Action of 30 May 1781 The Action of 30 May 1781 was a naval battle fought between two frigates of the Royal Navy and two of the Dutch Republic off the Barbary Coast . In the Netherlands it is known as the " zeegevecht bij Kaap Sint - Marie " ( sea battle of Cape St Mary , after the Cabo de Santa Maria ) . In a battle lasting more than two hours , Captain William Peere Williams - Freeman of the " Flora " ( 36 guns ) , compelled Captain Pieter Melvill ' s " Castor " ( 36 guns ) to strike her colours . Shortly after , Captain Gerardus Oorthuys of " den Briel " ( 36 guns ) compelled Thomas Pakenham to strike " Crescent " ( 28 guns ) . However , " Flora " came to " Crescent " rescue before Oorthuys could board her , and forced him to retreat . Course . During the Fourth Anglo - Dutch War a fleet returning from the Dutch East Indies left the Mediterranean , escorted by the 36 - gun frigates " Castor " under captain Pieter Melvill van Carnbee and the " Den Briel " under captain Gerardus Oorthuys . They did not pass Gibraltar unnoticed and were intercepted by two British frigates , the 44 - gun under captain William Peere Williams - Freeman and the 36 - gun under captain Thomas Pakenham . The Dutch frigates reached the Atlantic and fired a salvo at their pursuers , frightening them off , but Carnbee decided not to pursue the faster British ships but to proceed with their primary objective of escorting the merchantmen . The Dutch ships thus turned south under cover of darkness to reach the Canary Islands . On the morning of 30 May 1781 the Dutch saw the British ships following them . The British opened fire and Carnbee and Oorthuys tried and failed to get one of the British ships between them . The battle then became a ship - to - ship action between the " Den Briel " and the " Crescent " in one case and the " Castor " and the " Flora " in the other . The " Castor " was a 23 - year - old ship with low calibre guns and a maximum salvo of 372 pounds , thus proving no match for the modern " Flora " with its 720 pound salvo . The " Castor " soon became unmanageable , with her sails and rigging destroyed , holes below the waterline , five feet of water in her hold , most of her guns out of action , 30 of her 230 man crew killed and 40 wounded . Carnbee hoisted a white flag , he and his crew were taken on board the " Flora " and the sinking Castor was taken in tow as a prize ship . The battle between " Den Briel " and the " Crescent " was a mirror image of the defeat of the " Castor " . The guns of the " Den Briel " brought down the main - mast and mizzen - mast of the " Crescent " for only 12 dead and 44 wounded , compared to the toll on the " Crescent " of 27 dead and 65 wounded ( including her captain , who was slightly injured ) . Both ships were badly damaged however and an hour after the " Crescent " surrendered the mast of the " Den Briel " fell overboard . The Dutch ship also did not have any boats left in a seaworthy condition to take the " Crescent " as a prize . The " Crescent " then managed to get taken in tow by the " Flora " and Oorthuys had to watch his prize escape . Aftermath . Using makeshift sails Oorthuys then reached the neutral port of Cadiz on 2 June , whilst the fleet he was escorting also reached Spain without being attacked by the British . With two badly damaged ships in tow , Pakenham then met two French frigates in the English Channel and was defeated , though the " Flora " escaped . Pakenham had refused to resume the command of the " Crescent " , maintaining that by his surrender to the " Den Briel " his commission was cancelled , and that when recaptured the ship was on the same footing as any other prize . The " Castor " thus became a French prize ( though it was beyond use and soon demolished in a French shipyard ) and Carnbee and the Dutch prisoners were repatriated . The battle became major news back in the Netherlands , with Carnbee and Oorthuys compared to earlier naval heroes Michiel de Ruyter and Maarten Tromp . In Britain , Pakenham was tried by court - martial for the loss of his ship and honourably acquitted , it being proved that he did not strike the flag till , by the fall of her masts and the disabling of her guns , further resistance was impossible .