Action of 19 February 1801 1801
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 19 February 1801 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1801 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Spain | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | French Revolutionary Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | France, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 35.9220, -5.3110 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The action of 19 February 1801 was a minor naval battle fought off Ceuta in Spanish North Africa in February 1801 between frigates of the French and Royal Navies during the French Revolutionary Wars. The engagement formed part of a series of actions fought to prevent the French from resupplying their garrison in Egypt, which had been trapped there without significant reinforcement since the defeat of the French Mediterranean Fleet at the Battle of the Nile two and a half years earlier. The leader of the Egyptian expedition, General Napoleon Bonaparte, had returned to France in 1799 and promised aid to the troops left behind, prompting several expeditions to the region carrying reinforcements.
The frigate Africaine had been sent from Rochefort early in 1801 with more than 400 soldiers for the Egyptian garrison, and by February had reached the Mediterranean Sea, Commodore Saulnier seeking to pass along the North African coast to avoid patrolling Royal Navy warships. On the afternoon of 19 February however the overladen French warship was discovered by the British HMS Phoebe and rapidly chased down and brought to action.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action of 19 February 1801 (revision 1370426167), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Portuguese conquest of Ceuta 1415 · 3 km
- Battle of Ceuta (1309) 1309 · 4 km
- Sieges of Ceuta (1694–1727) 1694 · 4 km
- Siege of Ceuta (1790–1791) 1790 · 4 km
- Battle of Ceuta (1339) 1339 · 4 km
- Battle of Cape Espichel 1182 · 4 km
Other battles of the French Revolutionary Wars
- Macau Incident (1799) 1799
- Action of 31 March 1800 1800
- Battle of Ampfing (1800) 1800
- Battle of the Malta Convoy 1800
- Raid on Dunkirk (1800) 1800
- Battle of Mandora 1801
- Raids on Boulogne 1801
- Siege of Alexandria (1801) 1801
- Siege of Cairo (1801) 1801
- Siege of Fort Julien 1801
All 81 battles of the French Revolutionary Wars →
Browse more: battles in Spain · Africa · 19th century battles