On 4 November 1309, Pope Clement admitted what had long been suspected, that the Hospitaller expedition would not go to the Holy Land. It was merely a preparatory campaign to help defend Cyprus and enforce the prohibition on Catholics trading with Muslims. The official expedition was ready to sail from the Italian port of Brindisi in January 1310, but was delayed until spring by bad weather. It was under the direct command of the grand master, Foulques de Villaret, who was accompanied by a papal legate, Pierre de Pleine-Chassagne. The force contained 26 galleys (including some from Genoa), two or three hundred knights and about three thousand foot soldiers. When the fleet sailed it was still unknown where Villaret planned to take it. Rather than go to the Holy Land, it sailed for the Byzantine island of Rhodes. It was in Greek waters on 13 May, when Villaret sent a message of peace to Venice. The crusader army participated in the final conquest of the city of Rhodes in August. Although no expedition to the Holy Land came out of the preaching of 1308–9, Rhodes was a strategically important base for future campaigns and the Hospitallers made it their headquarters in 1311.