Nelson spent a restless six months in Norfolk and London convalescing. For his wife Fanny it was a happy time, indeed the last happy time she would have with Nelson who was now a naval hero and beginning to experience the celebrity which would soon become such a feature of his life. For the first few months after his return from Tenerife he was in considerable pain and was dependent on Fanny's love and attention. She dressed his wound, cut up his food for him at mealtimes and accompanied him to dinner parties and receptions. But, as always, Nelson was impatient to get back to sea and was greatly relieved when he received orders from the Admiralty to escort a convoy to Lisbon and then join the Mediterranean fleet off Cadiz. His flagship was the 74-gun ship Vanguard and his flag captain was Edward Berry. They set sail on 10 April and arrived off Cadiz at the end of the month. Nelson received a warm welcome from Lord St Vincent who was having to keep a tight rein on a fleet whose men continued to prove restless. 'The arrival of Admiral Nelson has given me new life,' he wrote to Lord Spencer. 'You could not have gratified me more than in sending him.'
St Vincent now had the man he wanted to lead the reconnaissance mission to Toulon. Within a matter of days Nelson was on his way to Gibraltar and on 8 May he entered the Mediterranean with his squadron - the first British warships to do so for a year and a half. His squadron at this stage consisted of only six ships: the 74-gun ships Vanguard, Orion and Alexander, two frigates and a sloop. However, shortly after Nelson had left Cadiz, St Vincent received orders from London to send a more formidable force of not fewer than ten ships of the line. This would give Nelson a fleet capable of intercepting and attacking the French expedition, rather than simply observing and reporting on the enemy's movements. St Vincent deliberately selected the best ships and captains for the task and on 25 May his chosen ships weighed anchor and set sail to meet up with Nelson. The squadron was led by Thomas Troubridge in the Culloden, and the other ships were the Bellerophon, Defence, Goliath, Zealous, Theseus, Swiftsure, Minotaur and Majestic, heroic names which would soon become famous beyond the closed world of the navy.
We can follow the progress of the squadron in a decorative map of the Mediterranean which shows the tracks taken by the British ships and by Napoleon's invasion fleet. From Cadiz they sailed almost due south until they were a few miles off Tangier on the African coast. From there they sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar with all sail set and a following wind. Off Gibraltar they were joined by the Audacious and the Leander, both ships of the line, and by the brig Mutine of 18 guns. The brig was a French vessel which had been captured during the raid on Tenerife by boats led by Lieutenant Thomas Hardy. Following the action he had been promoted and given command of the prize. He was now twenty-nine years old and would later gain immortality as Nelson's flag captain at the battle of Trafalgar. The Mutine was to prove invaluable in the coming weeks because her appearance was less threatening than a ship of the line and she could be sent into ports and harbours to gather information.
From Gibraltar they sailed north-east towards the islands of Formentor and Majorca, keeping a sharp eye out for enemy ships. Although they were now a formidable squadron they were entering a hostile sea with no British naval bases to provide reinforcements or repairs. When they sighted two small vessels they flew Spanish flags to avoid arousing suspicion. By 1 June they were 50 miles east of Minorca, their progress slowed by several days of light and variable winds. All the ships took advantage of the calm seas to carry out gunnery practice. The sailors exercised the carriage guns and the marines their muskets. A week later they were within a few miles of Toulon and there, soon after dawn on 7 June, they sighted a single warship. The log of the Bellerophon recorded the moment: 'Light airs. Strange sail NW. AM. At 6 rear Admiral Nelson in the Vanguard under a jury foremast join'd the squadron. Hove to. The Captn went on board the Admiral at 8.'
The Vanguard was still sailing under a jury rig because she and the Alexander and Orion had run into a freak storm which had hit them with the force of a typhoon. The frigates had been dispersed and returned to Gibraltar, which exasperated Nelson who needed frigates to help him locate the French. The Vanguard had been dismasted in the storm and nearly driven ashore and wrecked. She had been rescued by the Alexander and, with the help of the carpenters of all three ships, she had been re-rigged. The Alexander and Orion had then been despatched to chase some Spanish merchantmen, leaving the Vanguard to keep watch on the movements of shipping out of Toulon.
Nelson was expecting Troubridge and as soon as he had identified the strange fleet bearing down on him he ran up the signal for the approaching ships to heave to. With practised ease the sailors on each ship backed the necessary sails to bring them to a halt, and within a few minutes boats were being hoisted off the decks and lowered into the sea which was almost flat calm. Captain Darby and five other captains were rowed across to the Vanguard for a meeting with Nelson. Two days later the Alexander and Orion and the Mutine brig arrived and Nelson's squadron was now complete. They would spend the next two months searching the length and breadth of the Mediterranean for Napoleon and his armada of warships and transports.
On the same day that the Alexander and Orion joined Nelson's squadron the French armada arrived off the coast of Malta. This low rocky island was in a commanding position in the middle of the Mediterranean and had a fine natural harbour at Valetta. It would provide France with an excellent naval base and was the first target of the invasion fleet. Although the island was protected with massive fortifications, the resident garrison was poorly trained and too small in number to adequately defend the miles of defensive walls. The famous Knights of the Order of St John who ruled the island were no longer the formidable force they had once been, and in any case two-thirds of them were Frenchmen who proved reluctant to oppose their countrymen. The transport ships arrived off Malta on 6 June and the main force from Toulon arrived on 9 June. Some of the local soldiers put up a spirited resistance but were overwhelmed by the French landing parties. Within three days the Knights of St John agreed to cede Malta to the French Republic. Napoleon spent six days dismantling the existing regime and setting up a new constitution. He departed from Malta on 18 June, leaving behind a garrison of 3,000 French soldiers to guard the island. They now headed for Egypt and in doing so nearly ran into Nelson's ships.
The British squadron had sailed around the northern tip of Corsica, making for Naples. For a week they had experienced the rapidly changing and unpredictable weather which can make sailing in this part of the Mediterranean so alarming. Light airs and calms alternated with thunderstorms, heavy rain and sudden squalls. One of the squalls carried away the foretopmast of the Bellerophon and she lost the studding sail; it was still gusty and raining as they rounded the Isle of Ischia and entered the Bay of Naples. On this occasion Nelson did not go ashore but sent Troubridge in his place. While the squadron stayed several miles offshore, Troubridge boarded the Mutine brig in the early hours of the morning of 17 June and arrived in the harbour at Naples as the city was waking up at 5 am. He went ashore with Captain Hardy and the two of them were soon in a meeting with Sir William Hamilton and General Acton, the leading minister of the Kingdom of Naples. Hamilton was impressed by Troubridge's directness: 'We did more business in half an hour than should have been done in a week in the official way here. Captain Troubridge went straight to the point and put strong questions to the general, who answered them fairly and to the satisfaction of the captain.'