The Action of 4 August 1800 was a highly unusual naval engagement that took place off the Brazilian coast during the French Revolutionary Wars. A French frigate force that had been raiding British commerce off West Africa approached and attempted to attack a large convoy of valuable East Indiamen, large and heavily armed merchant vessels sailing from Britain to British India and China. The East Indiamen were escorted by the small British ship of the line HMS Belliqueux, but otherwise had to rely on their individual armament of 30 cannon to protect them from attack. Due to their large size, the East Indiamen could be mistaken for ships of the line at a distance, and the French commander Commodore Jean-François Landolphe was un-nerved when the convoy formed a line of battle. Assuming his tar