the early morning of 9 March. Hotham believed that the French target was Corsica, and sent the brig under Commander Charles Brisbane to warn Littlejohn and arrange a rendezvous with Berwick off Cap Corse. On the evening of 9 March Tarleton returned with the news of the capture of Berwick, causing Hotham to veer north-west in his course. The following day the frigates scouting ahead of the British fleet discovered Martin's fleet off Cape Noli in the Gulf of Genoa, steering westwards, back towards Toulon. Chase The weather was calm, and it was not until 11 March that ships from the main body of the British fleet sighted the French, now south and to windward of the British. The lead ship in Hotham's fleet at this time was , leading a vanguard some 5 or ahead of the main body of the fleet. Contact was lost for a time, but re-established on 12 March when Martin brought his fleet about. Martin advanced to within of Princess Royal before tacking away to larboard. The weather remained calm with choppy seas which made manoeuvring very difficult and prevented either fleet from closing for battle; when presented with the opportunity to attack, Martin declined. A breeze from the south in the evening gave Hotham the opportunity to form up his fleet into a line of battle with the van to the west, the French to the southwest. The night was characterised by heavy squalls, and the French ship Mercure lost a topmast; the damaged ship detached to join Berwick at Gourjean Bay, accompanied by a frigate, while continuing to steer his fleet to the west away from the British. At 08:00 the following morning another of Martin's ships, the large 80-gun from the rearguard of the French fleet, collided with the neighbouring Victoire and its fore and main topmasts collapsed overboard. By the morning of 13 March it had become clear to Hotham that Martin had no intention of engaging the British fleet, and the British admiral decided to authorise a general chase, permitting his captains to break from the line and pursue the French to the best of their ships' ability. The leading ship of the chase was a frigate, the 36-gun HMS Inconstant under Captain Thomas Fremantle, which reached the damaged Ça Ira within an hour of the collision and opened fire at close range on the larboard quarter. Seeing that