| dbo:abstract |
Nathaniel Dance, né à Londres le 20 juin 1748 et mort à Enfield le 25 mars 1827, fut un commandant très célèbre de la British East India Company. Il participa à plusieurs engagements navals contre les français durant les Guerres napoléoniennes, notamment la bataille de Pulo Aura dans le détroit de Malacca, le 15 février 1804 contre la flotte de l’amiral Charles Alexandre Léon Durand de Linois. Il est le petit-fils de l’architecte George Dance l’Ainé (1695 – 1768), chez lequel il vécut, lorsque son père (1722–1744), devenu acteur et dramaturge, abandonna son épouse Elizabeth pour aller vivre avec une actrice.Il est aussi le neveu du portraitiste et homme politique Nathaniel Dance-Holland (1735–1811) et de l’architecte George Dance le Jeune (1741–1825). (fr) Sir Nathaniel Dance (20 June 1748 – 25 March 1827) was an officer of the East India Company who had a long and varied career on merchant vessels, making numerous voyages to India and back with the fleets of East Indiamen. He was already aware of the risks of the valuable ships he sailed on being preyed on by foreign navies, having been captured by a Franco-Spanish fleet in 1780 during the East Indies campaign of the American War of Independence. His greatest achievement came during the Napoleonic Wars, when having been appointed commodore of one of the company's fleets, he came across a French squadron under Rear-Admiral Comte de Linois, which was raiding British shipping in the area. Through skillful seamanship and aggressive tactics he fooled the French commander into thinking that the British convoy was escorted by powerful naval forces, and the French decided not to risk attacking the convoy. Dance compounded the deception by taking his lightly armed merchants and chasing the French away, despite the considerable disparity of force. Having saved the convoy from almost certain destruction, Dance was hailed as a hero, lavishly rewarded with money and a knighthood, and spent the last years of his life in comfortable retirement. (en) |
| rdfs:comment |
Nathaniel Dance, né à Londres le 20 juin 1748 et mort à Enfield le 25 mars 1827, fut un commandant très célèbre de la British East India Company. Il participa à plusieurs engagements navals contre les français durant les Guerres napoléoniennes, notamment la bataille de Pulo Aura dans le détroit de Malacca, le 15 février 1804 contre la flotte de l’amiral Charles Alexandre Léon Durand de Linois. (fr) Sir Nathaniel Dance (20 June 1748 – 25 March 1827) was an officer of the East India Company who had a long and varied career on merchant vessels, making numerous voyages to India and back with the fleets of East Indiamen. He was already aware of the risks of the valuable ships he sailed on being preyed on by foreign navies, having been captured by a Franco-Spanish fleet in 1780 during the East Indies campaign of the American War of Independence. His greatest achievement came during the Napoleonic Wars, when having been appointed commodore of one of the company's fleets, he came across a French squadron under Rear-Admiral Comte de Linois, which was raiding British shipping in the area. (en) |
