On the 9th of March the _Indefatigable_ sailed from Falmouth, with the _Revolutionaire_, _Argo_, _Amazon_, and _Concorde_. On the 21st, the _Indefatigable_ gave chase to three corvettes, one of which she drove on shore, and destroyed. On the 13th of April, she fell in with the French frigate _l'Unite_, on her way from l'Orient to Rochefort, having on board, as passengers, the governor's lady, Madame la Large, and her family. The _Revolutionaire_, which was ordered to chase in shore to cut off the enemy from the land, came up with her a little before midnight. Captain Cole hailed the French captain, and urged him repeatedly to submit to a superior force; but the enemy refusing to strike, he poured in two destructive broadsides. He was preparing to board, the frigates at the time running ten knots, when the French ship surrendered. She had suffered very severely from the fire of the _Revolutionaire_, without having been able to make any effectual return. Sir Edward sent the passengers to Brest in a neutral vessel, and finding that one of the junior officers of the prize was a son of Mme. la Large, he took the young man's parole, and allowed him to accompany his mother. With his official communication to the Admiralty, which accompanied Captain Cole's account of the action, he wrote a private letter to the First Lord, and another to the Earl of Chatham. It was his practice through life thus to strengthen an interest for his officers in every possible quarter, and it was one, though not the only, cause of his remarkable success in obtaining promotion for so many of them. His letters on this occasion, though they display the warmth of private friendship, are not stronger than he was accustomed to write for others, whose only claim upon him was that which every deserving officer has to the patronage of his commander. The following is the letter to Lord Spencer:-- "MY LORD,--I have much pleasure in informing your Lordship of the capture of the French frigate, _l'Unite_, of thirty-eight guns, and two hundred and fifty-five men; and I have more in conveying to your Lordship my sense of Captain Cole's merit upon the occasion. Nothing could be more decided than his conduct; and his attack was made with so much vigour and judgment, that a ship of very superior force to _l'Unite_ must have rewarded his gallantry. To his extreme vigilance and zeal, the squadron are indebted for this prize. It is not improper for me to say, that on all occasions I have found much reason to respect Captain Cole as a skilful and brave officer, and I rejoice in the opportunity of bearing testimony to his merit." To the Earl of Chatham, with whom he was intimate, he wrote in a more familiar strain:--