division met a 30-ship fleet under Lord Keith; a 28-hour chase started and in the ensuing Action of 18 June 1799, all of Perrée's ships were captured.Guérin, p.181 Perrée was taken prisoner and exchanged almost immediately. Court-martialled from 6 October to 25 November 1799 for the loss of his ships by a court presided by Vice-admiral Thévenard, the court found that the superior Ottoman and British forces off Syria, the partial disarmament of the frigates and their low food and water supplies had been legitimate reasons for Perrée to return to Toulon. Perrée was then honourably acquitted on a unanimous decision of the council. Battle of the Malta Convoy From 28 November, he took command of a naval division tasked to ferry food supplies from Toulon to Malta, with his flag on the 74-gun Généreux. From 28 November, Perrée was appointed to command a small naval division tasked with supplying Malta. The division was composed of the 74-gun Généreux (under Captain Cyprien Renaudin) as flagship, the 20-gun corvettes Badine and Fauvette, the 16-gun Sans Pareille and the fluyt Ville de Marseille (under Joseph Allemand).Troude, vol.2, p.198 Perrée's division departed on 26 January 1800, but soon after, Généreux broke her mizzen tops and her main topgallant off Hyères, and had to double back for repairs. The division set sail again on 10 February 1800 and arrived off La Valette only a week later, due to adverse weather. On 18, off Lampedusa, Généreux investigated a strange sail which turned out to be a British ship rejoining two sails on the horizon. Perrée ordered his squadron to flee, but Ville de Marseille was overhauled by the 74-gun HMS Alexander in the next morning, and struck her colours at 8:30. The rest of the British squadron, comprising the 74-gun HMS Alexander, Northumberland and Foudroyant, and the 32-gun frigate HMS Success, part of Keith's fleet blockading the Malta, continued the chase. In the afternoon, Perrée spotted two further ships, HMS Audacious and Lion, in the North-North-West; he ordered his corvettes to adjust course, Sans-Pareille sustaining a broadsite from Alexander in the process, and gave liberty of maneuver to his captains. Généreux headed East, but found herself surrounded from all directions. Perrée had anchors, boats and forage supplies throwned overboard, but at 3:15, the frigate HMS Success audaciously intercepted and engaged the much more powerful Généreux, hoping to delay her enough for the British ships of