the ships were steering north-west; always in line
of battle. The French Admiral seems to have followed
this movement cautiously, on an outer circle but with
a higher speed, so that from east-north-east in the
morning, which, as the fleets were then heading, would
be on the starboard side of the British, abreast and
to windward, at 4 P.M. the French bore south-south-east,
which would be somewhat on the port quarter, or nearly
astern but to leeward. At this time their van
was estimated by Howe to be two or three miles from
the British rear, and, according to his reading of
their manoeuvres, d’Estaing was forming his line
for the same tack as the British, with a view of “engaging
the British squadron to leeward,” whereby he
would obtain over it the advantage of using the lower-deck
guns, the wind and sea having become much heavier.
As the French Admiral, in this new disposition, had
put his heaviest ships in the van, and his line was
nearly in the wake of the British, Howe inferred an
attack upon his rear. He therefore ordered his
heaviest ship, the
Cornwall, 74, to go there
from the centre, exchanging places with the
Centurion,
50, and at the same time signalled the fleet to close
to the centre,—a detail worth remembering
in view of Rodney’s frustrated manoeuvre of April
17th, 1780. It now remained simply to await firmly
the moment when the French should have covered the
intervening ground, and brought to action so much
of his rear as d’Estaing saw fit to engage; the
conditions of the sea favoring the speed of the bulkier
ships that composed the hostile fleet. The latter,
however, soon abandoned the attempt, and “bore
away to the southward, apparently from the state of
the weather, which, by the wind freshening much, with
frequent rain, was now rendered very unfavorable for
engaging.” It may be added that the hour
was very late for beginning an action. At sundown
the British were under close-reefed topsails, and
the sea such that Howe was unable to return to the
Eagle.[33]
The wind now increased to great violence, and a severe
storm raged on the coast until the evening of the
13th, throwing the two fleets into confusion, scattering
the ships, and causing numerous disasters. The
Apollo lost her foremast, and sprung the mainmast,
on the night of the 12th. The next day only two
British ships of the line and three smaller vessels
were in sight of their Admiral. When the weather
moderated, Howe went on board the Phoenix, 44,
and thence to the Centurion, 50, with which
he “proceeded to the southward, and on the 15th
discovered ten sail of the French squadron, some at
anchor in the sea, about twenty-five leagues east
from Cape May."[34] Leaving there the Centurion,
to direct to New York any of Byron’s ships that
might come on the coast, he departed thither himself
also, and on the evening of the 17th rejoined the
squadron off Sandy Hook, the appointed rendezvous.
Many injuries had been received by the various ships,
but they were mostly of a minor character; and on the
22d the fleet again put to sea in search of the enemy.