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 with his comparatively small fleet.  The French had twelve ships of the line, a frigate, and two corvettes; the Spaniards, six sail of the line and five frigates; to say nothing of the Rochfort squadron:  while the whole fleet under Lord Nelson consisted only of ten ships of the line and three frigates.  The French had, also, upwards of ten thousand troops, and the Spaniards more than two.  Notwithstanding this inferior strength, which would have deterred many a brave man from risking the responsibility of so hazardous an undertaking, Lord Nelson had resolved that he would follow them, as he emphatically expressed himself, “even to the Antipodes.”  The ships he had were well equipped, and his confidence in all the officers and men was precisely the same as they themselves felt in their adored commander—­he believed them to be absolutely invincible.  The ships which accompanied his lordship in this memorable pursuit, were—­the Victory of a hundred and ten guns, Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, Rear-Admiral Murray, and Captain Hardy; the Canopus of eighty, Rear-Admiral Louis, and Captain Austin; Le Tigre of eighty, Captain Hallowell; the Donegal of eighty, Captain Malcolm; the Spencer of seventy-four, the Honourable Captain Stopford; the Conqueror of seventy-four, Captain Pellew; the Superb of seventy-four, Captain Keates; the Belleisle of seventy-four, Captain Hargood; the Leviathan of seventy-four, Captain Bayntun; the Swiftsure of seventy-four, Captain Rutherford; the Decade frigate of thirty-six, Captain Stuart; the Amazon of thirty-eight, Captain Parker; and the Amphion of thirty-two, Captain Sutton.

His lordship, now in high spirits, since the destination of the enemy seemed evident, and the wind had shifted in his favour, jocosely remarked to his assembled captains—­“There is just a Frenchman apiece for each English ship, leaving me out of the question to fight the Spaniards:  and, when I haul down my colours, I expect every captain of the fleet to do the same; but, not till then.”