Eventually, after a chase lasting nearly two days, the French ship came within range of the much larger British 74-gun third rate HMS Swiftsure and despite a brave defence was soon forced to surrender after suffering more than 40 casualties.

[Note 1] In the aftermath of the engagement, a French battle squadron that formed part of the developing Atlantic campaign of May 1794 pursued both ships for the rest of the day; their quarry eventually escaped after dark.

In order to secure food supplies, France turned to its American colonies and the United States, which assembled a large grain convoy in Hampton Roads.

[4] On 5 May, two French ships operating independently, the 36-gun frigate Atalante under Captain Charles Linois and the corvette Levrette, spied a British convoy sailing south-west, three days out from Cork, and closed to investigate.

[5] Swiftsure however remained in touch with Atalante so that by 04:00 on 6 May the French frigate was approximately 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) ahead of the ship of the line to the northwest, with the wind direction to the north-northeast.

[5] During the evening the French frigate was able to keep 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) in front of Swiftsure, but at midnight Linois switched his course to the south, hoping that the darkness would cloak the manoeuvre and that Atlante would be able to escape Boyles.

Casualties on the French ship were heavy, with ten killed and 32 wounded from the 274 men aboard, compared to a single man lost on Swiftsure, which had also suffered some damage to its rigging.

These ships were part of a squadron under Contre-Admiral Joseph-Marie Nielly that had sailed from Rochefort the day before in search of the American grain convoy shortly due in European waters.

Atalante soon outran pursuit and escaped into the Atlantic, the prize crew even managing to replace the damaged main topsail in the midst of the chase with the assistance of the French prisoners on board.