Name: Action of 31 May 1809
Start: 1809-05-31
Location: Action of 31 May 1809

Action of 31 May 1809 1809

Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.

Key facts

Date	31 May 1809	Wikidata
Year	1809	Wikidata P585 (point in time)
Era	19th century (1800–1913)	derived from year
Nearest landmass	At sea (nearest continent: Islands & open ocean)	Natural Earth (modern borders)
Continent	Islands & open ocean	Natural Earth
War / conflict	Napoleonic Wars	Wikidata P361
Participants	France, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland	Wikidata P710
Coordinates	9.2500, 90.5000	Wikidata P625

About the battle

The action of 31 May 1809 was a naval skirmish in the Bay of Bengal during the Napoleonic Wars. During the action, East India Company convoy carrying goods worth over £500,000 was attacked and partially captured by the French frigate Caroline. The three East Indiamen that made up the convoy fought against their opponent with their own batteries of cannon but ultimately were less powerful, less manoeuvrable and less trained than their opponent and were defeated one by one; only the smallest of the three escaped. The action was the first in a string of attacks on important convoys in the Indian Ocean by French cruisers operating from Isle de France and Isle Bonaparte during a concerted campaign against British shipping in the region.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action of 31 May 1809 (revision 1370426656), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.