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 Ne