But this plan could not be put into effect so long as the Governor and Assembly were holding out for the King. So when news reached England that the blockade had not been successful in bringing them to terms, it was decided to send over a naval and military expedition. Thomas Stegg, who was in London, no doubt told the Council of State that there were many in Virginia who favored the Commonwealth, and that by cooperating with them they might take over the colony without firing a shot. So in naming a commission to offer terms they included not only Stegg himself, but Richard Bennett and William Claiborne, both of whom were in Virginia. The commission was headed by Captain Robert Dennis. In the event of his death, his place was to be filled by Captain Edmund Curtis. They were ordered to "use their best endeavors" to bring the Virginians "to their due obedience," and were authorized to grant pardon to all who would submit. In case this did not prove effective they were to use "all acts of hostility ... to enforce them." They were directed, also, to augment their force by making recruits in the colony, appointing captains and other officers, and promising freedom to all indentured workers who would take up arms for the Commonwealth.[28] So now a fleet of two warships, the _John_ and the _Guinea Frigate_, and a number of armed merchant vessels was assembled, a force of six hundred men embarked, and arms and stores brought aboard. Captain Dennis sailed in the _John_, Captain Curtis in the _Guinea Frigate_. Arriving at Barbados, and finding a large royalist force ready to resist them, they landed their soldiers, and defeated them in a pitched battle. This caused a delay of several weeks before they could proceed on their way to the Chesapeake Bay. But now disaster struck, for off the coast of Carolina they ran into a storm which sent the _John_ to the bottom, taking Captain Dennis and Stegg with her. Unaware of this, the rest of the fleet proceeded on their way and arrived safely in Hampton Roads. Even without the _John_ the fleet must have seemed formidable to the planters who paused in their work to view it. It must have seemed formidable, also, to Governor Berkeley. But he was determined to resist to the end. For months he had done all in his power to create hatred of the Commonwealth leaders, calling them bloody tyrants, and accusing them of planning to restore the old London Company. The Anglican ministers, hurling invectives from the pulpit, "stirred up the people in all places." At the gatherings for the sessions of the county courts, in taverns, in churchyards after services, everywhere when two or more men came together "little else was spoken of."[29]