Action of 10 February 1809 The Action of 10 February 1809 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars , in which a British Royal Navy squadron chased and captured the French frigate " Junon " in the Caribbean Sea . " Junon " was on a mission to carry trade goods from the Îles des Saintes near Guadeloupe back to France and was part of a succession of French warships sent during 1808 and the early months of 1809 in an effort to break the British blockade of the French Caribbean , which was destroying the economies and morale of the islands . Having landed supplies , " Junon " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s return cargo was intended to improve the economic situation on Guadeloupe with much needed oceanic trade . The patrolling British warships first sighted " Junon " in the Virgin Islands on 8 February . They then chased her north into the Atlantic Ocean for two days until the frigates HMS " Horatio " and HMS " Latona " were able to bring her to action . In a bitterly contested running engagement , " Junon " was badly damaged and suffered heavy casualties before surrendering to the numerically superior British force . She was later commissioned into the Royal Navy under the same name and remained in the Caribbean . Less than a year after her capture , a French convoy to Guadeloupe recaptured and destroyed " Junon " ; the British subsequently intercepted and defeated the convoy in turn . Background . By 1809 , the Napoleonic Wars were six years old and the British Royal Navy was dominant at sea . Blockaded in their home ports by British squadrons , French warships , merchant ships and transports were unable to sail and , as a result , the French colonies in the West Indies were largely cut off from France . These colonies were also closely blockaded themselves and , as a result , their ability to trade independently was severely curtailed , resulting in economic collapse , severe food shortages and social unrest . Messages warning of the deteriorating situation in the colonies had been sent during the summer of 1808 , particularly from the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe . In response supplies had been sent from France in small convoys and individual frigates in the autumn . The British blockading ships had also intercepted the communications from the island , and relayed the information to the Admiralty in London , who had ordered Vice - Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane to assemble a force and invade the French colonies before reinforcements and supplies could reach them . The majority of the French attempts to reach the Caribbean ended in failure . Several ships were intercepted in the Bay of Biscay , while others reached the Caribbean , only to be defeated by ships from Cochrane ' s squadron , which was focused on preparations for the invasion of Martinique , planned for February . Only two ships reached the islands safely , the 40 – gun frigates " Junon " at Guadeloupe and " Amphitrite " at Martinique . By February 1809 , Martinique was under attack , distracting most of the available British ships from the blockade of Guadeloupe . Taking advantage of the temporary absence of enemy shipping , " Junon " slipped out of the Îles des Saintes to the south of Guadeloupe on 4 February and sailed north . The French captain , Jean - Baptiste - Augustin Rousseau , had dropped off his military and food supplies and taken on board large quantities of trade goods for sale in France in an effort to revive the Guadeloupe economy . Battle . At 14 : 00 on 8 February , four days after leaving the Îles des Saintes , " Junon " was spotted passing close to the Virgin Islands by the small British brigs HMS " Superieure " and , who signalled the approaching ship to halt and prepare for boarding . Ignoring the orders from the smaller ships , Rousseau continued northwards , passing through the Virgin Islands closely followed by " Superieure " , although " Asp " was unable to keep up and fell far behind during the night . At 08 : 00 on the morning of 9 February , with Virgin Gorda northwest , " Superieure " was close enough to open fire , a few long range shots failing to damage the large frigate , which responded with an ineffective broadside . The gunfire attracted other ships , and during the afternoon " Superieure " was joined by the British frigate HMS " Latona " , under Captain Hugh Pigott . The chase continued through a second night , the French frigate making significant gains over her pursuers but still unable to escape them completely . At 10 : 30 on 10 February , two sails appeared in the southeast , set on a course that would cut in front of the French frigate . These were the British frigate HMS " Horatio " under Captain George Scott and the brig HMS " Driver " . With enemies on all sides , Rousseau recognised that his only hope of escape lay in defeating " Horatio " : a swift victory would enable him to outrun pursuit from the east , travelling westwards into the Atlantic . Rapidly closing with the new arrivals , " Junon " opened fire at 12 : 36 . " Horatio " immediately responded