British and Spanish naval forces in the bay of Cadiz according to the Dutch newspaper Koninklijke Courant dated 1 May 1810

An extract of a letter written by a British officer dated 18 March while in the bay of Cadiz supplied details about the events. When he wrote the letter, existed the British force of eight ships of the line since the arrival of another three. The Spanish however had nine ships of the line namely 2-3deckers and 7-74 gun ships of the line and further more three frigates. During the horrible storms since 6 March and the following days he wrote were three Spanish ships of the line lost. The French saved as many men as possible but the stranded ships were captured or set into fire. One of the stranded ships was a British transport with on board a part of the 4^th regiment. The soldiers were made prisoner of war, the transport was destroyed. The French headquarters were at Chiclana but they controlled all the towns and villages situated around the bay and further more of Rota, Puerto di Santa Maria and Puerto Reale which was strongly strengthened. A Spanish ship of the line and some British gunboats were firing day and night. An extract of another letter dated 3 March reported that the British naval force existed of 12 ships of the line including some 3-deckers. New transports arrived with 2,400 British soldiers on board.