Order of battle in the Atlantic campaign of 1806

The Atlantic campaign of 1806 was one of the most important and complex naval campaigns of the post-Trafalgar Napoleonic Wars.^[1] Seeking to take advantage of the withdrawal of British forces from the Atlantic in the aftermath of the Battle of Trafalgar, Emperor Napoleon ordered two battle squadrons to sea from the fleet stationed at Brest, during December 1805.^[2] Escaping deep into the Atlantic, these squadrons succeeded in disrupting British convoys, evading pursuit by British battle squadrons and reinforcing the French garrison at Santo Domingo. The period of French success was brief: on 6 February 1806 one of the squadrons, under Vice-Admiral Corentin Urbain Leissègues, was intercepted by a British squadron at the Battle of San Domingo and destroyed, losing all five of its ships of the line.^[3]

The second French squadron, under Vice-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, cruised in the South Atlantic and the Caribbean during the spring and summer of 1806, conducting several successful raids on British islands in the West Indies. His ability to affect British trade was hampered by the deployment of British squadrons against him and the disobedience of Captain Jérôme Bonaparte, the Emperor's brother.^[4] On 18 August an Atlantic hurricane dispersed his ships, causing severe damage and forcing them to take shelter in friendly or neutral harbours in the Americas. Waiting British ships destroyed one vessel, and several others were so badly damaged that they never sailed again, the four survivors limping back to France individually over the next two years.^[5] The various British squadrons deployed against him failed to catch Willaumez, but their presence had limited his ability to raid British trade routes.^[6]

The campaign included a number of subsidiary operations by both British and French ships, some taking advantage of the campaign to conduct smaller operations while the main enemy forces were distracted, others operating as diversions to the principal campaign to attack undefended areas or lure British ships away from the principal French squadrons. Among these operations was the return of the squadron under Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois from the Indian Ocean, which was captured at the action of 13 March 1806;^[7] the raiding cruises of L'Hermite's expedition and Lamellerie's expedition, which captured a number of merchant ships but each lost a frigate breaking through the blockade of the French coast;^[1] and the destruction of a convoy of seven French ships destined with supplies for the French West Indies at the action of 25 September 1806.^[8]