The Napoleonic Wars had cost the lives of many tens of thousands of British soldiers between 1803 and 1814. Even before the Battle of Waterloo, prisoners from both sides of the war were being repatriated. Writing about the boats bringing these suffering men across the channel, the Journal de Paris published the following snippet on 10 May 1814:
Il en est arrivé six le 4 de ce mois à Cherbourg, avec 284 prisonniers de guerre. Le six, une gabarre française est partie du même port pour l’Angleterre, avec 400 prisonniers anglais.
[Six such boats carrying 284 prisoners arrived in Cherbourg on the 4th of this month. On the 6th, a French river barge left the same port for England, with 400 English prisoners.]
French Brighton 