Soon after daybreak on the 28th of February--a bright, clear morning--the British frigate _Gibraltar_, cruising some twenty leagues north-east of Cape Palos, spied four strange sail away on the horizon to the north-east of her. The _Gibraltar's_ signals were repeated by the _St. George_ and the _Culloden_ and then Admiral Osborn ordered part of his fleet off Carthagena to head towards the strangers and chase. He had at the same time, of course, to keep his grip on M. de la Clue inside Carthagena and prevent him from making use of the opportunity to break out. The strangers showed no colours and were too far off to be identified, but it was certain they could only be French ships. Indeed, too, as the English turned towards them, they began to edge away. A little later they divided and went off on different courses. One ship, a two-decker, stood in directly for the land. The smallest, the frigate, stood seaward, to the south-west. To cut off the two-decker and stop her from getting into Spanish waters the _Monarch_ and _Montague_ were detached and went off chasing to the north-west. The frigate was already practically out of reach. A little later the remaining two French ships, both two-deckers, were seen to draw apart. One of them headed as if to work round into Carthagena. The other, the biggest ship of the whole squadron, held on down the coast, as though to draw the British after her. In pursuit of the first of these two two-deckers went the _Revenge_ and the _Berwick_. The _Monmouth_ and the _Swiftsure_, with the _Hampton Court_ following them, went after the big ship. Of what force the French ships were, or their identity, nobody of course could tell as yet. They were too far off for the ports on their broadsides to be counted. It is with the _Monmouth_ and her chase that we are particularly concerned.