He then moved to the Caribbean on board , and was by now a master's mate. It was aboard "Pique", a captured French ship formerly named "Pallas", that he would take part in the blockade of Saint-Domingue in 1803, serving off Cape Francois. A boat from the "Pique", commanded by Lieutenant Nesbit Willoughby, was dispatched to capture the as she fled the rebellious Haitians led by Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Morrell was part of the crew that brought "Clorinde" under a British flag to Jamaica. "Pique" later took part in an abortive attempt to capture Curaçao, which in 1804 had been retaken from Britain by a Dutch-French force.