[3][a] Speedy, Captain Sampson Spargo, and Swift, both of 16 guns and 80 men, were Post Office packet boats.
[2] Speedy, which had left Falmouth on 18 June, was the packet that the government was expecting to arrive in Britain with the news of the departure of the homeward-bound fleet from Jamaica.
[10] After a dark night, Solitaire, Captain Jean-Charles de Borda, found herself in the morning close to a squadron of eight British ships under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, which was on its way from Gibraltar.
The English gave chase and Solitaire sailed to delay them and give the rest of the French squadron a chance to escape.
[10] Lloyd's Register for 1789 lists the brig Speedy, of 130 tons (bm), as being of French origin, and with records dating to 1782.