This gave the French forces on the island a significant regional advantage, outnumbering the British frigate on the recently captured Île Bourbon, commanded by Commodore Josias Rowley, by six to one.
The French, led by Commodore Jacques Hamelin, were ordered to disrupt British trade in the region, particularly targeting the large East Indiamen that carried millions of pounds worth of goods between Britain and her Empire.
[1] The British force under Commodore Josias Rowley was tasked with the blockade and eventual capture of the two well defended island bases of the French, Île Bonaparte and Isle de France.
From this base, Rowley's ships were ideally positioned to begin a close blockade of Isle de France, led initially by Captain Samuel Pym in HMS Sirius.
[5] Pym sought to reduce French movement by seizing a number of fortified offshore islands, starting with Île de la Passe off Grand Port.
[8] Chastened, the crew of Africaine allowed Corbet aboard and the frigate sailed for the Indian Ocean a few days later, carrying instructions for the authorities at Madras to prepare an expeditionary force to invade Isle de France.
[9] Africaine's journey to Madras took several months and Corbet made a number of stops on his passage, the final one being at the small British island base of Rodriguez in early September 1810.
Fire was returned by Royal Marines in the boats, but Africaine's barge grounded soon after the ambush was sprung and became trapped, French gunfire killing two men and wounding ten.
The French ships were Astrée, commanded by Pierre Bouvet, and Iphigénie, formerly one of the British frigates captured at Grand Port, under René Lemarant de Kerdaniel.
[13] Rowley, stationed at Saint-Paul to the west of Saint-Denis, received word that Africaine had arrived at Saint Denis and immediately sought to drive off the French blockade.
Corbet now found himself outnumbered and began to launch rockets and flares in the hope of attracting Rowley's attention and as the French closed with Africaine, he readied his ship for action.
[20] French fire stopped at 05:15, first light showing Boadicea 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) away and unable to affect the surrender of Africaine, which had hauled down its flags at 05:00.
Within minutes, a French prize crew boarded the battered frigate and seized the magazine of shot and gunpowder, which was shipped to Iphigénie whose ammunition was almost exhausted.
[22] By 10:00, Boadicea had been joined by Otter and Staunch and bore down on the French ships and their prize, so that by 15:30 Bouvet was persuaded to abandon Africaine and tow the damaged Iphigénie back to Port Napoleon.
Rowley later reported that a number of British sailors leaped into the sea at his approach and swam to Boadicea, requesting that they be allowed to pursue the French ships in the hope of capturing one.
[23] Rowley dismissed this idea given the shattered state of Africaine and instead towed the frigate back to Île Bourbon, shadowed by Astrée and Iphigénie on the return journey.
Prominent among these rumours was the suggestion that Corbet had been murdered by his disaffected crew: historian William James wrote in 1827 that "There are many who will insist, that Captain Corbett's [sic] death-wound was inflicted by one of his own people."
[27] A second accusation, and one that proved even more controversial in the aftermath of the engagement, was the claim that Africaine's crew abandoned their guns, refused to load them or deliberately fired them into the sea in protest at Corbet's behaviour.
This last accusation provoked outrage among naval officers, and Captain Jenkin Jones, a former shipmate of Corbet launched a successful lawsuit, forcing Hall to make a retraction.