with the french in confusion, the british government sought alliances with the other enemies of france, including an attempt to gain spanish agreement to place a british commander in overall command of the allied fleets in the mediterranean. the spanish, suspicious that the british would seek to engineer a mutually destructive engagement between the french and spanish fleets and dominate the region in the aftermath, refused. as negotiations continued, the british assembled a fleet for operations in the mediterranean, despite severe manpower shortages. command of this fleet was awarded to the veteran vice-admiral lord hood, and ships were sent out by division as they were ready; two sailed under rear-admiral john gell on 1 april, five on 15 april under rear-admiral philip cosby and five more under vice-admiral william hotham in early may. hood followed with his final division on 12 may with seven ships of the line, led by his flagship hms "victory".