To avoid any further celebrations, he and his retinue of faithful followers and servants left Niort at 4 o'clock the next morning. A troop of hussars with drawn swords provided a regal escort as their carriages rattled along the lovely valley of the Charente river. They drove through fields scattered with elms and tamarisk trees, passed through the gateway in the city walls of Rochefort and at 8 am they drew up outside the imposing house of the maritime prefect, Captain Casimir de Bonnefoux. The prefect was no friend of Napoleon. He was a royalist, a Chevalier de St Louis (a title of the Ancien Régime), and had not hesitated to hoist the white flag of the Bourbons over the prefecture when Napoleon had been sent to Elba in 1814. He also bore a grudge because Napoleon had refused to confirm his rank as captain back in 1800 when he had asked to serve in the navy on condition that he did not go to sea. However he greeted Napoleon civilly enough and put the apartments of the prefecture at his disposal.
Having inspected the rooms, Napoleon called a meeting of his aides, together with the maritime prefect, and a number of naval officers who were stationed at Rochefort. He wanted their views on his next move. The sailors were discouraging and supported the opinion of Bonnefoux who had already warned Napoleon that the British blockade of the coast made it impossible for French ships to get away from Rochefort. Bonnefoux had sent a letter to Napoleon at Niort the day before in which he said, 'The roadsteads are almost entirely blocked by an English squadron. It seems to me that it would be extremely dangerous for our frigates and those on board to try and force a passage.' This was unduly pessimistic. The approaches to Rochefort were protected from the worst of the Atlantic storms by two large islands and several smaller islands. As a glance at a chart of the area clearly shows, the position of the large islands - the île de Ré and the île d'Oléron - created three entrances or channels to Basque Roads which was the anchorage where the French frigates and other vessels were lying. It was difficult, if not impossible, for one warship to keep an effective watch on all three approaches, particularly at night. During the previous month there had been three British ships in the vicinity but on the day that Napoleon arrived in Rochefort, and for the next three days, there was only one British warship on guard. This was the Bellerophon which was currently patrolling the seaward entrance of the middle channel.
The Bellerophon had set sail from Plymouth on 24 May with a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Hotham.
When they arrived off the coast of Brittany the various ships in the squadron had separated. Hotham, in the Superb, had taken up a position off Quiberon Bay; the other ships had been despatched to watch the entrances of the River Loire and River Gironde; and the Bellerophon, together with the frigates Myrmidon and Slaney, had been despatched to Rochefort. The orders given to Captain Frederick Maitland were to report back to Hotham on the number and condition of the French ships of war lying at Rochefort, and to prevent a corvette putting to sea which it was believed was carrying proposals from Napoleon for the West Indian colonies to declare in his favour. The Bellerophon sailed into Basque Roads on 31 May and Captain Maitland noted that there were four ships of war at anchor in the lee of the Ile d'Aix. There were two large frigates, the Meduse and the Saalee; there was the corvette Balladiere; and a large brig, the Épervier. All were ready for sea.
For nearly a month the Bellerophon kept watch and occasionally intercepted coastal vessels. For the crew it was a return to the familiar routine of blockade duty: the location was not as hazardous as the rock-strewn coast of Brittany, and the summer weather was infinitely preferable to the cold, wet misery of patrolling off Ushant during the winter months, but it was nevertheless monotonous work. Nothing of any note happened until 28 June when Maitland learnt from one of the vessels he had captured that Napoleon had been defeated at Waterloo. Two days later a boat from Bordeaux came alongside and Maitland was handed a mysterious message. Written on thin paper and concealed inside a quill was a letter. It was not dated or signed and was evidently from a spy or an informer. The purpose of the letter was to warn the British that Napoleon was believed to have reached Bordeaux with the intention of fleeing the country, and 'to give the British Admiral advice of such intention, that he may instantly take the necessary steps in order to seize the man.' The letter went on to provide details of the numbers of troops stationed at Bordeaux and to recommend that a sharp eye be kept on all American vessels.
The information about Napoleon's whereabouts was updated a week later when Maitland received further orders from Admiral Hotham: 'Having this morning received information that it is believed Napoleon Bonaparte has taken his road from Paris for Rochefort, to embark from thence for the United States of America, I have to direct you will use your best endeavours to prevent him from making his escape in either of the frigates at Isle d'Aix . . .' The letter was dated 6 July, and on 7 July Hotham despatched another letter to Maitland telling him that the British Government had received an application from the rulers of France for a passport and safe conduct for Napoleon to go to America but the request had been turned down.
Napoleon seems to have been overcome by an uncharacteristic weariness and lassitude after Waterloo. He listened to the conflicting advice of those around him but delayed making decisions. Five days were wasted in Rochefort while he reorganised his household, and waited for passports and for the arrival of the rest of his furniture and the books from his library. Every day the royalist forces were drawing closer and the white flag of the Bourbons was being raised in towns and villages across France. He eventually agreed to be rowed out to the Ile d'Aix. 1 shall be close to the frigates there and in a position to embark whenever the winds are at all favourable to our getting away.'
The winds were not favourable on 8 July when he and his retinue left the prefecture and drove to the beach at Fouras where a crowd had gathered to watch the departure of the former emperor. As the heavily laden boats left the shelter of Fouras Point they encountered the full force of a strong breeze from the north-west which whipped up short steep waves and soaked the oarsmen and passengers with salt spray. For an hour and a half they rowed towards the distant Ile d'Aix but progress was so slow that Napoleon decided to head for the anchored frigates instead. At 7.30 pm he climbed up the side of the frigate Saale, followed by his aides. What he did not know was that he had already missed the best opportunity he would ever have of evading the British blockade and escaping to America. For three days (from 3 to 5 July) the Bellerophon had been the only British ship in the vicinity but on 6 July she had been joined by the frigates Myrmidon and Slaney and between them they were able to watch all the escape routes. Count Montholon later wrote, 'The reasons for our staying at Rochefort until the evening of July 8, when we embarked for the frigate Saale, were a mystery that I have never succeeded in fathoming, for I shall always refuse to believe that we remained five days at Rochefort merely to wait for packing cases and wagons . . .'
The following day the wind eased and Napoleon decided to pay a visit to the Ile d'Aix which he had last visited in 1808. Although barely a mile in length the island was a strongly fortified military settlement. Sheltered behind an encircling wall with ramparts and gun batteries was a small but attractive town with one main street dominated by the handsome façade of the commandant's house. The inhabitants of the island were fiercely patriotic and bitterly hated the British - with good reason. In 1809 a British fleet under Admiral Gambier had attacked a fleet of French warships anchored in Basque Roads by sending in fireships. Four of the French line of battle ships were destroyed and several other ships cut their cables and ran aground. By a curious accident of history Captain Maitland, then in command of a frigate, was present at the action as part of the advanced squadron led by Lord Cochrane. The humiliation of watching a French fleet destroyed before their eyes still rankled with the islanders. They associated Napoleon with past French triumphs and they gave him a warm welcome when he stepped ashore. He inspected the fortifications amidst the cheers of the inhabitants and the soldiers of the regiment stationed on the island. But when he returned to the frigate he found Captain Bonnefoux awaiting him with ominous letters from the provisional government in Paris.