Next morning combat resumed, but at a distance and the British vessel withdrew, freeing Observateur to make for Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

[12] Several days prior to the engagement Croizé had taken ill; he had, therefore, relinquished command to his second-in-command, enseigne de vaisseau Robert-Henri Debernes.

[14] Admiral John Poer Beresford, chief of the Halifax station, wrote that the officers of the yard there spoke so highly of Observateur that he commissioned her there under Lieutenant the Honourable George Alfred Crofton (acting).

[a] Beresford gave Crofton a complete crew of officers and men and instructed him to sail to Bermuda to search for Argus.

[17] Lastly, in December, Observateur detained and sent into Bermuda Eliza, Gardner, master, which had been sailing from Cap Francois to Saint Bartholomew.

[20] When the two British ships were within long range, Observateur fired a warning shot and both she and Junon moved to close with the lead frigate preparatory to engaging them.

[20] When Junon was close, the lead frigate suddenly hauled down her Spanish and British flags and raised the French ensign.

Junon's crew were taken by surprise; a ragged retaliatory broadside struck two of the French ships but caused little damage.

Junon herself received broadsides to her port, starboard and stern and quickly became indefensible; her crew surrendered after French soldiers boarded her.

[20] The French frigates were Clorinde, Renommée, Loire and Seine, en route to Guadeloupe with supplies and reinforcements for the colony.

Roquebert's logs indicate he had not initially intended to engage the British, and had raised the Spanish flag in the hope that they would leave his ships alone.

However, when Junon and Observateur drew near, Roquebert decide to continue with the ruse of the false flag to lure the British into range of all four French vessels at the same time.

[21] Wetherall sailed to Marie Galante where he advised Admiral Alexander Cochrane that the French had captured and burnt Junon.

The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Observateur Brig, 310 Tons" for sale on 27 November 1811.