 Its commander Lord Howe retired with his fleet to the anchorage in Torbay and thus there was no British fleet at sea in late October when a powerful French squadron sailed from Brest with the intention of attacking a large merchant convoy sailing from Lisbon to Britain.The force, under the command of "Contre-amiral" Joseph-Marie Nielly, consisted of the 74-gun ships of the line "Marat", "Tigre", "Droits de l'Homme", "Pelletier" and "Jean-Bart" with the frigates "Charente", "Fraternité", "Gentille" and the corvette "Papillon".In addition to the Lisbon convoy, a number of other vulnerable British targets were in the region, including a second convoy from the Mediterranean Sea under Rear-Admiral Philip Cosby "en route" to Britain and the first-rate HMS "Victory", which was sailing independently with Lord Hood on board.