Action of 13 May 1779

Action of 13 May 1779
Part of the Anglo-French War
Action off the Coast of France by Thomas Luny
Date 13 May 1779 Location Cancale Bay, France Result British victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	France
Commanders and leaders
Sir James Wallace	de Kergariou Coatles
Strength
3 frigates 1 sloop 1 brig	2 frigates 1 corvette 1 gabarre 2 cutters
Casualties and losses
2 killed 15 wounded	1 frigate captured 1 corvette destroyed 1 cutter destroyed

The action of 13 May 1779 was a battle in Cancale Bay, near St Malo, between French and British squadrons of frigates. The French force had been part of the escort meant for Karl Heinrich von Nassau-Siegen's invasion of Jersey. When that invasion failed on 1 May the French retreated to Coutances. The British brought together a large squadron of frigates under Captain John Gidoin and Captain Sir James Wallace, which then split in two to attack the French squadron against the coast in a pincer manoeuvre.

On 13 May Gidoin's squadron chased the French from Coutances up the coast to St Malo where Wallace's squadron awaited them. Wallace followed the French into Cancale Bay and attacked them; in response the French beached their ships and went ashore after having been cannonaded for an hour and a half. Wallace captured the frigate Danae and two merchant vessels, but was forced to burn the other vessels because of gunfire from gun batteries on shore. Wallace's squadron suffered minimal casualties. Danae would go on to be bought into service with the Royal Navy; the cutter Guepe and the gabarre Écluse were the only French vessels the French were able to recover and repair.