Acting on information from released prisoners, Edward Cooke, captain of Sybille, was sailing off Balasore when distant gunfire alerted him to the presence of Forte on the evening of 28 February.

For unclear reasons the French captain Hubert Le Loup de Beaulieu did not properly prepare Forte to receive the attack from Cooke's frigate and he was consequently killed in the first raking broadside from the British ship.

British losses by contrast were light, although Cooke had been struck by grape shot during the height of the action and suffered a lingering death three months later from his wounds.

The captured merchant ships subsequently escaped under their French prize crews while Cooke's executive officer Lieutenant Lucius Hardyman repaired Sybille and Forte.

[2] The squadron avoided the blockade and arrived at Île de France in July and sailed eastwards during the summer, intending to raid British trading ports in the East Indies.

In the ensuing Bali Strait Incident the British commander managed to deceive Sercey into believing that the fleet was made up of warships, the French admiral retreating back to Île de France.

[5] Uniquely, the sides of the ship were lined with cork matting to prevent splinters while the more common precaution had been taken of stringing netting over the deck to protect the crew from falling debris.

With his remaining crews becoming rebellious, Sercey sent Forte and Prudente on a commerce raiding operation during the autumn of 1798, during which they achieved some success in the Bay of Bengal.

[9] By the time this force returned to Île de France Sercey had sailed to Batavia, leaving instructions for Forte and Prudente to follow him.

[14] In command was Captain Edward Cooke, who had distinguished himself early in the war by negotiating the surrender of the French Mediterranean port city of Toulon in 1793.

This action, under threat of execution by the Republican faction in the city, led to the siege of Toulon and the destruction of almost half of the French Mediterranean Fleet.

Cooke brought Sybille westwards in order to take the weather gage before wearing and bearing down on the French ship, under a light wind from the southwest.

The damage to the French ship was catastrophic: guns were smashed from their carriages and dozens of men killed and more wounded, the dead including Beaulieu and his first lieutenant.

[24] The French gunners were also more used to firing warning shots at distant merchant ships and may not have realised that their guns needed to be depressed for combat at point blank range.

[30] In the initial aftermath of victory, Hardyman attempted to lure the captured merchant ships close to Sybille by raising the French tricolor over the British ensign.

However, when Sybille gave chase the prizes fled, the fatigued British crew unable to effectively pursue after losing their damaged cross-jack yard.

[32] Forte continued in service in the Indian Ocean under Hardyman until June 1801, when the frigate was wrecked on the Arabian Red Sea coast near Jeddah.

[33] Nearly five decades after the battle, the Admiralty recognised the action with the clasp "SYBILLE 28 FEBRUARY 1799" attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.