 On the evening of 15 November Malcolm ordered the ship 's boats of the squadron to approach the anchorage under cover of darkness , commanded by Lieutenant Joseph Needham Taylor . The boats had been equipped with Congreve rockets , a recently invented artillery system which was not then widely in use by the Royal Navy . None of the rockets fired during the night appeared to have hit their targets , but they seem to have panicked the French crews ; dawn the following morning revealed that both frigates had cut their anchors and drifted onto the shore , Elisa in particular had struck hard and heeled over onto her side . Both ships were however successfully refloated by the rising tide on 16 November , and the situation reached an impasse , with Malcolm 's forces blockading Saint @-@ Vaast @-@ la @-@ Hougue to prevent the French from sailing . 
