Many important events had occurred in the Mediterranean since the outbreak of hostilities. At the moment of the sudden Declaration of War, the ships forming the British Mediterranean Squadron were at Larnaka, Cyprus, and on receipt of the alarming intelligence, the Admiral sailed immediately for Malta. On arrival there, he heard that a strong force of French vessels had been despatched to Gibraltar for the purpose of preventing any British ships from getting out of the Mediterranean in order to strengthen the Channel Squadron. Nevertheless he waited for some days at Malta, in hourly expectation of instructions, which came at length about two o'clock one morning, and an hour later the Squadron sailed westward for an unknown destination. Our Fleet in those waters was notoriously inadequate in comparison with those of France and Russia. It consisted of three of the battleships constructed under the 1894 programme, the _Jupiter_, _Cæsar_, and _Victorious_, with the cruisers _Diana_ and _Dido_; the ironclads _Collingwood_, _Dreadnought_, _Hood_, _Inflexible_, _Nile_, _Ramillies_, _Repulse_, _Sans Pareil_, _Trafalgar_, _Magnificent_, _Empress of India_, and _Revenge_; the cruisers _Arethusa_, _Edgar_, _Fearless_, _Hawke_, _Scout_, _Orlando_, _Undaunted_; the torpedo ram _Polyphemus_; the torpedo gun-vessel _Sandfly_; the sloops _Dolphin_, _Gannet_, _Melita_, and _Bramble_; and the despatch vessel _Surprise_, with twenty-two torpedo boats and six destroyers. The information received by our Fleet at Malta was to the effect that the French force at Gibraltar was so strong that a successful attack was out of the question; while the Russian Mediterranean and Black Sea Fleets, the strength of which was considerable, were also known to be approaching for the purpose of co-operating with the French. Notwithstanding the addition of three new battleships and two new cruisers to our force in the Mediterranean, the utter inadequacy of our Navy was still very apparent. For years the British public had demanded that a dozen more new battleships should be constructed in case of casualties, but these demands were unheeded, and during the three years that had passed we had lost our naval supremacy, for France and Russia combined were now considerably stronger. France alone had 150 fighting pennants available along her southern shores, against our 59; and the Tsar's ships were all strong, well-equipped, and armed with guns of the latest type.