Raid on Batavia (1806)

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 Java in the Dutch East Indies that posed a threat to British shipping in the Straits of Malacca. The British admiral in command of the eastern Indian Ocean, Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, led a force of four ships of the line, two frigates and brig to the capital of Java at Batavia (later renamed Jakarta), in search of the squadron, which was reported to consist of a number of Dutch ships of the line and several smaller vessels. However the largest Dutch ships had already sailed eastwards towards Griessie over a month earlier, and Pellew only discovered the frigate ''Phoenix'' and a number of smaller warships in the bay, all of which were driven ashore by their crews rather than engage Pellew's force. The wrecks were subsequently burnt and Pellew, unaware of the whereabouts of the main Dutch squadron, returned to his base at 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 a large French squadron under Rear-Admiral Charles Linois had sailed out of the Indian Ocean and into the Atlantic. The departure of Linois after three years of operations in eastern waters freed Pellew's small squadron based at Madras for operations against the Dutch East Indies. Pellew's particular target was the island of Java, where the principal Dutch squadron and their base at Batavia were located.Gardiner, p. 81 The Dutch Kingdom of Holland was a French client state under Emperor Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte and Batavia had been used by Linois in his preparations for the Battle of Pulo Aura, in which a valuable British convoy came under attack, and its position close to the Straits of Malacca threatened British trade with China.Clowes, p. 336

Pellew's departure for the East Indies was delayed by the Vellore Mutiny in the spring, and instead he sent frigates to reconnoitre the situation of the Dutch forces in the region. In July, HMS ''Greyhound'' under Captain Edward Elphinstone cruised in the Molucca Islands and captured a Dutch convoy at the action of 26 July 1806 off Celebes.James, p. 252 Three months later another frigate, HMS ''Caroline'' under Captain Peter Rainier, cruised successfully in the Java Sea and managed to capture a Dutch frigate at the action of 18 October 1806 from the entrance to Batavia harbour.Henderson, p. 79 Shortly before Rainier's engagement, the principal ships of the Dutch squadron, the two ships of the line ''Pluto'' and ''Revolutie'', had sailed westwards towards the port of Griessie, Rear-Admiral Hartsinck seeking to divide his forces in preparation for the coming British attack to prevent their complete destruction.

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.James, p. 267

Battle

By 23 November, Pellew's squadron was approaching the Sunda Strait from the southwest when he encountered the British frigate HMS ''Sir Francis Drake'', which he attached to his force. Three days later, the squadron passed the port of Bantam and seized the Dutch East India Company brig ''Maria Wilhelmina'', continuing on to Batavia during the night. 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.Clowes, p. 392 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.

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. Passing through the bombardment from the shoreline, Pellew's men boarded ''Phoenix'' to find that the Dutch crew had just abandoned the vessel, scuttling the frigate as they departed. Although now useless as a ship, ''Phoenix'''s guns were turned on the other beached vessels to cover the British boats as they spread out to board and burn them. This operation was followed by the destruction of 20 grounded merchant ships in the harbour, although two others were successfully refloated and captured.James, p. 268 In a final act before withdrawing to the squadron offshore, Captain Pellew set fire to the wreck of ''Phoenix'', burning the ship to the waterline. The entire operation was conducted under heavy fire from the shore, but British casualties were only one Royal Marine killed and three men wounded.Clowes, p. 393

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. 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. 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.Gardiner, p. 82

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''. 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. 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.Gardiner, p. 107

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Batavia, Raid On (1806)
Naval battles involving the Netherlands
Naval battles involving the United Kingdom
Naval battles of the Napoleonic Wars
Conflicts in 1806
1806 in Southeast Asia
Military raids
1806 in the Dutch East Indies
November 1806 events