It was Sir Edward Pellew’s fortune, as he had been prominent in the services connected with the sailing of this armament, to mark the return of it by a battle, the only one fought, and equally singular in its circumstances, and appalling in its result.  He put to sea with the Indefatigable and Amazon on the 22nd, and supposing the enemy to have gone to the southward, cruised off Capes Ortugal and Finisterre until the 11th of January.  On the 2nd, the Amazon carried away her main-topmast, and on the 11th, the Indefatigable sprung her main-topmast and topsail-yard in a squall, and was obliged to shift them.  Returning towards the Channel, on the 13th of January, at a little past noon, the ships being about fifty leagues south-west of Ushant, and the wind blowing hard from the westward, with thick weather, a sail was discovered in the north-west.  Sail was made in chase, and by four o’clock the stranger, at first supposed to be a frigate, as she had no poop, was clearly made out to be a French two-decker.

The enemy’s ship, the Droits de l’Homme, commanded by Commodore, ci-devant Baron Lacrosse, was one of those which had proceeded to the Shannon, after having been blown out of Bantry Bay.  She was the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Bouvet, but this officer, according to a frequent practice of French admirals, had embarked in a frigate.  General Humbert, who commanded one of the expeditions to Ireland in 1798, had taken his passage in her.  That morning she had arrived within twenty-five leagues of Belleisle, and as the weather appeared threatening, she stood to the southward, fearing to approach nearer to the shore.  Early in the afternoon she saw two large ships at a short distance to windward, probably the Revolution and Fraternite, but not waiting to ascertain their character, she made sail from them to the south-east.  At half-past three she first discovered on her lee-bow the two frigates, which had observed her three hours before, and were steering a course nearly parallel to her own, to cut her off from the land.

The wind had now increased to a gale, and the sea was fast rising.  At half-past four the enemy carried away her fore and main-topmasts in a heavy squall.  At three-quarters past five the Indefatigable came up with her, and having shortened sail to close-reefed topsails, poured in a broadside as she crossed her stern.  The enemy returned it from some of the upper-deck guns, and by showers of musketry from the troops, of whom there were nearly a thousand on board.  So close were the ships, that some of the Indefatigable’s people tore away the enemy’s ensign, which became entangled in the mizen rigging.  The Indefatigable then tried to pass ahead and gain a position on the enemy’s bow, but the line-of-battle ship avoided this, and attempted, but without success, to lay the frigate on board, actually grazing the Indefatigable’s spanker-boom.