After an obstinate resistance, six of the French ships were taken, but the convoy was saved.

The English had been so roughly handled that the two remaining French men-of-war got back safely to France.

If, therefore, Sir Edward Hawke showed in his attack the judgment and dash which always distinguished that remarkable officer, it may be claimed for Commodore l'Etenduere that fortune, in assigning him the glorious disadvantage of numbers, gave him also the leading part in the drama, and that he filled it nobly.

A French officer justly remarks that "he defended his convoy as on shore a position is defended, when the aim is to save an army corps or to assure an evolution; he gave himself to be crushed.

After an action that lasted from mid-day till eight P.M.the convoy was saved, thanks to the obstinacy of the defence; two hundred and fifty ships were saved to their owners by the devotion of L'Etenduere and of the captains under his orders.