back into the powder room. Five days later, in company with the 36-gun frigate , Coventry engaged and defeated a 24-gun privateer, Le Dragon. Six of Coventrys sailors were wounded in the brief exchange of fire with the French vessel, compared with four killed and either 10 or 12 wounded aboard the privateer. A total of 280 French sailors survived the battle and were taken prisoner aboard Coventry and Brilliant. Early on the morning of 10 August 1778, Admiral Edward Vernon's squadron, consisting of (Vernon's flagship), Coventry, , , and the East India Company's ship Valentine, encountered a French squadron under Admiral François l'Ollivier de Tronjoly which consisted of the 64-gun ship of the line Le Brillant, the frigate La Pourvoyeuse, and three smaller ships, Sartine, Lauriston, and Brisson. An inconclusive action followed for about two hours in mid-afternoon. The French broke off the action and the British vessels were too damaged to be able to catch them up again. In the action the British suffered 11 men killed and 53 wounded, including one man killed and 20 wounded aboard Coventry. Seahorse captured Sartine on 25 August 1778. Sartine had been patrolling off Pondichery with Pourvoyeuse when they sighted two East Indiamen, which were sailing blithely along, unaware of the outbreak of war. The French vessels gave chase lazily. Sartines captain, Count du Chaillar, first had to be roused from his bed ashore. The British merchant vessels escaped, but Sartine came too close to Vernon's squadron. Vernon sent Coventry and Seahorse after her and she surrendered after a short action. A French account remarks acidly that she surrendered to a frigate of her own size without a fight. All four Royal Navy vessels in Vernon's squadron shared in the prize money. (Vernon had already sent Valentine off with dispatches.) The Royal Navy took Sartine into service as the fifth-rate frigate . On 12 August 1782, Coventry, under the command of Captain Andrew Mitchell encountered the French frigate Bellone off Friars Hood, Ceylon. In the ensuing Action of 12 August 1782, Coventry killed the senior staff of Bellone, allowing her to escape her stronger opponent. Coventry suffered 15 men killed and 29 wounded in the engagement. On 14 September 1782, Captain William Wolseley took command of Coventry. On the night of 12 January 1783, chasing the frigate Fine which he had mistaken for a privateer, Wolseley sailed Coventry into Ganjam Roads,