[9] Shortly after 5 April, Assurance joined Sir John Jervis' fleet at Martinique, in time to take part in the assault on Guadeloupe.

[10] Jervis' ships and 6,100 troops under Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Grey had captured the island in March and followed it up with a successful invasion of St Lucia on 4 April.

Jervis gave Berkeley command of a squadron of three frigates and two smaller craft and sent him to search for the disabled flagship, Santisima Trinidad of 130 guns, which had been badly damaged and towed from the battle.

Even though he was joined shortly after by the 32-gun HMS Terpsichore, Berkeley considered his force insufficient and declined to engage, recalling Minerve and Niger, whose captains were eager to attack.

[15][17] Minerve's captain, George Cockburn, however, came down on Berkeley's side, opining to Jervis that, under a jury rig, Santisima Trinidad was still capable of making a defence.

The Spanish ships Santa Elena and Ninfa had been carrying silver from Havana to Cadiz, but had transferred their cargo the previous night to a fishing boat that had warned them of the proximity of the British fleet.

[20][21] Ninfa was taken into service as HMS Hamadryad, a 36-gun frigate with a main battery of 12-pounders,[22] but the British were unable to retrieve the cargo of silver, which later arrived safely in Cadiz.