kept afloat.

An incident of this battle mentioned by French writers and by
Botta,[143] who probably drew upon French authorities, but not found
in the English accounts, shows the critical nature of the attack in
the apprehension of the French. According to them, Rodney, marking a
gap in their order due to a ship in rear of the French admiral being
out of station, tried to break through (b); but the captain of the
"Destin," seventy-four, pressed up under more sail and threw himself
across the path of the English ninety-gun ship.

"The action of the 'Destin' was justly praised," says
Lapeyrouse-Bonfils. "The fleet ran the danger of almost certain
defeat, but for the bravery of M. de Goimpy. Such, after the
affair, was the opinion of the whole French squadron. Yet,
admitting that our line was broken, what disasters then would
necessarily threaten the fleet? Would it not always have been
easy for our rear to remedy the accident by promptly standing on
to fill the place of the vessels cut off? That movement would
necessarily have brought about a _melee_, which would have
turned to the advantage of the fleet having the bravest and most
devoted captains. But then, as under the empire, it was an
acknowledged principle that ships cut off were ships taken, and
the belief wrought its own fulfilment."

The effect of breaking an enemy's line, or order-of-battle, depends
upon several conditions. The essential idea is to divide the opposing
force by penetrating through an interval found, or made, in it, and
then to concentrate upon that one of the fractions which can be least
easily helped by the other. In a column of ships this will usually be
the rear. The compactness of the order attacked, the number of the
ships cut off, the length of time during which they can be isolated
and outnumbered, will all affect the results. A very great factor in
the issue will be the moral effect, the confusion introduced into a
line thus broken. Ships coming up toward the break are stopped, the
rear doubles up, while the ships ahead continue their course. Such a
moment is critical, and calls for instant action; but the men are rare
who in an unforeseen emergency can see, and at once take the right
course, especially if, being subordinates, they incur responsibility.
In such a scene of confusion the English, without presumption, hoped
to profit by their better seamanship; for it is not only "coura