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Raid on Saint-Paul
The raid on Saint-Paul was an amphibious operation conducted by British forces against the port of Saint-Paul in the French colony of Isle Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. It was launched on 20 September 1809 as both a precursor to a future full-scale invasion of Isle Bonaparte and in order to capture the French frigate Caroline and the East Indiamen she had seized in the action of 31 May 1809 which were sheltering in the harbour. The operation was a complete success, with British storming parties capturing the batteries overlooking the port, which allowed a naval squadron under Commodore Josias Rowley to enter the bay and capture the shipping in the harbour.
The French defenders of the town, despite initially resisting the attack, were unable to prevent the seizure of the port's defensive fortifications. The British force later withdrew under pressure from the main garrison of the island, burning warehouses containing over £500,000 worth of silk captured from British merchant ships. Ultimately the French were unable to effectively oppose the invasion, the island's governor General Nicolas Ernault des Bruslys retreating to Saint-Denis rather than engage the British and later committing suicide. The transportation of forces from the recently captured island of Rodriguez, the co-ordination of land and naval forces and the failure of the French defenders to co-ordinate an effective response were all features of the subsequent invasion and capture of Isle Bonaparte in July 1810.
The French Indian Ocean colonies of Isle de France and Isle Bonaparte were heavily fortified island bases from which French frigates were able to launch raids against British trade routes across the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. In late 1808, a squadron of four frigates departed France for the region under Commodore Jacques Hamelin with orders to prey on the convoys of East Indiamen that regularly crossed the Indian Ocean. During the late spring of 1809, these frigates dispersed into the Bay of Bengal, attacking British shipping and coastal harbours around the rim of the Eastern Indian Ocean. The Royal Navy was also preparing an operation in the region, a staggered campaign intended to blockade, isolate and subsequently capture both Isle de France and Isle Bonaparte, eliminating the final French territories and bases east of Africa.
To conduct the British operation, Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope organised a squadron under Commodore Josias Rowley to blockade the islands, capture any French shipping that presented itself and begin preparations for the invasions. Rowley was equipped with the antiquated ship of the line HMS Raisonnable and a small squadron of frigates and smaller ships, later reinforced with a force of soldiers from Madras in British India, with which he seized the nearby island of Rodriguez to use as a raiding base.
On 14 August, one of Rowley's ships, the 18-gun sloop HMS Otter, attacked a French brig at Rivière Noire District in Isle de France. Although the attack was ultimately unsuccessful, Otter's captain Nesbit Willoughby and his landing party were able to break into and out of the harbour without severe difficulties. This prompted Rowley to consider a larger scale operation against a more heavily fortified French position. Two months earlier, in the action of 31 May 1809, the French frigate Caroline had captured two East Indiamen, Streatham and Europe, in the Bay of Bengal. The French captain, Jean-Baptiste-Henri Feretier, led his prizes back to the French-held islands, arriving off Isle de France on 22 July. Feretier was prevented from attempting to reach Port Louis by Rowley's blockading squadron and instead put his ships into Saint-Paul on Isle Bonaparte to unload his captured vessels and replenish his supplies.
Rowley became aware of Feretier's presence at Saint-Paul during the following month and determined to attack the port and recapture the valuable ships in the harbour. The operation was also to be a prelude to an eventual invasion attempt, giving the squadron experience of an amphibious landing operation. Conferring with Lieutenant Colonel Henry Keating on Rodriguez, Rowley determined that Keating's men would land behind the gun batteries that defended the town and storm them. This would allow Rowley to bring his squadron directly into the harbour, capture the shipping anchored there and possibly seize the town as well. Rowley's planning was directly affected by a failed attack on Saint-Paul on 11 November 1806, when HMS Sceptre and HMS Cornwallis had attacked the harbour without infantry support. Their target was the frigate Sémillante, but neither British ship had been able to pass the heavy batteries that protected the port and they were forced to withdraw.
On 16 September 1809, the troops were prepared, and 368 British Army soldiers were embarked on the British frigate HMS Nereide under Captain Robert Corbet, Willoughby's Otter and the Bombay Marine schooner HCS Wasp. This troop convoy was joined off Saint-Paul on 18 September by the rest of Rowley's squadron, the flagship Raisonnable and the frigates HMS Sirius under Captain Samuel Pym, and HMS Boadicea under Captain John Hatley. These ships mustered an additional 236 seaman volunteers and Royal Marines who would join the assault. The entire invasion force was then embarked on Nereide, as Corbet had experience with the Isle Bonaparte coastline, with the assault designated for the early morning of 21 September.
At 05:00 on 21 September 1809, Nereide entered the bay of Saint-Paul under the cover of darkness and successfully landed the British force, without any sign they had been sighted from the shore, at the Pointe des Galets. The Pointe des Galets was 7 miles (11 km) north of Saint-Paul, the distance allowing the force, divided into Keating's soldiers from Rodriguez and the naval force led by Nesbit Willoughby, to approach the heavy gun batteries that guarded the port unobserved. Storming the strongest batteries, Lambousière and la Centière, at 07:00, the British force surprised the garrisons, captured the fortifications and turned their cannon onto the shipping moored in the harbour, firing grape shot at the decks of the frigate Caroline.
