Battle of Groix
1795 CE.
Shown on the map at 47.600°, -3.600°.
The Battle of Groix ([ɡʁwa]) took place on 23 June 1795 off the island of Groix in the Bay of Biscay during the War of the First Coalition. It was fought between elements of the British Channel Fleet and the French Atlantic Fleet, which were cruising in the region on separate missions. The British fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Bridport, was covering an invasion convoy carrying a French Royalist army tasked with invading Quiberon, while the French fleet under Vice-admiral Villaret de Joyeuse had sailed a week earlier to rescue a convoy from being attacked by a British squadron. The French fleet had driven off the British squadron in a battle on 17 June known as Cornwallis's Retreat, and were attempting to return to their base at Brest when Bridport's force of 14 ships of the line appeared on 22 June. Villaret, believing that the stronger British fleet would destroy his own 12 ships of the line, ordered his force to fall back to the inshore anchorage off Groix, hoping to take shelter in protected coastal waters.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Groix, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.