Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811

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Mauritius campaign
Part of the Napoleonic Wars

View from HMS Upton Castle of the British conquest of Île de France in 1810
Date1809–1811
Location
Indian Ocean
Result

British victory

Territorial
changes		 Isle de France ceded to Great Britain (1814)
Belligerents
United Kingdom French Empire
Commanders and leaders
Josias Rowley
Henry Keating
Albemarle Bertie
and others
Jacques Hamelin  Surrendered
and others

The Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811 was a series of

British India. In a war in which the Royal Navy was almost universally dominant at sea, the campaign is especially notable for the local superiority enjoyed by the French Navy in the autumn of 1810 following the British disaster at the Battle of Grand Port
, the most significant defeat for the Royal Navy in the entire conflict. After their victory, the British used the original Dutch name of Mauritius for Isle de France. In 1814, Île Bonaparte was returned to France, who eventually renamed it La Réunion.

The Royal Navy had been planning an operation against Isle de France since neutralizing the threats from Cape Town and Java in the

East Indiamen and disrupt trade routes across the Indian Ocean by raiding the convoys in which the merchant ships travelled. Forced to confront this enemy, Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope ordered Commodore Josias Rowley
to blockade the French islands and prevent their use as raiding bases.

For the next two years, the British raided ports and anchorages on the French islands while the French attacked trade convoys in the wider ocean. The British were able to slowly reduce the French presence by eliminating their bases through limited invasions, but suffered a major setback at Grand Port in August 1810 and were forced onto the defensive in the autumn. Hamelin was eventually defeated only after being personally captured on his flagship Vénus by Rowley, shortly before substantial reinforcements arrived under Bertie to seize Isle de France. Throughout the campaign Hamelin was unable to secure reinforcement from France—almost all attempts to break through the British blockade of French ports proved futile and only one frigate successfully reached the Indian Ocean before the surrender of Isle de France. The final such attempt arrived off Mauritius in May 1811, only to discover that the island was in British hands. On the return journey, the force was attacked by a British squadron off Madagascar and defeated, leaving the British in complete control of the Indian Ocean.

Background

Jacques Hamelin 1837 by Antoine Maurin

The

Sir Edward Pellew in a campaign that ended in December 1807. The French Indian Ocean islands were however far more defensible: heavily fortified, garrisoned by regular French soldiers and several months voyage from the nearest British port, they presented a much greater challenge to the limited British forces available in the region.[1]

At the beginning of the war, as in the preceding conflict, French

Niémen, was to have joined the force in the summer of 1809, but was intercepted and captured within hours of leaving France at the action of 6 April 1809.[6]

To counteract the French deployment to the region, a small British force was organised by Vice-Admiral

HMS Nereide, HMS Sirius and HMS Boadicea and a number of smaller ships. Both the British and the French squadrons reached the Indian Ocean in the spring of 1809.[7]

Campaign

First exchanges

Hamelin's forces were immediately effective: Caroline attacked a westbound convoy of East Indiamen in the

Honourable East India Company (HEIC) warship Orient off the Nicobar Islands.[9]

Rowley's force had also been active: Nereide under Captain

Rodrigues by a British Army force from India under Lieutenant Colonel Henry Keating. This small island was close enough to Isle de France to provide an effective base for the British blockade squadron and a staging area for a future invasion of the French islands.[9]

Île Bonaparte
(La Réunion)

Rowley's first co-ordinated action was prompted by the return of Caroline with her prizes. Sheltering under the guns of

Nicolas Des Bruslys, to engage the British with his main force. Des Bruslys later committed suicide.[13] With the garrison leaderless, a truce was agreed that granted the British five days in control of the town. In this time they were able to remove all government supplies and demolish the town's government buildings. Rowley and his force eventually departed from Saint-Paul on 28 September.[14]
As a reward for their services, Willoughby was promoted to command Nereide and Corbet sent back to Britain in Caroline, renamed HMS Bourbonaise.

