 Marching south towards the town of Grand Port itself, Willoughby's men fought off French counterattacks and distributed propaganda pamphlets at the farms and villages they passed.Willoughby re-embarked his troops in the evening but landed again the following day at Grande Rivière to observe the effects of his efforts.Burning a signal station, Willoughby advanced inland, but was checked by the arrival of 800 French reinforcements from Port Napoleon and returned to HMS "Nereide".