The naval Battle of Pulo-Aur took place on 15 February 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars between British convoy of lightly armed merchant ships and forces of the First French Empire. February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule over France. ... The tone of this article is inappropriate for an encyclopedia. ...

The engagement

On February 14 a French squadron, under Rear Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois, encountered the China Fleet, a large convoy of British East Indiamen and other lightly armed merchant vessels in near the Strait of Malacca in the East Indies. Linois had information that the fleet was sailing and would provide a rich prize, but also believed, possibly from deliberate deception, that it was accompanied by Royal Navy warships. With the ship designs of the time, a large East Indiaman closely resembled a smaller ship of the line. February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... A Squadron is a small unit or formation of cavalry, aircraft (including balloons), or naval vessels. ... Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand, Compte de Linois (born January 27, 1761 in Brest, died December 2, 1848 in Versailles) was a French admiral during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. ... East Indiamen, the name generally applied to the ships of the (British) Honourable East India Company during the 18th and 19th centuries. ... This wide-angle map of south-east Asia shows that the Strait is the most direct route from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. ... The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and South-East Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... Ships of the line were 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-rated ships in the rating system of the Royal Navy. ...

The British ships heavily outnumbered Linois and, under the command of the Company commodore Nathaniel Dance they manoeuvred as though would fight to defend themselves by forming a line of battle and the three leading ships flew naval ensigns. Overnight, rather than trying to slip away in the dark, the convoy remained in the area displaying lights similar to naval ships. The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as John Company, was a joint-stock company of investors, which was granted a Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600, with the intent to favour trade privileges in India. ... The military rank of Commodore is used in some navies for officers whose position exceeds that of a Captain, but is less than that of a flag officer. ... British and Danish ships in line of battle at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801). ...

The following day, the French commenced a long distance bombardment of the convoy but Dance ordered the convoy's ships to turn and move as in an attack on the French. By this time, Linois had persuaded himself that the fleet was defended by a number of naval escorts which could, at least, cause severe damage to his squadron and so he retired instead of attacking the virtually defenceless fleet. Dance ordered the convoy to pursue the French for two hours, to maintain the fiction that there were warships and completely convince Linois.

Dance was knighted and received a payment of £5,000 from the insurers and a pension of £500 yearly for his actions. The East India Company distributed £50,000 among the officers and crews of the convoy. The silver Anglia knight, commissioned as a trophy in 1850, intended to represent the Black Prince. ...

Fictionalised accounts of the battle can be found in the novels Newton Forster; or, the Merchant Service by Captain Frederick Marryat and HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian. Captain Frederick Marryat (July 10, 1792 - August 9, 1848) was an English novelist, a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the seafaring story. ... The Aubrey–Maturin series, also known as the Aubreyad, is a sequence of 20 historical novels by Patrick OBrian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centring on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ships surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician... Patrick OBrian (December 12, 1914 – January 2, 2000; original name Richard Patrick Russ) was a novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of Captain Jack Aubrey and an Irish–Catalan...

Participating ships

Britain

Earl Camden
Earl of Abergavenny
Henry Addington
Warren Hastings
Warley
Alfred
Wexford
Ganges
Cumberland
Hope
Dorsetshire
Royal George
Ocean
Exeter
Coutts
Bombay Castle
Ganges (brig)
Porpoise (merchantman)
11 British merchantmen
1 British sailing ship
1 Portuguese barque

France (Linois)

Marengo 74 (flag)
Belle Poule 40
Semillante 36 (Captain Motard)
Berceau 22 (corvette)
Aventurier 16 (Dutch brig-corvette)
The Belle-Poule was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, built fromplans by Jacques-Noël Sané and Borda. ...

See The Third Coalition in the Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule over France. ...

References

• Steven E. Maffeo, Most Secret and Confidential, Naval Institute Press, 2000, ISBN 1557505454.
• William James, Naval History of Great Britain volume 3.