Battle of Porto Praya
1781 CE.
Shown on the map at 14.907°, -23.505°.
The Battle of Porto Praya was fought on 16 April 1781 during the American Revolutionary War between a Royal Navy fleet under Commodore George Johnstone and a French Navy squadron under Pierre André de Suffren. Both the British and French were en route to the Dutch Cape Colony, the former to capture it and the latter to help defend it before proceeding to France's colonies in the Indian Ocean. The British had anchored at Porto Praya in neutral Portuguese-held Cape Verde to take on water, when the French squadron arrived and violated Portuguese neutrality by attacking them at anchor. Due to the unexpected nature of the encounter, neither the British nor French were prepared to do battle, and in the inconclusive engagement that followed Suffren's squadron sustained more damage than Johnstone's fleet, though no ships were lost. Johnstone tried to pursue the French, but was forced to call it off in order to repair the damage his ships had taken. The French gained a strategic victory, because Suffren beat Johnstone to the Cape Colony and reinforced its garrison before continuing on his journey to the French colony of Isle de France.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Porto Praya, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.