Their line had never
been perfect, extending quite a league; a few of the leading vessels, or
those near the commander-in-chief, sustaining each other as well as
could be desired, while long intervals existed between the ships astern.
Among the latter, too, as has been stated, some were much farther to
windward than the others; an irregularity that proceeded from a desire
of the Comte to luff up as near as possible to the enemy--a desire,
which, practised on, necessarily threw the least weatherly vessels to
leeward. Thus the two ships in the extreme rear, as has been hinted at
already, being jammed up unusually hard upon the wind, had weathered
materially on their consorts, while their way through the water had been
proportionably less. It was these combined circumstances which brought
them so far astern and to windward.

At the time Sir Gervaise pointed out their positions to Greenly, the two
vessels just mentioned were quite half a mile to the westward of their
nearest consort, and more than that distance to the southward. When it
is remembered that the wind was nearly due west, and that all the French
vessels, these two excepted, were steering north, the relative positions
of the latter will be understood. Le Foudroyant, too, had kept away,
after the loss of her top-masts, until fairly in the wake of the ships
ahead of her, in her own line, and, as the vessels had been running off
with the wind abeam, for several minutes, this man[oe]uvre threw the
French still farther to leeward. To make the matter worse, just as the
Warspite drew out of the range of shot from the French, M. de Vervillin
showed a signal at the end of his gaff, for his whole fleet to ware in
succession; an order, which, while it certainly had a gallant semblance,
as it was bringing his vessels round on the same tack as his enemy, and
looked like a defiance, was singularly adapted to restoring to the
latter all the advantage of the wind they had lost by keeping away. As
it was necessary to take room to execute this evolution, in order to
clear the ships that were now crowded in the van, when le Temeraire came
to the wind again on the starboard tack, she was fully half a mile to
leeward of the admiral, who had just put his helm up. As a matter of
course, in order to form anew, with the heads of the ships to the
southward, each vessel had to get into her leader's wake, which would be
virtually throwing the whole French line, again, two miles to leeward o