Mauritius campaign

Naval Battle of Grand Port 1810 (A. D'Etroyer, 1812)

date	1809 to 1810
place	Mascarene Islands , Indian Ocean
Casus Belli	Securing British sea routes to India
output	British victory
consequences	Permanent possession of the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues
Peace treaty	First Peace of Paris in 1814

Parties to the conflict
United Kingdom	France
Commander
Josias Rowley	Jacques-Felix-Emmanuel Hamelin
Troop strength
1 ship of the line and 15 frigates	7 frigates
losses
179 dead 419 wounded 3 frigates permanently lost	Unknown personnel losses 7 frigates handed over

The Mauritius campaign denotes measures to secure the sea routes in the Indian Ocean and the permanent conquest of the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues by the United Kingdom in 1809 and 1810. The island of Réunion was also conquered, but was returned to France after the peace negotiations in 1814 .

prehistory

On November 12, 1808, the French 40-gun frigate Venus under Commodore Hamelin left Cherbourg , where it broke the British blockade of the port. At the same time, three more 40-gun frigates sailed to the French islands of Mauritius (then called Île de France ) and Réunion (then Île Bonaparte ) the frigate Manche under captain Breton from Cherbourg, the Bellone under captain Duperre and the Caroline from Nantes . These four frigates were supposed to strengthen the French position in the Indian Ocean and wage a trade war against the British East India Company .

On 31 May 1809, the French frigate captured Caroline in an attack two out of three British East India drivers ( H onourable E ast I ndia C ompany S ervice ). With the East India traders HEICS Streatham and HEICS Europe , merchandise worth three million pounds fell into French hands. The third East Indiaman, HEICS Lord Keith , managed to escape. On July 26, 1809, the Venus captured a trading ship belonging to the East India Trading Company. On October 12, 1809, a sloop accompanying the frigates attacked a trading post of the East Indian Trading Company.

The following British warships were at the Cape of Good Hope at that time:

the 36- gun frigates HMS Sirius and HMS Néréide ,
the 64-gun ship of the line HMS Raisonable and
the 18-gun sloop HMS Otter .

Furthermore, the 38-gun frigate HMS Boadicea was on its way to the Cape of Good Hope.

First fighting on Réunion

In this situation, Captain Josias Rowley took command of this small squadron on the orders of Admiral Bertie . To make up for the loss of the two East Indiamans, Rowley sailed with the squadron to Rodrigues, where 386 British soldiers were stationed under Lieutenant Colonel Keating. Both agreed to an immediate attack on the port of Saint-Paul on Réunion. The 386 British soldiers were shipped on the 36-gun frigate Néréide and the Sloop Otter . On August 21, 1809, 604 British soldiers (386 Keating infantry, 136 Royal Marines and 100 seamen) disembarked and captured the French coastal batteries.

Meanwhile, the British squadron attacked from the sea. The French defenders were unable to counter this attack, and St. Paul was captured. British casualties amounted to 15 dead, three missing and 58 injured, while French casualties are unknown. The British soldiers were able to recapture the East Indiaman HEICS Streatham , HEICS Europe and a sloop, as well as capture the French frigate Caroline . The Caroline was repaired and put into service as HMS Bourbonaise under Captain Robert Corbett. After a week, the British troops left the port again, with the infantrymen being brought back to Rodrigues.

Another French trade war

Meanwhile, the two French frigates Venus and Manche, accompanied by a sloop, waged a trade war in the Bengali Sea . On November 18, 1809, the French ships captured three East Indiamans - the HEICS Windham , the HEICS United Kingdom and the HEICS Charlton . Only the HEICS Windham could not be brought to Mauritius, as she was recaptured by the British 36-gun frigate HMS Magicienne at the end of December 1809 . All other ships reached Mauritius. The French frigate Bellone captured the British 18-gun sloop HMS Victor in the Bengali Sea on November 2, 1809 and the Portuguese frigate Minerva on November 22, 1809 . These three ships also reached Mauritius. After the hurricane season, the Bellone , the Minerve and the Sloop Victor set off for the Bengali Sea and, despite resistance, captured two richly laden British East Indiamans on July 3, 1810 - the HEICS Ceylon and the HEICS Windham . Another East Indiaman, the HEICS Astell , escaped. A total of 22 British seafarers died and 75 were injured. On the French side, 22 dead and 38 injured were to be mourned.

The conquest of Reunion

Map of Reunion

Meanwhile, the British squadron rallied off Rodrigues after the hurricane season :

the 36-gun frigate HMS Iphigenia under Capt. Lambert,
the 36-gun frigate HMS Magicienne under Capt . Curtis,
the 36-gun frigate HMS Néréide under Capt. Nesbit Willoughby ,
the 38-gun frigate HMS Boadicea under Commodore Josias Rowley , during
the 36-gun frigate HMS Sirius under Capt. Samuel Pym Mauritius blocked.

