On 15 October 1808, HMS Africa was escorting a convoy of 137 merchant ships in the Baltic, with the assistance of the bomb vessel Thunder and two gun-brigs. They left Karlskrona that day and on 20 October they anchored in the Øresund off Malmö. At noon a flotilla of Danish gunboats was seen moving towards the convoy and Africa sailed to intercept them.The flotilla consisted of 25 gunboats and seven armed launches, mounting some 70 heavy cannons and with an overall total of some 1600 men.


At 1:30 the wind died and Africa was immobilized. By 2:50pm the gunboats had stationed themselves off Africa's quarters, where few of her guns could fire, and opened fire. The battle continued until 6:45pm when with night closing in all firing ceased. Had daylight lasted another hour the Danes would probably have captured Africa. As it was, she had lost 9 men killed and 51 wounded, including Lieutenant John George Richardson who was wounded in the leg, arm, and mouth.