however that he would have been successful in any engagement and wrote "I trust I shall yet have the good fortune to fall in with him when unencumber'd with convoy". Linois's withdrawal was prudent: his mainmast had been struck during the brief cannonade and was at risk of collapse if the engagement continued. Losses among the crew were light, Marengo suffering eight men wounded and Belle Poule none. British casualties were slightly heavier, a passenger on Blenheim named Mr. Cook was killed by langrage shot and a sailor was killed on the Indiaman Ganges by a roundshot. No British ships suffered anything more than superficial damage in the combat, and the convoy continued its journey uninterrupted, arriving at Madras on 23 August. Return to the Atlantic Retiring from the encounter with Blenheim, Linois sailed westwards and arrived in Simon's Bay at the Dutch colony of Cape Town on 13 September. He was hoping there to join up with the Dutch squadron maintained at the Cape, but discovered that the only significant Dutch warship in the port was the ship of the line Bato, which was stripped down and unfit for service at sea. Repairing the damage suffered in the August engagement and replenishing food and naval stores over the next two months, Linois was joined in October by Atalante. On 5 November a gale swept the bay and Atalante dragged her anchors, Captain Gaudin-Beauchène powerless to prevent his frigate driving ashore and rapidly becoming a total wreck. The crew were able to escape to shore in small boats and were then divided among Marengo and Belle Poule, with 160 men left to augment the garrison at Cape Town. Linois's prize, the Brunswick, too was wrecked near Simon's Bay. Leaving Simon's Bay on 10 November, Linois slowly sailed up the West African coast, investigating bays and estuaries for British shipping, but only succeeding in capturing two small merchant vessels. He passed Cape Negro and Cape Lopez and obtained fresh water at Príncipe, before cruising in the region of Saint Helena. There he learned on 29 January 1806 from an American merchant ship that a British squadron had captured Cape Town. With the last safe harbour within reach in enemy hands and in desperate need of repair and resupply, Linois decided to return to Europe and slowly passed north, following the trade routes in search of British merchant shipping. On 17 February,