British warships gathering off Brest, France according to the Dutch newspaper Opregte Haarlemse courant 17 January 1804

An item dated London, England the 11^th referred to tidings received from Plymouth the 8^th reporting that according to letters from admiral Cornwallis dated Wednesday the 4^th and some of his officers the British ships including the ships of the line HMS Ville de Paris (flagship, 110 guns), San-Josef (110 guns) and Dreadnought (98 guns) arrived safely off Brest, France. Further more were they joined by 5 ships of the line coming from Cawsand Bay. The 84-gun HMS Impetueux captain Martin left that morning Plymouth, England after being repaired to join the squadron off Brest, France. In the meantime nothing changed apparently at Brest. The French warships were still lying in the outside roads drying the sails and so on.