1st Battle of Cape Finisterre

Notes on Action

La Jonquiere was but ill-supported. Several of the French East India ships, especially the Vigilant and Modeste, and later the Thetis and Apollon, looked to nothing but the idea of saving themselves. It is useless to examine the tactical details of an action of this kind. Suffice to say, that, after a running fight lasting from 4 to 7 P.M., in which several of the French captains behaved with great courage and others conducted themselves with equal cowardice, all the ships which had remained in the French line struck. At 7 P.M. Anson brought to, and detached the Monmouth, Yarmouth and Nottingham in pursuit of the convoy, which then bore W. by S.W., distant about five leagues, and which had been followed and observed during the action by the Falcon. These ships captured the Vigilant, the Modeste and the Dartmouth, once a British privateer, together with six of the convoy. Night saved the rest.

The battle, considering its nature, was a costly one. The French lost about 700 killed and wounded, and the British, 520. Among the French officers killed was Captain de Saliez, and among those wounded were La Jonquiere himself and d'Aubigny, his flag captain. On the British side Captain Thomas Grenville, of the Defiance, was killed, and Captain Boscawen, of the Namur, wounded. The victors found specie to the value of 300,000 on board the prizes. For this service Anson was created a peer, and Warren, a K.B. All the men-of-war taken, and also the East Indiaman Thetis, were purchased into the Royal Navy. The name of the Serieux was changed to Intrepid, and that of the Diamant to Isis.