tack; between three and four, not having
succeeded in this, he made signal to form on the starboard tack. The
two signals and the general tenor of the accounts show that at no time
were the French re-formed after their line was broken; and all the
manoeuvres tended toward, even if they did not necessitate, taking the
whole fleet as far down as the most leewardly of its parts (D). In
such a movement, it followed of course that the most crippled ships
were left behind, and these were picked up, one by one, by the
English, who pursued without any regular order, for which there was
no need, as mutual support was assured without it. Shortly after six
P.M. De Grasse's flag-ship, the "Ville de Paris," struck her colors to
the "Barfleur," carrying the flag of Sir Samuel Hood. The French
accounts state that nine of the enemy's ships then surrounded her, and
there is no doubt that she had been fought to the bitter end. Her
name, commemorating the great city whose gift she had been to the
king, her unusual size, and the fact that no French naval
commander-in-chief had before been taken prisoner in battle, conspired
to bestow a peculiar brilliancy upon Rodney's victory. Four other
ships-of-the-line were taken,[210] and, singularly enough, upon these
particular ships was found the whole train of artillery intended for
the reduction of Jamaica.

Such were the leading features of the Battle of the Saints, or, as it
is sometimes styled, of the 12th of April, known to the French as the
Battle of Dominica. Certain points which have so far been omitted for
the sake of clearness, but which affect the issue, must now be given.
When the day opened, the French fleet was greatly scattered and
without order.[211] De Grasse, under the influence of his fears for
the "Zele," so precipitated his movements that his line was not
properly formed at the moment of engaging. The van ships had not yet
come into position (B, a), and the remainder were so far from having
reached their places that De Vaudreuil, commanding the rear division
and last engaged, states that the line was formed under the fire of
musketry. The English, on the contrary, were in good order, the only
change made being to shorten the interval between ships from two to
one cable's length (seven hundred feet). The celebrated stroke of
breaking through the French line was due, not to previous intention,
but to a shift of wind throwing their ships out of order and so
increasing the space