nces favoured, the line on which the ships thus formed was
one of the two close-hauled lines; "close-hauled" meaning to bring the
vessel's head as "near" the direction of the wind as possible, usually
to about 70 degrees. The advantage of the close-hauled line was that
the vessels were more manageable than when "off" the wind.]

[Footnote 51: Evidence of Captain John Laforey, of the _Ocean_.]

[Footnote 52: "I do not recollect how many points I went from the
wind; I must have bore down a pretty large course." Testimony of
Captain J. Laforey, of the _Ocean_, on this point.]

[Footnote 53: "During the night (of the 27th) Admiral Keppel kept away
(_fit route_) for Portsmouth." Chevalier, "Marine Francaise," p. 90.
Paris, 1877. Oddly enough, he adds that "on the evening of the 28th
the French squadron, _carried eastward by the currents_, sighted
Ushant."]

CHAPTER VI

OPERATIONS IN THE WEST INDIES, 1778-1779. THE BRITISH INVASION OF
GEORGIA AND SOUTH CAROLINA

Conditions of season exerted great influence upon the time and place
of hostilities during the maritime war of 1778; the opening scenes
of which, in Europe and in North America, have just been narrated.
In European seas it was realised that naval enterprises by fleets,
requiring evolutions by masses of large vessels, were possible only
in summer. Winter gales scattered ships, impeded manoeuvres, and
made gun-fire ineffective. The same consideration prevailed to limit
activity in North American waters to the summer; and complementary
to this was the fact that in the West Indies hurricanes of excessive
violence occurred from July to October. The practice therefore was
to transfer effort from one quarter to the other in the Western
Hemisphere, according to the season.

In the recent treaty with the United States, the King of France had
formally renounced all claim to acquire for himself any part of the
American continent then in possession of Great Britain. On the other
hand, he had reserved the express right to conquer any of her islands
south of Bermuda. The West Indies were then the richest commercial
region on the globe in the value of their products; and France wished
not only to increase her already large possessions there, but also to
establish more solidly her political and military tenure.

[Illustration]

In September, 1778, the British Island of Dominica was seized by an
expedition from the adjacent French colony of Martinique. The affair
w