Action of 20 October 1778

The Action of 20 October 1778 was a inconclusive engagement between French ship-of-the-line Triton and British ship-of-the-line Jupiter with a frigate Medea that took place off Cape Finisterre in the Bay of Biscay. Darkness separated the combatants before any decisive result was obtained.

Background
The outbreak of the War of the American Independence had caused relations between France and Great Britain to deteriorate. After signing a formal treaty with the United States in February 1778, France broke diplomatic ties and declared war on Britain on 16 March 1778.

Action
On October 20th, the French ship-of-the-line Triton under Captain Comte de Ligondès, cruising on the Bay of Biscay, fell in with the British ship-of-the-line Jupiter, under Captain Francis Reynolds, and the frigate Medea, under Captain James Montagu. At about 5 PM both sides were at close quarters; Jupiter ranged up on one side of the Triton, Medea on the other, about nightfall, and they cannonaded the Triton hotly. The French captain succeeded in turning the same broadside to both his assailants, putting Medea out of action with a thirty-six pound shot below the water line after the first half-hour of fight, but he was wounded in both arms soon afterward and had to hand over the command to Lieutenant de Roquart. Medea retreated from the action; Triton and Jupiter continued to exchange fire for more two hours, until a squall of wind and rain, and the impenetrable darkness of the night separated the combatants.

The Triton had thirteen killed and about twenty wounded, she had fifty shot in her hull or masts, and her sails and rigging were much cut up, but Captain Reynolds reported that she was still able to sail. The Jupiter had to sail back into Lisbon for refit with three killed and seven wounded. Medea suffered one killed and three wounded.