Both British commanders were professionals at their job: Stanhope the younger and more dashing, Leake more experienced and competent. Neither conformed to the then current type of officer who owed his position to birth and privilege.
Stanhope was born in Paris in 1673, where his father was a diplomat; he went to Oxford at the age of fourteen then joined his father in Madrid.  Bent on a military career, he was sent to Italy, enlisting in the ranks. He was later commissioned as an officer in the British army and served under Marlborough in Flanders in 1703. .
His portrait at Chevening, shows an imposing figure with a high intellectual forehead, piercing eyes and a masterful nose and sensitive mouth. He was said to be impatient and impulsive by nature. In colouring he was swarthy; his intimate friends called him jocularly 'that handsome black man'.
Leake was born in 1656 of two generations of warrant officers in the navy, and at the outbreak of the War of the Succession had been governor and commander-in-chief of the new colony of Newfoundland. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1703, and played a decisive part in the capture of Gibraltar in 1704.

On receipt of his instructions from the Admiralty,  Stanhope had two concerns: to inform Leake as soon as possible and enlist his co-operation, and to put his own rather ragged army into a state of readiness.
As Admiral Leake was reported to be in the Adriatic, Stanhope had the Lord Treasurer's letter containing the orders copied by the hand of his secretary Cragg, and sent by a fast felucca, a small sailing craft, in search of him. Stanhope knew that this must be a combined operation with the navy, and in addition to telling Leake of his own preparations he requested his assistance.
In order that no time may be lost. . . I did immediately order that 1,800 men march to Barcelona, likewise to get ready ten battering guns, some mortars, bombs, 15,000 cannon shot, and 1,000 barrels of powder. I proposed to the six men-of-war here to carry these troops as soon as they are ready for Minorca in time for your arrival. Indeed I proceed with no other hope than that you will come hither with the fleet. . . I hope you will spare us your marines, and crown all your successes by the reduction of this important fortress. .

At this point Stanhope had an inter-service hitch. He needed an escort of men-of-war for his transports, and six lay off Barcelona, but their commanders said they had no instructions from Leake. Fortunately one of the men-of-war's captains was Stanhope's brother - Captain Philip Stanhope of the Milford. He cut the red tape, and the others followed suit.
Such was the slowness of communications in these times that on 14 August Admiral Leake lay at anchor at Pula in the Adriatic unaware of these preparations, awaiting further orders and letters from Genoa and Leghorn. He fervently hoped these would at last contain orders to take Port Mahon and Minorca, but on the third day the ships arrived without orders, and there seemed nothing particular to do.
Then he remembered one uncompleted task: instructions from Queen Anne to demand 400,000 crowns from His Holiness the Pope, for his crime of encouraging the invasion of England by praying for the Queen's enemies. If the demand was not instantly met, the Papal State was to be blown sky-high.
The following morning Leake held a council of his captains to decide what to do. It was at this moment that an aide dramatically interrupted proceedings with Stanhope's dispatch, and the blackmailing of the Pope was taken off the agenda.
 

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