Storm & Conquest by Stephen Taylor

I have just read this book which is variously subtitled The Battle for the Indian Ocean 1808-1810 or The Battle for the Indian Ocean 1809. I would think the former more accurate.

The book gives a well researched insight into what was going on in the region of the Indian Ocean both at sea and ashore. How this area, effectively ruled by the East India company, was affected by the European governments and East india House is also explored.

The early part of the book deals mainly with how the 'East Indiaman' ships were run and the lives of passengers and crew culminating in the loss of several ships in two hurricanes. The latter part concentrates on the campaign against the islands of Ile de France (Mauritius) and Bourbon. Part of this campaign was the Battle of Grand Port which, as the British lost four frigates to the French, is not often covered in fiction. We learn much of the personalities involved, both on the British and French sides, and as with recent treatments of 'Bounty' Bligh the narrative is revisionist in that a new look is taken as the underlying facts rather than perpetuating the stories that gained credence at the time. This is particularly true of Captain Corbet of Neriede and Africaine who's tendency to flog created many myths that he was killed by his own crew or that they refused to fight the enemy resulting in the loss of the ship.

These events were covered in Patrick O'Brian's Mauritius Command and C. Northcote Parkinson's Dead Reckoning.

If you want to know more of this far off campaign I strongly recommend this book.

Just noticed that Amazon (U.S.) has Storm and Conquest for only three dollars, so I've ordered a copy.

Look forward to reading it.

I got the American edition which used the date 1809 in its title.

As a student of militray history, I can't pass these books up when I find them. I had read about Mauritius and the battles in the Indian Ocean following Trafalgar and the cessation of the threat of invasion by France. The lucrative targets "John Company" presented and command of that ocean seemed an obvious place to continue the conflict.

In answer to the question; "did the French ever win any battles?" Read about the frigate actions in the battle for Mauritius and come up with your own answers. I found that it read as good as any novel that approached the subject. I recommend it for your "reading adventure".

It's in my library.