diff --git a/hermes/Cargo.lock b/hermes/Cargo.lock
index 8ed8dc6e17..b67e2e14b2 100644
--- a/hermes/Cargo.lock
+++ b/hermes/Cargo.lock
@@ -1926,7 +1926,7 @@ checksum = "95505c38b4572b2d910cecb0281560f54b440a19336cbbcb27bf6ce6adc6f5a8"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hermes"
-version = "0.1.0"
+version = "0.1.1"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "async-trait",
diff --git a/hermes/Cargo.toml b/hermes/Cargo.toml
index de88252431..1ae75d5a3b 100644
--- a/hermes/Cargo.toml
+++ b/hermes/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name                           = "hermes"
-version                        = "0.1.0"
+version                        = "0.1.1"
 edition                        = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
diff --git a/hermes/src/network/p2p.go b/hermes/src/network/p2p.go
index 493c8b3250..2c6ffcc463 100644
--- a/hermes/src/network/p2p.go
+++ b/hermes/src/network/p2p.go
@@ -203,11 +203,11 @@ func RegisterObservationCallback(f C.callback_t, network_id, bootstrap_addrs, li
 					case *GossipMessage_SignedVaaWithQuorum:
 						vaaBytes := msg.GetSignedVaaWithQuorum().GetVaa()
 						cBytes := C.CBytes(vaaBytes)
-						defer C.free(cBytes)
 						C.invoke(f, C.observation_t{
 							vaa:     (*C.char)(cBytes),
 							vaa_len: C.size_t(len(vaaBytes)),
 						})
+						C.free(cBytes)
 					}
 				}
 			}