Minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars
Action of 9 July 1806
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
Location of the capture of Bellone
Date
9 July 1806
Location
Little Basses Reef, off the Southern coast of Ceylon
Result
British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom
France
Commanders and leaders
Captain Robert Plampin
Captain Jacques Perroud
Strength
Ship of the line HMS Powerful and brig HMS Rattlesnake
Privateer frigate Bellone
Casualties and losses
2 killed, 11 wounded
1 killed, 6–7 wounded, Bellone captured
6°28′N81°43′E / 6.467°N 81.717°E / 6.467; 81.717
The action of 9 July 1806 was a minor engagement between a French privateer frigate and British forces off Southern Ceylon during the Napoleonic Wars. French privateers operating from the Indian Ocean islands of Île Bonaparte and Île de France were a serious threat to British trade across the Indian Ocean during the Wars, and the British deployed numerous methods of intercepting them, including disguising warships as merchant vessels to lure privateers into unequal engagements with more powerful warships. Cruising near the Little Basses Reef on the Southern coast of Ceylon, the 34-gun privateer Bellone was sighted by the 16-gun British brig HMS Rattlesnake, which began chasing the larger French vessel. At 15:15, a third ship was sighted to the south, which proved to be the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Powerful, disguised as an East Indiaman.
Although Bellone would normally be much faster than the large British warship, the light winds and Rattlesnake's determined pursuit prevented the privateer from escaping and at 17:00, Powerful was close enough to open fire. Despite the uneven nature of the combat, Bellone unexpectedly resisted the British attack for another hour and 45 minutes, causing more damage to Powerful than she received herself. The privateer was later taken into British service as a sixth rate frigate and prize money was paid for the captured vessels, but the action prompted questions in subsequent histories about the lack of efficiency in British gunnery.
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