Battle of Maguelone

23 October – 1 November 1809, Off Maguelone, near Sète, and Rosas Bay, Catalonia

British victory; two French ships of the line burned and the convoy destroyed

Rear-Admiral Baudin sailed from Toulon on 21 October with three ships of the line and two frigates escorting a convoy of supplies for the French army in Barcelona. Collingwood came across from Cape Sicié with 15 ships of the line to intercept it. On the 23rd Baudin sent the convoy into Rosas Bay and stood out to sea with the warships, but Rear-Admiral Martin's division chased him back towards the French coast. On the 25th he ran west along the shore in shallow water, hoping to reach Sète. Borée and the frigates got in, but Baudin's flagship Robuste and Lion ran onto rock and hard sand near Maguelone. With the sea rising they could not be got off, and on the night of the 26th, after stripping them and driving off the British boats with field guns, the French set both on fire. On 1 November boats from seven British ships rowed into Rosas Bay, where the convoy lay under the guns of an armed storeship and two avisos. They took heavy losses but burned ten ships, the storeship Lamproie among them, and brought out three more.