Affair of Fielding and Bylandt

The affair of Fielding and Bylandt was a brief naval engagement off the Isle of Wight on 31 December 1779 between a Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Commodore Charles Fielding, and a squadron of the Dutch States Navy, commanded by Schout-bij-nacht Lodewijk van Bylandt, escorting a Dutch convoy. The Dutch and British were not yet at war, but Fielding wished to inspect the Dutch merchantmen for what they considered contraband destined for France, then engaged in the American Revolutionary War.

Source: Wikipedia — Affair of Fielding and Bylandt (CC BY-SA 4.0)