 On 12 December 1805, "Arethusa", and left Cork, escorting a convoy of 23 merchant vessels.Four days later the convoy encountered a French squadron consisting of five ships of the line and four sailing frigates, as well as nine other vessels that were too far away for assessment.A letter writer to the "Naval Chronicle", describing the encounter, surmised that the distant vessels were the Africa squadron that had been escorted by and that they had captured.