was so evenly distributed among them that it is difficult to
justify his failure to follow up the injuries done to the French.

At this season the monsoon wind, which has come for four or five
months from southwest, changes to northeast, blowing upon the east
coast of the peninsula, where are no good harbors. The consequent
swell made the shore often unapproachable, and so forbade support from
fleet to army. The change of the monsoon is also frequently marked by
violent hurricanes. The two commanders, therefore, had to quit a
region where their stay might be dangerous as well as useless. Had
Trincomalee not been lost, Hughes, in the condition of his squadron,
might have awaited there the reinforcements and supplies expected soon
from England; for although the port is not healthy, it is secure and
well situated. Bickerton had already reached Bombay, and was on his
way now to Madras with five ships-of-the-line. As things were, Hughes
thought necessary to go to Bombay for the season, sailing or rather
being driven to sea by a hurricane, on the 17th of October. Four days
later Bickerton reached Madras, not having fallen in with the admiral.
With an activity which characterized him he sailed at once, and was
again in Bombay on the 28th of November. Hughes's ships, scattered and
crippled by tempest, dropped in one by one, a few days later.

Suffren held Trincomalee, yet his decision was not easy. The port was
safe, he had not to fear an attack by the English fleet; and on the
other hand, besides being sickly during the approaching monsoon, it
was doubtful whether the provisions needed for the health of the crews
could be had there. In short, though of strategic value from its
strength and position, the port was deficient in resources. Opposed to
Trincomalee there was an alternative in Achem, a harbor on the other
side of the Bay of Bengal, at the west end of the island of Sumatra.
This was healthy, could supply provisions, and, from its position with
reference to the northeast monsoon, would permit ships to regain the
Coromandel coast sooner than those in Bombay, when the milder ending
of the season made landing more practicable.

These simple considerations were not, however, the only elements in
the really difficult problem before Suffren. The small results that
followed this campaign must not hide the fact that great issues were
possible, and that much might depend upon his decision. Owing to the
French policy of sending