Lamellerie ' s expedition Lamellerie ' s expedition was a French naval operation launched in February 1806 . Four French Navy frigates and a brig , all survivors of the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805 , attempted to break past the British blockade of Cadiz on 23 February 1806 , taking advantage of the withdrawal of the principal blockade squadron several months earlier at the start of the Atlantic campaign of 1806 . Although the squadron was intercepted by elements of the British blockade force , Captain Louis - Charles - Auguste Delamarre de Lamellerie escaped with the four frigates by abandoning the slower brig , which was captured . During the next six months , Lamellerie ' s squadron cruised the Atlantic , visiting Senegal , Cayenne and the West Indies but failing to cause any significant disruption to British trade . On 27 July , as the squadron neared Rochefort , it was spotted by HMS " Mars " , a Royal Navy ship of the line stationed off the port to intercept French ships entering or leaving . Signalling to the rest of the British squadron , Captain Robert Dudley Oliver took " Mars " in pursuit , chasing the French squadron all through the night and into the next morning , by which time the frigate " Rhin " had fallen far behind the others . Recognising that " Rhin " was in danger of being captured , Lamellerie turned back to her defence with his main squadron but then changed his mind , turning once more and retreating to Rochefort as Oliver took possession of the heavily outgunned " Rhin " . Background . On 21 October 1805 , the French and Spanish allied fleet was almost destroyed at the Battle of Trafalgar by a Royal Navy fleet under Vice - Admiral Lord Nelson . Among the scattered survivors of the Allied fleet were five French frigates , untouched during the action . With the rest of the surviving ships , the frigates anchored in Cadiz during the week that followed the battle and remained there for the rest of the year , contained in the harbour by a large British blockade squadron led by Vice - Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth . In December 1805 however , Duckworth abandoned the station in search of a French squadron under Vice - Admiral Zacharie Allemand that was raiding British convoys off the Savage Islands . Although Allemand escaped Duckworth , the British admiral became embroiled in the Atlantic campaign of 1806 and did not return to Cadiz , eventually sailing to the Caribbean where he won the Battle of San Domingo on 6 February 1806 . In his absence , Duckworth ' s squadron was replaced at Cadiz by ships grudgingly despatched from the Mediterranean Fleet , under the command of Vice - Admiral Lord Collingwood . The French Navy was concerned about its ships trapped in Cadiz and sought to bring them back to French harbours , particularly to make up for the heavy losses suffered in the Trafalgar Campaign . Therefore four frigates and a brig were prepared for sea under the most senior frigate captain , Captain Louis - Charles - Auguste Delamarre de Lamellerie of " Hortense " . These ships were to break out of Cadiz , conduct a six - month raiding mission in the Atlantic to distract attention from the ongoing Atlantic campaign , and raid British merchant shipping . At the conclusion of the six months , Lamellerie was to return to Rochefort to join the French Atlantic Fleet . Breakout . Word of Lamellerie ' s preparations reached Collingwood , and he planned a ruse to lure the French frigate squadron out into open water . Withdrawing all the large vessels of the blockade squadron , Collingwood kept only the 36 - gun frigate HMS " Hydra " and the 18 - gun sloop HMS " Moselle " in position to create the impression that the principal blockading force had been driven off . This it was hoped would draw Lamellerie into an attack on the lone ships that would allow the rest of Collingwood ' s squadron , hidden just beyond the horizon , to counterattack and annihilate the French squadron . However on 23 February a strong westerly wind blew up and the main squadron , " Hydra " and " Moselle " were all blown too far to the east . This was spotted by lookouts on shore and Lamellerie took the opportunity to leave port on 26 February , while the British ships were still out of position . Lamellerie ' s squadron was spotted late on 26 February by lookouts on " Hydra " and Captain George Mundy , supported by Captain John Surman Carden on " Moselle " , steered a parallel course in the hope of cutting off their advance . At 23 : 00 , Carden was detached to look for Collingwood and inform him of the location and direction of the French while Mundy continued to follow the enemy squadron . Although " Hydra " was now isolated and hopelessly outnumbered , Lamellerie made no effort to attack the British ship : he even failed to respond when the brig " Furet " , falling behind the larger and faster frigates , came within range of " Hydra " . Mundy opened fire at 04 : 30 , Lieutenant Dumay on " Furet " acknowledging that he was hopelessly outgunned and completely unsupported by immediately striking his colours . As Collingwood ' s squadron was nowhere within sight and the French were rapidly pulling ahead , Mundy abandoned the chase , secured his prize and turned back eastwards as the French continued into the Atlantic . It is not known why Lamellerie fled from such an inferior