Action of 12 May 1796

Action of 12 May 1796
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
The cutter Mary Ann and HMS Sylph, Thomas Whitcombe
Date 12 May 1796 Location Off Texel, North Sea Result British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	Batavian Republic
Commanders and leaders
Lawrence Halstead	Unknown captain
Strength
3 frigates 1 sloop	1 frigate 3 brigs 1 cutter
Casualties and losses
1 killed 3 wounded	6 killed 28 wounded 1 frigate captured 2 brigs captured 1 brig destroyed 1 cutter destroyed

The action of 12 May 1796 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of British Royal Navy frigates and a frigate and four smaller ships of the Batavian Navy. The British squadron had been detached on the previous day from the British North Sea fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, which was cruising off the Batavian fleet anchorage at the Texel, while the Batavian squadron was returning to the Netherlands from the Norwegian coast where it had been sheltering since suffering defeat at the action of 22 August 1795 the previous year. As the Batavian squadron neared the Dutch coast, the British squadron under Captain Lawrence Halstead attacked.

In his frigate HMS Phoenix, Halstead was able to cut the Batavian frigate Argo off from the shore and bring it to battle, forcing it to surrender in just 20 minutes as other British ships closed with the combat. The remainder of the Batavian squadron had dispersed eastwards away from the frigates and Duncan's fleet, pursued by the frigate HMS Pegasus and brig-sloop HMS Sylph. After a lengthy chase, Phoenix caught the cutter Duke of York, Sylph seized the brig Mercury, while Pegasus succeeded in driving the other brigs, Echo and Gier ashore, where both were believed wrecked. Duncan's blockade of the Texel was instrumental in British control of the North Sea, and a year later it would achieve a decisive victory at the Battle of Camperdown.