As soon as it was known to be British, the Phœnix, 40-gun frigate; the Aventure and Zee-ploeg, national corvettes; the Patriot, and another ship of 20 guns, and three brigs of 14, Company's cruisers; with more than twenty merchant vessels, ran themselves on shore under the extensive batteries of Batavia. Another corvette, the William, struck to the Terpsichore as she was entering the road; but the line-of-battle ships had sailed a few days before to Griessee, a fortified harbour on the Sourabaya river, at the eastern extremity of the island. The boats of the whole squadron, with five hundred picked men, commanded by the Admiral's second son, Captain Fleetwood Pellew, of the Terpsichore, and covered by the fire from the frigates, were sent without delay to destroy the enemy's ships. The decision of Captain Pellew, which scarcely allowed them time to man their guns, made their fire almost harmless. He boarded the Phœnix, whose crew quitted her on his approach; turned her guns on the other armed vessels; burnt all the shipping except three merchant vessels, which were brought away; and in less than two hours returned with the boats, having effected the whole service with no greater loss than one man killed and four wounded.

One of the ships lay at the little island of Onroost, which is piled and jettied all around, and contained a small and compact repairing yard for merchant vessels of all nations. Two boats were sent to destroy her, with strict orders to injure nothing on shore; but unfortunately she drove alongside the jetty, and, to the great regret of the Admiral, the flames communicated to the buildings, and occasioned much damage. The squadron sailed on the 1st of December, the Culloden and Belliqueux to return to India, the others for their respective stations. Thus easily was completed an enterprise, as admirably planned as it was gallantly executed. General Daendels, when he became Captain-General of Java and the Moluccas, some time after, sent a message to Sir Edward, that he hoped he would not pay him a visit without an invitation.

In the following June, the Admiral sent Captain Fleetwood Pellew in the Psyché, with the Caroline under his orders, to ascertain the condition of the Dutch line-of-battle ships at Griessee. Captain Pellew displayed on this occasion the same spirit which had marked his former service. The frigates reached their destination August 29th, and on the following day learned that the men-of-war were lying in the port dismantled, and very much out of repair. They now proceeded to Samarang, where the Psyché arrived, and anchored off the port at midnight, the Caroline having parted company in chase. At daylight she weighed, and stood into the road, where an armed schooner and a merchant brig were anchored near the batteries. These were brought out by the boats, under a heavy but ineffectual fire. Two large ships and a brig had been seen early in the morning at anchor outside, afterwards found to be the Resolutié, armed merchant vessel, of 700 tons, with a valuable cargo, and having the colours and staff of a Dutch European regiment on board; the Scipio, national corvette, of 24 guns and 150 men; and the Ceres, Company's brig of war. That he might be ready to take advantage of the sea-breeze, Captain Pellew destroyed the prizes, and before noon the Psyché was clear of the harbour in chase, the enemy having weighed and stood to sea. The frigate gaining fast upon them, they all ran themselves on shore at half-past three, and opened their fire. The Psyché anchored as near as the depth of water would allow, and presently compelled the merchant ship to surrender. At half-past four, just as the frigate was lowering her boats to board, the Scipio struck: and the brig soon after fired a broadside, and hauled down her colours. They were all got off safely the same night, and Captain Pellew, after arranging with the Governor of Samarang for sending on shore the prisoners, who far outnumbered his own crew, returned to port with his prizes.

On the arrival of the Psyché, Sir Edward sailed from Madras, with the Culloden and Powerful, seventy-fours; Caroline and Fox, frigates; Victor, Samarang, Seaflower, and Jaseur, sloops of war; and Wexford, a large Indiaman, fitted as a troop-ship: with five companies of the 34th regiment, and a company of artillery, under Lieutenant-Colonel Lockhart. The squadron proceeded first to Prince of Wales' Island, where it embarked the Royals, and the 34th; and on the 20th of November sailed finally for its destination. On the morning of the 5th of December it arrived off Point Panka, the eastern extremity of Java; and Sir Edward sent a summons to M. Cowell, commander of the Gallo-Batavian force, to surrender the ships of war under his orders. "The British," he wrote, "are the natural friends of the Dutch. We are impressed with correspondent sentiments. It is become our duty to prevent the Dutch ships of war from acting under the control of France in hostility to the British." He then proposed that the ships of war, and all vessels under French colours, be given up, promising in that case security for the inhabitants and garrison; and threatening, in the event of a refusal, those hostile operations which the naval and military forces were jointly prepared to accomplish. Captain Fleetwood Pellew, with a military officer, and the Admiral's secretary, delivered this proposal to the French commodore; but that officer, in violation of the flag of truce, detained them all as prisoners, and returned an answer of defiance.

