Naval action that opposed the French frigate Bellone to the British HMS Coventry
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The
action of 12 August 1782
was a minor single-ship action that opposed the French 32-gun frigate
Bellone
to the British 28-gun
HMS
Coventry
in the run-up to the
Battle of Trincomalee
. Although both ships were frigates,
Bellone
belonged to the
Iphigenie
class
and was a comparatively large frigate for her time, carrying a battery of
18-pounder long guns
, while
Coventry
was a
sixth-rate
armed only with
9-pounder long guns
. Furthermore,
Bellone
had the advantage of the wind. The nominal crew of
Coventry
was about tho thirds of that of
Bellone
, but in the occasion it was reinforced by the troops she was carrying. In spite of these overwhelming odds,
Coventry
managed to inflict heavy casualties on
Bellone
, and most decisively to shoot most of the senior staff. The resulting confusion on
Bellone
allowed
Coventry
to escape to
Madras
.
Background
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The
War of American Independence
triggered an
Anglo-French War
from 1778 and, by extension, a
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
from 1780 when the Dutch Republic refuse to stop trading with enemies of Britain. This aligned French and Dutch interests in the
Indian Ocean
theatre. France had a base of operation at
Isle de France
(Mauritius) and was allied with
Hyder Ali
, while the Dutch were holding the
Dutch Cape Colony
. France sent convoys escorted by ships of the line to reinforce these outpost.
The French consolidated squadrons from
Pondicherry
, Isle de France and those escorting the convoys into a force numbering 15 ships of the line and several frigates, first under
Estienne d'Orves
and, after he died, under
Suffren
. This fleet was opposed to an equivalent British force under Admiral
Edward Hughes
. In August 1782, Suffren and Hughes had already fought three inconclusive actions at
Sadras
on 17 February 1782,
Providien
on 12 April and
Negapatam
on 6 July, and were positioning for their fourth encounter at
Trincomalee
, that was to flare up on 25 August and last until 3 September.
In late July, Suffren's squadron was at
Cuddalore
for a high-level meeting with Hyder Ali in neighbouring
Bahour
. Suffren sent his light ships to recon Trincomalee; informed that the British fleet was not in harbour, he decided to sail there himself and land troops and attempt to conquer the city.
The French squadron left Cuddalore on 2 August 1782
and progressed towards
Batacalo
.
Suffren detached
Bellone
with orders to sail first and Batacalo and then
Galle
, where French captain Aymar was waiting for him with the
74-gun
Illustre
, the 64-gun
Saint Michel
and 8 transports carrying troops and supplies.
Bellone
had a new captain,
Pierrevert
, who was a nephew to Suffren; he had replaced the former captain,
Jean Andre de Pas de Beaulieu
, promoted to the command of the 64-gun
Brillant
during Suffren's reshuffling of his captains in the wake of the
Battle of Negapatam
.
Battle
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On 12 August, as the French squadron had arrived at Batacalo and was anchored in the bay,
HMS
Coventry
sailed in the South-East of the harbour,
ferrying troops to Madras.
Vengeur
and
Artesien
attempted to chase to investigate, but soon lost contact and returned to the fleet.
Meanwhile,
Bellone
had her mainmast damaged by a gust of wind off Ceylon and was sailing to Batacalo for repairs. The two ships met near Friar's Hood.
Bellone
had the advantage of the wind and was a much stronger frigate than
Coventry
. However, Pierrevert made the mistake of stopping his frigate and letting
Coventry
approach, allowing
Mitchell
to close to pistol range and open fire with
grapeshot
and
musketry
. This caused heavy casualties on
Bellone
, and soon mortally wounded Pierrevert himself.
As the
first officer
took over, second officer Boucher started arguing that he was the one who should take command, due to a regulation barring foreigners to command French warships, and since the first officer was of Italian origin. As they argued, fire from
Coventry
killed Boucher and gravely wounded the first officer. The third officer took over but, lacking experience, he failed to gain the confidence of his crew and was unable to prevent
Coventry'
s escape.
Bellone
sustained 60 men killed or wounded.
Aftermath
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The battle lasted 2 hours, killing or wounding about 60 French and 50 British.
[Note 1]
Coventry
, her rigging badly damaged, limped back to Madras. Hughes had hoped to set sail around 15 August, but it was not until 22 that he was ready to depart. The delay allowed Suffren to lay siege to Trincomalee, where
Fort Ostenburg
fell on 30.
Suffren restored Beaulieu as captain of
Bellone
,
and replaced him on
Brillant
with Lieutenant de Kersauson.
Coventry
would eventually be captured on 12 January 1783, when her new captain,
William Wolseley
, mistook four French ships of the line for British East Indiamen.
See also
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Notes
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- ^
Cunat quotes Mitchell's report as mentionning 26 killed 29 wounded.
Kippis gives a figure of 15 killed instead
Citations
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References
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