Battle of Cape Ortegal The Battle of Cape Ortegal was the final action of the Trafalgar Campaign , and was fought between a squadron of the Royal Navy and a remnant of the fleet that had been destroyed earlier at the Battle of Trafalgar . It took place on 4 November 1805 off Cape Ortegal , in north - west Spain and saw Captain Sir Richard Strachan defeat and capture a French squadron under Rear - Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley . It is sometimes known as Strachan ' s Action . Dumanoir had commanded the van of the line at Trafalgar , and had managed to escape the battle having suffered relatively little damage . He initially attempted to continue the fleet ' s mission and enter the Mediterranean , but fearful of encountering strong British forces , changed his mind and headed north to skirt round Spain and reach the French Atlantic ports . On his journey he encountered two British frigates but drove them off , but shortly afterwards came across a single British frigate and chased it . The frigate led Dumanoir within range of a British squadron under Strachan , who was patrolling the area in search of a different French squadron . Strachan immediately gave chase , while Dumanoir fled from the superior force he had been lured towards . Strachan ' s squadron took time to form up , but he was able to use the frigates attached to it to harass and slow the French , until his larger ships of the line could catch up . There then followed several hours of fierce fighting , before Strachan was able to outmanoeuvre his opponent and double his line with frigates and ships of the line . The French ships were then overwhelmed and forced to surrender . All four ships were taken back to Britain as prizes and commissioned into the Navy . Strachan and his men were handsomely rewarded by a public who viewed the successful outcome as completing Nelson ' s victory at Trafalgar . Prelude . Dumanoir escapes . Four French ships of the line stationed towards the head of the combined fleet ' s line escaped the Battle of Trafalgar under Rear - Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley , and sailed southwards . Pelley ' s initial intention was to carry out Villeneuve ' s original orders , and make for Toulon . The day after the battle he changed his mind , remembering that a substantial British squadron under Rear - Admiral Thomas Louis was patrolling the straits . With a storm gathering in strength off the Spanish coast , Pelley sailed westwards to clear Cape St Vincent , prior to heading north - west , and then swinging eastwards across the Bay of Biscay , aiming to reach the French port at Rochefort . His squadron represented a still - considerable force , having suffered only slight damage at Trafalgar . In escaping from Trafalgar Dumanoir ' s flagship , " Formidable " had jettisoned twelve 12 - pounder guns from her quarterdeck in order to lighten her load and effect her escape . Dumanoir doubled Cape St Vincent on 29 October and made for Île - d ' Aix , entering the Bay of Biscay on 2 November . Baker sights the French . There were a number of British ships and squadrons already in the bay , and on the look out for French ships . Zacharie Allemand , commander of the Rochefort squadron , had sailed from the port in July 1805 , and was currently cruising in the Atlantic , raiding British shipping . One of the British ships sent out on patrol was the 36 - gun HMS " Phoenix " , under the command of Captain Thomas Baker . Baker had orders to patrol west of the Scilly Isles , but in late October he received news from several neutral merchants that Allemand ' s squadron had been sighted in the Bay of Biscay . Baker immediately left his station and sailed southwards , reaching the latitude of Cape Finisterre on 2 November , just as Dumanoir was entering the bay . Baker sighted four ships steering north - north - west at 11 o ' clock , and immediately gave chase . The ships , which Baker presumed to be part of the Rochefort squadron , but were actually Dumanoir ' s ships , bore up at noon and began to chase " Phoenix " , which fled south . In doing so Baker hoped to lure the French onto a British squadron under Captain Sir Richard Strachan that he knew to be in the area . Baker kept ahead of the pursuing French , and at 3 o ' clock that afternoon he sighted four sails heading south . Dumanoir ' s forces also saw them , and stood to the east , while Baker , no longer pursued , kept the French sails under observation . Having ascertained the strength and disposition of the French ships , Baker resumed sailing to the south - east , firing guns and signalling to the four ships he had seen and supposed to be British . Dumanoir ' s forces had already had a run - in with the British , having been chased by two frigates , the 38 - gun under Captain John Maitland , and the 36 - gun under Captain Adam Drummond . " Boadicea " and " Dryad " sighted " Phoenix " and the four sails to the south at 8 . 45 that evening , and made signals to them . Baker was suspicious of the new sails , standing between him and the French ships , and so did not stand towards them , instead continuing on to the sails in the south . By now it was clear on " Boadicea " and " Dryad " that a substantial force was gathering , as " Phoenix " closed with four ships of the line , and three other sails were also sighted in the vicinity . They eventually drew to within two miles of the weather - most ship , the 80 - gun HMS " Caesar " , but received no reply to their signals , and drew away at 10 . 30pm , where after they lost sight of both the French and British ships , and took no further part in the battle . Strachan gives chase . By 11pm Baker had finally reached the ships , and passing under the stern of " Caesar " received confirmation that the ships were Strachan ' s squadron , as he had initially surmised . Baker informed Strachan that he had sighted a part of the Rochefort squadron to leeward , and Strachan immediately determined to seek an engagement . Strachan ' s squadron was however badly scattered by this stage , and after setting sail to intercept the French , sent Baker to round up the remaining ships and order them on to support him . Strachan ' s squadron consisted at this time of the 80 - gun " Caesar " , the 74 - gun " Hero " , " Courageux " , " Namur " and , and the frigates the 36 - gun " Santa Margarita " and 32 - gun " Aeolus " . Strachan began the chase with only " Caesar " , " Hero " , " Courageux " and " Aeolus " , and chased the French , who were by now pressing on sail for the north west , until losing them in hazy weather at 1 . 