British forces watched Dutch, French and Spanish ports, while the Channel Fleet supported the wider system. Lord Keith watched the Franco-Dutch squadron in the Netherlands, Thomas Graves covered Rochefort, Robert Calder watched Ferrol, and William Cornwallis with his deputy Charles Cotton patrolled between Ushant and the Irish coast. John Orde covered Cádiz, while Nelson's Mediterranean Fleet contained Villeneuve at Toulon and British forces around Gibraltar watched Cartagena. Frigates and brigs carried information and conducted independent work between the larger commands, while British forces also tracked French movements in the West Indies. The advantage lay in a network that kept enemy ships under pressure while British vessels rotated for victuals, repairs, new rigging and crew rest. That endurance meant the Royal Navy could maintain more ships in the blockade system than a simple snapshot of the deployed squadrons suggests.
Chapter · 27:37-33:32
The Royal Navy's forward blockade system
British strategy put watching and blockading squadrons wherever French or Spanish battle fleets were based, from Brest and Toulon to Cádiz.