The captured Courageux was taken to Lisbon under a prize crew,[1] to be greeted by cheering crowds.[2] A later historian wrote "I can only compare the conduct of the Bellona to that of a dextrous gladiator, who not only plants his own blows with certainty, but also guards against those of his antagonist."[3] Writing in 1825, historian Edward Pelham Brenton listed the battle as one of only four decisive encounters between single ships of the line of comparable size in the history of warfare under sail (the others being the Battle of Ushant in 1782 when HMS Foudroyant captured Pégase, the Battle of the Raz de Sein in April 1798, when HMS Mars captured Hercule and the Battle of Pirano in February 1812 when HMS Victorious captured Rivoli).[7] Following repairs, Courageux joined the Royal Navy as HMS Courageux, serving for 35 years and seeing action in the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary Wars before being wrecked in a storm at Monte Hacho on 18 December 1796 with the loss of more than 470 lives.[8]