Battle of Tamatave

20–25 May 1811, Off Tamatave (Toamasina), Madagascar

British victory; Renommée taken and Néréide surrendered at Tamatave

Three frigates under Commodore Roquebert left Brest in February 1811 with troops and stores for Île de France, not knowing it had fallen in December. They arrived in May, found the island in British hands, and escaped to Madagascar, where Captain Charles Schomberg's three frigates and a brig caught them off Tamatave on the 20th. Light winds left both sides almost becalmed for much of the afternoon, and the French, better placed, raked the British ships one after another: Galatea, battered by Renommée and Clorinde, drifted out of the action with a distress signal flying. When the breeze rose Phoebe silenced Néréide, killing her captain, and in the evening Schomberg closed on the French. Roquebert turned Renommée back to protect Clorinde and was surrounded by Astraea, Racehorse and Phoebe; he was killed, and Renommée struck after a shot set her mainsail alight. Clorinde, which had kept her distance, escaped to France. Five days later Néréide and the town of Tamatave surrendered. It was the last French squadron sent east of the Cape in the war.