The fleet was at Gorée off what is now Senegal from 3–19 July 1695, and in the Gambia River from 22 July to 24 August 1695, where the French captured Fort James on what is now Kunta Kinteh Island from the English. Gennes loaded two vessels with the captured Africans he found in the English base and dispatched them to the French islands of the Antilles. This prize covered all the costs of the armament. Contrary winds forced the rest of the fleet back to Gorée on 5 September 1695. From there they sailed to the Cape Verde Islands, to Saint Anne Island on the coast of Brazil and then to Rio de Janeiro, which they reached on 2 December and left on 26 December 1695. The fleet sailed down the coast of Patagonia in January 1696. They entered the Strait on 11 February 1696 and reached Port Galant, but were forced to return and reentered the Atlantic on 11 April 1696. Gennes blamed the captain of the "Séditieux" for the failure to reach the Pacific. Although expedition was unable to pass through to the Pacific due to the extreme cold and poor weather, it made a number of observations of the land and inhabitants of the region. On 16 April 1696 the squadron was separated by fog. Gennes returned to Rio de Janeiro on 20 May. He rejoined the "Soleil d'Afrique" and "Séditieux" (26) on 18 July 1696 in Bahia. The squadron reached Cayenne on 31 August 1696, left the next month to cruise around Barbados, and visited Martinique, Saint Lucia and Guadeloupe. Gennes sailed from Guadeloupe on 11 February 1697. He returned to La Rochelle on 21 April 1697. Gennes was granted considerable pensions for himself and his family, was given a large grant of land named Oyac on the mainland of Cayenne, and was elevated by the king to become the count of Oyac. From 1668 to 1688 the French and English colonists on Saint Christopher Island (Saint Kitts) had been at peace. However, when the Nine Years' War (1688–97) broke out the governor general of the Antilles, Charles de Courbon de Blénac, decided that to ensure the safety of the French on the island he must expel the English. At the start of 1689 he attacked and defeated the English, and transported them to Jamaica, Barbados and other islands.