The expedition, under commanders in chief William Grinfield and Samuel Hood, set out from Barbados on 20 June with 3,149 soldiers, two ships-of-the-line, two frigates, converted to troopships, and two sloops.

When war was declared in May 1803, half of France's warships were already in the Caribbean, taking part in the Saint-Domingue expedition while Britain had nearly 10,000 men scattered among its West Indian colonies.

[3] Although British forces in the area did not get official confirmation until the middle of June, they had received warnings as early as April that war was coming, and the Commander-in-chief Leeward Islands, Lieutenant-General William Grinfield, had readied 4,000 men for deployment at 24 hours notice.

[3] On 17th, Hood took steps to prevent further supplies being thrown into St Lucia by sending Captain James O'Brien in HMS Emerald to harass enemy shipping and disrupt the island's trade.

The naval force comprised Samuel Hood's 74-gun flagship HMS Centaur, the 74-gun Courageux, the frigates Argo and Chichester,[Note 1] and the sloops Hornet and Cyane.

[6] By 11:00 on 21 June, the squadron was anchored in Choc Bay, to the north of Castries, where the bulk of Grinfield's force was landed under the direction of Captain Benjamin Hallowell of the Courageux.

[4][7] The wind was strong, making the rowing arduous[4] but by 17:00, the troops were ashore, moving inland and driving the French outposts back towards the town, which capitulated at 17:30.

[8][9] In the meantime, Hallowell had taken a detachment of seamen and marines to Gros Islet, to cut the route between the fort at Pigeon Island and St Lucia's main fortress, Morne-Fortunée.

[4] Following the fall of Castries, the French garrison at Morne-Fortunée was called on to surrender but the commanding officer, Brigadier Antoine Noguès, refused and at 04:00 the next morning therefore, the British stormed the walls with two columns led by Brigadier-General Thomas Picton.

He was promised a battalion from Gibraltar but this did not arrive and after waiting in vain for reinforcements until the end of August, decided that he would have to make do with the troops at his disposal.

[16][17] By early the next morning, 24 local boats had been gathered and troops were disembarked from Chichester[Note 4] and Centaur, which were too big to enter the river.

[20][21] Of the 1500 men who made up the Dutch garrisons, half joined the British Army, forming their own regiment, the York Light Infantry Volunteers.