since leaving Toulon he had been part of Villeneuve's squadron as a rear admiral commanding the Formidable. In the West Indies Villeneuve waited for a month at Martinique, but Admiral Ganteaume's Brest fleet did not appear, being hermetically blocked there. On 11 June Villeneuve set out for Europe with Nelson again in pursuit. On 22 July Villeneuve, now with twenty ships of the line and seven frigates, passed Cape Finisterre on the northwest coast of Spain and entered the Bay of Biscay. Here he met a British fleet of fifteen ships of the line commanded by Vice Admiral Sir Robert Calder. In the ensuing Battle of Cape Finisterre, a confused action in bad visibility, the British, though outnumbered, were able to cut off and capture two Spanish ships. In this battle Dumanoir was placed behind the flagship in thirteenth position; his ship was not engaged in the cannonade. For two days Villeneuve shadowed the retreating British, but did not seek a battle. Instead he sailed to A Coruña, arriving on 1 August. Here he received orders from Napoleon to sail to Brest and Boulogne as planned. Instead, perhaps believing a false report of a superior British fleet in the Bay of Biscay, and against the Spanish commanders' objections, he sailed away back to Cádiz, rendering Napoleon's planned invasion of Britain wholly impossible. Villeneuve, who had retired to Cadiz with the combined squadrons of France and Spain, learned that the Emperor had just sent Vice-Admiral de Rosily by land to replace him in his command. Secretly warned by Navy Minister Decrès, he hoped to prevent this disgrace by a bold move, and Villeneuve, until now so irresolute, took the decision to throw himself headlong into the enemy, rather than return to France with a mark of shame on his forehead. Inexperienced crews and the difficulties of getting out of Cádiz meant that it took two days to get all 34 ships out of port and in some kind of order. On 21 October 1805, Villeneuve met the English squadron at Cape Trafalgar. Its fleet consisted of thirty-three ships, five frigates and two brigs. Dumanoir was aboard the ship Formidable, from which he commanded a division that was initially placed in the rearguard where the most appalling confusion reigned. But following a lof-for-lof transfer, his division found itself in the vanguard of the Franco-Spanish fleet and was spared by Nelson's attack which