force might be
encountered as Narragansett Bay was approached, and that he should
not risk crippling his squadron for such a contingency. The charge
of six thousand troops, under the then conditions, was no light
responsibility, and at the least must silence off-hand criticism now.
Comment upon his action does not belong to British naval history,
to which the firmness and seamanship of Captain Cornwallis added a
lasting glory. It may be noted that fifteen years later, in the French
Revolution, the same officer, then a Vice-Admiral, again distinguished
himself by his bearing in face of great odds, bringing five ships safe
off, out of the jaws of a dozen. It illustrates how luck seems in many
cases to characterise a man's personality, much as temperament does.
Cornwallis, familiarly known as "Billy Blue" to the seamen of his day,
never won a victory, nor had a chance of winning one; but in command
both of ships and of divisions, he repeatedly distinguished himself by
successfully facing odds which he could not overcome.

The year 1780 was uneventful also in European waters, after Rodney's
relief of Gibraltar in January. The detachment of the Channel Fleet
which accompanied him on that mission returned safely to England. The
"Grand Fleet," as it still was styled occasionally, cruised at sea
from June 8th to August 18th, an imposing force of thirty-one ships of
the line, eleven of them three-deckers of 90 guns and upwards. Admiral
Francis Geary was then Commander-in-Chief, but, his health failing,
and Barrington refusing to take the position, through professed
distrust of himself and actual distrust of the Admiralty, Vice-Admiral
George Darby succeeded to it, and held it during the year 1781.

The most notable maritime event in 1780 in Europe was the capture on
August 9th of a large British convoy, two or three hundred miles
west of Cape St. Vincent, by the allied fleets from Cadiz. As out of
sixty-three sail only eight escaped, and as of those taken sixteen
were carrying troops and supplies necessary for the West India
garrisons, such a disaster claims mention among the greater operations
of war, the success of which it could not fail to influence. Captain
John Moutray, the officer commanding the convoy, was brought to trial
and dismissed his ship; but there were not wanting those who charged
the misadventure to the Admiralty, and saw in the captain a victim. It
was the greatest single blow that British commerce had recei