essels; but he
still was greatly inferior to opponent, by any rational mode of naval
reckoning.

Howe's energies in New York had not been confined to preparations
for resisting the entrance of the enemy, nor did they cease with the
latter's departure. When he first arrived there from Philadelphia, he
had hastened to get his ships ready for sea, a pre-occupation which
somewhat, but not unduly, delayed their taking their positions at
Sandy Hook. Two, for instance, had been at the watering-place when the
approach of the French was signalled. Owing to this diligence, no time
was lost by his fault when the new destination of the enemy was made
known to him, on the 28th or 29th of July, by the arrival of the
_Raisonnable_, 64,[30] from Halifax. This ship narrowly escaped the
French fleet, having passed it on the evening of the 27th, steering
for Rhode Island. The _Renown_, 50, which on the 26th had reached New
York from the West Indies, had a similar close shave, having sailed
unnoticed through the rear of the enemy the night before. Besides
these two, Howe was joined also by the _Centurion_, 50, from Halifax,
and by the _Cornwall_, 74; the latter, which crossed the bar on the
30th, being the first of Byron's fleet to reach New York. The three
others belonged to Howe's own squadron. For the two Halifax ships
which helped to make this most welcome reinforcement, the Admiral was
indebted to the diligence of the officer there commanding, who hurried
them away as soon as he learned of d'Estaing's appearance on the
coast. The opportuneness of their arrival attracted notice. "Had
they appeared a few days sooner," says a contemporary narrative,
"either they must have been prevented from forming a junction with
our squadron, and forced again to sea, or we should have had the
mortification to see them increase the triumph of our enemy."

On the 1st of August, forty-eight hours after the _Cornwall_ had come
in from a stormy passage of fifty-two days, the squadron was ready for
sea, and Howe attempted to sail; but the wind hauled foul immediately
after the signal to weigh had been made. It did not become fair at the
hour of high water, when alone heavy ships could cross the bar, until
the morning of the 6th. "Rhode Island was of such importance," says
the narrator already quoted, "_and the fate of so large a portion
of the British army as formed the garrison was of such infinite
consequence to the general cause_, that it was imagined