Bali Strait Incident

Bali Strait Incident
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Taunton Castle (left) in 1790 by Thomas Whitcombe
Date 28 January 1797 Location Bali Strait, Dutch East Indies Result British victory
Belligerents
East India Company	France
Commanders and leaders
Captain James Farquharson [Note A]	Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey
Strength
Six East Indiamen	Six frigates
Casualties and losses
None	None

The Bali Strait Incident was an encounter between a squadron of six French Navy frigates and six East Indiamen of the British East India Company (EIC) in the Bali Strait on 28 January 1797. The incident took place amidst the East Indies campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars — repeated French attempts to disrupt the highly valuable British trade routes with British India and Qing Dynasty China.

In 1796, a large squadron of French frigates arrived in the Indian Ocean under the command of Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey. In July this force sailed on a commerce raiding cruise off British Ceylon, but a subsequent attack into the Straits of Malacca was driven off in an inconclusive engagement with two British ships of the line off Northeastern Sumatra. Forced to make repairs, Sercey took his squadron to the allied Batavian city of Batavia, sheltering there until January 1797.

As Sercey left Batavia he turned eastward along the northern coast of Java to avoid the British commander in the region, Admiral Peter Rainier, who was escorting four ships through the Straits of Malacca to the west. However six East Indiamen were sailing to transit the Bali Strait on their way to China. On 28 January, at the entrance to the Strait, Sercey's squadron and the East Indiamen met. The EIC Commodore, James Farquharson, captain of Alfred, knew that if he fled the French would rapidly overwhelm his ships so he decided to try a bluff. He would attempt to lead Sercey into believing that the convoy was formed not from lightly armed East Indiamen, but from the powerful ships of the line that the Indiamen resembled. Farquharson ordered his ships to advance in line of battle.

Sercey, under orders not to risk his squadron, and fearing that he was facing a superior force, retreated, declining to risk a battle. Sercey did momentarily reconsider when the British ships equally declined to attack the temporarily disabled frigate Forte, but eventually withdrew completely. He retired to his base at Île de France (now Mauritius), where he learned of his error. The East Indiamen reached Whampoa Anchorage having lost only one ship, which wrecked in the Flores Sea in a storm the day after the encounter.