as the émigrés). The comte d'Artois was not even consulted on the choice of date for the expedition, yet it was in his name that Joseph de Puisaye was acting, since the comte d'Artois had theoretically assumed command for all Royalist operations in western France. The expedition Naval crossing On 23 June two squadrons of nine warships (including three ships of the line and two frigates) and 60 troop transports (carrying two divisions of émigrés, totalling 3,500 men, the British 90th Regiment of Foot, 19th Regiment of Foot, 27th Regiment of Foot, as well as muskets, uniforms, shoes, food and supplies for an army of at least 40,000) set out under the command of British admirals Hood and Warren. Villaret-Joyeuse left Brest and attacked Warren's squadron above Îles de Glénan on 23 June 1795, but was forced to retire quickly towards the île de Groix and lost two ships of the line. Linois lost an eye in this encounter, and the British retained naval superiority for the rest of the expedition. Divisions On 26 June 1795, the squadrons anchored off Quiberon and could at this point have begun to disembark their troops. However, it was at this point that comte Louis Charles d'Hervilly took out his letter of nomination and claimed supreme command of the expedition. The two officers were not even operating the same plan - Puisaye wanted to take advantage of the element of surprise and attack immediately to relieve Royalist troops throughout western France, but d'Hervilly thought the Chouans were undisciplined and incapable of holding out in open battle and so planned to remain at Quiberon, fortifying it for use as a base and for pouring in reinforcements. The division was not only strategic but political - Puisaye was a former Girondin, favouring the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, whereas d'Hervilly wished for the wholesale reinstatement of the Ancien Régime. A whole day was lost in heated discussions between the two of them, and a courier was even sent to London to confirm who was to be supreme commander. Hervilly finally submitted, but the delay lost them the vital element of surprise and allowed the Republican troops of the armée des côtes de Brest to gather themselves, with the émigré troops demonstrating their impatience and astonishment at this inexplicable delay and with their subsequent early successes proving illusory. As for the Chouan Bretons gathered by Georges Cadoudal,