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by
Bruce A. Trinque
(Copyright 1998)
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After sixteen years of nearly continuous warfare against Revolutionary France and the Emperor Napoleon, the Royal Naval had not yet swept their foes wholly from the seas. Despite great English victories over enemy fleets at the Nile and Trafalgar and although British warships had won numerous single-vessel and squadron actions, France still retained her capacity to harry the long, vulnerable sea lanes which connected England to her scattered colonies. Nowhere was this threat greater than in the vast, almost empty western Indian Ocean. There, based at the island of Mauritius, French naval units and privateers -- privately-owned armed vessels operating under legal sanction -- sailed out to prey upon British ships carrying home rich cargoes from India and the Orient. Mauritius, also known as the Ile de France, was nicknamed "the Gibraltar of the East" for its reputed strength and also for its strategic location near the two great trade routes around the Cape of Good Hope to India and to the East Indies. The island provided a way station for any expedition sailing from distant France to either the East Indies or to India, intent on making mischief for the British there. Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, had declared that India would not be secure until Mauritius was conquered, but thus far France's Indian Ocean island possessions had remained untouched. Primarily this was because British resources had been stretched too thin, always assigned to higher priorities, but inter-command rivalries had also worked to thwart earlier plans. Now, in 1809, Britain finally began to move towards eliminating this last threat. Royal Navy efforts would be based at Cape Town on the southern tip of Africa, still nearly 3000 miles from "the Gibraltar of the East." India, a source of soldiers and additional naval support, was even further distant. Any British commander operating off Mauritius would have to rely upon his own resources, out of communication with his superiors for weeks or months at a time.
The first task would be to tighten the blockade, keeping French raiders in port. Blockade operations were among the most arduous of all duties facing the Royal Navy. Warships, like any sailing vessel, were captives of currents, tides and, above all else, the wind. Guarding a port required the blockading ships to sail ceaselessly back and forth, staying close enough to the harbor to prevent escape, but keeping far enough out to sea so that an unfavorable shift in wind direction wouldn't drive the ships on to the shore and destruction. Wind direction was critical. Square-rigged warships could only sawtooth their way slowly forward when the wind was against them, sailing several miles laterally for every mile gained ahead. In storm conditions, vessels couldn't do even that and had to run before the wind, leaving their blockade stations many miles behind, their enemies free to escape undetected.
Any blockade of Mauritius was complicated by the existence of two excellent ports: Port Louis on the northwest side of the island and Grand Port on the southeast. Arriving French ships, guided by signals from high ground, could avoid British vessels to enter whichever port was at present unguarded. If necessary French ships could also find refuge at St. Paul's Bay or one of the smaller harbors on the island of Reunion, also known as Bourbon, 150 miles west of Mauritius.
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Commodore Josias Rowley commanded the squadron of British ships sent to cruise off Mauritius. Although the Royal Navy had blockaded the island intermittently for years, this activity became reasonably effective only in 1808. By the end of that year French naval forces in the area were reduced to a single small corvette and one elderly vessel too battered for further operations.
Rowley had to withdraw his ships during the hurricane season during the early months of 1809, leaving Mauritius unguarded until the end of March. When he returned, Rowley found he had to contend with a far more formidable enemy force than the year previous. Late in 1808 Napoleon had despatched the "Division Hamelin" to reinforce Mauritius. Four new frigates -- warships combining speed with powerful broadsides -- slipped individually out of French mainland ports and made their way to the Indian Ocean island to combine under the command of Commodore Jacques Hamelin. By the time Josias Rowley could return to his blockade station, the French frigates had already departed in search of British prizes.
Rowley's squadron of one superannuated ship-of-the-line, an elderly 50-gun ship, three frigates and two smaller vessels was nominally superior to Hamelin's forces, but wholly inadequate to maintain a blockade while searching for the French raiders at the same time. The British commander could only guard the waters around Mauritius and Reunion, hoping to intercept the enemy frigates when they returned to port. In any battle Rowley would have to rely strongly upon the skill and experience of his crews, because the French frigates were bigger and more heavily armed than their British adversaries.
