ombined squadron
had passed Dominica on the 6th of June; and, having gone to Guadaloupe,
for the purpose of landing the troops and stores taken from thence, had
been seen standing to the northward. Lord Nelson, on receiving this
intelligence, having dispatched the Nelly to Antigua, and the Jason to
Montserrat, for farther information, immediately stood to the northward,
under a press of sail. The next day, at noon, between St. Lucia and
Martinique, he sent a schooner to General Prevost: and, at eight the
following morning, Tuesday, June 11, saw Guadaloupe; and spoke an
American, from Boston, who gave no intelligence. At noon, the fleet got
within sight of Montserrat; and, at two o'clock, saw the Jason, at
anchor. The news from Montserrat was, that they had, on Saturday
morning, the 8th, being only three days before, seen sixteen sail under
Guadaloupe, beating to windward. His lordship, now, also beating up to
windward, all night and the following day, anchored in St. John's Bay,
Antigua, at sunset; which island, he learned, had been passed, on the
8th, by the French fleet standing to the north. Having, in the evening,
sent Le Curieux, with dispatches, to England, his lordship, next
morning, at day-light, landed the troops for the protection of the
islands; got ready for sea; and sailed, at noon, with eleven ships of
the line, three frigates, and a sloop of war: when the Kitty schooner
joined, with the unpleasing information, that the French fleet had, on
the 8th instant, captured it's whole convoy, consisting of fourteen
sail. From four in the afternoon, till sunset, his lordship was within
sight of Barbuda, still standing to the northward. "If," writes his
lordship, this day, "I should ask an opinion where the enemy's fleet are
gone, I should have as many opinions as there were persons. Porto-Rico,
Barbadoes, Newfoundland, Europe. My opinion, from all the circumstances
drawn into one point of view, with the best judgment I can form, is
this--I think, that the whole or part of the Spaniards will go to the
Havannah; and the rest of the fleet, to Cadiz and Toulon: and, upon this
opinion, I am going to the Straits Mouth; unless I should alter it, from
information gained."

Thus determined, every exertion was used, though with little hope, to
overtake them, if possible, on their return; and, on the 14th, at noon,
the fleet had run a hundred and thirteen miles from the Island of
Barbuda, and a hundred and thirty from St. Joh