While Rowley was attacking Saint-Paul, Hamelin and his ships Vénus, Manche, Bellone and

HMS Magicienne.[12]

Invasion of Île Bonaparte

The French Navy considered 1809 to have been a success; they reinforced Hamelin with one frigate, the only one able to slip through the British blockade of French ports, the

Pierre Bouvet in the ex-Portuguese Minerva (renamed Minerve) departed Isle de France on 14 March to raid in the Bay of Bengal and subsequently along the South-East coast of Africa. Despite an initial lack of targets, Duperré's cruise was successful: in July he discovered and defeated a convoy of East Indiamen at the action of 3 July 1810, seizing Windham for a second time and Ceylon.[18]

Shortly after Duperré's departure, a British squadron under Captain

HMS Iphigenia and HMS Leopard arrived off Isle de France to restore the blockade.[19] Rowley subsequently increased Lambert's forces, detaching Willoughby in Nereide with instructions to raid coastal anchorages on the island. On 24 April, Willoughby sighted the recently arrived Astrée, and on 30 April attacked the protected anchorage at Jacolet. His target was a large French merchant ship protected by two batteries and a detachment of regular infantry.[17] Landing at night under heavy fire, Willoughby's men seized one battery, drove off a French attack on their beachhead and captured the second battery despite having to advance across a river, under fire, in broad daylight. On returning to their boats, Willoughby's men were attacked by a second French force which they also routed and drove more than a mile inland.[20] Shortly afterwards however, Willoughby was seriously wounded when a musket he was firing exploded, shattering his jaw. As a result, he was forced to spend several months recovering from his injuries on Rodriguez.[21]

During the late spring, Rowley's force was shorn of Raisonnable and Leopard, sent back to Britain for refit. Although reduced to five frigates and a few smaller vessels, Rowley began preparations for the

Chrysostôme de Sainte-Suzanne to surrender the following day.[23] It was in the days after this operation that Commander Matthew Flinders, an explorer who had been arrested by Decaen at Port Napoleon eight years earlier and held prisoner despite instructions from Napoleon himself to release him, was freed. Flinders was able to supply Rowley and later Bertie with detailed information about the defences on Isle de France.[24]

Battle of Grand Port

Musée national de la marine

Even before the French garrison on Île Bonaparte had surrendered, Rowley had turned his attention eastwards to Isle de France. The British commander had decided that the best way to eliminate the threat of Hamelin's squadron was to blockade the island's principal ports by seizing the coral islands that marked the entrances to the harbours through the complicated coral reefs that surrounded Isle de France.

Grand Port on the south-eastern coast of Isle de France.[25]

Willoughby stormed Île de la Passe on 13 August and captured it, blocking the entrance to Grand Port. With the harbour secure, Willoughby raided along the coastline while Pym, reinforced by

French tricolour flying from Île de la Passe accidentally ignited as it was lowered. The fire spread to a ready magazine in the fort, which exploded, causing severe damage and casualties. In the confusion all but one of Duperré's ships successfully entered the harbour.[28]

The Battle of Grand Port. French ships are in blue, the British in red.

Willoughby appealed to Pym for assistance and Pym brought Sirius, Iphigenia and Magicienne to support Nereide, launching an assault on Grand Port on 23 August. Pym had failed to properly reconnoitre the channel and Duperré had had the warning buoys removed, so that Pym's squadron was blindly sailing into a complicated system of reefs and channels.[29] Sirius and Magicienne were soon irretrievably grounded while Iphigenia struggled to find a passage and was unable to close with the French squadron. Only Nereide reached Duperré's line and Willoughby's initial attack was so determined that the entire French squadron was rapidly driven ashore, only Bellone remaining in a position to exchange fire with the British frigate.[30] A fortunate shot from Bellone cut Nereide's anchor cable and the British frigate swung around, presenting her stern to the French ships which raked her repeatedly. Willoughby managed to mitigate some of the effects by cutting the other anchor cable, which brought some of his guns within range of the French, but the balance of the battle had shifted. Over the next few hours his frigate was battered from the French ships and from guns ashore until she was a dismasted, battered hulk with over 220 of her crew killed or wounded.[31]

