I guess that beats my battle last night, that I thought was impressive... I had a single Light Frigate, my new favourite prowler, and my two prizes (just my luck I take two crappy prizes before stumbling onto a goldmine of SOL's) were too weak to help so I sent them off engaging.
I emerged in the middle of what I thought was the entire French Caribbean Fleet... like, 8 or 10 `high-ranked` vessels, and the first half of the fight (lasted nearly a whole day) was in heavy fog, so I was fighting blindly. It came down to one last Corvette, and he kept outrunning me coz my sails were shot out, so I had to keep waiting for him to sail far enough away, then `sailing-to` and magically appearing right beside him.
Only downside was I was forced to swap for a captured ship, because my own was about dead, and it had less cargo space, which was full, so I had to abandon the 625 cwt of cotton I was running for a merchant. Times like this I wish I could dump cargo during the ship transfer screen. I also wish the ship's speed were displayed, so I know whether a ship is worth taking or not in that respect. And that sending prize ships home option I so strongly desire... hurgh.