en
already mentioned in connection with the _Nymphe_ and _Indefatigable_,
had taken four brigs in Batavia Road, and was returning to Prince of
Wales' Island. On the 15th of April 1807, off Cheribon, she met three
Malay prows under Dutch colours, which, on its falling calm, she
detained with the armed boats, and brought alongside. The crews of two
of them, a hundred and twenty men, were taken on board the _Victor_, and
placed under a guard, while the prows were being examined; but the
people in the third being refractory, a carronade was fired into her,
and some small arms, which they returned by throwing spears and firing
pistols. A second gun was therefore fired, some sparks from which
reached a quantity of powder which had been taken out of the prows, and
blew up the after-part of the ship. The guard ran to extinguish the
flames, leaving the prisoners, who instantly seized their arms, with the
spears and knives which had been thrown on board, and attacked the crew
with all the desperation of their character. The prows were immediately
cut adrift, and the crew, under the direction of their officers,
proceeded with admirable order and coolness, one part to extinguish the
fire, and the rest to defend themselves against the murderous attack.
After half an hour's dreadful struggle for life, for the Malays would
take no quarter, eighty of them lay dead on the deck, and the rest were
driven overboard. The _Victor_ had her first lieutenant and five men
killed, and her captain and twenty-five wounded; nine of whom died
shortly after.

Holland, which in reality, though not yet in name, was now a French
province, had a moderately strong squadron in India. Two frigates had
been taken since Sir Edward's arrival, the _Maria Riggersbergen_, by the
_Caroline_; and the _Pallas_, by the _Greyhound_ and _Harrier_. The
first was the unfortunate ship which, under the name of the _Java_,
shared the fate of the _Blenheim_; the other was the convoy of the spice
ships. Two line-of-battle ships, the _Pluto_ and _Revolutie_ with a
frigate and several corvettes and gun-boats, were at anchor in Batavia
Road; and information had been received by the _Powerful_, 74, Captain
Plamplin, that Rear-Admiral Willaumez, with six sail of the line, one of
them commanded by Jerome Bonaparte, might be expected in the Indian
seas. To destroy the ships already at Batavia, and to intercept the
French squadron, Sir Edward sailed on the 22nd of October 1806, from