Qualla: Macau Incident (1799) https://qualla.com/macau-incident-1799 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:17 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/e/b/v/macau-incident-1799-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Macau Incident (1799) https://qualla.com/macau-incident-1799 Macau Incident (1799): Introduction https://qualla.com/macau-incident-1799/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Six warships crossed the South China Sea in January 1799 with orders to destroy the most valuable convoy in British trade. The Franco-Spanish squadron — two ships of the line, four frigates — had been assembling for months, drawing together French vessels from Batavia and Spanish ships from Manila, united by the common purpose of the French Revolutionary Wars and the specific prize of the annual China Fleet gathering in Macau. The British commander who met them, Captain William Hargood aboard HMS Intrepid, was outnumbered in both ships and guns. What happened next is still disputed. Both sides claimed victory. Neither fired a meaningful shot.

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/e/b/v/macau-incident-1799-wp/webv-macau-incident-1799-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Macau Incident (1799): The China Fleet and Its Enemies https://qualla.com/macau-incident-1799/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Every year, a convoy of East Indiamen assembled at Whampoa Anchorage near Canton, loaded with goods from Qing Dynasty China, and made the six-month voyage across the Indian Ocean and through the Atlantic to Britain. The value was staggering: one such convoy in 1804 carried goods ...

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/e/b/v/macau-incident-1799-wp/webv-macau-incident-1799-the-china-fleet-and-its-enemies.mp3 0:06 2 full Macau Incident (1799): Six Days of Warning https://qualla.com/macau-incident-1799/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Rear-Admiral Peter Rainier, commanding British naval interests across a vast stretch of ocean from the Red Sea to the Dutch East Indies, heard about the Franco-Spanish junction soon enough to act — barely. He ordered reinforcements to Macau: the 38-gun HMS Virginie and a 74-gun s...

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/e/b/v/macau-incident-1799-wp/webv-macau-incident-1799-six-days-of-warning.mp3 0:06 3 full Macau Incident (1799): Lines of Battle, Then Darkness https://qualla.com/macau-incident-1799/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Hargood sailed out to meet Álava, both squadrons forming lines of battle and steering toward each other, HMS Virginie leading the British line. What happened next is the crux of a dispute that neither side ever resolved. Hargood reported that the Franco-Spanish squadron turned an...

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/e/b/v/macau-incident-1799-wp/webv-macau-incident-1799-lines-of-battle-then-darkness.mp3 0:06 4 full Macau Incident (1799): The Verdict of History https://qualla.com/macau-incident-1799/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Historian C. Northcote Parkinson gave the fairest summary: "It is perhaps fair to conclude that neither squadron was spoiling for a fight." The French officers who had expected a triumph reacted badly. Lhermitte, captain of Preneuse, responded with what his contemporaries describ...

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/e/b/v/macau-incident-1799-wp/webv-macau-incident-1799-the-verdict-of-history.mp3 0:06 5 full Macau Incident (1799): What the Islands Witnessed https://qualla.com/macau-incident-1799/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Wanshan Archipelago — then known to European sailors as the Ladrones Islands, the Spanish word for thieves — provided the geography of the encounter. Its scatter of 104 islands, channels, and anchorages south of the Pearl River estuary offered cover to a squadron that preferr...

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]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/e/b/v/macau-incident-1799-wp/webv-macau-incident-1799-what-the-islands-witnessed.mp3 0:06 6 full