e same terms on the 20th.

On the 14th of January, an express sent by General Shirley, governor
of St. Kitts, had informed Hood at Barbados that a great fleet
approaching had been seen from the heights of Nevis on the 10th. Hood
at once put to sea, though short of bread and flour, which could not
be had, and with the material of his ships in wretched condition.
"When the _President_[107] joins," he wrote the Admiralty, "I shall be
twenty-two strong, with which I beg you will assure their Lordships
I will seek and give battle to the Count de Grasse, be his numbers
as they may." On the way a ship reached him with word that the French
fleet had invested St. Kitts. On the 21st he anchored at Antigua
for repairs and supplies, indispensable for keeping the sea in the
operations which he contemplated, the duration of which could not be
foreseen. About a thousand troops also were embarked, which, with the
marines that could be spared from the squadron, would give a landing
force of twenty-four hundred men.

St. Kitts being less than fifty miles from Antigua, Hood doubtless now
got accurate information of the enemy's dispositions, and could form
a definite, well-matured plan. This seems to have been carefully
imparted to all his captains, as was the practice of Nelson, who was
the pupil of Hood, if of any one. "At 9.15 A.M. the Admiral made the
signal for all flag-officers," says the log of the _Canada_; "and at
4 P.M. the Admirals and Commodore made the signals for all captains
of their divisions." At 5 P.M. of the same day, January 23d, the fleet
weighed and stood over for Nevis, round the southern point of which
Basse Terre must be approached; for, the channel between Nevis and St.
Kitts being impracticable for ships of the line, the two islands were
virtually one, and, their common axis lying north-west and south-east,
the trade-wind is fair only when coming from the south.

Basse Terre, where de Grasse then was, is about fifteen miles from the
south point of Nevis. The roadstead lies east and west, and the French
fleet, then twenty-four of the line and two fifties, were anchored
without attention to order, three or four deep; the eastern ships so
placed that an enemy coming from the southward could reach them with
the prevailing trade-wind, against which the western ships could not
beat up quickly to their support. This being so, we are told that
Hood, starting shortly before sunset with a fair, and probably fresh
wind,