Action of 4 August 1800

Action of 4 August 1800
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Date 4 August 1800 Location Off the coast of Brazil Result British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	France
Commanders and leaders
Henry Meriton	Jean Landolphe
Strength
1 ship of the line 7 merchant ships 1 whaler	3 frigates
Casualties and losses
None	2 frigates captured

The action of 4 August 1800 was a highly unusual naval engagement that took place off the Brazilian coast during the French Revolutionary Wars. A French frigate force that had been raiding British commerce off West Africa approached and attempted to attack a convoy of valuable East Indiamen (large and heavily armed merchant vessels sailing from Britain to British India and China), two ships sailing for Botany Bay, and a whaler sailing for the South Seas' whale fishery. The small British ship of the line HMS Belliqueux escorted the convoy, which otherwise had to rely on the ships' individual armament to protect them from attack. Due to their large size, the East Indiamen could be mistaken for ships of the line at a distance, and the French commander Commodore Jean-François Landolphe was un-nerved when the convoy formed a line of battle. Supposing his target to be a fleet of powerful warships he turned to escape and the British commander, Captain Rowley Bulteel, immediately ordered a pursuit. To preserve the impression of warships he also ordered four of his most powerful East Indiamen to join the chase.

Belliqueux rapidly out ran Landolphe's flagship Concorde, leaving Landolphe with no option but to surrender without any serious resistance. The rest of the French squadron continued to flee separately during the night, each pursued by two East Indiamen. After an hour and a half in pursuit, with darkness falling, the East Indiaman Exeter came alongside the French frigate Médée, giving the impression by use of lights that Exeter was a large ship of the line. Believing himself outgunned, Captain Jean-Daniel Coudin, of Médée, surrendered, only discovering his assailant's true identity when he came aboard Exeter. The action is the only occasion during the war in which a British merchant vessel captured a large French warship.