[6] Between 9 April 1782 and 12 April 1782 a British fleet under Admiral George Brydges Rodney engaged and defeated a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse at the battle of the Saintes, thus frustrating French plans for an invasion of Jamaica.

[7] The British fleet made its way to Jamaica, from where Rodney ordered Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood's division to seek out any disabled or damaged French ships that had escaped the battle.

[5] These were under the command of Georges-François de Framond and the ships were in a poor state; the French 64-gun ship of the line Caton under Georges-François de Framond[9] had been damaged in the initial encounter at the battle of the Saintes on 9 April, and the Jason, also 64 guns, had been damaged the following day when it collided with the heavily-damaged Zélé.

HMS Valiant captured both Jason and Caton at the cost of four men killed and six wounded, whilst HMS Magnificent captured the frigate Aimable[Note 1][10] at the cost of four killed and eight wounded.

[11] Champion captured the frigate Astrée, but the latter managed to escape with minimal damage.

Jason was renamed HMS Argonaut, while Caton was used as a prisoner of war hospital ship and moored off Saltash in Cornwall.

[14] Cérès, a former British sloop by the same name, became HMS Raven; the French recaptured her in January 1783 and sold her in 1791.