me days before. This
report was found to be correct, and the same evening the reconnoitring
detachment rejoined the fleet.

Without loss of time, Lord Howe sailed in search of the French fleet.
This consisted of some twenty-five ships of the line, and sixteen
frigates or corvettes under the command of Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse, in
the _Montague_, of 120 guns; besides this ship, considered so enormous
in those days, there were three of 110 guns, and four eighty-gun ships,
all the rest being seventy-fours. The first object of this fleet was to
protect the expected convoy of provision ships, while that of the
English was to capture it. The French Admiral steered, therefore, a
direct course to the point where he hoped to intercept the convoy. His
ships, indeed, passed so close to those of the British during a thick
fog that they heard the usual fog-signals of the latter, such as the
ringing of bells and beating of drums; but as their object was not then
to fight, they did their best not to be discovered, and on the following
morning, when the fog cleared, they were out of sight of each other.

Lord Howe had, however, determined to overtake and bring the Frenchmen
to action; and as the ocean at that time was covered with vessels of all
nations, playing somewhat a puss-in-the-corner game as they ran from
port to port, he had every reason to expect that he would obtain the
required information as to their movements.

On the evening of the 19th of May a frigate appeared, despatched by
Admiral Montague, saying that, while cruising in the latitude of Cape
Ortegal, he had captured a French twenty-gun ship and a corvette, with
ten British sail of the Newfoundland convoy which they had taken; that,
from the information he obtained from the prisoners, he found that the
squadron protecting the American merchant fleet now consisted of nine
line-of-battle ships and several frigates, and requesting, therefore,
reinforcements. He was then, he stated, about to proceed along the same
meridian of longitude to the latitude of 45 degrees 47 minutes north, in
which, according to the information of the prisoners, the Rochefort
squadron had been directed to cruise.

On learning this, Lord Howe, believing that Admiral Montague's squadron
was in danger of being overpowered by Villaret, made all sail to his
rescue.

On the 21st, however, the lookout gave notice of a strange fleet in
sight. Chase was made, and ten out of fifteen sail of mer