Folios 178-179: Richard Goodwin Keats, HMS Galatea, Falmouth. He announces his arrival...

Folios 178-179: Richard Goodwin Keats, HMS Galatea, Falmouth. He announces his arrival together with HMS Anson. He says he encloses the orders he received from Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren, a journal of his proceedings, (not enclosed) a statement of the state and condition of the two ships (not enclosed) and a record of the intelligence they had been able to gather from both a neutral vessel and an enemy ship that had been captured. On 27 February he was in the Pertuis d'Antioche, off the French coast, but could see no sign of any naval preparations of any consequence. He saw no enemy ships either outside La Rochelle or in the Basque Roads. He encountered one frigate, accompanied by another smaller vessel and a corvette near the Isle d'Aix. He was hoping to sail between the Isle of Groix and the mainland in order to ascertain the number of enemy ships at Lorient but the wind was against him and he was not able to get sufficiently close to ascertain if there was a naval force of any consequence there. Le Brave, one of the ships in the force for the Expedition to Ireland, had sailed from Lorient, heading for Brest, some time ago. He observes that during this short cruise he saw many more neutral Swedish and Russian ships than usual.

Folios 180-181: enclosure to folios 178-179. Document entitled Intelligence Received from prisoners and neutral vessels by HMS Galatea and HMS Anson 19 February 1797. The prisoners had been taken off a French sloop by HMS Galatea on 25th February at Brest. He was told that two ships of the line and their frigates, which had troops on board, sailed from Brest shortly after the return of the contingent from Ireland. The troops were partly composed of Royalists, who had surrendered some time ago and convicts or slaves who had been liberated on condition that they serve abroad as soldiers. The destination of the ships was thought to be the West Indies. There was a general feeling of dissatisfaction amongst them. A large body of troops, under the command of General Hoche, were reported as being in Brest and behaving in a disorderly manner. They have recently left Brest but why they did so and where they are going is unknown. It seems a large number of neutral vessels have been in Brest where they were supplied with empty casks so that they could go to the more southern French ports and load up with wine. This is confirmed by a report from HMS Anson who stopped a Danish vessel which was found to be laden with casks that had been loaded aboard her at Brest. The master of this vessel reported that upward of three frigates had sailed from Brest for Ireland and had pilots on board with knowledge of the Irish coast.

Folios 182-183: enclosures to folios 178-179. An order from Sir John Borlase Warren to the Captain of HMS La Poisson. He is ordered to take HMS Anson under his command. Then he is required to cruise in the neighbourhood of Rochefort, Bordeaux and Lorient, while the Commodore sails elsewhere with the rest of the squadron. Having done that, he is to return to Falmouth for further orders, informing the Admiralty on his arrival of any intelligence concerning the enemy that he has gathered. He is also to send to the Admiralty a journal of his proceedings.