The force assembled for the attack was such as might deter the enemy from attempting resistance, with a sufficient force of small vessels to be equal to the service, if the line-of-battle ships should be unable to get up. At the entrance of the river, about ten miles up the harbour, the Culloden and Powerful, though they had been previously lightened, and trimmed to an even keel, to equalize their draught of water fore-and-aft, grounded on what was called the bar, and which proved to be a flat, several miles in extent. Part of their water was started, and their guns, shot, provisions, and whatever would materially lighten them, were removed into three coasting-vessels detained for that purpose; but still they remained fast. The rest of the squadron, except the troop-ship, which was also aground, crossed the bar, and passing a stockade of large trees, anchored in deep water below the island of Madura. On the evening of the 6th, Sir Edward, seeing no probability of carrying up the large ships, determined to force the passage, and attack the place without them, and accordingly shifted his flag to the Caroline. Fortunately, at nine o'clock that night the water began to rise; and by ten, the Culloden was afloat and under sail. Following a boat with a light, which was directed by Mr. Gaze, the master, she passed the stockade, and by eleven o'clock was anchored above the bar in deep water. Before daylight, the Admiral returned to her, and all the squadron, except the Powerful and the troop-ship, which had not yet floated, weighed with the sea-breeze, and stood for the narrow passage between Madura and Java. At half-past eleven, they were engaged with the batteries on the island; but they passed them by half-past twelve, without having received material damage. At a little past four, the squadron anchored abreast of the Fort of Griessee, but no farther resistance was offered, except a few ineffectual shots fired from that fort at the Culloden; M. Cowell having previously determined to defend the place to the last against the frigates and sloops, but to surrender if the line-of-battle ships got up. The Powerful joined next day. In coming up, she was struck from the batteries on Madura with hot shot, but her people extinguished the fire. The troops took possession of the fort, leaving the town in the hands of the civil authorities: and on the 9th, the Governor and Council of Somabaya, having thankfully acquiesced in the liberal terms dictated by Sir Edward, all hostilities ceased. They had promptly released the gentlemen whom the commodore had so unjustifiably detained; and a deputation of three members of their own body accompanied them to the Admiral, to disavow the act of M. Cowell, and to treat for a capitulation.

Having burnt the Pluto, Revolutié, and Kortenaar, line-of-battle ships, and a large Indiaman, fitted as a frigate, and destroyed the military stores and batteries at Griessee and Madura, the squadron weighed on the 13th, and stood down the river in charge of the Dutch pilots. On the 15th, they crossed the bar, and two days after, having completed their provisions and water, left the coast. Not a man was lost in all the service. When Java was taken, in 1811, a squadron was sent to Sourabaya; but none of the large ships could get over the bar; and their officers would scarcely credit the fact that the Culloden and Powerful had reached Griessee.

The Culloden arrived at Madras on the 10th of February, and found there the Russell and Duncan, with troops embarked to attack Tranquebar. They sailed next day, and the place surrendered on being summoned.

But all these operations, complete as they were in their success, were of far less importance than the effectual protection which Sir Edward afforded to commerce. His position, with reference to this point, had been peculiarly fortunate: for the confidential intercourse which existed between him and his brothers, and the warm interest which they took in one another's pursuits, had induced him to give much attention to the commercial system of the country. Particularly, he had become familiar with the important subject of insurance and convoys, upon which his brother had been much in communication with the government. At an early period of his command in India, he submitted to the merchants and underwriters a proposal to establish a regular system of convoys; and invited them to suggest from their own local experience the regulations likely to be the most convenient and effectual. The merchants entered readily into his plans and the results were satisfactory. Some loss was, indeed, still experienced through a frequent practice of masters of vessels to sail without convoy, or to separate from it on the passage. The commanders of the enemy's cruisers generally treated their prisoners well, and released them at the earliest opportunity; so that sailing without protection became a mere commercial calculation between a higher premium of insurance, and the profits from an early arrival, for little personal inconvenience was to be apprehended from capture. To check this practice, the Bengal Government, in December, 1806, issued a proclamation, declaring that all masters of vessels who separated from their convoy without sufficient cause, should be removed from India; and in 1808, the Court of Directors ordered, that the master of every country ship should enter into a bond of 5,000 rupees, at the custom-house from which he cleared, as a penalty for any separation. Not that the danger was often great, for the vigilance of the squadron seldom allowed an enemy's cruiser a long career; but it sometimes happened, as was particularly the case while the force was assembled for the expedition to Sourabaya, that an enemy would unexpectedly show himself, and commit serious depredations.

