M. de Lodève had sent a boat to apprise fifty French galleys cruising in the offing of the approach of the Catalans, and they made sail for Rosas Bay. The winds were light and baffling, and the Catalans, with their prizes, were only sighted after the battle was over. The French admiral could not overtake his victorious enemy, but he stationed twenty-five more galleys in Rosas Bay, and returned to San Felio. As soon as the Admiral Roger de Lauria received his orders he left Messina with sixty-six well-armed galleys in search of the French fleet, steering for a rendezvous at the island of Cabrera. Here he received tidings from the Captains Marquet and Malliol that there were eighty-five French galleys in Rosas Bay. They informed the Admiral that they would join him, with sixteen galleys, off a cape known as Aygua Freda, near some small islets called the Formigueras.[9] Admiral Lauria ordered that each galley should have three lights ready--one in the bows, another amidships, and a third at the stern. If the French fleet approached at night, all were to be suddenly lighted, that the enemy might believe each light to be on a separate vessel. Towards dawn the French fleet approached, and all the lights suddenly appeared between the fleet and the shore. Before it was broad daylight Lauria had entirely defeated his adversary, capturing fifty-four galleys, driving fifteen on shore, and putting twenty-five Genoese auxiliaries to flight. Marquet and Malliol completed the rout by capturing the remaining French galleys in Rosas Bay, and taking or destroying all the stores and provisions for the French army. The admiral proceeded to Barcelona, having by this great naval victory obtained complete command of the sea.