30 in the morning . They then shortened sail to await the rest of the squadron , and were joined at daylight on 3 November by " Santa Margarita " . The chase began again in earnest , and at 7 . 30 am Cape Ortegal was sighted , 36 miles to the southeast . The French ships were again sighted at 9am , and at 11am the lead British ships sighted " Namur " and " Phoenix " astern , and hurrying to catch up . With them was another frigate , the 38 - gun HMS " Révolutionnaire " , under Captain Hon . Henry Hotham , who had stumbled across the chase . The chase continued throughout the day and into the night , by which time the faster " Santa Margarita " and " Phoenix " were well ahead of the main British force . The " Bellona " had been unable to rejoin the squadron , and took no part in the battle . Action . The battle began at 5 . 45 on the morning of 4 November , when " Santa Margarita " closed on the stern of the rear - most French ship , " Scipion " , and opened fire , being joined by " Phoenix " at 9 . 30 . At this stage the French were sailing roughly in line abreast , with " Phoenix " and " Santa Margarita " snapping at " Scipion " s heels . Strachan was about six miles behind the French with " Caesar " , " Hero " and " Courageux " , accompanied by " Aeolus " , while " Namur " and " Révolutionnaire " were some way astern of them . The British continued to overhaul the French , while " Scipion " exchanged fire with the harassing frigates from her stern - chasers . At 11 . 45 with an action now unavoidable Dumanoir ordered his ships to form line ahead on the starboard tack , as Strachan likewise lined his ships up and approached from windward on the French ships ' starboard side . By noon all four British frigates were in action , harassing " Scipion " on the portside , while " Namur " had nearly joined the ships of the line , who were firing on the rear - most French ships ' starboard side . Dumanoir had ordered his ships to tack in succession in 11 . 30 , and so bring his leading ship , " Duguay - Trouin " into the action to support his centre . The " Duguay - Trouin " made no move to obey the signal until 12 . 15 , and the French line began to turn towards the British ships of the line , and to pass down alongside them . Dumanoir had planned to carry out this manoeuvre at 8 that morning , but had cancelled it before it could be carried out . The two lines passed alongside each other , with Dumanoir finding that Strachan had doubled his line , with frigates on one side and ships of the line on the other . His ships suffered heavy damage as the two British lines and the French one passed by on opposite tacks , with Dumanoir aiming to isolate " Namur " before she could join the British line . The damage his ships had sustained rendered them slow and unmanoeuvrable , and Strachan was able to order his ships to tack themselves , to keep them alongside the French , while adding " Namur " to his line . Under heavy fire from the frigates on the starboard side and the ships of the line on their port , the French ships were worn down and by 3 . 10 " Scipion " and " Formidable " had been forced to strike their colours . Seeing their fate " Mont Blanc " and " Duguay - Trouin " attempted to escape but were chased down by " Hero " and " Caesar " and battered into submission by 3 . 35 . Aftermath . Strachan ' s triumph completed the rout of the French that Nelson had begun at Trafalgar . With the four ships taken at Cape Ortegal only five ships remained of the French portion of the combined fleet , and they were bottled up at Cadiz . All four captured ships were taken back to Britain and commissioned into the Royal Navy , with their crew transferred to prison camps . One of the ships , the former " Duguay - Trouin " served with the British for the next 144 years under the name . The British crews who had fought at Cape Ortegal were included in the large scale rewards made for the victory at Trafalgar . Captain Sir Richard Strachan was promoted to rear - admiral of the blue , while all first - lieutenants were advanced to commander . In addition Strachan was admitted to the Order of the Bath and his captains received gold medals . Dumanoir was less fortunate than his opponent . He and other French officers were quartered at Tiverton , where they were given considerable freedom , only required to be within the turnpike gates by 8pm in summer and 4pm in winter . While there he wrote to " The Times " to protest against unflattering comments made about his conduct at Trafalgar . He was released from captivity in 1809 and returned to France , where he faced not one but two courts of enquiry , one for his conduct at Trafalgar , and another for his defeat at Cape Ortegal . In the first he was accused of disobeying Villeneuve ' s instructions , not doing enough to support his admiral , and then fleeing the battle instead of fighting on . After the examination of various pieces of evidence , Dumanoir was acquitted of all charges . At the second court of enquiry Dumanoir was convicted of having failed to engage Strachan ' s squadron while it was still disorganised on the morning of 4 November , of having allowed the British frigates to harass his rear without trying to engage them , and for only turning to engage Strachan as his rear was being overwhelmed . The court concluded that he had been too indecisive . The verdict was passed to the Minister of Marine , Denis Decrès , in January 1810 but Decrès hesitated to order a court - martial . Napoleon wanted Dumanoir to be made an example of , but Decrès attempted to shield Dumanoir , and when he finally convened a court - martial at Napoleon ' s insistence , its orders were vague and it eventually acquitted Dumanoir and the surviving captains . Order of battle . Key Notes . a . " Formidable " is recorded as shipping water , and having three guns dismounted , while " Duguay - Trouin " suffered one man killed and three wounded . The damage was probably inflicted by one or both of and . b . Nominal armament , by the time of the battle she probably only mounted 65 guns , having had three guns dismounted at Trafalgar , and having jettisoned twelve during her escape . c . Strachan was serving in the post of commodore at the time , but held the rank of captain , and is referred to as ' Captain Strachan ' in the sources .