Sercey did momentarily reconsider Deciding when the British ships equally declined Agree_or_refuse_to_act to attack Attack the temporarily disabled frigate `` Forte '' , but eventually withdrew Escaping completely .

The Action of 28 February 1799 was a minor naval engagement Hostile_encounter of the French Revolutionary Wars , fought Hostile_encounter off the mouth of the Hooghly River in the Bay of Bengal between the French frigate `` Forte '' and the Royal Navy frigate HMS `` Sybille '' .

`` Forte '' was an exceptionally large and powerful ship engaged Hostile_encounter on a commerce raiding operation Military_operation against British merchant shipping Sending off the port of Calcutta in British India .

Acting on information from released prisoners Prison , Edward Cooke , captain of `` Sybille '' , was sailing Self_motion off Balasore when distant gunfire alerted Warning him to the presence of `` Forte '' on the evening of 28 February .

For unclear reasons the French captain Hubert Le Loup de Beaulieu did not properly prepare GetReady `` Forte '' to receive Receiving the attack Attack from Cooke 's frigate and he was consequently killed Killing in the first raking broadside from the British ship .

`` Forte '' s crew continued to resist Defending for more than two hours , only surrendering Surrendering when their ship had been reduced Cause_change_of_position_on_a_scale to a battered wreck and more than a third of the crew killed Killing or wounded Bodily_harm .

The captured merchant ships subsequently escaped Escaping under their French prize crews while Cooke 's executive officer Lieutenant Lucius Hardyman repaired Recovering `` Sybille `` and `` Forte '' .

Hardyman took Bringing both ships into Calcutta , where `` Forte '' was commissioned Change_of_leadership into the Royal Navy under the same name , although the frigate was accidentally wrecked Catastrophe in the Red Sea two years later .