On the morning of the 22d she rejoined, the fleet having then drifted to fifty miles east of Cape Carbonara, the southeastern point of Sardinia.

At 11 A.M.her captain informed Nelson that the afternoon before he had seen a French frigate standing into the Gulf of Cagliari, but, the weather being thick, giving an horizon of only three miles, nothing more had been discovered.

The admiral had sent word of the French sailing to Acton at Palermo, and through him to Naples and Malta, Ball being requested to seek for information in every practicable direction.

Naples was for the moment safe, as the British squadron stood across any possible road by which the French could approach it.
The gale, hauling gradually to the westward, lasted in its force until the morning of January 25th.

During these three days Nelson received no news, but he did much thinking and had made up his mind.