At 9 a.m., as the enemy showed no intention of engaging, Dance formed the order of sailing and continued his course, his fleet being under easy sail on the starboard tack; whereupon the French filled and edged towards the merchantmen. Four hours later, as it was obvious that Linois was trying to cut off the rear of the fleet, Dance signalled his fleet to tack in succession, bear down in line ahead, and engage on arriving abreast of the enemy. This manœuvre was perfectly carried out, the _Royal George_ leading, all of them in close order and under t’gallant sails.[4] At 1.15 p.m. Linois opened fire upon the _Royal George_ and leading ships, but this was returned in a very determined manner. For about three-quarters of an hour the two enemies blazed away at each other. The brunt was borne by the _Royal George_, but the _Ganges_, _Earl Camden_, _Warley_ and _Alfred_ were all hotly engaged. These five ships gave the French such a hot time that by two o’clock _Marengo_ and her consorts ceased firing, hauled their wind, broke off the engagement and stood away under all sail to the eastward. The French warships had been beaten by British merchantmen and especially by clever tactics. But that was not all. Dance now made the signal for a general chase, and for two hours these merchant ships chased the warships; and then, remembering that his first duty was to his ships and their valuable cargoes, Dance feared that further pursuit would take his fleet too far from the mouth of the Malacca Straits, so ordered his fleet to tack, and eventually entered the straits. The _Royal George_ had one man killed, one wounded, and she received some shot holes in her hull and sails; the other British ships were practically untouched. The sixteen East Indiamen carried from thirty to thirty-six guns each, though not one of these ships was armed better than the _Aventurier_, and this point is to be remembered, that a warship is always more or less ready to fight, whereas these East Indiamen were full of cargo and the decks were greatly lumbered. The Commodore by his determination and promptitude had saved the whole fleet, and it is to the credit of these sixteen merchantmen that their smart appearance, the regularity of their manœuvres, and their bold advance made the French Admiral wonder whether, after all, these were not British men-of-war escorting the others.