In 1747, Hawke intercepted roughly 250 French merchant vessels protected by eight ships of the line. Six escorts were captured while most of the convoy continued toward the West Indies. Outward-bound stores were worth less as prizes than the colonial cargoes those merchants hoped to bring home. Capturing the escorts therefore left the merchants without the same protection on their more valuable return voyage.
Chapter · 1:03:05-1:05:01
Finisterre's convoy strategy: destroy the escort first
Hawke accepted that most outward-bound merchants might escape because capturing their escort made the convoy and its valuable return cargo vulnerable later.