During the debate in the House of Commons, on the vote of thanks for the victory at Algiers, Mr. Money, an East India Director, who had been in India during Sir Edward's command, bore a strong testimony to the merit and success of his system. "Such," he said, "was the vigilance with which Sir Edward had chased the enemy from our extensive shores, and so powerful the protection which he gave to our commerce in those seas, that property to the amount of millions had been saved, which otherwise would have fallen into the hands of the enemy." Making all the allowance which a loose and general estimate usually requires, the assertion at least shows the estimation in which Sir Edward's services were held. A series of resolutions entered into by the merchants and underwriters of Bombay, in December, 1808, when he was on the point of returning to Europe, affords more precise evidence. From the data furnished by the trade of this port, may be inferred the greatness of the benefits which the commerce of India received from his protection.

"Resolved—That it appears to this meeting of merchants, shipowners, and underwriters, of Bombay, to be an indispensable act of justice, more especially under existing circumstances, publicly to declare, on the approaching departure of his Excellency Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew for Europe, the extent of the protection which the commerce of Bombay has received, since the assumption by his Excellency of the command-in-chief of his Majesty's ships in the Indian seas.

"—That it appears by a document framed in the insurance-office of Bombay, that the rate of premium from Bombay to China, and from China to Bombay, from the year 1708 to 1805, fluctuated between twelve, ten, nine, and eight per cent.; while, during the period of Sir Edward Pellew's command, from 1805 to 1808 inclusive, it has stood at eight per cent., with a return of three per cent., if sailing with convoy, and at five per cent., if warranted with convoy: the rate of insurance has, therefore, been fifty per cent, lower on the commerce of the port of Bombay during Sir Edward Pellew's command than at any former period.

"—That since the arrival of Sir Edward Pellew, a period of only three years, one hundred and ten ships have exported and imported, to and from China, under convoy during the whole voyage; while only twenty-eight have run the passage unprotected, in consequence of their sailing out of the seasons fixed for the regular convoys; at the same time that those which have departed unprotected on the eve of appointed convoys, or have separated in the course of the voyage, have not failed to attract the notice and remonstrance of his Excellency.

"—That the operation of the system of convoys had afforded complete security to the trading capital of Bombay, of which the amount insured at this settlement, from May 1st, 1806, to October 31st, 1808, has been 6,700,000l.; that the premium paid by the trade on that sum amounts to 445,000l.; that the losses by captures amount to 61,000l.; that the losses by sea risks extended to 69,000l.; and that the profits to the underwriters amount to the sum of 314,000l.; the losses by captures being under one per cent, on the principal insured, and exceeded by those arising from sea-risks; while the former have occurred beyond the influence, or have been a consequence of a departure from that regular system of convoy, by which the commerce of the western division of the peninsula of India has been so extensively benefited.

"—That the advantage resulting from protection by convoys, which the trade of this port has thus experienced, has originated in that system which was established, and has prevailed, since the succession to the command of H.M.'s ships in India by Sir Edward Pellew; a system proposed at his express invitation, in the letter addressed to his Excellency by the three leading firms in behalf of the merchants of Bombay, on the 12th of February, 1806, and adopted in the reply of his Excellency's secretary of the following day.

"—That at a time when the enemy has sacrificed his maritime reputation, and every feeling of naval ambition, to a degrading system of privateering, in the prosecution of which national ships of superior force and construction are employed, for the purpose of committing depredations on our trade, it is indispensable to the successful prosecution of our commercial interests, essential to our national credit, and justly due to the character of those to whom the protection of these valuable and important trusts is committed, that a steady adherence to that system should be observed, of the solid advantages of which, the experience of three years has afforded so decided a proof.

"—That independently of the ample protection afforded to the commerce of the port, his Excellency Sir Edward Pellew has manifested a degree of personal anxiety for the security of its trade, characteristic of that zeal and vigilance which have ever distinguished his professional career; that the interference of his Excellency led to the advertisements issued at his suggestion by the insurance society of Bombay in the year 1806, promotive of encouragement to sail and continue under convoy; and subsequently, to the salutary provisions contained in the proclamations published by the governments of Bengal and Bombay in the year 1807, restrictive of the practice of ships separating from convoy; and, moreover, that his Excellency's solicitude in this respect has succeeded in establishing a degree of control over our shipping, hitherto unknown in the Indian seas.

"—That these important facts, as established by the most minute investigation, do eminently entitle his Excellency Sir Edward Pellew, to a more formal declaration of those grateful acknowledgments which he has already received from a great and decided majority of the merchants, shipowners, and underwriters of Bombay.

"—That these resolutions be communicated to his Excellency Sir Edward Pellew, with a suitable address, and published in the Bombay Courier.

"Charles Forbes, Chairman."