r came to Commodore King to
ask him what he should do with the ship, as two of the enemy were
again bearing down upon her. He laconically answered, 'there is
nothing to be done but to fight her till she sinks.'"[187] She was
saved.

Suffren, on the contrary, was by this time incensed beyond endurance
by the misbehavior of his captains. Cillart was sent home; but besides
him two others, both of them men of influential connections, and one a
relative of Suffren himself, were dispossessed of their commands.
However necessary and proper this step, few but Suffren would have had
the resolution to take it; for, so far as he then knew, he was only a
captain in rank, and it was not permitted even to admirals to deal
thus with their juniors. "You may perhaps be angry, Monseigneur," he
wrote, "that I have not used rigor sooner; but I beg you to remember
that the regulations do not give this power even to a general officer,
which I am not."

It is immediately after the action of the 6th of July that Suffren's
superior energy and military capacity begin markedly to influence the
issue between himself and Hughes. The tussle had been severe; but
military qualities began to tell, as they surely must. The losses of
the two squadrons in men, in the last action, had been as one to three
in favor of the English; on the other hand, the latter had apparently
suffered more in sails and spars,--in motive power. Both fleets
anchored in the evening, the English off Negapatam, the French to
leeward, off Cuddalore. On the 18th of July Suffren was again ready for
sea; whereas on the same day Hughes had but just decided to go to
Madras to finish his repairs. Suffren was further delayed by the
political necessity of an official visit to Hyder Ali, after which he
sailed to Batacalo, arriving there on the 9th of August, to await
reinforcements and supplies from France. On the 21st, these joined him;
and two days later he sailed, now with fourteen ships-of-the-line, for
Trincomalee, anchoring off the town on the 25th. The following night
the troops were landed, batteries thrown up, and the attack pressed
with vigor. On the 30th and 31st the two forts which made the defensive
strength of the place surrendered, and this all-important port passed
into the hands of the French. Convinced that Hughes would soon appear,
Suffren granted readily all the honors of war demanded by the governor
of the place, contenting himself with the substantial gain. Two days