masts followed
it overboard, and her tiller also was broken, rendering the rudder
unserviceable. The _Marseillais_, 74, lost her foremast and bowsprit.
In the dispersal of the two fleets that followed the gale, each of
these crippled vessels, on the evening of the 13th, encountered singly
a British 50-gun ship; the _Languedoc_ being attacked by the _Renown_,
and the _Marseillais_ by the _Preston_. The conditions in each
instance were distinctly favourable to the smaller combatant; but both
unfortunately withdrew at nightfall, making the mistake of postponing
to to-morrow a chance which they had no certainty would exist after
to-day. When morning dawned, other French ships appeared, and the
opportunity passed away. The British _Isis_, 50, also was chased and
overtaken by the _Cesar_, 74. In the action which ensued, the French
ship's wheel was shot away, and she retired;--two other British
vessels, one of the line, being in sight. The latter are not mentioned
in the British accounts, and both sides claimed the advantage in this
drawn action. The French captain lost an arm.

After making temporary repairs, at the anchorage where Howe saw them
on the 15th of August, the French fleet had proceeded again towards
Newport. It was in the course of this passage that they were seen by
Byron's flagship[35] on the 18th, to the southward of Long Island. The
_Experiment_, 50, which Howe had sent to reconnoitre Narragansett Bay,
was chased by them into Long Island Sound, and only reached New York
by the East River; being the first ship of the line or 50-gun ship
that ever passed through Hell Gate. On the 20th d'Estaing communicated
with General Sullivan, the commander of the American land forces on
Rhode Island; but it was only to tell him that in his own opinion,
and in that of a council of war, the condition of the squadron
necessitated going to Boston to refit. Whatever may be thought of the
propriety of this decision, its seriousness can be best understood
from the report sent by Pigot to Howe. "The rebels had advanced their
batteries within fifteen hundred yards of the British works. He was
under no apprehensions from any of their attempts in front; but,
should the French fleet come in, it would make an alarming change.
Troops might be landed and advanced in his rear; and in that case
he could not answer for the consequences." Disregarding Sullivan's
entreaties that he would remain, d'Estaing sailed next day for Boston,
which he