It is important to consider this, because, while Keppel must be approved for attacking in partial disorder, Byron must be blamed for attacking in utter disorder.  Keppel had to snatch opportunity from an unwilling foe.  Having himself the lee-gage, he could not pick and choose, nor yet manoeuvre; yet he brought his fleet into action, giving mutual support throughout nearly, if not quite, the whole line.  What Byron did has been set forth; the sting is that his bungling tactics can find no extenuation in any urgency of the case.

The loss of the two fleets, as given by the authorities of either nation, were:  British, 183 killed, 346 wounded; French, 190 killed, 759 wounded.  Of the British total, 126 killed and 235 wounded, or two thirds, fell to the two groups of three ships each, which by Byron’s mismanagement were successively exposed to be cut up in detail by the concentrated fire of the enemy.  The British loss in spars and sails—­in motive-power—­also exceeded greatly that of the French.

After the action d’Estaing returned quietly to Grenada.  Byron went to St. Kitts to refit; but repairs were most difficult, owing to the dearth of stores in which the Admiralty had left the West Indies.  With all the skill of the seamen of that day in making good damages, the ships remained long unserviceable, causing great apprehension for the other islands.  This state of things d’Estaing left unimproved, as he had his advantage in the battle.  He did, indeed, parade his superior force before Byron’s fleet as it lay at anchor; but, beyond the humiliation naturally felt by a Navy which prided itself on ruling the sea, no further injury was done.

In August Byron sailed for England.  Barrington had already gone home, wounded.  The station therefore was left in command of Rear-Admiral Hyde Parker,[67] and so remained until March, 1780, when the celebrated Rodney arrived as Commander-in-Chief on the Leeward Islands Station.  The North American Station was given to Vice-Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot, who had under him a half-dozen ships of the line, with headquarters at New York.  His command was ordinarily independent of Rodney’s, but the latter had no hesitation in going to New York on emergency and taking charge there; in doing which he had the approval of the Admiralty.

The approach of winter in 1778 had determined the cessation of operations, both naval and military, in the northern part of the American continent, and had led to the transfer of five thousand troops to the West Indies, already noted.  At the same time, an unjustifiable extension of British effort, having regard to the disposable means, was undertaken in the southern States of Georgia and South Carolina.  On the 27th of November a small detachment of troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell, sailed from Sandy Hook, convoyed by a division of frigates commanded by Captain Hyde Parker.[68] The expedition entered the Savannah River four weeks later, and soon afterwards occupied the city of the same name.  Simultaneously with this, by Clinton’s orders, General Prevost moved from Florida, then a British colony, with all the men he could spare from the defence of St. Augustine.  Upon his arrival in Savannah he took command of the whole force thus assembled.