Hood sent a squadron under Commodore Robert Linzee to attempt to negotiate the surrender of these strategically important positions, with orders that if these overtures failed, Linzee was to attack the port of San Fiorenzo. The attack failed, and Linzee withdrew to Cagliari on the allied island of Sardinia. In early October, "Agamemnon" was sent to join Linzee for an operation against a French convoy anchored in the neutral port of Tunis; Nelson's crew was substantially under-strength at 345 sailors. A number of French ships had been absent from Toulon when the uprising occurred and remained active at sea while Hood's forces occupied the city. One such squadron was under the command of Commodore Jean-Baptiste Perrée, comprising 40-gun frigates "Melpomène", under Lieutenant Gay, and "Minerve", under Zacharie Allemand, the 36-gun frigate "Fortunée", under Désiré Maistral, the 28-gun frigate "Mignonne" and the 18-gun brig "Flèche", under Joseph Allemand. In October these ships had sailed to Tunis with a larger squadron before detaching on a mission to land reinforcements for the garrison on Corsica. In the early hours of 22 October, as "Agamemnon" sailed southwards down the Sardinian coast, sails were sighted leeward. At 02:00 the strange ships fired rocket signals and tacked eastwards away from the British ship. Nelson closed with the squadron under the assumption that they may be from the allied navies of Naples or Sardinia. At 04:00 he attempted to hail the rearmost ship, a large frigate, but received no answer. Nelson then fired a single shot ahead of the ship, which pulled away to windward, confirming that it was an enemy vessel. All sails were raised on "Agamemnon" in pursuit, the rest of the French squadron trailing behind the French and British front-runners. The leading ship was the 40-gun frigate "Melpomène", and propelled by a fresh breeze she hoisted the French Tricolour at dawn and opened fire with stern-chaser guns, cannon situated in the stern to fire on a pursuer. Periodically the frigate gained enough distance to turn and fire a broadside at the British ship of the line, to which Nelson could only respond with a handful of his forward guns. The rest of the French squadron had been left behind in the night, but by 09:00 the battling ships had been becalmed and the pursuit squadron came into sight once more.