HMS Swallow defeated Bartholomew Roberts off the West African coast in 1722.
Swallow was commanded by Captain Chaloner Ogle, who pursued Roberts after learning that the pirate fleet was operating near Cape Lopez, in present-day Gabon. Ogle used a captured pirate vessel and careful maneuvering to approach Roberts’s ships without immediately revealing the warship’s identity.
On 10 February 1722, Swallow attacked Roberts’s flagship Royal Fortune. Roberts was killed early in the battle, reportedly by grapeshot, and his crew surrendered soon afterward. The defeat was a major blow to organized piracy in the region.
The battle is sometimes confused with later naval actions against other pirates. Swallow was a Royal Navy fifth-rate ship, not the same vessel as HMS Rose, which is associated with other Atlantic and Caribbean operations.