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I'm going through the series (again), and having just finished TFW I was once more a bit disturbed about the historical accuracy of an author who always claimed to base his tales on incidents that did indeed occur. I refer to O'Brian's description of how the battle between HBM's Ship Shannon and the U.S.S. Chesapeake came about. O'Brian has the Shannon's captain, Phiip Broke, send a message to the Chesapeake's Captain Lawrence that begins as follows: "I request you wlll do me the favour to meet the Shannon with her, ship to ship, to try the fortunes of our respective flags."
Did any sea battles of the time indeed begin in this manner, with one side inviting the other to duke it out? To me it seems unlikely, and even absurd. Could it be that this was a common practice of the British Navy? Did St. Vincent or Keith send such missives into Brest or Admiral Pellew into Toulon during the blockades; and if so, did the French accept them?

The Wikipedia page "Capture of USS Chesapeake" quotes the letter and provides some background and references (see ). BTW it seems that Captain Lawrence had already sailed out to meet the Shannon and did not receive Broke's letter.