After the battle, Napoleon abdicated and attempted to flee Europe, but was prevented by a British blockade of French ports. He handed himself to Captain Frederick Maitland, commander of HMS Bellerophon, and wrote this letter of surrender to the Prince Regent. In the letter, Napoleon compares himself to Themistocles, a Greek statesman who threw himself on the mercy of the Persian ruler Artaxerxes, and was received with honour.