and then circled the slower French vessel and raked her before Rousseau could respond . Drawing close , the frigates exchanged broadsides at point blank range for 40 minutes . The heavier weight of the French ship soon told , with Scott and his first lieutenant severely wounded and their masts badly damaged . Unable to keep up with the French frigate , whose hull was badly holed but whose masts were only lightly damaged , " Horatio " fell back . Rousseau had also been badly wounded in the exchange , and command of " Junon " passed to Lieutenant Jean - Léon Emeric , who attempted to pull away from his battered adversary . As he did so the small brig " Driver " was well placed to intervene , but her captain , Charles Claridge , failed to engage the larger frigate , even though " Latona " was now rapidly approaching from the west and together they could have outnumbered and outmanoeuvred " Junon " . " Superieure " was also close by , and her captain , William Ferrie , did approach the larger French ship , his fire causing enough damage to " Junon " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s sails to prevent her escape . Taking " Horatio " in tow at 14 : 24 , the brig kept Scott ' s frigate in the chase until sufficient repairs were complete . By 14 : 40 " Horatio " was again sailing independently and " Driver " finally came close enough to open fire , although at extreme range : Claridge refused to sail any closer to " Junon " , despite urgent signals from " Horatio " and " Superieure " . At 15 : 04 , " Superieure " was again close enough to the French ship to open fire and at 15 : 25 " Latona " arrived , her presence finally convincing Claridge to enter the action . Surrounded by enemy ships and his sails in tatters , Emeric made one last effort to escape to the north , the strain of this manoeuvre causing his main and mizen masts to collapse . With both flight and resistance impossible , " Junon " surrendered at 15 : 40 . Aftermath . Officers from " Latona " were first to board the French frigate but Emeric refused to tender his formal surrender except to an officer of " Horatio " because he insisted that " Horatio " had caused the entirety of " Junon " s damage . British historians have debated this opinion : William James agreed with this assessment , but also opined that if " Horatio " had been alone it would have been Scott surrendering rather than the French officers , such was the damage his ship had suffered in the battle . Edward Pelham Brenton , who was a serving officer in the Caribbean at the time , gives most of the credit for the victory to " Latona " , in a detailed account that James later criticised for its inaccuracies . The battered " Junon " was taken in tow to Halifax , Nova Scotia , where she was repaired and later commissioned into the Royal Navy under the same name . The prisoners were also landed in Nova Scotia , including Rousseau , who died from his wounds soon afterwards . The French lost approximately 130 casualties ; British losses were seven killed and 26 wounded on " Horatio " , six wounded on " Latona " and one man wounded on " Driver " . The British commanders and crews were praised for their actions in the battle , with the exception of Claridge in " Driver " . Both James and Brenton in their later histories heavily criticised his noted reluctance to engage the enemy . By contrast William Ferrie , commander of " Superieure " was commended for maintaining combat with the much larger frigate whenever possible . Four decades later , in 1847 , the Admiralty recognized the battle with the clasps " Horatio 10 Feby . 1809 " and " Superieure 10 Feby . 1809 " to the Naval General Service Medal , which it awarded upon application to all British participants then still living . In the month following the capture of " Junon " , Guadeloupe was the only French colony in the Caribbean not under attack ; Martinique fell to the British on 24 February and Spanish forces continued their Siege of Santo Domingo . The French did make further attempts to resupply the islands ; a major expedition was defeated off Guadeloupe in April , and elements of this force that reached the island were defeated and captured during June and July . With British forces distracted by the ongoing Reconquista in Santo Domingo , the focus of the campaign moved north , and it was not until a second major expedition arrived in December that significant British forces returned to the Leeward Islands for the final invasion of Guadeloupe . The influx of British reinforcements was too late for HMS " Junon " ; on 13 December she had been cruising alone to the east of Antigua and been surprised by François Roquebert ' s squadron of four French frigates . Outnumbered and surrounded , " Junon " fought hard but was eventually forced to surrender after Captain John Shortland was mortally wounded . Reduced to a sinking condition in the engagement , " Junon " was set on fire and abandoned by Roquebert , whose ships were intercepted five days later off Guadeloupe and defeated : two were destroyed and two others returned to France without landing their supplies .