In Trincomalee Suffren had a good anchorage; but the insufficiency of its resources, with other military considerations, decided him to winter at Acheen, at the west end of Sumatra.  He arrived there on the 2d of November, having first paid a visit to Cuddalore, where the Bizarre, 64, was wrecked by carelessness.  On the 20th of December he left Acheen for the Coromandel coast, having shortened his stay to the eastward for reasons of policy.  On the 8th of January, 1783, he was off Ganjam, on the Orissa coast, and thence reached Trincomalee again on the 23d of February.  There he was joined on the 10th of March by three ships of the line from Europe:  two 74’s and one 64.  Under their convoy came General de Bussy, with twenty-five hundred troops, which were at once despatched to Cuddalore.

On the 10th of April Vice-Admiral Hughes, returning from Bombay, passed Trincomalee on the way to Madras, The various maritime occurrences, wrecks and reinforcements, since the battle of September 3d had reversed the naval odds, and Hughes now had eighteen ships of the line, one of which was an eighty, opposed to fifteen under Suffren.  Another important event in the affairs of India was the death of Hyder Ali, on the 7th of December, 1782.  Although his policy was continued by his son, Tippoo Saib, the blow to the French was serious.  Under all the conditions, the British authorities were emboldened to attempt the reduction of Cuddalore.  The army destined to this enterprise marched from Madras, passed round Cuddalore, and encamped south of it by the shore.  The supply-ships and lighter cruisers anchored near, while the fleet cruised to the southward.  Being there to windward, for the south-west monsoon had then set in, it covered the operations against disturbance from the sea.

Towards the beginning of June the investment of the place was complete by land and by water.  Intelligence of this state of things was brought on the 10th of June to Suffren, who by Bussey’s direction was keeping his inferior fleet in Trincomalee until its services should be absolutely indispensable.  Immediately upon receiving the news he left port, and on the 13th sighted the British fleet, then at anchor off Porto Novo, a little south of Cuddalore.  Upon his approach Hughes moved off, and anchored again five miles from the besieged place.  For the next two days the French were baffled by the winds; but on the 17th the south-west monsoon resumed, and Suffren again drew near.  The British Vice-Admiral, not caring to accept action at anchor, got under way, and from that time till the 20th remained outside, trying to obtain the weather-gage, in which he was frustrated by the variableness of the winds.  Meanwhile Suffren had anchored near the town, communicated with the general, and, being very short of men at the guns, had embarked twelve hundred troops for his expected battle; for it was evident that the issue of the siege would turn upon the control of the sea.  On the 18th he weighed again, and the two fleets manoeuvred for the advantage, with light baffling airs, the British furthest from shore.