mportant place from an
attack, by surprise, of even five hundred men. Such is the shocking
supineness of these people! The Turks and Mamelukes were, however, at
war; the former being in possession of Grand Cairo, and the latter of
Upper Egypt. Immediately on the receipt of this intelligence, by Captain
Hallowell, the fleet bore up, and made sail for Malta.

On the 11th, the Phoebe having joined off Candia, was dispatched to
Malta with orders. At daylight, on the 19th, his lordship saw Malta;
and, at eight in the morning, communicated with Vallette. The Phoebe
made the signal for no information; and, at nine, the fleet bore away
for Maritimo. The Superb picked up a boat, and made the signal for
intelligence from Malta: but his lordship would not stop; for he wanted,
he said, no intelligence, but where to find the French fleet. His
anxiety, therefore, may be easily imagined. It was little less, in
fact, than what he had formerly suffered, on his first vain pursuit to
Alexandria. By a vessel met with, in the afternoon, eight days from
Barcelona, his lordship now learned that the French fleet had returned
to Toulon; wanting, however, at that time, three sail of the line and a
frigate. On the 28th, while employed in watering the fleet, at Palla, in
Sardinia, a letter arrived from Captain Munday of the Hydra, dated
February 17th, who had reconnoitred the French fleet in Toulon on the
12th, when it consisted of seventeen sail.

On Thursday, the 7th of March, a cartel ship came into the fleet, then
at anchor under Tolaro in the Isle of Rouse, with Captain Layman, the
officers, and crew, of the Raven brig, which was wrecked off Cadiz, on
the night of January the 29th. The Captain General of Andalusia, Lord
Nelson was told, had treated them with the greatest kindness--"Which,"
generously exclaimed his lordship, "I will return, whenever fortune may
put it in my power!" Having weighed, in the morning of the 8th, the
fleet, at six in the evening, anchored in the Gulph of Palma; where a
court-martial was held on the officers and crew of the late Raven brig,
which passed a slight censure on the captain for not having approached
the shore with greater caution. In the evening, the fleet beat out of
Palma, and steered between Vache and the reef off Antioch. On the 12th,
in the Gulph of Lyons, they were joined by the Active, Seahorse, and
Juno; who had, the day before, seen the French fleet perfectly ready for
sea. The Renown also joined