t. Vincent and Grenada, thus exposing Barbados, which
had not recovered sufficiently from the hurricane to stand alone. He
therefore put into Barbados. De Grasse went to Martinique to prepare
the expedition to the American continent, which resulted in the
surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. On the 5th of July he sailed from
Fort Royal taking with him the "trade" for France, and on the 26th
anchored with it at Cap Francois in Haiti, where he found a division
of four ships of the line which had been left the year before by de
Guichen. There also was a frigate, which had left Boston on the 20th
of June, and by which De Grasse received dispatches from Washington,
and from Rochambeau, the general commanding the French troops in
America. These acquainted him with the state of affairs on the
continent, and requested that the fleet should come to either the
Chesapeake or New York, to strike a decisive blow at the British power
in one quarter or the other.

[Footnote 91: This latter is applied to vessels, usually ships of war,
which are used as transports or supply ships, and therefore carry only
a part of their normal battery.]

[Footnote 92: Rodney said that Hood "lay-to" for the night. This is
antecedently incredible of an officer of Hood's character, and is
expressly contradicted by Captain Sutherland of the _Russell_. "At 6
P.M. (of the 28th) our fleet tacked to the north, and _kept moving_
across the bay (Fort Royal) for the right (_sic_), in line of battle."
Ekins, "Naval Battles," p. 136. The word "right" is evidently a
misprint for "night." Rodney's criticisms seem to the author captious
throughout.]

[Footnote 93: One French ship had left the fleet, disabled.]

CHAPTER X

NAVAL OPERATIONS PRECEDING AND DETERMINING THE FALL OF YORKTOWN.
CORNWALLIS SURRENDERS

1781

Having now brought the major naval transactions in the West Indies
to the eve of the great events which determined the independence of
the American States, it is expedient here to resume the thread of
operations, both sea and land, on the American continent, so as to
bring these also up to the same decisive moment, when the military
and naval blended and in mutual support forced the surrender of the
British army at Yorktown under Lord Cornwallis.

It has been said that, to support the operations of Cornwallis in the
Carolinas, Clinton had begun a series of diversions in the valley
of the James River.[94] The first detachment so sent, under