Action of 20 October 1778

On 20 October, the French ship-of-the-line Triton under Captain Gaspard de Ligondès, cruising on the Bay of Biscay, fell in with the British ship of the line Jupiter, under Captain Francis Reynolds, and the frigate Medea, under Captain James Montagu. At about 5 PM both sides were at close quarters; Jupiter ranged up on one side of Triton, Medea on the other, about nightfall, and they fired on Triton.^[3] Ligondès succeeded in turning the same broadside to both his assailants, putting Medea out of action with a shot below the water line after the first half-hour of the fight, but he was wounded in both arms soon afterward and had to hand over the command to Lieutenant de Roquart. Medea retreated from the action; Triton and Jupiter continued to exchange fire for more two hours, until a squall of wind and rain, and the impenetrable darkness of the night separated the combatants.^[4]

Triton had thirteen killed and about twenty wounded, she had fifty shots in her hull or masts, and her sails and rigging were much cut up, but Captain Reynolds reported that she was still able to sail.^[5] Jupiter had to sail back into Lisbon for refit with three killed and seven wounded. Medea suffered one killed and three wounded.^[6]

Ligondès died of his wound in Brest on 26 January 1779.^[1]

• Clarke, James Stanier; McArthur, John (2010). The Naval Chronicle: Volume 13. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-01852-4.
• Clowes, William Laird (1899). The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present, Volume 4. Sampson Low, Marston and Company. ISBN 9781293192399. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Gréhan, Amédée (1837). La France maritime. Pilout.
• Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1910). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion.