About the middle of February, 1759, the squadron sailed from England to Louisburg, where the whole of the British force destined for the River St. Lawrence was ordered to assemble. On the 21st of April Saunders and his armament reached the coast of Cape Breton, but the harbors were still blocked up with the ice of the preceding winter, and he could not enter. He then bent his course for Halifax, on the neighboring peninsula of Nova Scotia, and anchored the whole fleet in that magnificent sea port. Twenty-two ships of the line, five frigates, and nineteen smaller vessels of war, with a crowd of transports, were mustered under the orders of the admiral, and a detachment of Artillery and Engineers, and ten battalions of Infantry, with six companies of Rangers, formed Wolfe's command; the right flank companies of the three regiments which still garrisoned Louisburg soon after joined the army, and were formed into a corps called the Louisburg Grenadiers. The total of the land forces embarked were somewhat under 8000. Two thousand Infantry, which had formed part of the expedition to the West Indies, under Hodgson, were to have increased Wolfe's strength, but, owing to unavoidable circumstances, they were subsequently countermanded. Before leaving England Admiral Saunders had received intelligence that the French would make an effort to run a convoy up the River St. Lawrence for the relief of Quebec, at the first opening of the navigation. He therefore dispatched Admiral Durell with a small squadron to intercept it. From Halifax Saunders proceeded to Louisburg as soon as the breaking up of the ice permitted, and there held counsel with Wolfe upon the plan of the expedition. On the 15th of May he issued a general order to the fleet, that, in case of any temporary separation from adverse weather or other accidents, Gaspé Bay, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, was to be the first place of rendezvous, and the island of Bic, 340 miles up the Great River, the next. It was not, however, till the 1st of June that the British ships began to weigh anchor in Louisburg Harbor, and the huge armament had not altogether cleared the land for six days afterward. While spreading sail, the admiral received the unwelcome news that three French frigates and a cloud of store vessels had escaped Durell's squadron and reached Quebec in safety. Two prizes were captured, however, which had lagged somewhat behind, and they, besides a quantity of powder and other munition, contained French charts of the River St. Lawrence, the possession of which proved of great importance to the British fleet.