Captain Richard King on Sirius discovered the Dutch ships early on 24 October, when they were separated by 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) and thus unable to mutually support one another.

Crossing social and religious boundaries, this organisation embraced republican principles with the stated goal of removing British government control from Ireland.

[1] When Britain went to war with the French Republic in 1793, the organisation was declared illegal and driven under cover, many of its senior members going into exile in Europe or America.

These men continued to call for armed resistance to the British government, and in 1796 persuaded the French Directory to launch the Expédition d'Irlande, a large scale invasion of Ireland.

[4] The French authorities had also been taken by surprise by the uprising, and were consequently unprepared: the forces they deployed were inadequate to face the much larger British armies operating in Ireland at the time.

Closely watched by the Royal Navy as soon as it left Brest, the squadron was defeated on 12 October 1798 at the Battle of Tory Island: fewer than a third of the French ships returned to France.

[6] The Dutch had also been persuaded to send reinforcements to the United Irishmen during the rebellion, but like the French they were unprepared for the sudden uprising and their contributions were not ready until 24 October.

[8] Departing on the night of 23/24 October, the Dutch ships made rapid progress and at 08:00 were 30 nautical miles (56 km) northwest of the Texel, sailing westwards towards the English Channel.

For the rest of the day the pursuit continued, Furie unable to escape the faster British ship, which steadily gained during the afternoon until at 17:00 was within range of the Dutch frigate.