There were now two stations in the West Indies, at Barbados and Jamaica, and for a while the "Brazen" shuttled between the two, carrying communications between the two admirals. On one such trip Stirling was introduced to Simón Bolívar, who was in Jamaica following a defeat on the South American mainland. Soon after that he was given a mission to carry the news of the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, to the British troops under the command of General John Lambert, near New Orleans, and to assist in their return to England. His reconnaissance of Mobile Bay and the coast of Florida three years earlier now stood him in good stead. The troops, who had captured Fort Bowyer, were recovered and some of them, under the command of Lieutenant Harry Smith, were taken to England on the "Brazen" after surviving a severe gale in the Gulf of Florida. Smith was impressed with Stirling's seamanship and became a long-standing friend.