On Rodrigues there were thousands of soldiers who had been dispatched from India on 14 transport ships. On July 3, 1810, all frigates broke up together with the 14 transport ships, on board were 3650 British and Indian soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Keating. The future British administrator of the islands also accompanied this expedition. From July 6, 1810, the British units landed on the island from several sides and attacked the capital Saint-Denis , which was held by 576 French defenders. On July 8, 1810, the French governor Jean-Chrysostôme Bruneteau de Sainte-Suzanne capitulated . British casualties were 22 dead and 78 injured. The French losses are unknown.

Interlude

Ile de la Passe

The British troops stayed on Réunion, while the British frigates partly went back to sea to secure Réunion and block Mauritius. On August 13, 1810, the frigate captured Sirius , the Ile de la Passe before Grand Port in Mauritius after an attack on August 10, had failed. The conquest of the Île de la Passe cost seven British soldiers their lives and 18 others were injured. Shortly afterwards, the Sirius was replaced by the Néréide . On August 20, 1810, the French frigates Bellone and Minerve , the sloop Victor and the prize HEICS Ceylon entered Grand Port, although the Néréide and the crew of the Île de la Passe could not prevent this. The next day the HEICS Windham was recaptured, and the frigates Sirius , Iphigenia and Magicienne came to the Île de la Passe.

Naval Battle of Grand Port

On August 23, 1810, all four British frigates ( Sirius , Iphigenia , Magicienne and Néréide ) advanced into the port of Grand Port to attack the French squadron under Victor Guy Duperré . This was followed by the naval battle of Grand Port , a so-called frigate battle . The fight lasted from 4 p.m. on August 23 until the next day. The Néréide and the Magicienne were shot by all French ships and the port batteries at a distance of 300 meters from the wreck. The Néréide surrendered during the day, the run-up frigates Sirius and the Magicienne were burned by their own crews. The Iphigenia went badly damaged in the protection of the Île de la Passe, where they surrendered together with the island on August 29, 1810th Since August 20, 1810, 108 British people had died and another 182 were injured. The French lost 37 dead and 112 injured. Of the 281 man crew of the Néréide , 92 men were killed and 137 wounded, so that only 52 men were captured unharmed.

Reinforcements came from France with the French 40-gun frigate Astrée . Commodore Josias Rowley and the HMS Boadicea were now facing seven French frigates.

The conquest of Mauritius

On September 3, 1810, the 38-gun frigate HMS Africaine arrived off Réunion, on September 12, it was in combat with the Astrée and the Iphigenie (the former British frigate), it was shot down, killing 50 people including its commander and 113 were injured, the French recorded 10 dead and 35 injured. A few hours later, the Boadicea recaptured the Africaine . The Africaine was soon operational again. On September 17, 1810, the British 32-gun frigate HMS Ceylon was captured by the French Venus and the Minerve , with 10 dead and 31 injured. Again the British frigate Boadicea was within range and was able to retake the HMS Ceylon . In addition, the French frigate Venus was captured.

By November 21, 1810, other British warships gathered near Rodrigues: a ship of the line, the frigates HMS Cornwallis , HMS Nisus , HMS Menelaus , HMS Phoebe , HMS Doris , HMS Clorinde and HMS Psyché in addition to the Boadicea , Africaine , Ceylon and Néréide . There were also other small warships and 60 transport ships with which 10,000 soldiers under General John Abercrombie had been brought to Rodrigues. This fleet, under the command of Admiral Albemarle Bertie, landed the embarked army on Mauritius on November 29, 1810. The French governor and commander Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen surrendered on December 3, 1810.

The campaign ended with success: seven French frigates had been captured, plus all the British East Indiamans and smaller merchant ships. Réunion was returned to France at the end of the war, while Mauritius and Rodrigues remained with Great Britain. Josias Rowley was highly rewarded for his commitment. A French relief enterprise failed near Madagascar in 1811, with further enemy frigates being captured in the sea battle of Tamatave.

Ship overview

Due to the incoming reinforcement and conquest, an overview:

British fleet

HMS Iphigenia , captured at Grand Port in 1811,
HMS Magicienne burned at Grand Port in 1810,
HMS Néréide scrapped in Grand Port in 1811,
HMS Boadicea ,
HMS Sirius burned at Gran Port in 1810,
HMS Africaine briefly occupied by the French in 1810,
HMS Ceylon briefly occupied by the French in 1810,
HMS Cornwallis ,
HMS Nisus ,
HMS Menelaus ,
HMS Phoebe ,
HMS Doris ,
HMS Clorinde and
HMS Psyché .

French fleet

Venus conquered Grand Port in 1810,
Some conquered in Grand Port in 1810,
Bellone conquered Grand Port in 1810,
Caroline conquered in St.Paul in 1809,
Minerve captured and scrapped at Grand Port in 1810,
Astrée conquered Grand Port in 1810,
Néréide captured British frigate, broken up in 1811,
Iphigenié captured British frigate, recaptured at Grand Port in 1810.

East Indiaman

HEICS Streatham
HEICS Europe
HEICS Lord Keith
HEICS Windham
HEICS United Kingdom
HEICS Charlton
HEICS Ceylon
HEICS Astell

Belletristic reception

Patrick O'Brian immortalized the campaign in his novel from the Aubrey-Maturin series Secret Order Mauritius , but left out small details with artistic freedom. Even Alexander Kent has in the novel Dawn over the lake resigned this war episode.