force and allowed one of his ships to be captured without opposition : modern historian Richard Woodman describes his conduct as " astonishing , given the weakness of the opposition and [ the strength of his ] own combined force " , but in a separate work suggests that Lamellerie ' s orders precluded any engagement until his force was safely off the coast . Operations in the Atlantic . Following the escape from Cadiz , the remaining four ships of Lamellerie ' s squadron sailed southwards , reaching the French African trading post of Senegal in March and then crossing the Atlantic to Cayenne , arriving on 27 March . Taking on fresh supplies , the squadron sailed from Cayenne on 7 April and operated with limited success against British merchant shipping in the Caribbean Sea , including 15 days cruising off Barbados . Retiring to the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico , Lamellerie resupplied his ships again in preparation for the journey back to France . The frigate squadron sailed on 18 May , leaving the Caribbean just as a large French squadron under Vice - Admiral Jean - Baptiste Willaumez arrived . Capture of " Rhin " . The journey back to France was largely uneventful , Lamellerie crossing the Atlantic during May , June and July without meeting any Royal Navy vessels . At 18 : 00 on 27 July however , at in the Bay of Biscay , the frigates were spotted by lookouts on the British ship of the line HMS " Mars " . " Mars " was a large and powerful ship , a veteran of Trafalgar that was operating as a scout for the squadron under Commodore Richard Goodwin Keats , detailed to blockade the French Atlantic port of Rochefort . Immediately giving chase , Captain Robert Dudley Oliver signaled from " Mars " to the nearest British ship HMS " Africa " , warning of the position and direction of the French . " Africa " passed this information on to Keats while " Mars " set all sail in pursuit of Lamellerie . Running before the more powerful ship under all possible sail , the four French frigates gradually became separated from one another in the dark . " Mars " too was alone , Dudley easily outrunning the rest of his squadron but unable to catch the leading French ships . When dawn rose on 28 July , it was clear that " Hortense " and the other leading vessels were stretching the distance between themselves and " Mars " but that the rearmost French ship , the frigate " Rhin " was struggling to keep up . Realising that he was gaining on " Rhin " , Oliver continued pushing his ship forward and Lamellerie , recognising the danger to his rearmost frigate , turned his squadron about and bore down on the isolated ship of the line . Although " Mars " was far larger than any of the individual frigates , together they carried more guns and could have made an effective defence if handled efficiently . Determined to engage the French , Oliver continued to sail towards Lamellerie and at 15 : 00 the French captain suddenly reversed his direction and fled eastwards with his three faster ships , abandoning " Rhin " to Oliver . By the time Lamellerie had turned away , the chase had traveled over from its original position and " Rhin " could no longer hold off the British ship . A fierce rain squall caused the frigate to roll and Oliver maintained the pursuit so that at 18 : 00 he was close enough to fire a single shot at " Rhin " , a warning of that a full broadside was to follow . Aware that his ship could not hope to withstand an attack from the ship of the line , Captain Michel Chesneau hauled down his flag and surrendered without a fight . Although the rest of Lamellerie ' s ships were still within sight , the approaching night , increasingly stormy weather and the large number of prisoners of war to be transferred from the prize persuaded Oliver to give up any further pursuit . Lamellerie steered his remaining squadron along the coast , where it split up during the night . The following day " Hortense " and " Hermione " entered Bordeaux while " Thémis " was the only one of the squadron to reach its intended destination of Rochefort . Oliver secured his prize , but was so far from his station that he did not manage to rejoin Keats ' squadron until 31 July . Aftermath . " Rhin " and the prisoners were taken to Britain , where the frigate was immediately fitted out as a Royal Navy ship under her old name as HMS " Rhin " . Oliver was commended for his perseverance and he and his men shared in the prize money from the frigate . In France , there appears to have been no condemnation of Lamellerie ' s repeated failure to engage Royal Navy forces that in terms of weight of shot at least were the inferior of his squadron . In his official report he inaccurately claimed that his frigates had all been too badly damaged during the Atlantic cruise to consider fighting a ship of the line . He was later made a peer after the return of the French monarchy and remained in the French Navy for many years . In British histories his actions have been roundly condemned – William James accuses him of lying in his official despatches and wrote in 1827 : " What , then , but a misrepresentation of the facts could have saved this French commodore from being cashiered ? " , while Richard Woodman wrote in 1998 that " such apparent pusillanimity fed stories of British superiority against all odds and tended to breed a dangerous conceit " .