Action of 10 February 1809

19°50′N 61°30′W / 19.833°N 61.500°W / 19.833; -61.500

Action of 10 February 1809
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
HMS Latona (1781), George Romney
Date 8–10 February 1809 Location Off the Leeward Islands, Atlantic Ocean Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	France
Commanders and leaders
Hugh Pigot	Jean Rousseau  †
Strength
2 frigates 3 brigs	1 frigate
Casualties and losses
40 killed and wounded	130 killed and wounded 1 frigate captured

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'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.