Macau Incident (1799)

Coordinates: 22°00′N 113°42′E / 22.0°N 113.7°E / 22.0; 113.7
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Macau Incident
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars

Map of the mouth of the Pearl River. The Wanshan Archipelago labelled "Ladrone In".
Date27 January 1799
Location
Wanshan Archipelago, South China Sea
22°00′N 113°42′E / 22.0°N 113.7°E / 22.0; 113.7
Result See Aftermath section
Belligerents
 Great Britain Spain Spain
 France
Commanders and leaders
Captain William Hargood Rear-Admiral
Ignacio Maria de Álava
Strength
Two
ships of the line, one frigate
 Two
ships of the line, four frigates
Casualties and losses
None None

The Macau Incident was an inconclusive encounter between a powerful squadron of

Spanish Philippines. There the frigates had united with the Spanish Manila
squadron and sailed to attack the British China convoy gathering at Macau.

The British commander in the East Indies, Rear-Admiral Peter Rainier was concerned about the vulnerability of the China convoy and sent reinforcements to support the lone Royal Navy escort, the ship of the line HMS Intrepid under Captain William Hargood. These reinforcements arrived on 21 January, only six days before the allied squadron arrived off Macau. Despite being outnumbered in ships and guns, Hargood sailed to meet the French and Spanish ships, and a chase ensued through the Wanshan Archipelago before contact was lost. Both sides subsequently claimed that the other had refused battle, although it was the allied squadron which withdrew, Hargood later successfully escorting the China convoy safely westwards.[1]

Background

The

Atlantic to Britain. The value of the trade carried in this convoy, nicknamed the "China Fleet", was enormous: one convoy in 1804 was reported to be carrying goods worth over £8 million in contemporary values (the equivalent of £700,000,000 as of 2024).[4][5]

British interests in the East Indies were protected by a large but scattered

Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey menacing British shipping in the East Indies in 1796 and 1797. On 28 January 1797, Sercey's force intercepted six East Indiamen in the Bali Strait on their way to China. In the ensuing Bali Strait Incident only quick thinking by Commodore James Farquharson in Alfred saved the Indiamen. In the poor visibility, the Indiamen imitated Royal Navy warships and dissuaded Sercey from pressing his attack.[7]

Sercey's force had subsequently broken up as it proved too expensive to maintain as a cohesive force. By late 1798, Sercey was at anchor in Batavia with only two vessels, the 20-gun

raided Manila in January 1798 not one Spanish ship was in a condition to oppose them.[12]

Incident at Macau

News of the junction of the French and Spanish squadrons reached Rainier soon afterwards. With the assembling merchant ships at Macau were the frigates

Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea, arriving at Macau on 21 January 1799.[6]

The Franco-Spanish squadron, comprising the 74-gun ships of the line

Pearl River. Alava had been informed of the presence of Intrepid by Danish merchants but was unaware of the arrival of Rainier's reinforcements.[16]

Hargood immediately sailed to confront Alava, both squadrons initially forming

lines of battle and steering towards one another, Virginie at the head of the British line.[10] What followed has been the subject of dispute. Hargood reported that the Franco-Spanish squadron then turned and fled into the Wanshan Archipelago, where they anchored as darkness fell before withdrawing before dawn. He ascribes this to "their dread of a conflict that would in all probability have terminated in their disgrace".[15] Alava however reported in the Manila Gazette that it was Hargood who had retreated into the Wanshan Archipelago, pursued closely by Europa. Alava claimed that he would have pressed the attack but for damage to the rigging on Montañés that allowed Hargood to escape. He does not explain why his squadron then withdrew without attacking the apparently unprotected assembled China Fleet anchored in Macau.[15]

Aftermath

In historian

HMS Tremendous and HMS Adamant, driven on shore and destroyed. Sercey subsequently returned to France, retired from the French Navy and became a planter on Île de France.[17]

Hargood sailed from Macau with the China Fleet on 7 February, passing unimpeded into the

Peace of Amiens in 1802.[16] Early in the Napoleonic Wars, in 1804, a powerful French squadron attacked the China Fleet at the Battle of Pulo Aura, but the East Indiamen succeeded in bluffing the French into withdrawing after a brief exchange of fire.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ Although Woodman claims that Sercey led the allied squadron off Macau,[10] Parkinson is clear that Sercey remained on Java at Sourabaya and had no part in the inconclusive operation.[11]

Citations

  1. ^ Allen, Joseph (1841). Memoir of the Life and Services of Admiral Sir William Hargood. Greenwich, England: H. S. Richardson. pp. 94–95. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  2. ^ Woodman 2001, p. 101.
  3. ^ Clowes 1997, p. 337.
  4. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  5. ^ Woodman 2001, p. 32.
  6. ^ a b Woodman 2001b, p. 160.
  7. ^ a b James 2002, p. 79.
  8. ^ Parkinson 1954, p. 123.
  9. ^ Parkinson 1954, p. =123.
  10. ^ a b Woodman 2001a, p. 115.
  11. ^ a b Parkinson 1954, p. 124.
  12. ^ Henderson 1994, p. 49.
  13. ^ Parkinson 1954, p. 156.
  14. ^ a b Woodman 2001, p. 115.
  15. ^ a b c Parkinson 1954, p. 157.
  16. ^ a b c d Parkinson 1954, p. 158.
  17. ^ Parkinson 1954, p. 131.

References

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