The French battle fleet encountered a Dutch convoy of fifty-three vessels during its Atlantic transit. The two escorts recognized that they could not fight a force of ships of the line and withdrew while the merchants scattered. French crews captured twenty merchant vessels from the dispersed formation. Villaret-Joyeuse's passage to support the grain convoy therefore also brought a substantial capture of coalition merchant shipping.
Notable Point · 1:27:22-1:27:59
A fifty-three-ship Dutch convoy scatters
Villaret-Joyeuse encountered a large Dutch convoy whose escorts could not oppose a battle fleet, allowing the French to capture twenty merchantmen.