After fighting under d'Estaing, he was made second in command of the 74-gun Glorieux, which became part of the comte de Grasse's squadron in March 1781, which in September 1781 defeated the British at Chesapeake.
Trogoff's great knowledge of the Antilles led to his holding several commands on Saint-Domingue, including the Active in 1786, then the Duguay-Trouin in 1791.
The latter carried several soldiers to the island to reinforce French control after riots and protests against the abolition of slavery.
Trogoff was made an outlaw by the Republican government on 9 September that year and on 18 December boarded a British ship after Dugommier and Napoleon Bonaparte retook the town.
William Sidney Smith set fire to the main magazine and eight of the French ships of the line before departing.