France had forty-three ships of the line in home waters but lacked roughly nine thousand of the twenty-five thousand men needed to crew them. Twenty-two ships were at Brest, while the remainder were dispersed among Toulon and other ports. Sailors had been captured, drawn into privateering, or lost to poor discipline and late pay. The invasion transports themselves required cadres of skilled seamen, so preparing the army's passage competed with manning its naval escort. Disease killed thousands at Brest, and the blockaded port struggled to import food by sea. Its fleet was less healthy and less practiced than Hawke's supplied and exercising force offshore.
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French manpower and logistics in 1759
The French home fleet faced a severe manpower deficit, disease, late pay, and a divided basing system before the 1759 crisis peaked.