ar astern.

[Illustration: Pl. XIII. PORTO PRAYA. APRIL 16, 1781.]

The English commodore got ready for battle as soon as he made out the
enemy, but had no time to rectify his order. Suffren anchored five
hundred feet from the flag-ship's starboard beam (by a singular
coincidence the English flag-ship was also called "Hero"), thus having
enemy's ships on both sides, and opened fire. The "Hannibal" anchored
ahead of her commodore (b), and so close that the latter had to veer
cable and drop astern (a); but her captain, ignorant of Suffren's
intention to disregard the neutrality of the port, had not obeyed the
order to clear for action, and was wholly unprepared,--his decks
lumbered with water-casks which had been got up to expedite watering,
and the guns not cast loose. He did not add to this fault by any
hesitation, but followed the flag-ship boldly, receiving passively the
fire, to which for a time he was unable to reply. Luffing to the wind,
he passed to windward of his chief, chose his position with skill, and
atoned by his death for his first fault. These two ships were so
placed as to use both broadsides. The "Artesien," in the smoke,
mistook an East India ship for a man-of-war. Running alongside (c'),
her captain was struck dead at the moment he was about to anchor, and
the critical moment being lost by the absence of a head, the ship
drifted out of close action, carrying the East-Indiaman along with her
(c''). The remaining two vessels, coming up late, failed to keep close
enough to the wind, and they too were thrown out of action (d, e).
Then Suffren, finding himself with only two ships to bear the brunt of
the fight, cut his cable and made sail. The "Hannibal" followed his
movement; but so much injured was she that her fore and main masts
went over the side,--fortunately not till she was pointed out from the
bay, which she left shorn to a hulk.

Putting entirely aside questions of international law, the wisdom and
conduct of Suffren's attack, from the military point of view, invite
attention. To judge them properly, we must consider what was the
object of the mission with which he was charged, and what were the
chief factors in thwarting or forwarding it. His first object was to
protect the Cape of Good Hope against an English expedition; the
chief reliance for effecting his purpose was to get there first; the
obstacle to his success was the English fleet. To anticipate the
arrival of the latter, two cours