A generation or two later Hawke’s conduct in this matter would have drawn little attention; it would not have been exceptional in the days of St. Vincent and Nelson, nor even in that of Howe.  At the time of its occurrence, it was not only in sharp contrast with much that happened on the same field of battle, but it was somewhat contrary to rule.  It possessed so far the merit of originality; and that on the right side,—­the side of fighting.  As in all active life, so in war a man is more readily pardoned for effecting too much than too little; and it was doubly so here, because it was evident from the behavior of his peers that he must expect no backing in the extra work he took upon himself.  Their aloofness emphasized his forwardness; and the fact that through the withdrawal of his admiral for the night, the prize was ultimately retaken, together with an officer and seamen he had placed on board, fixed still further attention upon the incident, in which Hawke’s action was the one wholly creditable feature.

The effect of the battle upon his fortunes was summed up in a phrase.  When his first lieutenant was sent to report the loss of the prize-crew to Rear-Admiral Rowley, the commander of the division, the latter replied, among other things, that “he had not been well acquainted with Captain Hawke before, but he should now be well acquainted with him from his behavior.”  Like Nelson at St. Vincent, Hawke was now revealed, not to the navy only but to the nation,—­“through his behavior.”  Somewhat exceptionally, the king personally took knowledge of him, and stood by him.  George II. paid most interested attention to the particulars elicited by the Courts-Martial,—­a fact which doubtless contributed to make him so sternly unyielding in the case of Byng, twelve years later.  To the king Hawke became “my captain;” and his influence was directly used when, in a flag promotion in 1747, some in the Admiralty proposed to include Hawke in the retirement of senior captains, which was a common incident in such cases.  “I will not have Hawke ‘yellowed,’” was the royal fiat; a yellow admiral being the current phrase for one set aside from further active employment.

Such were the circumstances under which Hawke first received experience of the fighting conditions of the navy.  Whatever his previous attitude towards accepted traditions of professional practice, this no doubt loosened the fetters; for they certainly never constrained him in his subsequent career.  He remained in the Mediterranean fleet, generally upon detached services in command of divisions of ships, until the end of 1745.  Returning then to England, he saw no further active service until he became a Rear-Admiral—­of the White—­on July 15, 1747.

The promotions being numerous, Hawke’s seniority as captain carried him well up the list of rear-admirals, and he was immediately employed; hoisting his flag July 22d.  He then became second to Sir Peter Warren, commander-in-chief of the “Western Squadron.”  This cruised in the Bay of Biscay, from Ushant to Finisterre, to intercept the naval divisions, and the accompanying convoys of merchant and transport ships, with which the French were then seeking to maintain their colonial empire in North America and in India:  an empire already sorely shaken, and destined to fall finally in the next great war.