as will be shown; but to
understand the justification for a movement confessedly hazardous, it
must be pointed out that he thus would place himself between the
besiegers of Brimstone Hill and their fleet; or if the latter anchored
near the hill, the English fleet would be between it and its base in
Martinique, ready to intercept supplies or detachments approaching
from the southward. In short, the position in which Hood hoped to
establish himself was on the flank of the enemy's communications, a
position the more advantageous because the island alone could not long
support the large body of troops so suddenly thrown upon it.
Moreover, both fleets were expecting reinforcements; Rodney was on his
way and might arrive first, which he did, and in time to save St.
Kitt's, which he did not. It was also but four months since Yorktown;
the affairs of England were going badly; something must be done,
something left to chance, and Hood knew himself and his officers. It
may be added that he knew his opponent.

At noon, when the hillsides of Nevis were covered with expectant and
interested sightseers, the English fleet rapidly formed its line on
the starboard tack and headed north for Basse Terre (Plate XIX., A,
A'). The French, at the moment, were in column steering south, but
went about at once and stood for the enemy in a bow-and-quarter
line[195] (A, A). At two the British had got far enough for Hood to
make signal to anchor. At twenty minutes past two the van of the
French came within gunshot of the English centre (B, B, B), and
shortly afterward the firing began, the assailants very properly
directing their main effort upon the English rear ships, which, as
happens with most long columns, had opened out, a tendency increased
in this case by the slowness of the fourth ship from the rear, the
"Prudent." The French flag-ship, "Ville de Paris," of one hundred and
twenty guns, bearing De Grasse's flag, pushed for the gap thus made,
but was foiled by the "Canada," seventy-four, whose captain,
Cornwallis, the brother of Lord Cornwallis, threw all his sails aback,
and dropped down in front of the huge enemy to the support of the
rear,--an example nobly followed by the "Resolution" and the "Bedford"
immediately ahead of him (a). The scene was now varied and animated in
the extreme. The English van, which had escaped attack, was rapidly
anchoring (b) in its appointed position. The commander-in-chief in the
centre, proudly reliant upon