Minerve then sailed with Bellone and the smaller Victor on 14 March 1810, to patrol in the waters between Mauritius and Africa astride the main sea-lanes Europe and the East Indies.

The ships proved to be the East Indiamen Windham, Ceylon and Astell; although they were civilian vessels, they were well-armed with 18-pounder cannon, their captains had stood their ground successfully against French raiders in the past, and their crews were now reinforced by large numbers of British Army soldiers.

French and English sources give somewhat contradictory versions of the resulting battle,[18] but it in outline, it is clear that Minerve sustained much of the fight before Bellone came into gunnery range, sailing down the British line and engaging the three East Indiamen in turn before manoeuvring around the head of their formation.

Approaching the Grand Port anchorage, the squadron found another French-built frigate anchored there under the protection of the heavy guns of the fort on Île de la Passe.

As Minerve sailed into the anchorage, the 42-pounder cannon of the fort opened fire against her waterline, striking her orlop, and killing and maiming many of the young volunteers who were acting as powder monkeys.

[20] The French anchored their ships in a defensive line, with Minerve at the rear, Ceylon and Bellone ahead of her, and the smaller Victor tucked behind them; another squadron of frigates based on the opposite side of the island was ordered to sail round and try and trap the Royal Navy attacking force.

[23] Bouvet now had to assume overall command of the squadron from the wounded Duperré, and around 8 o' clock that evening, he transferred control of Minerve to his second-in-command Lieutenant de vaisseau Albin Roussin; the gunnery duel continued through the night, and it was Roussin who received the surrender of the shattered HMS Nereide the next morning - later that day, HMS Magicienne, still aground, was set on fire; attempts to refloat HMS Sirius proving futile, she was blown up in turn on the morning of 25 August, leaving only HMS Iphigenia retreating slowly out of the harbour, kedging with her anchors due to wind conditions and the risk of running aground; Bouvet, meanwhile, had moved first to Bellone, apparently taking with him some of the crew from Minerve to pass ammunition and reinforce her gun crews, and then on 26 August to the smaller Victor (the only ship in the French squadron still capable of sailing to confront the retreating Iphigenia, the others having run aground too hard to be refloated mid-battle), and finally the captured HMS Iphigenia, which surrendered on 27 August after the second French frigate squadron appeared to close the exit from the port; as the surrendered ship was relatively undamaged compared with the other frigates from the battle, she was promptly commissioned by the French as La Iphigénie, with Bouvet placed in charge and a large proportion of the French seamen from the Minerve reassigned to crew her.

[27] This did not prevent the arrival of a large British invasion force, and on 3 December 1810, the frigate was handed over to the Royal Navy, although her officers and crew were allowed to return to France to continue the fight, along with the rest of the personnel from the naval squadron and defending garrison.

In April 1811, a Royal Navy report stated that Minerve would require three months of repair at considerable expense, and though there is no definitive record of her fate, the ship appears to have been broken up shortly thereafter.