On 1 March 1798, HMS Valiant, one of the ships that belonged to the squadron of viceadmiral Sir Hyde Parker, captured a French privateer off the coast of Santo Domingo.

Petite Magicienne, the captured privateer, had a crew of 87 men, some of them mutineers from the frigate HMS Hermione, and mounted sixteen 4-pounder guns.

He wrote to Parker, ...after ... five hours I came up with & captured La Magicienne, French corsair of sixteen guns and eighty-eight men, and it being hinted to me that James Mason, late Carpenter's Mate of His Majesty's ship Hermione...[2] Her captors carried Petite Magicienne into the Mole of St Nicholas on 8 March.

[5] On 16 September 1798 Musquito was escorting a small convoy off the north coast of Cuba when at daybreak she sighted some strange vessels.

[7] The day before, the master of this Spanish merchant sloop had advised Whyte to set his course towards Puerto Padre, to avoid the squadron.