HMS Port Royal was the former French armed merchant vessel Comte de Maurepas, which the British captured in 1778.
[1][b] Comte de Maurepas was of 500 tons burthen (bm), was armed with eight guns, and had a crew of 32 men under Charles Bailly, master.
The British gave chase, during which a chance shot from Prudente's stern guns killed Everitt and a sailor.
On 10 March the Spaniards captured a boat and nine men from Port Royal who had gone foraging to Rose Island.
The plan was to destroy the sloop if necessary, but in the interim the British put some of their Spanish prisoners aboard to keep them out of the hands of Britain's Indian allies.
[7] The last Spanish assault on 8 May cost Port Royal Midshipman John Blair and 12 seaman killed, and five seamen wounded.