Variolation shortly after variolation began to outweigh the benefits of the procedure. From the 1760s, a number of individuals, including John Fewster, Peter Plett, Benjamin Jesty, and particularly Edward Jenner, were interested in the use of material from cowpox, an animal infection, to protect against smallpox. In 1796, Jenner vaccinated James Phipps, did more vaccinations in 1798, and was the first to publish evidence that cowpox protected against smallpox, was safer than variolation, and that his vaccine could be maintained by arm-to-arm transfer. The use of variolation soon began to decline as the smallpox vaccine became widely used and its benefits
HMS Surprise (1796) time, Le Drézénec, who had been recently promoted to "capitaine de frégate", was suffering from smallpox and was incapacitated. Consequently, her first lieutenant, Lieutenant Le Breton, commanded "Unité". Captain Thomas Fremantle in command of the frigate HMS "Inconstant" had heard there was a French frigate in Bône, and sailed to intercept her. When "Unité" arrived in the afternoon of 20 April 1796, the watch aboard "Unité" identified "Inconstant" as a neutral vessel and Le Breton did not clear the ship for action. About an hour later, "Inconstant" sailed alongside, boarded and captured "Unité" intact. About a year after capture, "Unité"