usand troops; and there were with him besides about a
thousand seamen, belonging to some half-dozen small vessels, which
were shut up in the York by the arrival from Haiti of the French fleet
under de Grasse, which on August 30th, 1781, had anchored in Lynnhaven
Bay, inside of Cape Henry.

On July 2d Arbuthnot had sailed for England, leaving the command at
New York to Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves. Graves on the same day wrote
to Rodney by the brig _Active_, that intercepted dispatches of the
enemy had revealed that a large division from the West Indies was to
arrive on the American coast during the summer, to cooeperate with the
force already in Newport. Rodney, on the other hand, dispatched to New
York on July 7th the _Swallow_ sloop, 16, with word that, if he sent
reinforcements from the West Indies, they would be ordered to make the
Capes of the Chesapeake, and to coast thence to New York. He asked,
therefore, that cruisers with information might be stationed along
that route. Two days later, having then certain news that de Grasse
had sailed for Cap Francois, he sent this intelligence to Sir Peter
Parker at Jamaica, and gave Sir Samuel Hood preparatory orders to
command a reinforcement of ships destined for the continent. This,
however, was limited in numbers to fifteen sail of the line, Rodney
being misled by his intelligence, which gave fourteen ships as the
size of the French division having the same destination, and reported
that de Grasse himself would convoy the trade from Cap Francois to
France. On the 24th instructions were issued for Hood to proceed on
this duty. He was first to convoy the trade from Jamaica as far as the
passage between Cuba and Haiti, and thence to make the utmost speed
to the Chesapeake. A false rumour, of French ships reaching Martinique
from Europe, slightly delayed this movement. The convoy was dispatched
to Jamaica with two ships of the line, which Sir Peter Parker was
directed to send at once to America, and requested to reinforce with
others from his own squadron. Hood was detained until the rumour could
be verified. On the 1st of August Rodney sailed for England on leave
of absence. On the 10th Hood left Antigua with fourteen ships of the
line, direct for the Capes. He had already received, on August 3d,
Graves's letter by the _Active_, which he sent back on the 8th with
his answers and with a notification of his speedy departure.

The _Swallow_ and the _Active_ should have reached