Ganteaume's expedition of 1795

Caught in a gale, one of Ganteaume's frigates was badly damaged and while effecting repairs at the Dardanelles he learned that a British squadron under Thomas Troubridge was searching for him in the Aegean.

[4] Martin retired to Toulon and there received requests to send reinforcements to the Atlantic Fleet at Brest to replace losses incurred at the Battle of Groix.

[6] Ganteaume's force included the 74-gun ship of the line Républicain, three frigates and two corvettes, and his mission was to intercept a large British merchant convoy known to be sailing westwards from the Levant to Britain and then thought to still be in the Eastern Mediterranean.

[6] Initially Ganteaume sailed south in search of the convoy and found himself becalmed in the Sea of Sardinia, where he only narrowly avoided an encounter with a large British squadron under Rear-Admiral Robert Mann.

The frigate Justice was badly damaged and dismasted in a storm and Ganteaume sent it for repairs in the Dardanelles, while detaching the corvette Badine to patrol the entrance to the Aegean Sea off Greece.

[9] He took the main force of his squadron to anchor at Sigri on Lesbos, and from this position he operated against allied shipping in the region for several weeks, with a focus on the Gulf of Smyrna.

[10] As the month progressed, Ganteaume became concerned by the slow rate of repairs to Justice, as well as reports from Constantinople that the new British commander in the region, Admiral Sir John Jervis, who had replaced Hotham in November, had sent a squadron in pursuit.

Ganteaume knew, following Rondeau's violation of the neutrality of Smyrna, that he would not be safe in an Ottoman harbour, and laid preparations to leave the Aegean.

[10] Sardine and Nemesis had detached and anchored at Tunis in March, where they were attacked by a British squadron under Vice-Admiral William Waldegrave, who violated Tunisian neutrality in seizing both ships and the corvette Postillion.