On his way back he missed a piece of service which would have given him a well-earned reward. While he was to the south the convoy which Rodney had taken from the Dutch, together with much of his booty, was on its way home. Another rich convoy was due from Jamaica. The French Government had news of them, and sent six sail of the line and four frigates and sloops to intercept them. La Motte Picquet fell in with Rodney’s prize convoy about sixty miles to the west of the Scilly Isles. They were under the protection of Commodore Hotham with two line-of-battle ships and three frigates. Seeing the superiority of the French, Hotham ordered his convoy to disperse, and drew his warships into a line. But the Frenchman followed the booty and Hotham was not alert enough to molest him. Twenty of the convoy were taken. La Motte Picquet, satisfied with his gains, now turned home to Brest. It was well for him that he did. Darby was informed of the capture of Hotham’s convoy, and at once sent Rear-Admiral Digby with a squadron to effect its recapture. But Digby never sighted the chase. The look-out ship of the main force with Darby, the =Nonsuch=, 64, commanded by Captain Sir James Wallace, fell in with one of La Motte Picquet’s ships, the _Actif_, 74, commanded by M. de Boades, and the two fought a desperate action, which lasted through hours of the night of the 14th May. Both were severely mauled. The =Nonsuch= lost twenty-six men killed, and sixty-four wounded; the _Actif_ fifteen killed and thirty-eight wounded. The action may be quoted to prove that there was at this time no difference in efficiency between the best ships in the French navy and our own. La Motte Picquet took his prizes into Brest, and with them the fortune of Rodney. Little was left to the admiral except a ruinous series of lawsuits, brought against him by British merchants engaged in the authorised trade at St. Eustatius, whose goods he had impounded without discrimination. The Jamaica convoy got safe to port. Darby anchored at Spithead on the 22nd May.