Action of 7 February 1813

Action of 7 February 1813
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
The fight of the French frigate Aréthuse and Amelia on the shores of Guinea, 7 February 1813, after Louis-Philippe Crépin.
Date 7 February 1813 Location Îles de Los, off Guinea Result Stalemate
Belligerents
France	United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Pierre Bouvet	Frederick Paul Irby  (WIA)
Strength
40-gun Aréthuse	38-gun HMS Amelia
Casualties and losses
20 killed, 98 wounded	51 killed, 90 wounded

Coordinates: 20°23′25″S 57°44′02″E / 20.39028°S 57.73389°E / -20.39028; 57.73389

The Action of 7 February 1813 was a naval battle between two evenly matched frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy, Aréthuse and HMS Amelia. The battle was fought during the night of 7 February 1813 at the Îles de Los, off Guinea. It lasted four hours, causing significant damage and casualties to both opponents, and resulted in a stalemate. The two ships parted and returned to their respective ports of call, both sides claiming victory.

After the British victory in the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811, all French possessions in the Indian Ocean were at the hands of Britain. France had already lost the use of Cape Town in 1806 after the Battle of Blaauwberg, and of Batavia in 1811 with the British Invasion of Java. Thus, in 1813, the French Navy lacked the advance bases it needed to support the commerce raiding frigate squadron that it had operated in the previous decade. It was therefore decided to send a force off the Western coast of Africa to disrupt British shipping closer to the metropole, but still far enough to be unreachable to the powerful British naval divisions that blockaded the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay.

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Wikipedia