As Sercey left Batavia he turned eastward along the northern coast of Java to avoid the British commander in the region, Admiral Peter Rainier, who was escorting four ships through the Straits of Malacca to the west.

Sercey did momentarily reconsider when the British ships equally declined to attack the temporarily disabled frigate Forte, but eventually withdrew completely.

Due to their size and weaponry they could be mistaken for ships of the line, standard large warships of the period, a deception usually augmented by paintwork and dummy cannon.

[7] Rainier had been engaged in pacifying local uprisings around Malacca during the latter part of the campaign, and there had been few forces left in reserve to protect British interests in the Indian Ocean.

[8] In response to British activity in the region and the reluctance of the inhabitants of Île de France to follow orders from the National Convention abolishing slavery, the French dispatched a squadron of frigates to the East Indies early in 1796.

[9] This force, led by Contre-amiral Pierre César Charles de Sercey, originally comprised three frigates, subsequently joined by three more vessels, forming a powerful raiding squadron.

[8] Turning eastwards, Sercey hoped to raid George Town at Penang, but was driven off in an inconclusive engagement with a British squadron off Sumatra on 9 September.

When he saw Cybèle approaching, Farquharson brought two ships forward to meet the frigate, gambling that in the low light Tréhouart might mistake the East Indiamen for warships.

Forte had lost its main topmast in the early stages of the retreat, and Sercey had noted that the British ships were not pursuing with the fervour expected of a superior force encountering a weaker one, but Tréhouart's declaration convinced him he was outnumbered and he ordered his squadron to withdraw.

[14] Clearing the strait, Farquharson turned the convoy into the Java Sea, where a storm drove Ocean onto a reef at Pulau Kalaotoa in the Lesser Sunda Islands the day after the incident, wrecking the ship.

[11] His squadron required extensive repairs, but the Colonial Committee on Île de France remained rebellious over attempts to abolish slavery and denied his ships men and food supplies.

[31] Seven years after the Bali Strait Incident, in 1804, early in the Napoleonic Wars, another strong French naval squadron encountered a much larger China Fleet at the Battle of Pulo Aura.