Nereide surrendered on the morning of 24 August and over the next three days Magicienne and Sirius were abandoned and burnt to prevent their seizure by the French.[32] On the morning of 28 August, Iphigenia, laden with survivors from the grounded frigates, was confronted by Hamelin and his main squadron, which had taken seven days to travel from Port Napoleon. Hugely outnumbered, Lambert had no choice but to surrender, ending the worst British naval defeat of the entire war.[33] Rowley arrived in Boadicea on 29 August but was unable to influence the outcome of the battle and was chased back to Saint Denis by Hamelin on Vénus. On the defensive, Rowley sent messages to Rodriguez, Madras and the Cape of Good Hope requesting urgent reinforcements as Bouvet began a blockade of Île Bourbon in the hope of trapping Boadicea.[34]

On 11 September the frigate HMS Africaine arrived from Rodriguez, commanded by Captain Robert Corbet who had served in the raid on Saint Paul in 1809. Corbet was a deeply unpopular commander and when his frigate was attacked and captured by Bouvet's frigates at the action of 13 September 1810, rumours spread that his death was the result or suicide or even murder, rather than from the battle.[35] Rowley was able to recapture Africaine the following day, but the danger that Hamelin's ships posed to British frigates sailing independently was further emphasised at the action of 18 September 1810, when HMS Ceylon was captured by Hamelin's flagship Vénus. Again, Rowley was able to recapture the British frigate and on this occasion the damage done to Vénus was so severe that she was unable to outrun Boadicea and she too was captured, with Hamelin on board.[36]

Capture of Isle de France

Isle de France, 1791
Main article: Invasion of Isle de France

In September, October and November 1810, British navy and army forces arrived from Madras,

Bombay and the Cape of Good Hope, warships joining Rowley's squadron off Isle de France and soldiers gathering at Rodrigues. The buildup of forces was prompted by the defeat at Grand Port combined with the heavy losses of East Indiamen during 1809 and 1810; the British authorities were determined to end the threat posed by the French squadron on Isle de France before the hurricane season made travel in the region too dangerous.[37] In fact, the threat from Isle de France was already substantially reduced: the damage suffered by the French frigates in the engagements at Grand Port and during September could not be repaired with the available naval supplies on Isle de France. In addition, food supplies were running low due to the large number of British prisoners on the island and morale had collapsed in the aftermath of Hamelin's defeat.[38]

By late November 1810, the invasion force was assembled and Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie assumed command at Rodrigues. Upon consultation with his commanders, Bertie decided to land at Grand Baie to the north of the island's capital.[39] The landing itself would be commanded by Captain Philip Beaver in HMS Nisus and the first troops ashore would be a specially selected vanguard under Keating and a naval brigade under Captain William Augustus Montagu. These forces would advance on Port Napoleon with subsequent reinforcement by the main force under General John Abercromby over the following days.[40] This force, nearly 7,000 in number, was significantly larger than the reliable troops available to Decaen, which numbered approximately 1,300, and were intended to achieve a quick resolution to the campaign before the hurricane season began in December.[41]

Sailing from Rodrigues on 22 November, the 70 vessels of the invasion fleet reached Grand Baie on 29 November. The French made no attempt to resist the landing either at sea or on land and Keating was able to rapidly advance on the capital, hastily mobilised militia units falling back before the British advance.[42] On 30 November, Keating crossed the Rivière du Tombeau after the militia garrison withdrew and in the evening his forward units were skirmishing with Decaen's garrison of Port Napoleon a few miles from the capital. The following morning, Decaen's field commander, Edmé-Martin Vandermaesen made a stand, forming a line on a rise outside the town that blocked Keating's advance. Engaging the centre, Keating used his superior numbers to outflank and defeat the French garrison and Port Napoleon fell.[43] A ceasefire was agreed on 2 December and the following day Decaen surrendered, although he and his men were repatriated to France with their standards and personal weapons.[38]

Aftermath

The fall of Isle de France marked the end of the active British campaign and saw six frigates and over 200 cannon fall into British hands, in addition to the island itself, which was returned to its original Dutch name of Mauritius, and has been known as such ever since.

