In 1810, Britain and France, the two major superpowers, were at war, and the French naval base on the Isle de France (Mauritius) in the Indian Ocean was ideally placed to threaten British shipping routes to India. Heavily-laden, armed merchantmen were no match for up-to-date French frigates - greyhounds of the ocean - that out-sailed and out-gunned them.
Most merchant vessels surrendered quickly and were shepherded to port, where they were renamed and added to the French fleet. Their cargoes were seized and the unfortunate passengers and crews held captive pending ransom negotiations, parole, or a prisoner exchange that might take years to organise. Disgruntled seamen, many of whom had been forced into service, often changed sides.
PREVIOUS COLUMN | The Way We Were: Mauritius was once a bloody battlefield
Royal Navy ships based at the Cape patrolled the shipping lanes, but they were unable to catch the clever French commodore, Jacques Hamelin (1768-1839). The next step was to invade Bourbon (now Réunion) and send a small fleet to Mauritius to test the opposition. This proved a disaster, and all four British ships were lost in action at Grand Port at the end of August 1810.
The commander on Bourbon, Captain Josias Rowley (1765-1842), was left with insufficient ships and soldiers for his planned attack. Reinforcements were collected from the nearest British bases and a squadron, led by the quarrelsome Vice-Admiral Albermarle Bertie, raced to the scene from the Cape.
Meanwhile, in September, Rowley managed to capture Hamelin, his crew of 380 and his flagship, Vénus, after a ding-dong battle. The Vénus, armed with 44 guns, was taken into the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Nereide in honour of one of the vessels lost at Grand Port. She subsequently took part in events leading to the surrender of Mauritius, and was broken up after the Napoleonic wars.
The island fell to British forces on December 3, 1810, and Hamelin and other French prisoners were sent to the port of Morlaix, near Brest, aboard a transport a week later, where he was received as a hero.
In terms of the capitulation, the victors took possession of the island, with all its stores and merchandise, six large frigates, three smaller ships of war, five gun-boats, three captured lndiamen, 28 merchant vessels and 200 cannon. The British lost 150 men killed and wounded during the assault. The island’s governor and his troops were later repatriated to France and allowed to keep their standards and personal arms.
A few remaining enemy outposts were soon mopped up, and French ships were cleared from the Indian Ocean early in 1811. Mauritius was confirmed as a British possession at the Treaty of Paris in 1814, but existing French laws, language and institutions were recognised.
The island remained in British hands for more than 150 years, and was granted independence in 1968.
* Jackie Loos' "The Way We Were" column is published in the Cape Argus every week.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.
Cape Argus