In response Response France authorized Preventing_or_letting privateers to conduct Action attacks Attack on American shipping , seizing Self_motion numerous merchant ships , and ultimately leading Causation the U.S. to retaliate Revenge .

It involved Cause_to_be_included two years of hostilities at sea , in which both navies and privateers attacked Attack the other 's shipping in the West Indies .

The unexpected fighting Hostile_encounter ability of the newly re-established U.S. Navy , which concentrated Aiming on attacking Attack the French West Indian privateers , together with the growing Expansion weaknesses and final overthrow Change_of_leadership of the ruling French Directory , led Causation Foreign Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord ( better known as Talleyrand ) to reopen Openness negotiations Communication with the US .

Russian privateers later brought in Bringing 3 small craft .

A failed attempt Hold by a French fleet to sail Self_motion had been defeated Conquering at the Battle Hostile_encounter of Basque Roads in 1809 , and the main operations Military_operation still carried out Military_operation by the Navy were undertaken Action by privateers and frigate squadrons operating Being_in_operation commerce raiders operating Being_in_operation from smaller ports , such as those on the English Channel .

After a desultory naval bombardment Attack on 19 January that again had little effect on the port 's defences Defending , they withdrew , and decided Deciding instead to attack Attack Guadeloupe , home to a significant body of French privateers .

French privateers operating Control from the Indian Ocean islands of Île Bonaparte and Île de France were a serious threat to British trade across the Indian Ocean during the Wars Hostile_encounter , and the British deployed Arranging numerous methods of intercepting them , including disguising warships as merchant vessels to lure Hold privateers into unequal engagements Hostile_encounter with more powerful warships .

French privateers operating Control from the Indian Ocean islands of Île Bonaparte and Île de France were a serious threat to British trade across the Indian Ocean during the Wars Hostile_encounter , and the British deployed Arranging numerous methods of intercepting them , including disguising warships as merchant vessels to lure Hold privateers into unequal engagements Hostile_encounter with more powerful warships .

Martinique , like nearby Guadeloupe , was a major threat to British trade in the Caribbean , providing Supply a sheltered base from which privateers and French Navy warships could raid Attack British shipping and disrupt Attack the trade routes that maintained Preserving the British economy .

The Sunda Strait campaign of January 1794 was a series of manoeuvres and naval actions fought Hostile_encounter between warships and privateers of the French Republic and a squadron of vessels sent Sending by the British East India Company to protect Defending trade in the region , later augmented Cause_change_of_strength by Dutch warships .

French privateers rapidly spread Dispersal along the British trade routes in the Far East , becoming concentrated around the narrow Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies .

The arrival Arriving of this British force on 2 January 1794 was initially a success Achieve , the squadron over-running and capturing Conquering two large and well-armed privateers on 22 January , not long after the French vessels had been beaten Bodily_harm off during an attack Attack on the British trading post at Bencoolen .