Tamatave on Madagascar, the French squadron was caught by a British force under Captain Charles Marsh Schomberg on 20 May and defeated.[45] The Battle of Tamatave was characterised by very light winds, which left the combatants becalmed for much of the day, engaging in periodic fighting as the breeze increased.[46]

Two French frigates were lost at Tamatave, taking the number of frigates lost by the French Navy during the campaign to ten. The defeat marked the end of the campaign and the end of French hopes of seriously disrupting British trade with India: the only remaining safe harbours in the region were a few Dutch colonies on Java, which became the next target of the Royal Navy forces in the region.[47] The Mauritius campaign also had an effect on British post-war strategy in the Indian Ocean, demonstrated by the retention of Mauritius as a colony. Bourbon was returned to France in 1814 after Napoleon's abdication. With strategic bases placed along their trade routes, British convoys were assured a greater degree of safety and the Royal Navy provided with the infrastructure to operate worldwide.[48]

Île Bonaparte was known as Île Bourbon until 1789 and Réunion from the French Revolution until 1801. British sources never acknowledged either of these changes in name and in 1810 restored the name Île Bourbon. This was retained by the island's British governors, and from 1814, French governors until the Revolution of 1848, when the name became Réunion (French: La Réunion) once more.

Inscription of the Battle of Grand Port in the Arc de Triomphe.

Culturally, the campaign captured the public imagination in Britain and France: the Battle of Grand Port is the only naval battle that appears on the Arc de Triomphe, while in Britain Rowley and Bertie were both made baronets for their services in the Indian Ocean.

In history

The campaign has been studied extensively, by British naval historians such as William James in 1827 and William Laird Clowes in 1900.

In literature

Alexandre Dumas features the campaign from a French perspective in his 1843 novel Georges.[49] The 1977 novel The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian closely follows the British campaign with Rowley replaced by the fictional Jack Aubrey.[50]

References

  1. ^ a b c Gardiner 2001, p. 92
  2. ^ Mostert 2007, p. 577
  3. ^ Gardiner 2001, p. 83
  4. ^ James 2002a, p. 261
  5. ^ James 2002a, p. 192
  6. ^ Woodman 2001, p. 282
  7. ^ James 2002a, pp. 192–195
  8. ^ Brenton 1825, p. 389
  9. ^ a b c Woodman 2001, p. 283
  10. ^ Taylor 2008, p. 238
  11. ^ James 2002a, p. 195
  12. ^ a b Woodman 2001, p. 284
  13. ^ James 2002a, p. 197
  14. ^ Gardiner 2001, p. 93
  15. ^ James 2002a, p. 200
  16. ^ James 2002a, p. 202
  17. ^ a b Woodman 2001, p. 285
  18. ^ James 2002a, p. 263
  19. ^ James 2002a, p. 266
  20. ^ Clowes 1997, p. 452
  21. ^ James 2002a, p. 270
  22. ^ Clowes 1997, p. 445
  23. ^ a b James 2002a, p. 273
  24. ^ Taylor 2008, p. 258
  25. ^ Woodman 2001, p. 286
  26. ^ Macmillan 1914, p. 30
  27. ^ Clowes 1997, p. 461
  28. ^ James 2002a, p. 279
  29. ^ Macmillan 1914, p. 32
  30. ^ Macmillan 1914, p. 33
  31. ^ James 2002a, p. 285
  32. ^ Woodman 2001, p. 289
  33. ^ Clowes 1997, p. 465
  34. ^ Gardiner 2001, p. 96
  35. ^ James 2002a, pp. 297–305
  36. ^ Clowes 1997, p. 469
  37. ^ Taylor 2008, p. 325
  38. ^ a b Taylor 2008, p. 331
  39. ^ Woodman 2001, p. 292
  40. ^ James 2002a, p. 325
  41. ^ Clowes 1997, p. 295
  42. ^ Macmillan 1914, p. 39
  43. ^ James 2002a, p. 326
  44. ^ Woodman 2001, p. 293
  45. ^ Mostert 2007, p. 578
  46. ^ James 2002b, p. 25
  47. ^ Gardiner 2001, p. 104
  48. ^ Gardiner 2001, p. 60
  49. ^ Dumas, Alexandre (1843). "Chapitre II, Lions et léopards". Georges (in French). Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  50. ISBN 0-00-222383-X
    .

Bibliography

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