Cite
MLA
“Battle of Vizagapatam.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-vizagapatam-1804/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Vizagapatam. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-vizagapatam-1804/
Indecisive: Linois took one East Indiaman, the Princess Charlotte, but could not take the Centurion and sailed away.
01A raider in the Bay
Britain and France went back to war in 1803, and Linois, based at Île de France (Mauritius), spent 1804 raiding the shipping of the Indian Ocean in the 74-gun Marengo with two frigates. Working north along the Coromandel coast, he learned from a captured ship that two East Indiamen were lying at Visakhapatnam. Their escort was the old 50-gun Centurion, which had replaced a smaller frigate only days before.
02Under the shore guns
On the morning of 18 September the French bore down on the anchorage. The Princess Charlotte struck her colours and was taken; the other Indiaman, the Barnaby, cut her cable and ran ashore. The Centurion fought the Marengo and a frigate for several hours, with some help from the small battery on the shore, and was badly cut up in her rigging. Linois broke off in the afternoon and sailed out with his prize.
One of the few times a French fleet fought off the Indian coast in the Napoleonic wars; the capture of Mauritius in 1810 ended such raids.
