Hearing the news of the victory, the notoriously nervous British prime minister, the Duke of Newcastle, said "I was afraid of invasion till now." Boscawen's violation of Portuguese neutrality was fully supported by his government, which placated the Portuguese by persuading them that it was an inadvertent result of Boscawen's general chase order. Three years later, the Spanish and French governments used this breach of neutrality as one of their pretexts for declaring war on and invading Portugal. Boscawen, his captains and their crews were fêted in Britain. After completing their interrupted refits, several of Boscawen's victorious ships were transferred to Admiral Edward Hawke's fleet off Brest, and five were with Hawke when he destroyed the Brest fleet in Quiberon Bay in November.