, made signal thirty minutes
later to attack (Plate XVII., A), following it with another for close
action at pistol range. This being slowly and clumsily obeyed, he
ordered a gun fired, as is customary at sea to emphasize a signal;
unluckily this was understood by his own crew to be the opening of the
action, and the flag-ship discharged all her battery. This example was
followed by the other ships, though yet at the distance of half
cannon-shot, which, under the gunnery conditions of that day, meant
indecisive action. Thus at the end and as the result of a mortifying
series of blunders and bad seamanship, the battle began greatly to the
disadvantage of the French, despite their superior numbers. The
English, who had been retreating under short and handy sail, were in
good order and quietly ready; whereas their enemies were in no order
(B). Seven ships had forereached in rounding to,[189] and now formed
an irregular group ahead of the English van, as well as far from it,
where they were of little service; while in the centre a second
confused group was formed, the ships overlapping and masking each
other's fire. Under the circumstances the entire brunt of the action
fell upon Suffren's flag-ship (a) and two others which supported him;
while at the extreme rear a small ship-of-the-line, backed by a large
frigate, alone engaged the English rear; but these, being wholly
overmatched, were soon forced to retire.

[Illustration: Pl. XVII. SUFFREN AND HUGHES SEPT. 3, 1782.]

A military operation could scarcely be worse carried out. The French
ships in the battle did not support each other; they were so grouped
as to hamper their own fire and needlessly increase the target offered
to the enemy; so far from concentrating their own effort, three ships
were left, almost unsupported, to a concentrated fire from the English
line.[190] "Time passed on, and our three ships [B, a], engaged on the
beam by the centre of the English fleet and raked [enfiladed] by van
and rear, suffered greatly. After two hours the 'Heros'' sails were in
rags, all her running rigging cut, and she could no longer steer. The
'Illustre' had lost her mizzen-mast and maintopmast." In this disorder
such gaps existed as to offer a great opportunity to a more active
opponent. "Had the enemy tacked now," wrote the chief-of-staff in his
journal, "we would have been cut off and probably destroyed." The
faults of an action in which every proper distribution was wa