on lost her main top-mast, and
dropped back; but the fight with the great ship was taken up, first by the
_Leviathan_ and afterwards by the _Audacious_, both seventy-fours, which,
supported by two others, fought her for three hours. By that time the
_Revolutionnaire_ had a mast carried away and great damage done to her
yards, and had lost four hundred men. When darkness fell she was a
complete wreck, and it was confidently expected that in the morning she
would fall into our hands. At break of day, however, the French admiral
sent down a ship which took her in tow, for her other mast had fallen
during the night, and succeeded in taking her in safety to Rochefort. The
_Audacious_ had suffered so severely in the unequal fight that she was
obliged to return to Plymouth to repair damages.

During the night the hostile fleets steered under press of canvas on a
parallel course, and when daylight broke were still as near together as on
the previous day, but the firing was of a desultory character, Lord Howe's
efforts to bring on a general engagement being thwarted by some of the
ships misunderstanding his signals. The next day was one of intense fog,
but on the 31st the weather cleared, and the fleets towards evening were
less than five miles apart. A general action might have been brought on,
but Lord Howe preferred to wait till daylight, when signals could more
easily be made out. Our admiral was surprised that none of the French
ships showed any damage from the action of the 29th. It was afterwards
found that they had since been joined by four fresh ships, and that the
vessels that had suffered most had been sent into Brest.

During the 31st various manoeuvres had been performed, which ended by
giving us the weather-gage; and the next morning, the 1st of June, Lord
Howe signalled that he intended to attack the enemy, and that each ship
was to steer for the one opposed to her in the line. The ships were
arranged so that each vessel should be opposite one of equal size. The
_Defence_ led the attack, and came under a heavy fire. The admiral's ship,
the _Queen Charlotte_, pressed forward, replying with her quarter-deck
guns only to the fire of some of the French ships which assailed her as
she advanced, keeping the fire of her main-deck guns for the French
admiral, whom he intended to attack. So close and compact, however, were
the French lines that it was no easy matter to pass through. As the _Queen
Charlotte_ came under the