French forces landed on the island on 22 July, and on 5 September attacked and captured a fort protecting the town of Willemstad.

The American consul there sent for help, and on 10 September the Dutch governor of the island surrendered to the British frigate HMS Nereide under the command of Frederick Watkins.

No American warships were stationed at Curaçao on 23 July when a French force from Guadeloupe, consisting of five ships and 1,400 troops, sailors, and Guadeloupean militia, arrived.

On 10 September Nereide arrived at the eastern point of Curaçao and there chased away two privateers that the French commander had left cruising as pickets.

After these vessels retreated into a bay that contained a further 15 privateers, Watkins sailed to Willemstad where he began engaging various targets that were firing from the town.

In ten days of cruising, the Americans captured only one French vessel before stopping off at Willemstad while on their return to Saint Kitts.

Nereide's commander also had impounded a large quantity of species belonging to Consul Phillips and set privateers cruising with orders to seize American shipping.