Napoleon's escape from Elba
Napoleon secretly sails from Elba aboard Inconstant
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗He barred every vessel from leaving Elba's ports so that the observers who had spotted his preparations could not carry a warning across to Livorno.
Boarded at seven, gone by nine
On the morning of 26 February 1815 Napoleon told his entourage that he was leaving Elba, at first concealing the destination; the island's dignitaries were informed that afternoon.
He then stopped vessels from leaving Elba's ports, which kept the hostile observers who had detected the preparations from getting word to Livorno.
He boarded the brig Inconstant at about 7 p.m., and it sailed at about 9 p.m.
Seven vessels and about 1,100 soldiers
The flotilla numbered seven vessels including Inconstant in the Fondation Napoléon account, and the German Historical Museum puts the accompanying force at about 1,100 soldiers.
Napoleon did not leave alone: loyal troops, officers and civilians went with him, while his mother and sister stayed behind on the island.
Colonel Sir Neil Campbell, the British commissioner assigned to observe him, was away from Elba.
A departure, not a landing
The flotilla headed for France and avoided interception by both Campbell's British brig and French naval patrols. It reached Golfe-Juan on 1 March, which is a separate date from this one.
Calling the departure an escape is conventional, though Napoleon was sovereign of Elba rather than an ordinary prisoner; the surveillance and the patrols still made it a clandestine evasion.
The article filed under this date has nothing to do with any of it — it describes Mount Tambora's April 1815 eruption and supplies no facts about Napoleon, Elba or Inconstant.
Sources
Researched 24 Aug 2026 2 sources not yet audited
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What the sources leave uncertain
- Contemporary and later accounts differ slightly over the size and composition of Napoleon's force and flotilla. The approximately 1,100-soldier and seven-vessel figures used here are explicitly attributed to the consulted sources.
- Calling the departure an “escape” is conventional, although Napoleon was sovereign of Elba rather than an ordinary prisoner; surveillance and naval patrols nevertheless made the departure a clandestine evasion.