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Raid on Saint-Paul
The raid on Saint-Paul was an amphibious operation conducted by British forces against the port of Saint-Paul in the French colony of Isle Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. It was launched on 20 September 1809 as both a precursor to a future full-scale invasion of Isle Bonaparte and in order to capture the French frigate Caroline and the East Indiamen she had seized in the action of 31 May 1809 which were sheltering in the harbour. The operation was a complete success, with British storming parties capturing the batteries overlooking the port, which allowed a naval squadron under Commodore Josias Rowley to enter the bay and capture the shipping in the harbour.
The French defenders of the town, despite initially resisting the attack, were unable to prevent the seizure of the port's defensive fortifications. The British force later withdrew under pressure from the main garrison of the island, burning warehouses containing over £500,000 worth of silk captured from British merchant ships. Ultimately the French were unable to effectively oppose the invasion, the island's governor General Nicolas Ernault des Bruslys retreating to Saint-Denis rather than engage the British and later committing suicide. The transportation of forces from the recently captured island of Rodriguez, the co-ordination of land and naval forces and the failure of the French defenders to co-ordinate an effective response were all features of the subsequent invasion and capture of Isle Bonaparte in July 1810.
The French Indian Ocean colonies of Isle de France and Isle Bonaparte were heavily fortified island bases from which French frigates were able to launch raids against British trade routes across the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. In late 1808, a squadron of four frigates departed France for the region under Commodore Jacques Hamelin with orders to prey on the convoys of East Indiamen that regularly crossed the Indian Ocean. During the late spring of 1809, these frigates dispersed into the Bay of Bengal, attacking British shipping and coastal harbours around the rim of the Eastern Indian Ocean. The Royal Navy was also preparing an operation in the region, a staggered campaign intended to blockade, isolate and subsequently capture both Isle de France and Isle Bonaparte, eliminating the final French territories and bases east of Africa.
To conduct the British operation, Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope organised a squadron under Commodore Josias Rowley to blockade the islands, capture any French shipping that presented itself and begin preparations for the invasions. Rowley was equipped with the antiquated ship of the line HMS Raisonnable and a small squadron of frigates and smaller ships, later reinforced with a force of soldiers from Madras in British India, with which he seized the nearby island of Rodriguez to use as a raiding base.
On 14 August, one of Rowley's ships, the 18-gun sloop HMS Otter, attacked a French brig at Rivière Noire District in Isle de France. Although the attack was ultimately unsuccessful, Otter's captain Nesbit Willoughby and his landing party were able to break into and out of the harbour without severe difficulties. This prompted Rowley to consider a larger scale operation against a more heavily fortified French position. Two months earlier, in the action of 31 May 1809, the French frigate Caroline had captured two East Indiamen, Streatham and Europe, in the Bay of Bengal. The French captain, Jean-Baptiste-Henri Feretier, led his prizes back to the French-held islands, arriving off Isle de France on 22 July. Feretier was prevented from attempting to reach Port Louis by Rowley's blockading squadron and instead put his ships into Saint-Paul on Isle Bonaparte to unload his captured vessels and replenish his supplies.
Rowley became aware of Feretier's presence at Saint-Paul during the following month and determined to attack the port and recapture the valuable ships in the harbour. The operation was also to be a prelude to an eventual invasion attempt, giving the squadron experience of an amphibious landing operation. Conferring with Lieutenant Colonel Henry Keating on Rodriguez, Rowley determined that Keating's men would land behind the gun batteries that defended the town and storm them. This would allow Rowley to bring his squadron directly into the harbour, capture the shipping anchored there and possibly seize the town as well. Rowley's planning was directly affected by a failed attack on Saint-Paul on 11 November 1806, when HMS Sceptre and HMS Cornwallis had attacked the harbour without infantry support. Their target was the frigate Sémillante, but neither British ship had been able to pass the heavy batteries that protected the port and they were forced to withdraw.
On 16 September 1809, the troops were prepared, and 368 British Army soldiers were embarked on the British frigate HMS Nereide under Captain Robert Corbet, Willoughby's Otter and the Bombay Marine schooner HCS Wasp. This troop convoy was joined off Saint-Paul on 18 September by the rest of Rowley's squadron, the flagship Raisonnable and the frigates HMS Sirius under Captain Samuel Pym, and HMS Boadicea under Captain John Hatley. These ships mustered an additional 236 seaman volunteers and Royal Marines who would join the assault. The entire invasion force was then embarked on Nereide, as Corbet had experience with the Isle Bonaparte coastline, with the assault designated for the early morning of 21 September.
At 05:00 on 21 September 1809, Nereide entered the bay of Saint-Paul under the cover of darkness and successfully landed the British force, without any sign they had been sighted from the shore, at the Pointe des Galets. The Pointe des Galets was 7 miles (11 km) north of Saint-Paul, the distance allowing the force, divided into Keating's soldiers from Rodriguez and the naval force led by Nesbit Willoughby, to approach the heavy gun batteries that guarded the port unobserved. Storming the strongest batteries, Lambousière and la Centière, at 07:00, the British force surprised the garrisons, captured the fortifications and turned their cannon onto the shipping moored in the harbour, firing grape shot at the decks of the frigate Caroline.