, 1805 In 1803, Aalbers again returned to the Dutch East Indies as part of a squadron under
Vice-admiral Pieter Hartsinck, captaining the 36-gun frigate
Pallas. Promoted to captain at sea in 1804, he continued to serve in the East Indies when the Batavian navy was transformed into the
navy of the Kingdom of Holland in mid-1806. In June of that year,
Royal Navy forces under
Rear-admiral Edward Pellew, having received information on Hartsinck's squadron and fearing that it could attack British trade routes in the region, began
a campaign to destroy it. In late July, Aalbers led a convoy from the Spice Islands which consisted of
Pallas and the 24-gun
corvette William under Captain-at-sea
P. Feteris acting as escorts for two
East Indiamen,
Victoria and
Batavier. On 25 July, the convoy
was spotted passing the
Selayar Strait by lookouts from two nearby British warships, the 32-gun frigate
HMS Greyhound under Captain
Edward Elphinstone and the 18-gun
brig-sloop under Commander
Edward Troubridge. Elphinstone immediately started to chase the Dutch convoy, with Aalbers responding by forming a
line of battle and retaining close formation as his ships passed the Dutch-controlled ports of
Bonthain and
Balacomba on the
Celebes coast. At around 21:00, Aalbers ordered his convoy to anchor offshore and prepare for the British attack. Elphinstone, fearing
Victoria might be a
ship of the line, halted his advance and
Greyhound and
Harrier stopped to observe the Dutch convoy during the night, maintaining a position windward of Aalbers' ships. At dawn,
Greyhounds lookouts were able to ascertain that
Victoria was a large merchantman rather than a warship and Elphinstone resumed the attack. Aalbers ordered his convoy to set sail shortly afterwards, his ships tacking away from the shore in line of battle ready for the British. However, in doing so
Pallas drew ahead of the next ship in the line, creating a gap through which a British attack could be directed. At 05:00, Elphinstone raised French colours in an effort to confuse the Dutch and indicated that he wished to speak with Aalbers, who was not fooled; when Elphinstone opened fire on
Pallas at close range at 05:30, the Dutch frigate immediately responded in kind. With the frigates engaged,
Harrier cut between
Pallas and
Victoria, Troubridge ordering his ship's
carronades to fire at
Victoria and his men to fire muskets at
Pallass crew.
Greyhound took advantage of the confusion
Harriers attack had created, passing
Pallass bow and
raking her. As
Pallass damage and casualties mounted,
Harrier joined the attack; a wounded Aalbers passed control over the ship to one of his lieutenants. Gunfire from the Dutch frigate gradually slackened, and finally stopped at 06:10 when she
struck her colours from the ship's mast with over 40 casualties from a crew of 250, 50 of whom were inexperienced native recruits. The British also captured
Victoria and
Batavier, with
William escaping. All three captured ships were taken over by British
prize crews and brought to
Port Cornwallis on
South Andaman Island. Eight members of
Pallass crew were killed and a further 32 were wounded, including Aalbers and three lieutenants. Six of the Dutch wounded later died of their injuries, including Aalbers. British losses by contrast were light, with one man killed and eight wounded on
Greyhound and three wounded on
Harrier. The Royal Navy subsequently took
Pallas into service as HMS
Makassar, and by the end of 1807 had all but destroyed Hartsinck's squadron. ==References==