Villaret. Three days later, on 6 July, off Saint Thomas, Willaumez spotted a British squadron comprising five ships of the line and seven frigates and corvettes, which sailed away with the advantage of the wind. He was then informed of the arrival of a squadron under Admiral Warren, and another under Admiral Strachan; without marines to attack British colonies in the Caribbean and reckoning that no convoy would depart for Europe as long as he would be known to lurk in the area, Willaumez decided to position his forces to intercept the convoy from Jamaica. However, in the night of 1 August, the 74-gun Vétéran, under Prince Jérôme Bonaparte, disappeared. Willaumez fruitlessly searched the missing ship in several directions until he became certain that she was en route for France, and returned to his station; the convoy, however, had already passed. Willaumez lingered a while in the hope that the convoy might still be yet to come, but in the night of 19 to 20 August, his fleet sustained a hurricane that damaged most of the ships. Foudroyant, having lost both her rudder and her masts, managed to limp back to Havana on jury rigging, but was intercepted and attacked by HMS Anson; as she had retained her full firepower, Foudroyant drove her opponent away within half an hour despite her lack of manoeuvrability, and entered harbour. After a four-month stay in Havana, Willaumez departed for Chesapeake Bay to rejoin Patriote, Éole and Valeureuse, which had taken refuge there after the hurricane. Adverse weather prevented him, and Willaumez instead sailed back to France, arriving in Brest in February 1807. The division had returned dispersed and lost several ships: Impétueux had managed to build a jury rudder, but had been intercepted by a British squadron and forced to beach herself to avoid capture; Éole and Valeureuse had been sold for scrap in Annapolis; Vétéran had found an unlikely shelter in Concarneau, normally far too shallow to harbour a ship of the line, where she was blockaded; Patriote later reached Brest, and Cassard, Lorient. The damage to British shipping was evaluated to 12 to 15 million francs. Attempt at uniting the Brest, Lorient and Rochefort squadrons In May 1808, Willaumez was appointed to command a nine-ship, three-frigate and three-corvette squadron. It departed on 21 February 1809, with orders to make its junction with the division of Lorient that was blockaded in its