Action of 22 August 1795

Action of 22 August 1795
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars

Defeat of the Dutch Fleet off Egerö, 22 August 1795, Nicholas Pocock, 1795
Date22 August 1795
Location
Result British victory
Belligerents
 Great Britain  Batavian Republic
Commanders and leaders
James Alms Van Dirckinck[1]
Strength
1 ship of the line
3 frigates
2 frigates
1 cutter
Casualties and losses
5 killed
18 wounded
2 killed
15 wounded
1 frigate captured

58°26′35″N 05°49′00″E / 58.44306°N 5.81667°E / 58.44306; 5.81667

Action is located in North Sea
Action
Action
Map of the North Sea, the battle identified by the red mark

The action of 22 August 1795 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of four British Royal Navy frigates and two frigates and a cutter from the Batavian Navy. The engagement was fought off the Norwegian coastal island of Eigerøya, then in Denmark-Norway, the opposing forces engaged in protecting their respective countries' trade routes to the Baltic Sea. War between Britain and the Batavian Republic began, undeclared, in the spring of 1795 after the Admiralty ordered British warships to intercept Batavian shipping following the conquest of the Dutch Republic by the French Republic in January 1795.

A British squadron of four frigates under the command of Captain James Alms was patrolling the entrance to the Skagerrak in August 1795 when three sails were spotted off the Norwegian coast to the north. Closing to investigate, the ships were discovered to be a Batavian squadron of two frigates and a small cutter. In the face of the larger British squadron the Batavian force turned away, sailing southeast along the Norwegian coast with the British approaching from the south in an effort to cut them off from the neutral Norwegian shore. At 16:15 the leading British ship HMS Stag caught and engaged the rearmost Batavian ship Alliantie (cdr. Claas Jager[2]); the remainder of the British squadron continued in pursuit of the Batavian squadron. For an hour Alliantie traded broadsides with the more powerful Stag and was eventually compelled to surrender. The remainder of the Batavian squadron escaped due to a fierce rearguard action by the frigate Argo, reaching the safety of the Dano-Norwegian harbour at Eigerøya.

  1. ^ Dirckinck, (Arnold Christiaan Leopold van), in: Abraham Jacob van der Aa, Karel Johan Reinier van Harderwijk, Gilles Dionysius Jacobus Schotel: Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden: bevattende levensbeschrijvingen van zoodanige personen, die zich op eenigerlei wijze in ons vaderland hebben vermaard gemaakt, Volume 4 (Van Brederode 1858), pp. 183-184
  2. ^ A.J. van der Aa, Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden, bevattende levensbeschrijvingen van zoodanige personen, die zich op eenigerlei wijze in ons vaderland hebben vermaard gemaakt, Volume 19 (Van Brederode 1878), p. 71