In 1793 the Haitian Revolution was underway, and Great Britain attempted to intervene, hoping to get a toehold in the rich French colony. The Royal Navy defeated the French fleet at Saint-Domingue, and its commanders allowed French military officers to leave the island after they resigned their commissions. French forces and thousands of colonists left Saint-Domingue because of the violence of the Haitian Revolution. De Grasse lost all his property there, including the slaves.