The action of 3 July 1810 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, in which a French frigate squadron under Guy-Victor Duperré attacked and defeated a convoy of three British East Indiamen near the Comoros Islands.

Capturing two East Indiamen carrying over £500,000 worth of silk, Caroline brought her prizes back to the fortified port of Saint Paul on Île Bonaparte.

[4] The British commander at the Cape of Good Hope, Albemarle Bertie, had also been planning an operation in the Indian Ocean during 1809 and assembled a squadron under Commodore Josias Rowley with orders to blockade the French islands, probe their defences and capture them if practical.

[5] Despite the British attack on Saint Paul, French frigates continued to operate in the Indian Ocean, Hamelin personally leading a cruise in the Bay of Bengal during the autumn.

[6] Before his squadron and their prizes returned to Île de France in late December, they had also captured the British brig HMS Victor and the large Portuguese frigate Minerva.

Hamelin too kept his forces in harbour at Île de France, replenishing his ships and recruiting sailors from the large pool of unemployed men in Port Napoleon.

[11] Meriton was a highly experienced captain, who had twice been involved in successfully defending his convoy from French raiders: firstly at the action of 4 August 1800, when his ship Exeter had actually forced the surrender of the Médée, and then at the Battle of Pulo Aura in 1804.

[13] One of the East Indiamen, Windham, her captain John Stewart and many of her crew had been engaged and captured by Hamelin on 22 November 1809 in the Bay of Bengal and recaptured a month later by HMS Magicienne off Île de France.

[14] Confident that his squadron outclassed his opponent, Duperré ordered his ships to chase the East Indiamen, who, at Stewart's suggestion, attempted to close with the shore where the wind and waves would not be as strong and they could better resist the French attack.

At 11:30, Bellone closed the gap between the squadron and convoy to just 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) and Meriton ordered his ships to form an improvised battle line to meet the French attack.

With the British line wavering, Minerve and Victor closed with the convoy and began to exchange fire with the three merchant ships in a general action, during which Robert Hay, captain of Astell was seriously wounded.

[19] At 19:20 the repaired Minerve returned and took possession of Ceylon, and at 19:45 Stewart surrendered for the second time in less than a year: his ship badly damaged and casualties mounting among his crew and passengers.

[22] The prizes were very severely damaged and Duperré was forced to take his squadron to an isolated beach on Anjouan until 17 July to effect repairs, before returning to Isle de France.

With the British distracted by this amphibious operation, it was simple for Duperré to reach Grand Port on the south east coast of Isle de France in spite of the small blockade squadron under Captain Samuel Pym.