The French squadron departed from Lorient in February 1809 in an attempt to reach and resupply the island colony of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea, then under invasion from a British expeditionary force.

Attempting to escape under cover of darkness on 14 April, the French squadron was spotted by a number of small British ships stationed close inshore.

Within days, Thétis had been captured at the action of 10 November 1808, and subsequent operations had mixed success: the frigate Amphitrite reached Martinique, but a number of smaller ships were intercepted and defeated, both in Europe and the West Indies.

[3] In desperation, a major operation was planned, intended to transport substantial supplies and sufficient troops to resist the inevitable British invasion on Martinique.

To this end, Commodore Amable Troude was provided with the ships of the line Courageux, Polonais and D'Hautpoul, with the frigates Félicité and Furieuse en flûte as armed storeships, carrying the bulk of the supplies.

[4] On 21 February 1809, a large French fleet under Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez attempted to escape Brest and was chased by the blockade squadron and driven to shelter under the Ile d'Aix.

These operations were the preliminaries to the Battle of Basque Roads in April, but also provided the cover required for Troude's force to escape Lorient while the British were engaged elsewhere.

Amassing an expeditionary force of 44 ships and 10,000 men at Carlisle Bay, Barbados, Cochrane began the invasion on 30 January 1809 and his troops rapidly overran the French defences, despite stiff resistance in the central highlands.

[9] With this force he launched a surprise invasion of the islands on 14 April, the amphibious operation commanded by Captain Philip Beaver in HMS Acasta and executed successfully with only minor casualties.

[8] Pompee was closest to the French, and Captain William Charles Fahie managed to fire two broadsides into the rearmost ship, D'Hautpoul, before Troude's squadron pulled away from her.

[9] The French escape, while necessitated by the British battery, was actually a feint: the frigates Félicité and Furieuse had remained hidden off the Saintes during the night and at 09:00 on 15 April, with the main combat continuing to the west, slipped away into Basse-Terre on Guadeloupe, chased in vain by HMS Intrepid under Captain Warwick Lake.

Frustrated by her inability to escape Recruit, D'Hautpoul eventually turned and fired a broadside at 10:45, causing severe damage but failing to dissuade Napier, who immediately counter-attacked.

[11] Four decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.

Watching these ships was a small British blockade force led by Hugh Pigot in Latona with a few brigs and sloops, Cochrane's invasion fleet having been dispersed.

They were immediately spotted leaving Basse-Terre by the blockade squadron, but although the brig HMS Haughty managed to fire a few shots before they pulled away, only Latona and Cherub under Captain Thomas Tudor Tucker were able to maintain contact.

Passing up the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, her commander, Lieutenant Gabriel-Etienne-Louis Le Marant Kerdaniel, raided British merchant shipping and was consequently delayed.

At 15:00 on 5 July, the 20-gun sloop HMS Bonne Citoyenne under Captain William Mounsey, on passage from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Quebec, spotted Furieuse to the southwest taking possession of a British merchant ship.

As Bonne Citoyenne approached, Kerdaniel abandoned the merchant ship and sailed northwards, Mounsey giving chase but trailing 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) behind throughout the day.

Mounsey replied immediately, the two ships exchanging fire at close range for nearly seven hours, the smaller and more manoeuvrable Bonne Citoyenne successfully turning several times to vary her broadsides and prevent her guns overheating.

[19] Due to her small size and high speed, Bonne Citoyenne suffered minimal casualties of one man killed and five wounded, although the ship itself was badly damaged.

In January 1810, Cochrane ordered an amphibious landing on Guadeloupe, which rapidly overwhelmed the weakened defenders and eliminated the last remaining French colony in the Caribbean Sea.