 On 16 September 1809 , the troops were prepared , and 368 British Army soldiers were embarked on the British frigate HMS Nereide under Captain Robert Corbett , Willoughby 's Otter and the Honourable East India Company schooner Wasp . This troop convoy was joined off Saint @-@ Paul on 18 September by the rest of Rowley 's squadron , the flagship Raisonnable and the frigates HMS Sirius under Captain Samuel Pym and HMS Boadicea under Captain John Hatley . These ships mustered an additional 236 seaman volunteers and Royal Marines who would join the assault . The entire invasion force was then embarked on Nereide , as Corbett had experience with the Île Bonaparte coastline , with the assault designated for the early morning of 21 September . 
