenuous. While the British militarily occupied Java, other islands were not under immediate control, including the island of
Borneo
Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...
. Shortly after Java's fall, British colonial authorities there had begun communication with the sultanates of Borneo, starting with
Banjarmasin
Banjarmasin is the largest city in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It was the capital of the province until 15 February 2022. The city is located on a delta island near the junction of the Barito and Martapura rivers. Historically the centre of t ...
in the south.
In
West Borneo
West Kalimantan () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak, Indonesia, Pontianak. It ...
, the primary polities were the Sultanates of
Pontianak
Pontianak, also known as Khuntien in Teochew and Hakka, is the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, founded first as a trading port on the island of Borneo, occupying an area of 118.21 km2 in the delta of the Kapuas R ...
and
Sambas, with the Dutch having reduced their presence in the region since the late eighteenth century.
While Pontianak's sultan welcomed British protection and invited the British to station a garrison in Pontianak, Sambas did not reciprocate. Sambas at the time was a centre of pirate activity, with government being run largely by Pangeran (Prince) Anom, son of the old Sultan of Sambas Abubakar Tadjuddin I.
Anom was active in piracy, with British sources describing him as "having out-heroded
Herod in his atrocities".
The British estimated that Sambas was able to muster a force of ten to twelve
proa
The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...
with seventy to eighty armed men each.
In 1812, Anom captured the Portuguese merchant vessel ''Coromandel'' and nine crewmembers of the British sloop
''Hecate'', which led the British to prepare a military expedition against Sambas.
Expeditions
First expedition

The first expedition to Sambas was launched in October 1812, led by Captain J. Bowen aboard the frigate
HMS ''Phoenix'' along with the
sloops-of-war ''Procris'' and ''Barracouta''. The ships also carried around 100 soldiers of the
78th Regiment.
The force was tasked with destroying the town of Sambas, but British leadership assumed that the attacking force would be sufficient to intimidate the defenders into capitulating. Upon arrival at Sambas, the defenders did not capitulate, and the ''Barracouta'' came under fire from both pirate ships and from shore-bound guns which inflicted some casualties. Unable to flank the defenders and lacking men for an amphibious assault, Bowen retreated and returned to Java.
The failed expedition caused significant embarrassment to British authorities in Java, but due to a lack of available resources, there were no immediate follow-up expeditions in 1812. The
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
warship
HCS ''Aurora'' blockaded the
Sambas River after the failed expedition to prevent raiding in the meantime.
The blame for the failure generally fell on Bowen,
and officials generally covered up details of the failure.
Bowen fell ill and died not long after his return from the expedition.
Second expedition
To "vindicate the honour of the British flag",
the British planned and prepared for a second expedition throughout early 1813, with a much larger force. The naval contingent consisted of
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
frigates
''Leda'',
''Hussar'',
''Malacca'', and
''Volage'', sloops
''Hecate'' and
''Procris'',
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
warships
''Aurora'', ''Malabar'', ''Teignmouth'', and five other gunboats plus two transport ships. The squadron's senior officer was Captain
George Sayer aboard ''Leda''.
The land force consisted of between 700 and 800 British troops of the
14th Regiment under Colonel
James Watson
James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biology, molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper in ''Nature (journal), Nature'' proposing the Nucleic acid ...
and 600
Sepoy
''Sepoy'' () is a term related to ''sipahi'', denoting professional Indian infantrymen, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire and the Maratha.
In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its Euro ...
troops of the
Bengal Army
The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire.
The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Gover ...
. The force embarked on 23 June and arrived at the mouth of the Sambas River on 25 June. The troops sailed up the river, disembarked on 26 June, and divided into three columns.
The town of Sambas was defended by a number of cannon-armed emplacements, and at 3 AM on 28 June the British commenced their attack. After a half-hour battle, the emplacements were taken and the defenders were in retreat, with Pangeran Anom managing to escape the town into the interior of Borneo. According to British sources, the attacking force suffered 7 or 8 killed, with 59 wounded. The British estimated Sambas' losses at 150 killed including a brother of Sambas' sultan and a son of Pangeran Anom, with 31 brass cannons and 36 iron cannons also captured. The ''Coromandel'' was also taken by the British along with the fleet of pirate vessels at Sambas. Sambas was occupied by the British without further resistance.
Aftermath
While the British did not suffer many casualties in combat, tropical diseases inflicted significant losses on soldiers stationed at Sambas and to marine crews. Two-thirds of the 75 European crewmen of the sloop ''Teignmouth'', for instance, died of fever during the expedition and occupation. In September 1813, the British announced an amnesty and restoration for the Sultan of Sambas conditional on the acceptance of a British resident, which was accepted and a treaty between Sambas and the British was signed on 24 October 1813. The Sultan also agreed to cease sheltering pirates within Sambas. Another pardon was issued to Pangeran Anom in August 1814, and he would succeed as Sultan Muhamad Ali Sjafiudin of Sambas after his father's death in 1815.
References
{{British colonial campaigns
Conflicts in 1812
Conflicts in 1813
1812 in Southeast Asia
1813 in Southeast Asia
Battles involving the United Kingdom
History of West Kalimantan