A minor 1795 engagement in which British frigates captured the Batavian frigate Alliantie near Norway, illustrating undeclared Anglo-Batavian hostilities during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Key Facts
- Date
- 22 August 1795
- British frigates engaged
- 4 ships
- Batavian vessels engaged
- 2 frigates and 1 cutter ships
- Engagement start time
- 16:15
- Batavian ship captured
- Alliantie (cdr. Claas Jager)
- Location
- Off Eigerøya, Danish-Norwegian coast
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following France's conquest of the Dutch Republic in January 1795, the Batavian Republic became a French client state. The British Admiralty responded by ordering Royal Navy warships to intercept Batavian shipping, initiating an undeclared state of war between Britain and the Batavian Republic from spring 1795.
A British squadron of four frigates under Captain James Alms, patrolling the Skagerrak entrance, encountered a Batavian force of two frigates and a cutter under Captain van Dirckinck near Eigerøya. After the Batavians attempted to flee southeast along the Norwegian coast, HMS Stag engaged the rearmost Batavian ship Alliantie at 16:15, and after an hour of exchanged broadsides compelled her to surrender.
The Batavian frigate Alliantie was captured, while the remainder of the Batavian squadron—shielded by a rearguard action from the frigate Argo—escaped to the neutral Dano-Norwegian harbour at Eigerøya. The action demonstrated both the reach of British naval pressure on Batavian trade routes and the limits of that pressure in neutral coastal waters.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Captain James Alms.
Side B
1 belligerent
Captain Arnold Christiaan Leopold van Dirckinck, Commander Claas Jager (Alliantie).