French had, also, upwards of ten thousand troops, and the Spaniards more than two. Notwithstanding this inferior strength, which would have deterred many a brave man from risking the responsibility of so hazardous an undertaking, Lord Nelson had resolved that he would follow them, as he emphatically expressed himself, "even to the Antipodes." The ships he had were well equipped, and his confidence in all the officers and men was precisely the same as they themselves felt in their adored commander--he believed them to be absolutely invincible. The ships which accompanied his lordship in this memorable pursuit, were--the Victory of a hundred and ten guns, Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, Rear-Admiral Murray, and Captain Hardy; the Canopus of eighty, Rear-Admiral Louis, and Captain Austin; Le Tigre of eighty, Captain Hallowell; the Donegal of eighty, Captain Malcolm; the Spencer of seventy-four, the Honourable Captain Stopford; the Conqueror of seventy-four, Captain Pellew; the Superb of seventy-four, Captain Keates; the Belleisle of seventy-four, Captain Hargood; the Leviathan of seventy-four, Captain Bayntun; the Swiftsure of seventy-four, Captain Rutherford; the Decade frigate of thirty-six, Captain Stuart; the Amazon of thirty-eight, Captain Parker; and the Amphion of thirty-two, Captain Sutton. His lordship, now in high spirits, since the destination of the enemy seemed evident, and the wind had shifted in his favour, jocosely remarked to his assembled captains--"There is just a Frenchman apiece for each English ship, leaving me out of the question to fight the Spaniards: and, when I haul down my colours, I expect every captain of the fleet to do the same; but, not till then." Having got fairly into the trade winds, they run, on the 21st of May, in the last twenty-four hours, a hundred and ninety miles. The next day, they passed the tropic, vulgarly called crossing the line; when Neptune performed the usual ceremony, to the no small diversion of the fleet. There were, in the Victory alone, his lordship remarks, who highly enjoyed the scene, no less than five hundred persons by whom the tropic had never before been crossed. On the 31st, at six in the evening, being within two hundred leagues of Barbadoes, the Amazon was sent forward for information.