The Battle of Sainte-Luce was a naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars which was fought between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy off the southern coast of Martinique in 1794. A British squadron of three ships of the line - the 50-gun fourth-rate HMS Boyne, the 32-gun Fifth Rate HMS Dryad, and the 32-gun Fifth Rate HMS Hussar - sailed northwest from Barbados and intercepted a squadron of three French ships - the 32-gun frigate Foudroyant, the 26-gun brig Actif, and the 18-gun sloop Vile de Paris. The ensuing battle saw the French commodore Didier Doisneau attempt to encircle the British ships with his three ships, only for the British to utilize their superior firepower to break out of the encirclement. Vile de Paris exploded after its magazine was struck by a cannonball, resulting in the loss of all 65 of its crewmembers in an instant. HMS Boyne pounded Foudroyant with grapeshot before closing in for a boarding action, and the British quickly overwhelmed the panicking French crew. However, Royal Navy commodore Lowen Chellew and several of his crew members did not make the jump back onto the deck of their ship, resulting in their deaths by drowning; this demoralized the crew of HMS Boyne and caused the ship to rout. HMS Dryad surrendered to the French after 21 of its 32 guns and 57 of its 99 crew were lost, leaving only HMS Hussar and the French brig Actif in the fight. The Hussar attempted to board Actif, firing chain shot at the Actif in a bid to slow it down and force a battle. However, the Actif instead chose to flee from the battle, ceding the waters to Britain. Both sides suffered considerable crew losses, but the French lost all three of their ships, while the British retained all of their warships and captured two more.
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