Action of 18 October 1806

Action of 18 October 1806
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
Capture of the Maria Riggersbergen, Octr. 18th 1806 Thomas Whitcombe, 1817
Date 18 October 1806 Location Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Kingdom of Holland
Commanders and leaders
Captain Peter Rainier	Captain Claas Jager
Strength
Frigate HMS Caroline	Frigate Maria Riggersbergen and four smaller ships
Casualties and losses
Nine killed, 12 wounded. Four Dutch prisoners aboard were also killed.	50 casualties, Maria Riggersbergen captured

The Action of 18 October 1806 was a minor naval engagement during the Napoleonic Wars, fought between the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Caroline and a Dutch squadron at the entrance to Batavia harbour on Java in the Dutch East Indies. During the battle the Dutch frigate Maria Riggersbergen was left unsupported by the remainder of the squadron and, isolated, was forced to surrender.^{[Note A]} Captain Peter Rainier, the British commander, was subsequently free to remove his prize from within sight of the Dutch port when the remainder of the Dutch squadron refused to engage Caroline and their crews deliberately grounded the ships to avoid capture. He also returned many prisoners taken previously in a captured brig.

The action, and that of with the earlier Action of 26 July 1806, demonstrated the weakness of the Dutch squadron in the East Indies and convinced Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew to lead an operation against Batavia to eliminate the remainder of the Dutch squadron in November 1806. This second raid was only partially successful, and was followed a year later by a raid on the harbour of Griessie, in which the last Dutch warships in the East were eliminated.

By 1806, the French squadron under Rear-Admiral Charles Linois departed for the Atlantic Ocean and a British expeditionary force captured the Cape of Good Hope. Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, commander of the British Royal Navy in the eastern half of the Indian Ocean at Madras in British India in the eastern half of the Indian Ocean was now able to concentrate on a major threat to British shipping in the region; the Dutch squadron based in the Dutch East Indies, specifically on Java at the port of Batavia.

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