Battle of Pulo Aura

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict = Battle of Pulo Aura


caption =
partof = Napoleonic Wars
place = Strait of Malacca
date = February 15 1804
result = British victory
combatant2 =
combatant1 =
commander2 = Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois
commander1 = Nathaniel Dance
strenght2 = 5 warships
strenght1 = 32 merchant ships
casualties2 =
casualties1 =|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.

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. Linois found the fleet with four more ships than his intelligence had indicated. He assumed that these were Royal Navy escorts. 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.

Participating ships

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

France (Linois)

"Marengo" 74 (flag)
"Belle Poule" 40
"Semillante" 36 (Captain Motard)
"Berceau" 22 (corvette)
"Aventurier" 16 (Dutch brig-corvette)

:"See" The Third Coalition in the Napoleonic Wars

Other people present

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.

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.