 Lookouts on Seahorse spotted Sensible at 16 : 00 on 26 June and Captain Edward Foote immediately gave chase , the French frigate fleeing southwards . For 12 hours the pursuit continued until Foote was able to catch and defeat his opponent , inflicting heavy casualties on the weaker and overladen French frigate . Among the prisoners captured was General Louis Baraguey d 'Hilliers who had been wounded in the storming of Malta , and among the treasure was an ornate seventeenth century cannon once owned by Louis XIV . The captured Sensible was initially fitted out as an active warship , but on arrival in Britain in 1799 the ship was downgraded to a transport . The action provided the British with the first conclusive evidence of the French intention to invade Egypt , but despite an extensive search for Nelson 's fleet Foote was unable to relay the location of the French to his admiral before the Battle of the Nile on 1 August . 
