In 1813 Brion took up the cause of Venezuelan independence and a year later Simón Bolívar made him captain of a frigate. In 1815 he went to England, where he acquired the 24-gun corvet "Dardo", with which he intended to aid the rebels of Cartagena de Indias. To bring aid to the revolutionists, he had sailed from London for Cartagena at his own expense, with 14,000 stand of arms and a great quantity of military stores. Arriving too late to be useful in that quarter, he re-embarked for Les Cayes, Haiti, whither many emigrant patriots had repaired after the surrender of Cartagena.