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.Anxiety for the Zele kept the French admiral, with the ships in his company, under short canvas,standing to the southward on the port tack.The English on the star-board tack, with the wind as they had it,(4) headed east-northeast, and thus, as soon as there was light to see, found the French broad on the lee bow,and one of M.de Grasse's ships (the 'Zele') towed by a frigate, square under our lee, with his bowsprit andforemast prostrate across his fore-castle. (2) To draw the French farther to leeward, Rodney detached fourships to chase the Zele. As soon as De Grasse saw this he signalled his fleet to keep away, as RodneyCHAPTER XIII.EVENTS IN THE WEST INDIES AFTER THE SURRENDER OF YORKTOWN ENCOUNT219 The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783wished, and at the same time to form the line-of-battle, thus calling down to him the ships to windward.TheEnglish line was also formed rapidly, and the chasing ships recalled at seven A.M.De Grasse, seeing that if hestood on he would lose the weather-gage altogether, hauled up again on the port tack; and the breezechanging to east- southeast and east in his favor and knocking the English off, the race of the two fleets onopposite tacks, for the advantage of the wind, became nearly equal.The French, however, won, thanks to asuperiority in sailing which had enabled them to draw so far to windward of the English on the previous days,and, but for the awkwardness of the Zele, might have cleared them altogether.Their leading ships firstreached and passed the point where the rapidly converging tracks intersected, while the English leader, the Marlborough, struck the French line between the sixth and tenth ships (variously stated).The battle, ofcourse, had by this time begun, the ninth ship in the French line, the Brave, opening fire at twenty minutesbefore eight A.M.upon the Marlborough. As there was no previous intention of breaking the line, theEnglish leader kept away, in obedience to a signal from Rodney, and ran close along under the enemy's lee,followed in succession by all the ships as they rcached her wake.The battle thus assumed the common andindecisive phase of two fleets passing on opposite tacks, the wind very light, however, and so allowing a moreheavy engagement than common under these circumstances, the ships sliding by at the rate of three to fourknots.Since the hostile lines diverged again south of their point of meeting, De Grasse made signal to keepaway four points to south-southwest, thus bringing his van to action with the English rear, and not permittingthe latter to reach his rear unscathed.There were, however, two dangers threatening the French if theycontinued their course.Its direction, south or south- southwest, carried them into the calms that hung roundthe north end of Dominica; and the uncertainty of the wind made it possible that by its hauling to thesouthward the enemy could pass through their line and gain the wind, and with it the possibility of forcing thedecisive battle which the French policy had shunned; and this was in fact what happened.De Grasse thereforemade signal at half-past eight to wear together and take the same tack as the English.This, however, wasimpossible; the two fleets were too close together to admit the evolution.He then signalled to haul close to thewind and wear in succession, which also failed to be done, and at five minutes past nine the dreadedcontingency arose; the wind hauled to the southward, knocking off all the French ships that had not yet keptaway; that is, all who had English ships close under their lee.Rodney, in the Formidable, was at this timejust drawing up with the fourth ship astern of De Grasse's flag.Luffing to the new wind, he passed through theFrench line, followed by the five ships next astern of him, while nearly at the same moment, and from thesame causes, his sixth astern led through the interval abreast him, followed by the whole English rear.TheFrench line-of-battle was thus broken in two places by columns of enemies' ships in such close order as toforce its vessels aside, even if the wind had not conspired to embarrass their action.Every principle uponwhich a line-of-battle was constituted, for mutual support and for the clear field of fire of each ship, was thusoverthrown for the French, and preserved for the English divisions which filed through; and the French wereforced off to leeward by the interposition of the enemy's columns, besides being broken up.Compelled thus toforsake the line upon which they had been ranged, it was necessary to re-form upon another, and unite thethree groups into which they were divided, a difficult piece of tactics under any circumstances, but doublyso under the moral impression of disaster, and in presence of a superior enemy, who, though himselfdisordered, was in better shape, and already felt the glow of victory. 1.The account of the transactions from April 9 to April 12 is based mainly upon the contemporary platesand descriptions of Lieutenant Matthews, R.N., and the much later Naval Researches of Capt.ThomasWhite, also of the British Navy, who were eye-witnesses, both being checked by French and other Englishnarratives.Matthews and White are at variance with Rodney's official report as to the tack on which theEnglish were at daybreak; but the latter is explicitly confirmed by private letters of Sir Charles Douglas, sentimmediately after the battle to prominent persons, and is followed in the text.2.Letter of Sir Charles Douglas,Rodney's chief-of-staff: United Service Journal, 1833, Part I.p.515.3.De Grasse calls this distance threeleagues, while some of his captains estimated it to be as great as five.4.The French, in mid-channel, had thewind more to the eastward. CHAPTER XIII.EVENTS IN THE WEST INDIES AFTER THE SURRENDER OF YORKTOWN ENCOUNT220 The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783It does not appear that any substantial attempt to re-form was made by the French.To reunite, yes; but onlyas a flying, disordered mass.The various shifts of wind and movements of the divisions left their fleet, atmidday, with the centre two miles northwest of and to leeward of the van, the rear yet farther from the centreand to leeward of it.Calms and short puffs of wind prevailed now through both fleets.At half-past one P.M.alight breeze from the east sprang up, and De Grasse made signal to form the line again on the port tack;between three and four, not having succeeded in this, he made signal to form on the starboard tack.The twosignals and the general tenor of the accounts show that at no time were the French re-formed after their linewas broken; and all the manoeuvres tended toward, even if they did not necessitate, taking the whole fleet asfar down as the most leewardly of its parts.In such a movement, it followed of course that the most crippledships were left behind, and these were picked up, one by one, by the Englishmen, who pursued without anyregular order, for which there was no need, as mutual support was assured without it.Shortly after six P.M.De Grasse's flag-ship, the Ville de Paris, struck her colors to the Barfleur, carrying the flag of Sir SamuelHood.The French accounts state that nine of the enemy's ships then surrounded her, and there is no doubt thatshe had been fought to the bitter end.Her name, commemorating the great city whose gift she had been to theking, her unusual size, and the fact that no French naval commander-in- chief had before been taken prisonerin battle, conspired to bestow a peculiar brilliancy upon Rodney's victory.Four other ships-of-the-line weretaken, and, singularly enough, upon these particular ships was found the whole train of artillery intended forthe reduction of Jamaica
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