Thus it happened that two months later, at the age of twenty-five, Saumarez commanded a ship-of-the-line in Rodney’s renowned battle of the 12th of April; with one exception the most brilliant and decisive action fought by the British navy in a century.  This circumstance alone would have insured the confirmation of his rank by the Admiralty, even had he not also eminently distinguished himself; but it was for him one of those periods when inconstant fortune seems bent upon lavishing her favors.  He was near the head of the British column, as the hostile fleets passed in opposite directions, exchanging broadsides.  As his ship cleared the French rear, a neighboring British vessel, commanded by one of the senior captains, turned to pursue the enemy.  Saumarez gladly imitated him; but when the other resumed his former course, because the admiral of the van, his immediate superior, had not turned, the Russell kept on after the French.  At this moment, Rodney in the centre, and Hood in the rear, favored by a change of wind, were breaking through the French line.  The Russell’s course carried her toward them, and consequently, in the melee which followed, she had the distinguished honor of engaging De Grasse’s flag-ship, and of being in action with her when she surrendered.  Indeed, although Saumarez with characteristic modesty refrained from pressing his claim, he always, when questioned on the subject, maintained that although the enemy’s vessel certainly struck to Hood’s flag-ship, she did so immediately upon the latter joining the Russell.

However regarded, this was a brilliant achievement for so young a captain, less than a twelvemonth having elapsed since he was but a lieutenant.  Rodney, who had meanwhile signalled his van to go about, was somewhat perplexed at finding a single ship thus opportunely in the direction whence the Russell appeared; and, upon being informed that she belonged to the van squadron, declared that her commander had distinguished himself above all others in the fleet.  It proved, in fact, the keen military sense of the demands of an occasion which constitutes the born corps or division commander.  This was Saumarez’s third general action, at a time when Nelson, although three years a post-captain, had commanded only frigates, and had never seen a battle between fleets.  But, if Saumarez used well the singular opportunities with which fortune favored him, it was characteristic of Nelson that his value transpired through the simplest intercourse and amid the most commonplace incidents of service.  Men felt, rather than realized, that under the slight, quaint, boyish exterior there lay the elements of a great man, who would one day fulfil his own boast of climbing to the top of the tree; and he had been made a full captain in 1779, when not quite twenty-one.  According to the rule of the British service, already mentioned, this assured for life his precedence over Saumarez, promoted in 1782.