HMS Africa holds a convoy screen

Africa escorted 137 merchant ships through the Baltic with a bomb vessel and two gun-brigs when twenty-five Danish-Norwegian gunboats and seven armed launches moved against the convoy. The bomb vessel carried mortars for attacking shore positions from the sea. After the wind died, Africa could not manoeuvre while the flotilla positioned itself off her quarters, where relatively few British guns could answer. Africa endured nearly four hours of fighting until darkness ended the action. Nine men were killed and fifty-one wounded, including Captain John Barrett, and the ship had to return for repairs. The convoy reached Britain intact, making the encounter an escort success despite the absence of a captured or destroyed opponent. A claim that another hour of daylight would have allowed the Danes to capture Africa is questioned against her endurance and a normal complement of 480 to 520. Her attackers' combined firepower is estimated as comparable to a 74's, making her continued resistance under sustained fire evidence of a sturdy hull. Africa brought another large convoy home through severe weather and gales in 1810.