British interception of the Spanish fleet

Early in 1797 the Spanish fleet of 27 ships of the line lay at Cartagena. The British Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral of the Blue Sir John Jervis sailed from the Tagus with ten ships of the line to intercept it, and was joined off Cape St. Vincent by five ships of the line from the Channel Fleet under Rear-Admiral William Parker. On 11 February HMS Minerve under Commodore Horatio Nelson passed through the Spanish fleet unseen in heavy fog; Nelson reached the British fleet of fifteen ships off Spain on 13 February and told the Spanish fleet's location to Jervis, commanding from his flagship Victory.