Action of 7 February 1813 The Action of 7 February 1813 was a naval battle between two evenly matched frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy , " Aréthuse " and HMS " Amelia " . The battle was fought in the night of 7 February 1813 at the Îles de Los , off Guinea . It lasted four hours , causing significant damage and casualties to both opponents , and resulted in a stalemate . The two ships parted and returned to their respective port of call , both sides claiming victory . Background . After the British victory in the Mauritius campaign of 1809 – 1811 , all French possession in the Indian Ocean were at the hands of Britain . France had already lost the use of Cape Town in 1806 after the Battle of Blaauwberg , and of Batavia in 1811 with the British Invasion of Java . Thus , in 1813 , the French Navy lacked the advanced bases it needed to support the commerce raiding frigate squadron that it had operated in the previous decade . It was therefore decided to send a force off the Western coast of Africa to disrupt British shipping closer to the metropole , but still far enough to be unreachable to the powerful British naval divisions that blockaded the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay . To this end , a frigate division was given to Captain Pierre Bouvet , a skilled frigate captain , veteran of the Mauritius campaign and who had led the French forces during the second half of the Battle of Grand Port . The squadron comprised the 40 - gun frigate " Aréthuse " , under Bouvet himself , and the " Rubis " , under Commander Louis - François Ollivier . Another two - frigate squadron , made up of " Elbe " and " Hortense " , was to perform the same mission with a two - week interval . Cruise of Bouvet ' s division . On 25 November 1812 , Bouvet ' s division departed from Nantes , sneaked through the British blockade , and established a station to the North - East of the Azores , near the group of five rocks called " Vigie des Cinq Grosses - Têtes " ( 44°17 ' N , 21°45 ' W ) . The frigates then continued to cruise off Madeira and Cape Verde . In the course of January , continual gale and preliminary symptoms of a fever epidemic decided Bouvet sail South with two prizes , the British cutter " Hawk " , and the other the Portuguese slave ship " Serra " , to anchor at the Îles de Los , off Sierra Leone . On 27 January , the frigates and their prizes came in view of the islands when the 16 - gun HMS " Daring " , under Lieutenant William Pascoe , appeared . Mistaking the French frigates for British cruisers , " Daring " launched a boat towards " Rubis " , which altered her course to intercept ; as the frigate approached , the boat realised her error and attempted to flee , to no avail . Questionning his prisoners , Ollivier learnt the identity of his opponent , and gave chaze . Hopelessly outmanned and outgunned , Pascoe threw his brig on the coast , on the North - Western point of Tamara , and scuttled her by fire . " Daring " s magazines detonated at 5 in the evening , and the French frigates dropped anchor one hour later . Ashore , the French gathered fruits , resupplied their fresh water , and gathered intelligence on the British deployment : the station of Sierra Leone comprised two frigates and several corvettes , but only HMS " Amelia " was anchored in the bay at the time . After six days of repairs and resuply , " Aréthuse " and " Rubis " were ready for a six - month cruise ; to unburden himself of his prisoners and prizes , Bouvet returned " Serra " to the Portuguese , and on 29 January , the British were released on parole and sent to Sierra - Leone on " Hawk " . Bouvet departed on 4 February . Meanwhile , on 29 January , Lieutenant Pascoe had arrived on Freetown , with some of his men , and informed " Amelia " of the presence of what he believed to be three French frigates at Tamara . " Hawk " arrived the same evening with the prisoners on parole , confirming Pascoe ' s account ; she was then equipped with a boat from " Amelia " and sent for a reconnaissance of the French squadron . Having volunteered , Pascoe returned with , this time , an accurate description of the French division , including the names of the frigate and of their prize . On the 3rd , at 10 : 30 , " Amelia " departed her anchorage and took the direction of île de Lot to intercept the French squadron . At île de Lot , " Aréthuse " had , upon departure , maneuvered to catch the wind and struck the bottom , breaking her rudder and forcing the squadron to drop anchor on the spot . That very night , a violent storm broke out , and both frigates broke their cables . " Aréthuse " managed to avoid running aground using a makeshift rudder , and in the morning found herself drifted twelve miles to the North - West of Tamara ; Bouvet dropped anchor as soon as he found the bottom to repair his rudder . Meanwhile , " Rubis " had been cast aground on the shore of Tamara . At ten , she fired distress shots and signals ; " Aréthuse " launched her longboat to assist , but could not maneuver herself without her rudder ; the launch carried two additional pumps to " Rubis " , but returned with the news that she was unsalvageable and that her crew was transferring on " Serra " The following night , the hull of the stranded " Rubis " broke under the stress of the waves . Commander Ollivier scuttled her by fire and embarked his crew on " Serra " . On 5 January , around 20 : 00 , " Amelia " sighted a strange sail making night signals which , the next morning , turned out to be " Princess - Charlotte " , a government - schooner from Sierra - Leone , " Amelia " got sight of the French squadron half an hour later , and dispatched " Princess - Charlotte " to Sierra Leone to instruct any incoming British warship to come to her aid at once . She then observed what was deemed to be a prize being unloaded into one of the frigate , but was in fact " Rubis " transferring her crew to " Serra " , and the second frigate in the distance . Battle . In the morning of 6 February , while " Aréthuse " was completing her repairs , HMS " Amelia " appeared under the wind . Bouvet set sails to meet her and in the evening , the frigate sailed on parallel courses ; As Irby was not aware of the demise of " Rubis " , he was attempting to lure " Aréthuse " away from her to prevent the two French frigates from supporting each other . " Aréthuse " having a slight advantage , and hoping to overhaul his opponent during the night , Bouvet hoisted the French colours and fired a carronade ; " Aréthuse " answered by hoisting the Union Jack and firing a shot . At dawn , a fog obscured the frigates from each other , and Bouvet could not engage . The next morning , " Aréthuse " found herself alone on the sea , an Bouvet followed the course that he assumed " Amelia " had taken ; around eleven , she appeared on the horizon and " Aréthuse " put on all sails to give chase . The frigates raced all day and at 19 : 30 , Irby decided that he was far enough to avoid interference from " Rubis " , and " Amelia " turned to confront her opponent . " Aréthuse " was pierced for 44 guns , but actually mounted only 42 : as her two foremost guns , obstructed by bollards , could not be maneuvered properly , Bouvet had ordered them stored in the hold . This left " Aréthuse " with twenty - six 18 - pounder long gun s , two 8 - pounder chase gun s , and fourteen 24 - pounder carronade s . " Amelia " mounted twenty - six 18 - pounders and twenty 32 - pounder carronades . Her crew was reinforced by that of " Daring " . The frigates closed in to pistol range without opening fire . As they passed each other , " Aréthuse " came about and fired her broadside at " Amelia " that cut the braces of her topsail ; " Amelia " answered in kind , and then veered and abruptly decreased her speed , her davit touching " Aréthuse " at starboard . " Aréthuse " fired another broadside a point - blank range , and for the following hour and a half , the two frigates remained entangled , exchanging volleys , gunners from both sides snatching the ramrods of their opponents and duelling with sabres from one gunport and the other , but neither side attempting to board the other . After 90 minutes of cannonade and gunfire , Captain Irby and his two Lieutenants , John James Bates and John Pope , were wounded . The third lieutenant , George Wells , was killed soon after taking command , and the master of " Amelia " , Anthony De Mayne , replaced him . Then , Bouvet attempted a boarding to decide the issue , but with her clewlines cut by shots , " Aréthuse " could not maneuver . At 21 : 00 , the frigates separated . The cannonade continued until eleven , until the frigates lost contact . Soon , a dense fog hid the frigates one from another , and it was not until the next morning that " Amelia " was spotted again . According to Bouvet ' s report , " Aréthuse " attempted to give chase , but to no avail . Aftermath . Both captains accused the other of having fled . Irby stated that " Aréthuse " " bore up , having the advantage of being able to do so , leaving us in an ungovernable state " ; while Bouvet wrote " At eleven o ' clock , firing ceased on both sides ; we were no longer in range ; and the enemy , putting on all sail , surrendered the battlefield to us " . Another view is that the ships , their riggings both damaged , simply drifted away from each other under the effect of the cannonade . " Aréthuse " had 20 killed and 98 wounded . " Amelia " suffered 51 killed and 90 wounded . Bouvet sailed to Tamara , where he rejoined " Serra " and the crew of " Rubis " on the 10th . " Serra " was taken in tow for a few days before Bouvet scuttled her by fire , off Madeira , as she retarded " Aréthuse " . " Aréthuse " returned to Saint - Malo with no further encounter , where she arrived on 19 April 1813 . During their mission , " Rubis " and " Aréthuse " had captured ten prizes . Irby sailed to England , where he had been bound before the battle to repatriate sick sailors . He arrived at Spithead on 22 March , carrying large quantities of gold . Navy Minister Decrès gave a mixed review of the events . On one hand , he praised Bouvet ' s bravery and conduct during the battle itself ; in his report of the events , on 26 April 1813 , he wrote : Louis - Philippe Crépin did paint a 258 by 162 cm depiction of the battle , which is currently in the collections of the Musée de Versailles . On the other hand , Decrès sharply criticised Bouvet for the wreck of " Rubis " and near - loss of " Aréthuse " in the storm of 5 February : Probably because of these mixed reviews , Bouvet was awarded the rank of Officer in the Legion of Honour , on 2 July , but was neither promoted to rear - admiral , nor made a Baron of the Empire , as had been requested in his favour .