The French van also took a beating, although it was less severe. Captain de Boades of the "Réfléchi" was killed in the opening broadside of Admiral Drake's "Princessa", and the four ships of the French van were, according to a French observer, "engaged with seven or eight vessels at close quarters." The "Diadème", according to a French officer "was utterly unable to keep up the battle, having only four thirty-six-pounders and nine eighteen-pounders fit for use" and was badly shot up; she was rescued by the timely intervention of the "Saint-Esprit".