On Saturday 27 July 1776, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, I was in sight of the road of St. Pierre where I found an English warship laying at anchor. A short time later, I saw that she set sail in order to come towards us: at 9 o'clock, she was coming straight at us as much as we could judge. We must have been about two leagues from St. Pierre then. At half past nine, they spoke to us in French asking where we came from. From Fort Royal, we answered in the same language; then, they spoke to us in English and we heard them tell us to lower our boat: in reply we said to them to come and do it themselves. At 10 o'clock, they fired one shot, then three more; we replied four times as well until they set sail to withdraw. This engagement lasted from 30 to 40 minutes. After they braced aback, we sailed for some time in the roadstead and we dropped anchor in the southern part four hours after midnight.

[St. Pierre] 28 July 1776