In the meantime the British fleet was approaching through the straits of Bahama, clear of purpose, strong of will, and bent upon conquest. An interesting document of that event is "An Authentic Journal of the Siege of the Havana By an Officer. Printed in London MDCCLXII. Reprinted in Dublin, by Boulton Grierson, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty." That record of the expedition had evidently for its author a man of sound judgment and is imbued throughout with a rare sense of justice towards British and Spanish alike. Spanish authorities, among them Blanchet, give the number of line ships in the fleet as twenty-six, fifteen frigates and an infinite number of smaller vessels, and about twenty thousand combatants. The author of the journal reports nineteen ships of the line, about eighteen frigates, sloops, and other vessels and one hundred and fifty transports with ten thousand troops. The commander of the fleet was Sir George Pococke, Knight of the Bath, Admiral of the Blue, etc., and the commander of the troops, Lieutenant-General Earl of Albemarle. The witness writes that they left Cape Nicolas, northwest of Hispaniola, on the twenty-seventh of May and sailed in seven divisions through the old straits of Bahama--"an undertaking far superior to anything we know in our times, or read of in the past, as few ships care to go through this passage at any time, much less such a fleet, destitute of pilots that professed any knowledge of it and almost of any information of the passage that could be relied on." He goes on to say that "frigates, smaller vessels and even the great ships' boats were sent ahead and so distributed on both shores, with such proper and well adapted signals for day and night, that not only reconciled every one to the dangers and risk of so hazardous an undertaking, but almost ensured our success. We were often in sight of the keys or shoals on each side."