ne himself,
with a possibility of reinforcements from Chatham, the concentration off
the Thames of the whole of the forces available would have enabled him
to encounter Tourville on something like equal terms; and from that,
assuredly, he would not have shrunk. Meanwhile he would wait, watch,
observe, and pursue a defensive strategy. If Tourville should withdraw
to the westward he would follow him and get past him if he could, and in
that case, having picked up Killigrew and Shovel, he would be in a
position to take the offensive on no very unequal terms and not to part
from Tourville without a battle.

But the strategy of Torrington--admirable and unimpeachable as,
according to such high authorities as Admiral Bridge and the late
Admiral Colomb, it was--did not at all commend itself to Mary and her
Council, who, during William's absence in Ireland, were left in charge
of the kingdom. They wanted a battle, although Torrington had plainly
told them that it could not be a victory and might result in a
disastrous and even fatal defeat. "We apprehend," they said in a
dispatch purporting to come from Mary herself, "the consequences of your
retiring to the Gunfleet to be so fatal, that we choose rather you
should, upon any advantage of the wind, give battle to the enemy than
retreat further than is necessary to get an advantage upon the enemy."
Torrington, of course, never intended to retire to the Gunfleet--which
was an anchorage protected by sandbanks off the coast of Essex to the
north of the Thames--if he could avoid doing so. But unless he went
there, there was no advantage to be got upon the enemy by retreating to
the eastward, because there alone could he get reinforcements from
Chatham and possibly be joined by Killigrew and Shovel "over the flats";
which is what he meant by saying that the Gunfleet was "the only place
we can with any manner of probability make our account with them in the
position we are in." On the other hand, if the French gave him an
opportunity he would, if he could, get past them to the westward and
there join Killigrew and Shovel in a position of much greater
advantage. But in his actual situation, not being one of "those
hot-brained people who fight at immense disadvantage without an adequate
object," he knew that a battle was the last thing which he ought to risk
and the first that the French must desire. However, as a loyal seaman,
who knew how to obey orders, he did as he was told. The Fren