The sloop HMS Goree was lying at anchor off Marie-Galante on 22 April 1808, when two brigs were spotted sailing northwards.

The two brigs, mounting 16 guns each and so constituting the superior force, hauled up and fired on Goree, badly damaging her sails and rigging, and disabling her.

[3]Superieure and Pilade maintained a running fight until the French brigs reached the protection of shore batteries at the Saintes.

Captain George Cockburn of Pompee described Pylade as "only Three Years old, in perfect good State, and in every Respect fit for His Majesty's Service."

Four decades after the operation, the Admiralty issued the clasp "Guadaloupe" to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.

[5] The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" first offered the "Vimiera sloop, of 304 tons", lying at Portsmouth, for sale on 9 June 1814.