Le Magnanime, having left Brest for the East Indies in January 1748, had been partially dismasted in a storm off the coast of Ushant and while limping back to Brest, she is spotted on January 31 by a British fleet under Edward Hawke.

All sail is immediately made; HMS Nottingham under Captain Robert Harland, having at 1 am closed with the chase, commences the action and a running fight of six hours duration ensues.

The rear admiral, having observed the size of the ship, sends the sixty-gun HMS Portland under Captain Stevens to proceed to the Nottingham's assistance.

By the time the Portland had arrived up, the French ship, after receiving a few shots from the Portland, is forced to strike her colors.

The Magnanime has forty-five killed and one hundred and five wounded out of a crew of six hundred and eighty-six men; Nottingham has sixteen killed and eighteen wounded while Portland, catching up and joining the fight an hour later, has only four wounded.

Magnanime, being a new ship of less than four years old, is added to the British navy under the same name.