Action of 22 August 1795

Action of 22 August 1795
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Defeat of the Dutch Fleet off Egerö, 22 August 1795, Nicholas Pocock, 1795
Date 22 August 1795 Location Off Eigerøya, North Sea Result British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	Batavian Republic
Commanders and leaders
James Alms	Van Dirckinck[1]
Strength
1 ship of the line 3 frigates	2 frigates 1 cutter
Casualties and losses
5 killed 18 wounded	2 killed 15 wounded 1 frigate captured

58°26′35″N 05°49′00″E / 58.44306°N 5.81667°E / 58.44306; 5.81667

Action

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Map of the North Sea, the battle identified by the red mark

The action of 22 August 1795 was a minor naval engagement during the

A British squadron of four frigates under the command of Captain James Alms was patrolling the entrance to the Skagerrak in August 1795 when three sails were spotted off the Norwegian coast to the north. Closing to investigate, the ships were discovered to be a Batavian squadron of two frigates and a small cutter. In the face of the larger British squadron the Batavian force turned away, sailing southeast along the Norwegian coast with the British approaching from the south in an effort to cut them off from the neutral Danish shore. At 16:15 the leading British ship HMS Stag caught and engaged the rearmost Batavian ship Alliantie (cdr. Claas Jager^[2]); the remainder of the British squadron continued in pursuit of the Batavian squadron. For an hour Alliantie traded broadsides with the more powerful Stag and was eventually compelled to surrender. The remainder of the Batavian squadron escaped due to a fierce rearguard action by the frigate Argo, reaching the safety of the Danish harbour at Eigerøya.

Background

In the winter of 1794–1795 the armies of the

With their ships heavily outnumbered by the approaching British, the Batavian squadron made all sail along the coastline with the intention of sheltering in the neutral Danish harbour of Eigerøya (referred to in British sources as Egeroe or Egerö).^[8] Sighting the Batavian ships to the north, Alms ordered his squadron to give chase. Soon the fastest British ship, Stag made use of favourable wind to pull ahead of the others and at 16:15 succeeded in cutting off the rearmost Batavian vessel Alliantie from its companions. Although Alliantie with its 36-guns was a stronger ship than the 32-gun Stag, its main battery was of only 12-pounder cannon compared to Yorke's 18-pounder guns. This, coupled with the presence nearby of the rest of the British squadron meant that Alliantie, in the words of naval historian William James, "from the first, had no chance of success."^[9]

Despite the odds against him, the Batavian captain engaged Stag, Yorke laying his ship alongside Alliantie and the frigates exchanging broadsides for an hour before the Batavian captain, his situation hopeless and his ship outnumbered and battered, surrendered at 17:15.^[6] While Stag and Alliantie fought their duel, the action continued elsewhere, with the remaining Batavian ships making progress eastwards along the Norwegian coastline with the British squadron attempting to cut them off from the channel between Eigerøya and the Norwegian mainland in which the Batavian ships could shelter, protected by Danish neutrality.^[6] Vlugheid rapidly outdistanced pursuit, but Argo was slower and came under heavy but distant fire from Reunion and Isis, replying in kind. Argo was subsequently found to have been hit thirty times by 24-pounder shot and had much of its sails and rigging torn away, requiring extensive repairs. Eventually the Batavian persistence paid off, and Vlugheid and Argo successfully escaped into the neutral harbour of Eigerøya before Alms could intercept them.^[9]

Aftermath

Alms sent the captured Alliantie back to Britain under the command of Lieutenant Patrick Tonyn of Stag and gave despatches to the Admiralty to Lieutenant William Huggell of Reunion to deliver.^[10] He himself remained at sea with the squadron, completing their assigned patrol. British casualties included four killed and 13 wounded on Stag, one killed and three wounded on Reunion and two wounded on Isis. Only Vestal escaped without any damage or casualties.^[7] Batavian casualties in the engagement are not known due to the failure of Alms to record Alliantie's losses in his report to the Admiralty, an omission which James criticises him for.^[9] It is known that Argo lost two men killed and 15 wounded in the chase.^[8] The surviving Batavian ships remained at anchor in the Eigerøya channel until the spring of 1796 when they successfully returned to the Netherlands.^[11]

Alliantie was subsequently taken to Spithead and purchased for the Royal Navy as the frigate HMS Alliance, for which prize money was distributed to the crews of the British ships, shared equally among them. The sailors on Isis alone shared £240 (the equivalent of £26,380 as of 2024).^[12][13] The crew of Alliantie were sent to Ashford, Kent as prisoners of war. ^[14] Over the ensuing months and years, Duncan's fleet was largely successful in protecting the North Sea trade routes from the depredations of raiders from the Batavian ports and in 1797 inflicted a crushing defeat on the Batavian fleet at the Battle of Camperdown.^[15]

When news of the engagement reached the Batavian Republic, it provoked widespread indignation, as they were not at war with Great Britain. On 3 September, the Provisional Representatives of the People of Holland issued a resolution ordering the Dutch representative at the Danish court, Christiaan Bangeman Huygens, to lodge a formal complaint over the violation of Dano-Norwegian neutrality by Alms' ships. Huygens noted in the complaint that Norwegian pilots had already gone onboard van Dirckinck's ships prior to the engagement, which indicated that they had entered Denmark–Norway's territorial waters; he also demanded that the Dano-Norwegian government make representations at the Court of St James's to obtain the return of Alliantie to the Batavian Republic.^[16][17]

Vice-Admiral Jan Willem de Winter, the commander-in-chief of the Batavian Navy, issued a proclamation after the battle which praised the conduct of van Dirckinck's ships and condemned the British decision to attack them. The proclamation also confirmed that Argo had suffered two killed and fifteen injured during the engagement and claimed that a Batavian Navy flotilla, consisting of brigs Echo, Gier and Mercuur, had stopped four British merchantmen and forcibly brought them into Kristiansand in reprisal for the engagement on 22 August.^[18] However, historians have noted that de Winter was mistaken and that the Batavian flotilla actually stopped the four British merchantmen (along with one British brig) on 19 August, which may have caused the British to engage the Batavian squadron on 22 August.^[19]

On 19 September, Huygens wrote a letter to the Provisional Representatives of the People of Holland, confirming that the Dano-Norwegian government had made diplomatic overtures to the British, as he had requested. However, these overtures proved to be pointless, as Great Britain had declared war on the Batavian Republic on 15 September.^[20] In the letter, Huygens also claimed that the British prisoners from the four captured merchantmen had been delivered to Britain's consul in Kristiansand, John Mitchell, on 22 August.^[21]

Notes