Rowley was faced by problems with his officers as troubling as his insufficient strength. Captain Robert Corbet of the frigate Nereide had a dark reputation as a brutal disciplinarian. His crew had recently circulated a petition for his court-martial and, when the start of the trial was delayed, an abortive mutiny broke out. A court-martial found Corbet not guilty of all charges, except using "sticks of an improper size" to beat his men, for which he received a mild reprimand. Ten of the Nereide mutineers were sentenced to death, although nine were subsequently pardoned. Within a few days of his acquittal, Corbet found himself sitting on the panel in judgment over Nesbit Willoughby, commander of the sloop Otter, being tried on similar charges of cruelty. Willoughby, not surprisingly in those circumstances, was declared innocent.
Commodore Hamelin's ships met with marked success in their cruises across the Indian Ocean. Five rich Indiamen -- large merchant vessels -- were taken. Neutral American ships, safe from British interference, carried the fruits of Hamelin's cruises from Mauritius. Combined with the loss of five other Indiamen foundered at sea in storms and three others wrecked, the captures meant the British East India Company had lost thirteen of its ships during a single year, an unprecedented disaster. The Company and its stockholders howled in dismay and demanded action.
Now, Rowley moved to aggressively test French strength. A first, tentative step had already been taken early in 1809 when a British expeditionary force from Bombay seized the island of Rodriguez, nearly 400 miles east of Mauritius. Although virtually uninhabited, Rodriguez would be a source of water, wood, and fresh vegetables for Rowley's blockading squadron, easing their supply burden.
Having taken aboard at Rodriguez a force of a few hundred soldiers commanded by Lt. Col. Henry Keating, Rowley feinted towards Mauritius, then dashed westward to Reunion. The main port of St. Paul, protected by 125 pieces of artillery, was too formidable to be approached directly from the sea. On September 21, Rowley put the soldiers ashore about seven miles west of the town. They were accompanied by a landing force of sailors and Marines led by Commander Willoughby. Keating marched rapidly overland and took the French artillery batteries against light opposition, opening the way for Rowley to bring his ships into the harbor.
The French frigate Caroline and two of her Indiamen prizes in the harbor were captured. Storehouses were set afire. To the chagrin of Rowley, his officers, and his men, one of warehouses burned contained silk worth 500,000 pounds sterling. In the Royal Navy, as in all other naval forces of the day, captured ships and property were sold and the money obtained then distributed amongst the victorious officers and men. Rowley's share of one-sixth of the £500,000 pounds would have made him wealthy, while even the lowest seaman would have received a portion equivalent to months of pay.
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Capture of St. Paul, by Thomas Whitcombe |
The attack was only a raid, intended to discomfort the French. Although the defenses of St. Paul had been overcome with little resistance, strong French land forces were reported elsewhere on the island and were expected to counterattack. A more rash commander might have tried to turn the raid into a full-fledged conquest and occupation, but Rowley decided that the risks of further action without reinforcements were too great. Having temporarily disabled the French artillery defenses by "spiking" the cannons -- driving spikes into the guns' vent holes to prevent them from being fired -- the British boarded their ships and sailed away.
Robert Corbet was now given command of the captured Caroline to take the frigate back to England. Any relief the Nereide's crew may have felt at the removal of their brutal captain must have been tempered by the appointment of his successor -- Nesbit Willoughby, with his own reputation as a harsh disciplinarian.
Having transported Keating's soldiers back to Rodriguez, Rowley returned to the tedious duty of blockading Mauritius. French depredations against Indian Ocean shipping continued. In November alone they captured three Indiamen, a British sloop-of-war, and the Portuguese frigate Minerve, soon to be added to Hamelin's squadron to offset the loss of the Caroline.
The early months of 1810 saw Rowley again forced to withdraw to the Cape of Good Hope due to storms, but British ships returned to their blockade duty by April. Five English frigates -- the old ship-of-the-line and 50-gun ship had been ordered home for repairs -- now faced five French frigates, including the newly arrived Astree. Rowley began probing at French defenses on Mauritius. The energetic Willoughby, a specialist in landing operations, took every opportunity to bring his men ashore on isolated beaches and islets to drill them in small arms practice and military tactics. One of these training exercises nearly proved fatal to the dashing, if harsh commander. In June a musket exploded in Willoughby's face, shattering his jaw and ripping a gruesome wound in his neck.
Another attack on Reunion was planned, but this time with the intent to permanently occupy the island. Rowley temporarily withdrew his ships from the waters of Mauritius and convoyed a force of 4000 soldiers from Rodriguez. The landings were carried out in early July under the supervision of Nesbit Willoughby, his painful wounds bound with bandages. Resistance was minimal and the island quickly capitulated.
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Nesbit Willoughby |
