When the Admiralty purchased William and Mary, it apparently was on the understanding that Lieutenant Michael Fitton, formerly of Abergavenny, would command her.

Pitt's crew manned their sweeps throughout the night though at dawn a breeze gave them a respite.

Some four to five hours earlier, Drake, under the command of Robert Nicholas, had come in sight and maneuvered to block the privateer's escape, but did not herself enter into the combat.

On Superbe the boarding party from Pitt found four men dead and three mortally wounded.

[6] Fitton received a sword valued at £50 from the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund,[5] and his share of the prize-money.

[b] Earlier that same month Superbe had encountered and tried to board Peterel off Charleston in an inconclusive skirmish with casualties on both sides.

On 13 April 1807, Pitt captured the Spanish armed schooner Abeja, which was carrying a cargo of cocoa.

[8] Diron, who had been captain of Superbe, equipped a brig that he named Revanche de la Superbe, and sent an invitation to Fitton to meet him at a place named; but before the message arrived the 40-year-old Fitton had been superseded as captain by the 17-year-old Thomas John Cochrane, son of Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, who was then commanding officer of the Leeward Islands station.

[10] On 10 June 1808 he was confirmed in command of the receiving ship Shark,[11] which was a hulk in Port Royal harbor.

The reason for the expulsion was that they had violated President Thomas Jefferson's proclamation prohibiting foreign armed vessels from entering American ports.

English newspapers pointed out that the President's proclamation specifically exempted vessels bearing dispatches.