Action of 27 June 1798

Action of 27 June 1798
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Location of the engagement
Date 27 June 1798 Location Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea Result British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	France
Commanders and leaders
Captain Edward Foote	Captain G. F. J. Bourdé
Strength
Frigate HMS Seahorse	Frigate Sensible
Casualties and losses
2 killed, 16 wounded	Heavy casualties, Sensible captured

The action of 27 June 1798 was a minor naval engagement between British and French frigates in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. The engagement formed part of a wider campaign, in which a major French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria at the start of the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. The French frigate Sensible had been detached from the convoy after the capture of Malta, under orders to carry wounded soldiers and looted treasure back to France while the main body continued to Egypt. The British frigate HMS Seahorse was one of a number of vessels detached from the main British Mediterranean Fleet in the Tagus River, sent to augment the fleet under Sir Horatio Nelson that was actively hunting the French convoy.

Lookouts on Seahorse spotted Sensible at 16:00 on 26 June, and Captain Edward Foote immediately gave chase, the French frigate fleeing southwards. For 12 hours the pursuit continued until Foote was able to catch and defeat his opponent, inflicting heavy casualties on the weaker and overladen French frigate. Among the prisoners captured was General Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers who had been wounded in the storming of Malta, and among the treasure was an ornate seventeenth century cannon once owned by Louis XIV. The captured Sensible was initially fitted out as an active warship, but on arrival in Britain in 1799 the ship was downgraded to a transport. The action provided the British with the first conclusive evidence of the French intention to invade Egypt, but despite an extensive search for Nelson's fleet, Foote was unable to relay the location of the French to his admiral before the Battle of the Nile on 1 August.