29 May
With Audacious and Révolutionnaire lost in the dark behind them, both British and French fleets continued westwards towards the convoy rendezvous. At dawn on 29 May the British fleet saw Audacieux retiring to the east but did not follow, concentrating on the main French line with the hope of provoking a decisive engagement. Howe ordered his ships to pursue the enemy rear, and the British line was placed on a tack that was intended to cut through the French line and isolate and capture the ships east of the cut. Captain Anthony Molloy in HMS Caesar was chosen to lead the attack as his ship was the fastest in the fleet, but the manoeuvre was a complete failure due to the inexplicable refusal of Molloy to close with the enemy. Instead, Caesar and HMS Queen opened fire on the rearmost French ships from a distance. The vans of the opposing fleets then engaged in a long-range broadside duel from 10:00. This inflicted mild damage on both sides, the worst hit being the French Montagnard.
Having failed to cut the French line at his first attempt, Howe reissued the order at 12:30. Once more Caesar was to lead the way, with the intention of splitting the enemy fleet in half. Captain Molloy then refused to carry out the order, signalling without cause that Caesar was unable to tack and then turning and sailing eastwards down the outside of the British fleet, rather than towards the enemy. This unexpected move threw the following ships into a state of confusion; Queen, coming behind Caesar, attempted to obey Howe's signal alone but was badly damaged by shot, and her captain John Hutt mortally wounded. Unable to effectively manoeuvre, Queen passed down the outside of the French line, firing as she went.
His plan in tatters, Howe responded by example, leading his flagship HMS Queen Charlotte towards the French line which was rapidly slipping ahead of the British, steering around the meandering Caesar as he did so. Queen Charlotte first attempted to break through the French between the sixth and seventh ships from the rear, but was unable to reach this gap and instead sailed between the fifth and sixth, raking the sixth ship Eole from close range. Bellerophon and Lord Hugh Seymour in Leviathan followed close behind the flagship. Both battleships attempted to cut between the subsequent French ships; Bellerophon successfully, Leviathan prevented by damage to her helm. This manoeuvre changed the course of the battle, as Howe's ships isolated and raked the Terrible, Tyrannicide, and Indomptable, forcing Villaret to either abandon his ships or sacrifice the weather gage to save them.
As Howe pressed after the main body of the French fleet—now tailed by the damaged Terrible—the rest of his fleet followed, bombarding the already battered Tyrannicide and Indomptable as they passed. As HMS Orion, HMS Invincible, and HMS Barfleur cut through the French in turn, Villaret wore his fleet round to face Howe. Encouraged by Caesar's disobedience, he deliberately sacrificed the weather gage in the belief that Howe's fleet was more damaged than it appeared. All of Villaret's ships followed him except Montagnard, which refused to turn, claiming to be seriously damaged. Villaret's manoeuvre soon isolated the Queen Charlotte, Bellerophon, and Leviathan, which were forced to retreat hastily before the main French force. Having driven away the ships threatening Indomptable and Tyrannicide, Villaret reformed his fleet and attempted to escape westwards, closely followed by the British van who were now holding the weather gage. Both fleets were too damaged to continue action in the remaining daylight and firing stopped at 17:00. The British fleet has suffered 67 killed and 128 wounded during the day's fighting.
Evening found the fleets approximately 10 nautical miles (19 km) apart, sailing northwest. Both were conducting hasty repairs and attempting to ready themselves for what all assumed would be another day of battle on 30 May. Significantly, Lord Howe was unaware that to the northeast, over the same sea as the previous day's action had been fought, the ponderous convoy of merchant ships was passing, having successfully evaded British pursuit. Unlike his opponent Villaret knew the location of the convoy, which was joined that evening by the battered Montagnard. Escorting the convoy, Admiral Nielly had been appraised of the situation by Montagnard's captain, and had left his escort duties to reinforce Villaret.
In a postscript to the day's action the British frigate Castor, captured early in the campaign by Nielly, was attacked and retaken by the smaller HMS Carysfort under Captain Francis Laforey at the frigate action of 29 May 1794. Some of the crew were released by their rescuers but most, including the officers, were not aboard, having been taken onto Nielly's flagship Sans Pareil.
Read more about this topic: Atlantic Campaign Of May 1794