Action of 31 May 1796


The Action of 31 May 1796 was a small action during the French Revolutionary Wars in which a Royal Navy squadron under the command of Commodore Horatio Nelson, in the 64-gun third-rate ship of the line, captured a seven-vessel French convoy that was sailing along the coast from Menton to Vado in the Mediterranean. The British succeeded in capturing the entire convoy, with minimal casualties to themselves.
Nelson had received the news that the French were trying to take supplies to St Pierre d'Acena for the siege of Mantua. He therefore set out to intercept any such attempt.
When Nelson and his squadron sighted a small convoy of seven sail skirting the coast, he pursued them. The French vessels anchored under the guns of a shore battery and hoisted French flags. Nelson then sent in the squadron's ships' boats to capture the convoy. After a short resistance by an armed tartane of three guns, a gunboat of one gun, and the battery, the British succeeded in taking the vessels. British casualties were one man killed and three wounded. French records place the action off Arma di Taggia and Bussana.
The vessels the British captured were two naval vessels and five transports.