Action of 28 February 1799

Overview

The action of 28 February 1799 was a minor naval engagement of the East Indies theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought off the mouth of the Hooghly River in the Bay of Bengal between the French frigate Forte and the Royal Navy frigate HMS Sybille. Forte was an exceptionally large and powerful ship engaged on a commerce raiding operation against British merchant shipping off the port of Calcutta in British India. To eliminate this threat, Sybille was sent from Madras in pursuit. Acting on information from released prisoners, Edward Cooke, captain of Sybille, was sailing off Balasore when distant gunfire alerted him to the presence of Forte on the evening of 28 February. The French frigate was discovered at anchor in the sandbanks at the mouth of the Hooghly with two recently captured British merchant ships.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The action of 28 February 1799 was a minor naval engagement in the East Indies theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought in the Bay of Bengal between the French frigate Forte and the Royal Navy frigate HMS Sybille. Forte had been operating as a commerce raider against British merchant shipping off Calcutta, threatening trade in one of the most commercially significant ports in British India. The Royal Navy dispatched Sybille from Madras specifically to eliminate this threat, reflecting the priority placed on protecting merchant traffic in the region. The engagement took place off the mouth of the Hooghly River, where Forte was found at anchor among sandbanks with two recently captured British merchant vessels, indicating the raider had already inflicted tangible losses on British commercial interests before being brought to action.

Tactics

Commanders (2)