sailed in company from Brest the previous day for a fortnight's cruise around the Scilly Isles. Courageux exchanged fire at close range for more than an hour, during which time all of Minerve's masts were put out of action and extensive damage done to her hull, while fifty of her crew were killed and a further twenty-three injured. Courageux's mizzen, foremast and bowsprit were damaged, and ten of her crew were killed and seven wounded. Valiant, in the meantime, had gone off in pursuit of another ship. Courageux towed her prize to Spithead, arriving on the morning of 8 January. In April, Courageux was part of the convoy under George Darby sent to relieve the Great Siege of Gibraltar, maintained by French and Spanish forces since June 1779. Courageux shared in the prize money for the French brigs Duc de Chartres and Trois Amis and the Spanish frigate Santa Leucadia captured during the cruise. An £8,547.17.7d refit was carried out in April 1782. Then, in June 1787 a greater repair was required, costing £30,369.13.4d and taking until July 1789. Following a dispute with Spain over territorial rights along the Nootka Sound, Courageux was commissioned in April 1790 under George Countess for the Spanish Armament. The crisis was largely resolved through a series of agreements signed between October 1790 and January 1794. In February 1791, Alan Gardner was in command when Courageux was recommissioned for the Russian Armament. Again, the matter was settled before she was called into action, and she paid off in September of that year. Toulon and Corsica France declared war on Britain and the Dutch Republic in February 1793, and Courageux, under William Waldegrave, was sent with other British ships to blockade the French fleet in Toulon. By the middle of August, this British force, under Hood in the 100-gun HMS Victory, had grown to twenty-one ships of the line. On 23 August, a deputation of French royalists came aboard Victory to discuss the conditional surrender of the town, and on 27 August 1500 troops were landed to remove the republicans occupying the forts guarding the port. The landings were covered by Courageux, , , and Robust. Once the forts were secure, the remainder of Hood's fleet, accompanied by seventeen Spanish ships of the line which had just arrived, sailed into the harbour. In September 1793, during the occupation, Courageux joined a squadron under Robert Linzee, which