Le Cte. d'Estaing laisse deux vaisseaux et trois frégates de son escadre à la poursuite de la frégate Anglaise la Mairmaide, et va mouiller avec le surplus dans la Délaware, la Mairmaide perdant tout espoir d'echap̃er se jette à la Côte ou elle s'echoüe et voit tomber tous ses Mats : le 8 Juillet 1778

The original wash drawing displayed here was executed by marine painter Pierre Ozanne in 1778. This work was produced during the French naval campaign in America by Ozanne who witnessed the action at the entrance of the Delaware River on July 8, 1778. This battle is considered as the first naval event between the French and the English fleet of that campaign on the American coast.

We Are One: Following the American victory at Saratoga and George Washington’s aggressive, but ill-fated, attack at Germantown, the French government decided to aid the Americans. Some French military officers, such as the Marquis de Lafayette and Pierre L’Enfant, volunteered. The French also sent army units led by the Comte de Rochambeau and a naval fleet. French naval artist Pierre Ozanne drew this view of a French ship pursuing a British frigate at the entrance of the Delaware River in 1778. This was the first naval engagement between the French and British after France recognized the sovereignty of the United States.