Capture of Trincomalee

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First British capture of Trincomalee Part of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War Date 11 January 1782 Location Trincomalee, then a Dutch colony in present-day Sri Lanka 8°32′56.79″N 81°14′15.78″E / 8.5491083°N 81.2377167°E / 8.5491083; 81.2377167Coordinates: 8°32′56.79″N 81°14′15.78″E / 8.5491083°N 81.2377167°E / 8.5491083; 81.2377167 Result British victory Belligerents Great Britain  Dutch Republic Commanders Hector Munro Iman Willem Falck Strength 450 400 Casualties and losses 21 killed 42 wounded unknown

v • d • e East Indies Campaign 1778–1783 Pondicherry – Porto Praya – First Negapatam – First Trincomalee – Sadras – Providien – Second Negapatam – Second Trincomalee – Cuddalore

The Capture of Trincomalee can refer to one of several captures. Trincomalee was important because of its natural harbour. A strong naval force based in Trincomalee could secure control of India's Coromandel Coast.

Contents 1 Portuguese, Dutch and French 2 The First British capture 3 Second British capture 4 References

[edit] Portuguese, Dutch and French

The Portuguese built Fort Fredrick in 1623, only to have the Dutch capture it in 1639. It then went through a phase of dismantling and reconstruction before the French attacked and captured it in 1672.

[edit] The First British capture

On 8 January 1782 the British captured Fort Frederick and three days later they captured Trincomalee. This was the second major engagement between Great Britain and the Dutch Republic in the East Indies after outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (an offshoot of the American War of Independence). After capturing Negapatam, the major Dutch outpost in India, a British force assaulted the Dutch-controlled port of Trincomalee on the eastern coast of Ceylon, and successfully stormed Fort Ostenburg to gain control of the city and the port. In gaining control of the port, they also captured the vessels in the port at the time. They then went on to capture Batticaloa.

The French recaptured Trincomalee on August 29 of the same year. In 1783 the French ceded it to the British and subsequently Britain ceded it to the Dutch.

[edit] Second British capture

In 1795 the British again captured Trincomalee from the Dutch. On 23 July 1795 a squadron under Commodore Peter Rainier consisting of Suffolk, Hobart, Centurion, Diomede, with troop-transports, and sailed for Ceylon to take Trincomalee and other Dutch settlements on Ceylon. On 2 August 1795 Diomede, with a transport brig in tow, struck on a sunken rock and sank. She went down with all her stores on board but boats from the squadron saved her crew.

Although the loss of Diomede delayed the landing by a day, on 31 August the British captured Fort Ostenburg and with it Trincomalee. The British would go on to capture other Dutch settlements in India and Ceylon, but denying Trincomalee to the French was the most important objective.^[1] This time the British held Trincomalee until Sri Lanka's independence in 1948.

[edit] References

• [1]
• Marshman, John Clark (1867). The history of India, Volume 1. Harrison. OCLC 41875959. http://books.google.com/books?id=nrwIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR19&dq=Mahe+capture+1781#PPA395,M1. 

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