<P> At the Battle of Pulo Aura, which was probably the company's most notable naval victory, Nathaniel Dance, Commodore of a convoy of Indiamen and sailing aboard the Warley, led several Indiamen in a skirmish with a French squadron, driving them off . Some six years earlier, on 28 January 1797, five Indiamen, the Woodford, under Captain Charles Lennox, the Taunton - Castle, Captain Edward Studd, Canton, Captain Abel Vyvyan, Boddam, Captain George Palmer, and Ocean, Captain John Christian Lochner, had encountered Admiral de Sercey and his squadron of frigates . On this occasion the Indiamen also succeeded in bluffing their way to safety, and without any shots even being fired . Lastly, on 15 June 1795, the General Goddard played a large role in the capture of seven Dutch East Indiamen off St Helena . </P> <P> East Indiamen were large and strongly built and when the Royal Navy was desperate for vessels to escort merchant convoys it bought several of them to convert to warships . Earl of Mornington became HMS Drake . Other examples include: </P> <Ul> <Li> HMS Calcutta (1795) </Li> <Li> HMS Glatton (1795) </Li> <Li> HMS Hindostan (1795) </Li> <Li> HMS Hindostan (1804) </Li> <Li> HMS Malabar (1804) </Li> <Li> HMS Buffalo (1813) </Li> </Ul> <Li> HMS Calcutta (1795) </Li>

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