Battle of Pulo Aura

The Battle of Pulo Aura was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought on 14 February 1804, in which a large squadron of Honourable East India Company (HEIC) East Indiamen, powerful and well-armed merchant ships, intimidated, drove off and chased a powerful French naval squadron. Although the French squadron was much stronger than the British squadron, Commodore Nathaniel Dance's aggressive tactics persuaded Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois to retire after only a brief exchange of shot. Dance then chased the French warships until his convoy was out of danger, whereupon he resumed his passage towards British India. Linois later claimed that the unescorted British merchant fleet was defended by eight ships of the line, a claim criticised by contemporary officers and later historians. The battle occurred during an extended commerce raiding operation by a French squadron led by Linois in the ship of the line Marengo. Linois had sailed to the Indian Ocean in 1803 before the declaration of war, under orders to install garrisons in the French and Dutch colonies in the region and to prey on lightly defended British merchant shipping. Although no warships protected the convoy, Commodore Dance knew that lookouts could, from a distance, mistake a large East Indiaman for a ship of the line. He raised flags that indicated that his fleet included part of the Royal Navy squadron operating in the Indian Ocean at the time and formed into a line of battle. Although Linois's ships were clearly superior, the British reaction unnerved him and he quickly broke off combat. (Full article...)