Bali Strait Incident facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bali Strait Incident
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Date 28 January 1797 Location Bali Strait, Dutch East Indies Result East India Company victory
Belligerents
East India Company	France
Commanders and leaders
Captain James Farquharson	Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey
Strength
Six East Indiamen	Six frigates
Casualties and losses
None	None

The Bali Strait Incident was a clever trick played during the French Revolutionary Wars. On January 28, 1797, a group of six French warships, called frigates, met six British merchant ships, known as East Indiamen, in the Bali Strait.

This event happened during a time when France was trying to stop Britain's very important trade routes with places like British India and China. The British ships were part of the East India Company, which was a powerful trading company.

A French admiral named Pierre César Charles de Sercey led the French ships. He had orders not to risk his squadron in a big battle. The British ships were led by Captain James Farquharson. He knew his merchant ships were not strong enough to fight the French warships. So, he came up with a smart plan: he decided to make the French believe his ships were actually powerful warships, not just merchant vessels.

Farquharson ordered his ships to line up as if they were ready for a fight. The French admiral, Sercey, was fooled by this trick. He thought he was facing a much stronger British navy force. Because he didn't want to risk his ships, Sercey decided to retreat. This allowed the British merchant ships to escape safely.

Why This Happened

Trade and War in the East Indies

During the late 1700s, trade was super important for Great Britain. The East India Company was a huge trading company. It had special permission to trade between Britain and places like British India and China.

The company used large merchant ships called East Indiamen. These ships were big, usually between 500 and 1200 tons. They also carried up to 36 cannons. Because of their size and guns, they could look a lot like real warships, which were called ships of the line. Sometimes, they even used paint and fake cannons to make them look more convincing!

However, even with their guns, East Indiamen were not as strong as real warships. Their cannons were lighter, and their crews were smaller and not as well-trained. This meant they couldn't really fight off a strong French frigate or ship of the line.

The China Fleet

A very important part of this trade was the yearly convoy from Canton, China. A large group of East Indiamen would gather there. Then, they would sail together all the way back to Britain. This group of ships was called the "China Fleet." The goods they carried were incredibly valuable. For example, one convoy in 1804 carried goods worth over £8 million! That's like hundreds of millions of pounds today.

French Plans

By 1797, Britain and France had been fighting for almost four years in the French Revolutionary Wars. Most of the fighting was in Europe. But France wanted to disrupt Britain's trade in the East Indies.

In 1796, a French admiral named Pierre César Charles de Sercey arrived in the Indian Ocean with a squadron of six frigates. His job was to attack British trade ships. He tried to raid British ports, but he was often tricked or driven away. After some battles, Sercey took his ships to Batavia (which is now Jakarta, Indonesia) to fix them. He stayed there until January 1797.

The Encounter

The British Convoy's Journey

The East India Company leaders in Canton knew Sercey was in the area. They asked the British admiral, Peter Rainier, for help. Rainier escorted some ships through the Straits of Malacca.

However, the rest of the convoy, led by Captain James Farquharson, was told to take a different route. They were to sail through the Bali Strait or other straits. These were thought to be safer than Malacca, where a French attack was expected. Farquharson's ships had gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, before heading to China.

Meeting the French

On January 28, 1797, Sercey's ships were sailing south through the Bali Strait in bad weather. Suddenly, they saw other ships. Sercey sent one of his frigates, the Cybèle, to check them out.

These ships were Farquharson's East Indiamen. By choosing the Bali Strait, Farquharson had accidentally sailed right into Sercey's path! Farquharson knew his six merchant ships could not win a fight against six powerful French frigates.

Farquharson's Clever Bluff

Captain Farquharson quickly decided to trick the French. He wanted them to think his merchant ships were actually warships. When he saw the Cybèle approaching, he brought two of his ships forward. He hoped that in the dim light, the French captain would mistake his East Indiamen for real warships.

To make the trick even better, Farquharson raised Admiral Rainier's special flag on his ship, the Alfred. He also told the other ships to raise their own flags. This made them look even more like a British naval squadron.

The French Retreat

The trick worked perfectly! The French captain on the Cybèle was completely fooled. He quickly turned away from the British ships. He signaled to Admiral Sercey, saying, "The enemy is stronger than the French forces!"

Sercey immediately turned his squadron away. The Cybèle passed close to Sercey's flagship, the Forte. The captain of the Cybèle shouted that the British ships were a battle squadron with two ships of the line and four frigates.

Sercey's ship, the Forte, had lost its main mast during the retreat. Sercey had noticed that the British ships weren't chasing them very hard. But the report from the Cybèle convinced him that he was outnumbered. So, he ordered his squadron to fully retreat.

Ships Involved

East India Company Fleet
Ship Name	Guns	Commander	Notes
Alfred	26	Captain James Farquharson	Leader of the fleet
Boddam	32	Captain George Palmer
Canton	26	Captain Abel Vyvyan
Ocean	26	Captain Andrew Patton	Wrecked in a storm later
Taunton Castle	36	Captain Edward Studd
Woodford	36	Captain Charles Lennox

Admiral Sercey's Squadron
Ship Name	Guns	Commander	Notes
Forte	44	Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey	Flagship; damaged during retreat
Cybèle	40	Captain Pierre Julien Tréhouart	Scout ship – made the wrong identification
Régénérée	40	Captain Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez
Vertu	40	Captain Jean-Matthieu-Adrien Lhermitte
Seine	38	Lieutenant Julien-Gabriel Bigot
Prudente	32	Captain Charles René Magon de Médine

What Happened Next

After the French retreated, Farquharson's convoy sailed into the Java Sea. The very next day, a storm hit. One of the British ships, the Ocean, crashed onto a reef and was wrecked. Three sailors drowned, and seven more were killed by local people. The survivors were rescued later.

The other five East Indiamen made it safely to Whampoa Anchorage in China. There, they loaded up with valuable goods.

On the way home, another storm damaged the Taunton Castle. It had to stop for repairs and picked up the survivors from the Ocean. The ship eventually reached Britain, but it was in bad shape.

The East India Company was very happy with Captain Farquharson's cleverness. They thanked him and gave him 500 guineas (a type of gold coin).

Admiral Sercey returned to his base at Île de France (now Mauritius). He was horrified when he found out he had been tricked and missed a huge opportunity. His ships needed a lot of repairs. But the local government refused to give him enough men and supplies. Because of this, Sercey had to send four of his frigates back to France.

Seven years later, in 1804, a similar event happened during the Napoleonic Wars. Another strong French navy group met a much larger China Fleet. Just like in 1797, the British commander, Nathaniel Dance, managed to trick the French admiral into believing there were warships among his merchant ships. The French again retreated after a short fight.