The invasion of nearly 15,000 French troops was first attempted in December of 1796. The sea around Ireland is not a friendly place in the winter, however. Bad weather at the landing point of Bantry Bay, near the southern tip of Ireland, was ruinous for the French expedition. What could have become a successful effort to throw out British control never got its start. Even so, the Irish people supported French involvement, as this popular 1790s Irish ballad illustrates:

They come, they come
See myriads come -
Of Frenchmen to relieve us;

Seize, seize the pike
Beat, beat the drum
They come, my friends
To save us.

Although Tone's ship arrived in Bantry Bay, General Louis Lazare Hoche, the expedition commander, was delayed by thick fog and bad weather. On Christmas Day, winds were at gale force and Tone's ship was forced to leave Bantry Bay harbor. Tone and his French colleagues had to scrap plans for an "invasion" in 1796.