rom the Admiralty, dated the 15th, which informed
him that five thousand troops were coming to the Mediterranean. On the
30th, at ten in the morning, the fleet anchored in Tetuan Bay; or,
rather, in the little bay to the eastward of Tetuan, where there is a
very fine river of fresh water. The day was chiefly employed in watering
the fleet; and clearing a transport with wine, which had been brought
out from Gibraltar. No information of the combined fleet was, however,
obtained from thence, nor in letters dated at Lisbon the 27th; but it
seemed generally credited, that they were gone to the West Indies.
"Surely," exclaimed his lordship, "I shall hear something of them from
Sir John Orde's cruizers; which he must, naturally, have sent after
them!" Sir John, however, very unaccountably, had not taken any measures
for ascertaining their course. On Sunday, the 5th, at eight in the
morning, light easterly breezes springing up, the fleet weighed at ten;
but, in the evening, the wind, having first shifted northerly,
unfortunately came again fresh from the westward. At two in the
afternoon, next day, the fleet anchored in Gibraltar Bay. At four
o'clock, a Levanter came on: at six, the fleet again weighed; and, by
midnight, they were abreast of Cape Spartel, where nothing had been
heard of the enemy. In the evening of the 7th, having steered for Cape
St. Vincent, Le Tigre was sent to call the transports left by Sir John
Orde, who had sailed for England, out of Lagos Bay. On the 9th, Le Tigre
returned with the transports; and the Amazon, arriving from Lisbon,
brought intelligence, communicated by Admiral Knight, that Sir John Orde
had joined the channel fleet. At nine, in the evening, the fleet
anchored between Cape St. Vincent and Lagos Bay. The next day, and
succeeding night, were busily occupied in clearing the transports, and
compleating the fleet to five months. Early on the 11th, his lordship
sent the Wasp, and the Doris transport, to England, with dispatches: at
ten o'clock, the fleet weighed; at noon, were off Cape St. Vincent; and,
at one, saw the convoy under Admiral Knight. They joined at four; and at
six, parted company: Lord Nelson having given Admiral Knight the Royal
Sovereign; which, he observed, would make him superior in force to any
thing ready, either in Carthagena or at Cadiz. At seven o'clock, the
Martin sloop was dispatched to Barbadoes; and, at the same time, his
lordship likewise made all sail to the westward