Battle of Pulo Aura
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The naval Battle of Pulo Aura took place on 15 February 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars between a British convoy of lightly armed merchant ships and forces of the First French Empire.
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[edit] The engagement
On February 14 a French squadron, under Rear Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois, encountered the China Fleet, a large convoy of British East Indiamen and other lightly armed merchant vessels in near the Strait of Malacca in the East Indies. Linois had information that the fleet was sailing and would provide a rich prize, but also believed, possibly from deliberate deception, that it was accompanied by Royal Navy warships. With the ship designs of the time, a large East Indiaman closely resembled a smaller ship of the line.
The British ships heavily outnumbered Linois and, under the command of the Company commodore Nathaniel Dance they manoeuvred as though would fight to defend themselves by forming a line of battle and the three leading ships flew naval ensigns. Overnight, rather than trying to slip away in the dark, the convoy remained in the area displaying lights similar to naval ships.
The following day, the French commenced a long distance bombardment of the convoy but Dance ordered the convoy's ships to turn and move as in an attack on the French. By this time, Linois had persuaded himself that the fleet was defended by a number of naval escorts which could, at least, cause severe damage to his squadron and so he retired instead of attacking the virtually defenceless fleet. Dance ordered the convoy to pursue the French for two hours, to maintain the fiction that there were warships and completely convince Linois.
Dance was knighted and received a payment of £5,000 from the insurers and a pension of £500 yearly for his actions. The East India Company distributed £50,000 among the officers and crews of the convoy.
Fictionalised accounts of the battle can be found in the novels Newton Forster; or, the Merchant Service by Captain Frederick Marryat and HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian.
[edit] Participating ships
[edit] Britain
Earl Camden
Earl of Abergavenny
Henry Addington
Warren Hastings
Warley
Alfred
Wexford
Ganges
Cumberland
Hope
Dorsetshire
Royal George
Ocean
Exeter
Coutts
Bombay Castle
Ganges (brig)
Porpoise (merchantman)
11 British merchantmen
1 British sailing ship
1 Portuguese barque
[edit] France (Linois)
Marengo 74 (flag)
Belle Poule 40
Semillante 36 (Captain Motard)
Berceau 22 (corvette)
Aventurier 16 (Dutch brig-corvette)
[edit] Other people present
[edit] English fleet
- James Inman who was put in charge of the Lascar pikemen on board the Warley.
- Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy on his second return voyage to China.
- Sir John Franklin, returning home after surviving the shipwreck of the Porpoise off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
[edit] References
- Steven E. Maffeo, Most Secret and Confidential, Naval Institute Press, 2000, ISBN 1-55750-545-4.
- William James, Naval History of Great Britain volume 3.
