ona Channel on the 18th, only the day
before I was in it."[131] A further proof of the utility of pursuit,
here hinted at, is to be found in the fact that Rodney, starting six
days later than de Vaudreuil, reached Jamaica, April 28th, only three
days after the French got into Cap Francois. He had therefore gained
three days in a fortnight's run. What might not have been done by an
untiring chase! But a remark recorded by Hood summed up the frame of
mind which dominated Rodney: "I lamented to Sir George on the 13th
that the signal for a general chase was not made when that for the
line was hauled down and that he did not continue to pursue so as to
keep sight of the enemy all night, to which he only answered, 'Come,
we have done very handsomely as it is.'"[132]

Rodney stayed at Jamaica until the 10th of July, when Admiral
Hugh Pigot arrived from England to supersede him. This change was
consequent upon the fall of Lord North's ministry, in March, 1782, and
had been decided before the news of the victory could reach England.
Admiral Keppel now became the head of the Admiralty. Rodney sailed for
home from Port Royal on the 22d of July; and with his departure the
war in the West Indies and North America may be said to have ended.
Pigot started almost immediately for New York, and remained in
North American waters until the end of October, when he returned to
Barbados, first having detached Hood with thirteen ships of the line
from the main fleet, to cruise off Cap Francois. It is of interest to
note that at this time Hood took with him from New York the frigate
_Albemarle_, 28, then commanded by Nelson, who had been serving on the
North American station. These various movements were dictated by those
of the enemy, either actually made or supposed to be in contemplation;
for it was an inevitable part of the ill-effects of Rodney's most
imperfect success, that the British fleet was thenceforth on the
defensive purely, with all the perplexities of him who waits upon the
initiative of an opponent. Nothing came of them all, however, for
the war now was but lingering in its death stupor. The defeat of de
Grasse, partial though it was; the abandonment of the enterprise upon
Jamaica; the failure of the attack upon Gibraltar; and the success of
Howe in re-victualling that fortress,--these had taken all heart out
of the French and Spaniards; while the numerical superiority of the
allies, inefficiently though it had been used heretof