Action of 31 January 1779

Tarade, signalled the cutter Expéditive to lead the convoy, and detached to attack Apollo. Although outgunned by Apollo, Oiseau had a marginally larger crew of two hundred and twenty-four men. The convoy, took the opportunity to flee for the shoals and rocks of Île-de-Bréhat.^[5]

The action progressed with the two frigates yardarm to yardarm, and with the Apollos bowsprit occasionally piercing her adversary's foremast shrouds. With the cannon fire stilling the wind the French were unable to escape from the British frigate's heavy pounding.^[6]

Within two hours the French ship had been battered - Tarade had just four men with him on his quarterdeck left standing and the Oiseau had lost her foretop and mizzen masts having been shot away. The hull had been ridden with shot, and her cannon silenced. A lucky shot had carried away Oiseau's large flag, the French fleur de lys.^[7] A call came out for the French ship to surrender but there was no response. Pownoll then sent a boarding party over to the Oiseau – and another call to surrender was given, this time the badly injured Tarade surrendered the ship.^[8]

The British had lost six men killed and twenty-two wounded, two of them mortally. French losses were heavier some 33 killed with the rest wounded and captured.^[7] Both commanders were among the injured, Pownall having received a musket ball in his chest and his two lieutenants were also been wounded. Calm weather allowed the Apollos men to keep the badly damaged Oiseau afloat, and she was carried in to Plymouth, and later bought into the navy as HMS Oiseau.^[9]

Pownoll was killed during an action with the French privateer Stanislas in the Channel on 15 June the following year.^[10]

• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.