25th May 1698.
Just as the British and the Dutch fleets entered the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar, the French fleet had already crossed the Strait of Sicily and was on its way to the Aegean Sea.
The sudden actions of the three Western European giants startled all of Europe, and as a result, ships travelling throughout the Mediterranean immediately altered their course and rushed into the nearest safe ports, hoping to avoid being implicated in whatever the French were doing.
Gordon McFly, a tradesman, for the fear of being implicated, quickly turned his ship around and moved towards Genoa until the storm passed. He did not know what made the French mobilise their complete Mediterranean fleet, but he did not want to stay and find out either.
