"Vénus" was faster than "Ceylon", and although Captain Charles Gordon almost reached the safety of Île Bourbon, he was run down and forced to engage the French ship during the night, both frigates inflicting severe damage on one another before the wounded Gordon surrendered to the approaching corvette.As dawn broke, Rowley's flagship HMS "Boadicea" arrived, recaptured "Ceylon", drove off the corvette and forced the battered French flagship to surrender, capturing Hamelin.