Raid on Batavia (1806)

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Raid on Batavia
Part of the Napoleonic Wars

A painting by Thomas Whitcombe depicting Batavia harbour in 1806.
Date27 November 1806
Location
Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies
Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom Kingdom of Holland
Commanders and leaders
Edward Pellew
 Admiral Hartsinck
Strength
4 ships of the line
2 frigates
1 brig		 1 frigate
8 smaller warships
22 merchant ships
1 gun battery
Casualties and losses
1 killed
4 wounded		 1 frigate destroyed
7 smaller warships destroyed
20 merchant ships destroyed
1 brig captured
2 merchant ships captured

The Raid on Batavia of 27 November 1806 was a successful attempt by a large British naval force to destroy the Dutch squadron based on

Madras
for the winter.

The raid was the third of series of actions intended to eliminate the threat posed to British trade routes by the Dutch squadron: at the action of 26 July 1806 and the action of 18 October 1806, British frigates sent on reconnaissance missions to the region succeeded in attacking and capturing two Dutch frigates and a number of other vessels. The raid reduced the effectiveness of Batavia as a Dutch base, but the continued presence of the main Dutch squadron at Griessie concerned Pellew and he led a second operation the following year to complete his defeat of the Dutch. Three years later, with the French driven out of the western Indian Ocean, British forces in the region were strong enough to prepare an expeditionary force against the Dutch East Indies, which effectively ended the war in the east.

Background

In early 1806, Pellew was relieved by the news that

Straits of Malacca threatened British trade with China.[2]

Pellew's departure for the East Indies was delayed by the

Griessie, Rear-Admiral Hartsinck seeking to divide his forces in preparation for the coming British attack to prevent their complete destruction.[5]

Pellew sailed from Madras in the early autumn of 1806, expecting the full Dutch squadron to be present and preparing accordingly with the ship of the line HMS Culloden under Captain Christopher Cole as his flagship, accompanied by HMS Powerful under Captain Robert Plampin, HMS Russell under Captain Thomas Gordon Caulfield and HMS Belliqueux under Captain George Byng. The ships of the line were accompanied by the frigate HMS Terpsichore under Captain Fleetwood Pellew, Admiral Pellew's son, as well as the brig HMS Seaflower under Lieutenant William Fitzwilliam Owen.[6]

Battle

The frigates Sir Francis Drake and Terpsichore attacking the Dutch frigate Phoenix and other shipping in Batavia Roads, 1806, by Thomas Luny

By 23 November, Pellew's squadron was approaching the

Bantam and seized the Dutch East India Company brig Maria Wilhelmina, continuing on to Batavia during the night.[7] At the approaches to the port, the squadron separated, with the frigates and brig passing between Onrust Island and the shore while the ships of the line took a longer route through deeper water. Although Terpsichore was able to surprise and capture the corvette William near Onrust Island, the main body of the squadron was spotted by Dutch lookouts from a distance, who initially mistook the approaching vessels for a French squadron.[8] The Dutch officers, led by Captain Vander Sande on the frigate Phoenix, decided that resistance against such a large British squadron was useless: the only warships remaining in the harbour were the Phoenix and six small armed ships, none of which could contend with the approaching British force. In an effort to dissuade the British from pressing their attack, the Dutch captains all drove their vessels ashore, joined by the 22 merchant vessels that were anchored in the harbour.[6][a]

Determined to prevent the Dutch from refloating the grounded ships, Admiral Pellew ordered landing parties to assemble in the boats of his squadron alongside Terpsichore. From there, under distant covering fire from the British frigates, Fleetwood Pellew led the boats against Phoenix, coming under fire from the grounded vessels and gun batteries ashore.

Royal Marine killed and three men wounded.[11]

Without sufficient troops to attempt a landing at Batavia itself, Admiral Pellew withdrew from the harbour. Preparing his prizes for the return to Madras, he ordered all prisoners taken from the captured and burnt ships returned to shore under condition of parole.[12] The captured William was found to be in such a poor state of repair that it was not worth keeping the corvette and Admiral Pellew ordered the ship burnt.[b] Pellew noted in his official report that Lieutenant Owen, who as senior lieutenant would otherwise have been placed in command, should be recompensed with another command as reward for his services in the engagement. With his preparations complete, Pellew then ordered his squadron to disperse, Culloden sailing to Malacca.[5]

Aftermath

The British raid on Batavia had destroyed 28 vessels. In addition to Phoenix, William and the merchant ships, Pellew's squadron had burnt the 18-gun brigs Aventurier and Patriot, the 14-gun Zee-Ploeg, the 10-gun Arnistein, the 8-gun Johanna Suzanna and the 6-gun Snelheid. Just three ships were captured: two merchant vessels and Maria Wilhelmina.[12] The elimination of the smaller vessels of the Dutch squadron was an important victory for Pellew, leaving only the larger ships of the line at large. These ships were old and in poor condition, limiting the threat they posed to British trade routes. Nevertheless, Pellew returned to the Java Sea in 1807 in search of the warships, destroying them at the Raid on Griessie in November, a year after the success at Batavia.[5] A lack of resources in the region and the threat posed by the French Indian Ocean island bases delayed larger scale British operations against the East Indies until 1810, when a series of invasions rapidly eliminated the remaining Dutch presence in the Pacific.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ Phoenix, of 32 guns, had been launched at Rotterdam on 4 May 1799.[9]
  2. ^ William was a brig that the Batavians had captured from the British in 1799.[13]

Citations

  1. ^ Gardiner, p. 81
  2. ^ Clowes, p. 336
  3. ^ James, p. 252
  4. ^ Henderson, p. 79
  5. ^ a b c Gardiner, p. 82
  6. ^ a b James, p. 267
  7. ^ a b "No. 16044". The London Gazette. 4 July 1807. p. 893.
  8. ^ Clowes, p. 392
  9. ^ van Maanen 2008, p. 39.
  10. ^ James, p. 268
  11. ^ Clowes, p. 393
  12. ^ a b "No. 16044". The London Gazette. 4 July 1807. p. 894.
  13. ^ van Maanen 2008, p. 44.
  14. ^ Gardiner, p. 107

References

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