Leclerc’s fleet finally sails from Brest, weeks late

On 14 December 1801 the Brest squadron under Villaret-Joyeuse sailed for Saint-Domingue with some eight thousand soldiers, under Bonaparte’s brother-in-law General Leclerc. Squadrons from Rochefort, Lorient, Toulon, Cadiz, Le Havre and Vlissingen followed. Contrary winds had held them in port for weeks, weeks Toussaint Louverture used to prepare. The Brest fleet reached Samaná only on 29 January 1802.