Early in 1781 this news reached Iman Willem Falck, the Dutch East India Company's governor of Trincomalee.

[7] On 8 January the marines captured a hill overlooking Fort Ostenburg, and Admiral Hughes summoned Governor Falck to surrender.

Due to the difficulty in moving artillery onto this hill, Hughes sent his chief engineer, Major Geils, to deliver the summons.

This fleet, led by the Bailli de Suffren, went on to dispute British control over the seas off the Indian coast.

The Dutch regained control of Ceylon and most other British-captured outposts (notably excepting Negapatam) with the 1784 Treaty of Paris, in exchange for promises to not interfere with British commercial shipping in the Indian Ocean.