Raid on Saint-Paul

Raid on Saint-Paul
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
The capture of Saint Paul near the Isle de Bourbon, 21 September 1809, Thomas Whitcombe, 1812, National Maritime Museum
Date 20 – 28 September 1809 Location Saint Paul, Île Bonaparte. 21°0′S 55°16′E / 21.000°S 55.267°E / -21.000; 55.267Coordinates: 21°0′S 55°16′E / 21.000°S 55.267°E / -21.000; 55.267 Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	French Empire
Commanders and leaders
Josias Rowley Henry Keating	Nicolas Des Bruslys
Strength
604 troops on shore, ship of the line HMS Raisonnable, frigates HMS Nereide, HMS Sirius, HMS Boadicea and smaller vessels.	frigate Caroline, 5 gun batteries, local militia forces
Casualties and losses
15 killed, 58 wounded, 3 missing	Unknown, Caroline and large quantities of military equipment captured.

The Raid on Saint-Paul was an amphibious operation conducted by a combined British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Marines force against the fortified French port of Saint Paul on Île Bonaparte (now known as Réunion) during the Napoleonic Wars. The operation was launched on 20 September 1809 as both a precursor to a future full-scale invasion of Île 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 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 Rodrigues, 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 Île Bonaparte in July 1810.

The French Indian Ocean territories of Île de France and Île 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 Île de France and Île Bonaparte, eliminating the final French territories and bases east of Africa.

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Wikipedia