 When they returned to report the French were still in port, Howe set off to try and intercept the convoy before it could gain the protection of the Brest fleet.After almost two weeks spent searching the shipping lanes and finding nothing, the British fleet returned and on 19 May, "Phaeton" and "Latona" were again dispatched to monitor the roads.After finding the anchorage empty, the two frigates stopped an American vessel and learnt from the crew that the French fleet had sailed three days earlier.