Knowles and his captains in December and February 1749–50 [see Holmes, Charles, and Knowles, Sir Charles], and of that on Vice-admiral Griffin in December 1750 [see Griffin, Thomas]. In November 1752 he struck his flag, but in February 1755 was again ordered to hoist it on board the St. George at Portsmouth. On 16 July he was appointed to the command of the western squadron, with orders from the lords justices (22 July) to go to sea with sixteen sail of the line, and cruise between Ushant and Cape Finisterre in order to intercept a French squadron which, under the command of M. Du-Guay, had been cruising in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar and had put into Cadiz. He was instructed in precise words ‘not to go to the southward of Cape Finisterre’ unless positive intelligence should show it to be necessary; and accordingly, while Hawke was cruising in the Bay of Biscay, Du-Guay, by making a long stretch to the westward, succeeded in getting safely into Brest. On 29 Sept. Hawke returned to Spithead. It was quite time, for the weather had been bad, and the ships' companies were very sickly. During the winter he was employed as commander-in-chief at Portsmouth, and in the spring was again in the Bay of Biscay, keeping watch on the enemy's ships in Rochefort. He returned to Spithead on 8 May 1756.
Early in June, on the news of Byng having withdrawn to Gibraltar [see Byng, John], Hawke was sent out to take the command in the Mediterranean, and with him Saunders to replace Rear-admiral West, and Lord Tyrawley to supersede General Fowke as governor of Gibraltar. The Antelope, with this ‘cargo of courage,’ as it was called, arrived at Gibraltar on 4 July. Byng, West, and all the commissioned officers of the Ramillies and Buckingham, were ordered on board the Antelope for a passage to England, and Hawke hoisted his flag on board the Ramillies. On 10 July he put to sea with instructions to do everything possible for the relief of Minorca, but if he found the enemy already in possession of it, then ‘to endeavour by all means to destroy the French fleet in the Mediterranean,’ to prevent their landing troops or supplies on the island, and ‘to annoy and distress them there as much as possible.’ It was too late. On 15 July he had certain intelligence that Fort St. Philip had surrendered, that the French were in full possession of the island, and that the fleet had returned to Toulon. His hope that it might again put to sea was not realised, and his work was limited to re-establishing the prestige of the English flag and putting a check on the insults of such petty states as Tuscany and Malta (Burrows, pp. 272–4; Laughton, Studies in Naval History, p. 220).
On the approach of winter the greater part of the fleet was recalled from the Mediterranean, a small force only remaining under Saunders. Hawke arrived in England on 14 Jan. 1757. On 24 Feb. he was promoted to be admiral of the blue. His health was much shaken, both by the worry of his command and also by the loss of his wife, to whom he appears to have been sincerely attached, and who had died during his absence on 28 Oct. 1756. Contemporary gossip said that a coolness approaching to a quarrel sprang up between him and Pitt. Hawke, it was said, publicly contradicted Pitt's statements in favour of Byng, and refused to accept Pitt's disapproval of some incidents of his late command (Burrows, pp. 271, 276). The details are untrustworthy, but the relations between the two men seem to have been far from cordial. When the new government was formed in June, with Pitt as its virtual head, Anson was reappointed first lord of the admiralty, but was unable, notwithstanding his wish, to give Hawke a seat at the board (ib. p. 277). In August, however, when Pitt was devising the expedition against Rochefort, it was Hawke who was selected for the command. The credit of the appointment has been generally attributed to Pitt. It would seem to be more probably due to Anson.
Pitt had learned that on the land side Rochefort was practically undefended, and that the arsenal and dockyard might be destroyed by a comparatively small force. Some seven thousand troops under the command of Sir John Mordaunt [q. v.] were told off for this service, and Hawke was to command the covering fleet. On 5 Aug. the two commanders-in-chief received their instructions, Hawke's being ‘to act in conjunction and to co-operate with Sir John Mordaunt in the execution of the services prescribed to him,’ while Mordaunt was directed ‘to attempt, as far as shall be found practicable, a descent on the French coast at or near Rochefort; to attack, if practicable, … that place,’ and to destroy its docks, shipping, magazines, and arsenals.
Within a week from the date of these instructions the fleet and army were ready, but the navy board had not provided a sufficient number of transports; and in remedying the miscalculation nearly a month slipped away. The troops did not embark till 6 Sept., and on the afternoon of the 8th the expedition sailed from St. Helen's. Twelve days later it was fog-bound in the entrance to the Basque Roads, and it did not pass into the roadstead till the 23rd. A half-finished fort on the
