eventually returned to France, although without many of his squadron who were destroyed by British operations or Atlantic gales. Linois, despite the criticism levelled at him for his failures in the Indian Ocean, was considered to have fought hard and been unlucky to have encountered such an overwhelming force. Made a prisoner of war, Linois was not exchanged by Napoleon, who criticised his behaviour during the campaign and refused to employ him at sea again. Background By March 1806, the French squadron under Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois had been operating against British trade in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere since the start of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803. Despatched to India before war was declared, Linois left Brest in March 1803, sailing to the South China Sea in an effort to intercept the China Fleet, a huge merchant convoy from Canton to Britain via Madras that carried goods worth in excess of £8 million. On 15 February 1804, Linois encountered the China Fleet, which due to delays with the squadron in India had sailed without its Royal Navy escort. The loss of this undefended convoy could have devastated the British economy and been the highlight of Linois's career, but instead the French admiral was fooled by a ruse of the convoy commander, Commodore Nathaniel Dance. Dance pretended that some of his East Indiaman merchant ships were disguised ships of the line and engaged Linois at long range, dissuading the French commander from pressing the attack. Dance's merchant ships even pursued the fleeing French squadron for some distance, before resuming their original course. This affair, known as the Battle of Pulo Aura, was a humiliation for Linois and provoked Napoleon's fury when the Emperor was informed of it by the governor of Île de France, Charles Decaen. Six months later, Linois was operating off the Indian port of Vizagapatam when his squadron encountered the British warship HMS Centurion and two merchant ships under her protection. In the ensuing Battle of Vizagapatam, Centurion was badly damaged; one of the merchant ships was captured and the other driven ashore. Rather than ensure the capture or destruction of Centurion, Linois refused further combat for fear of damaging his ships in shallow coastal waters and withdrew, again provoking censure from Napoleon. In August 1805, Linois was engaged with another convoy of East Indiamen in the central Indian Ocean, but on this occasion was confronted by