ll the sail set
their very shattered state would allow."[123]

To make signal for a general chase was beyond the competence of a
junior admiral; but Hood did what he could, by repeated signals to
individual ships of his own division to make more sail, by setting all
he could on the _Barfleur_, and by getting out his boats to tow
her head round. Sir Gilbert Blane unintentionally gives a similar
impression of laxity.

"After cutting the French line, the action during the rest of
the day was partial and desultory, the enemy never being able
to form, and several of the [our] ships being obliged to lie
by and repair their damages. As the signal for the line
was now hauled down, every ship annoyed the enemy as their
respective commanders judged best."[124]

For this indolent abandonment of the captains to their own devices,
the correctest remedy was, as Hood indicated, the order for a general
chase, supplemented by a watchful supervision, which should check the
over-rash and stimulate the over-cautious. If Hood's account of the
sail carried by Rodney be correct, the Commander-in-Chief did not
even set the best example. In this languid pursuit, the three crippled
French ships were overhauled, and of course had to strike; and a
fourth, the _Ardent_, 64, was taken, owing to her indifferent sailing.
Towards sunset the flagship _Ville de Paris_, 110,[125] the finest
ship of war afloat, having been valiantly defended against a host of
enemies throughout great part of the afternoon, and having expended
all her ammunition, hauled down her colours. The two British
vessels then immediately engaged with her were the _Russell_ and
the _Barfleur_, Hood's flagship, to the latter of which she formally
surrendered; the exact moment, noted in Hood's journal, being 6.29
P.M.

At 6.45 Rodney made the signal for the fleet to bring-to (form line
and stop) on the port tack, and he remained lying-to during the night,
while the French continued to retreat under the orders of the
Marquis de Vaudreuil, who by de Grasse's capture had become
commander-in-chief. For this easy-going deliberation also Hood had
strong words of condemnation.

"Why he should bring the fleet to because the _Ville de Paris_
was taken, I cannot reconcile. He did not pursue under easy
sail, so as never to have lost sight of the enemy in the
night, which would clearly and most undoubtedly have enabled
him to have taken almost