er vessels which bore the flags of Nelson and
Collingwood at Trafalgar. The loss of the three French was 52 killed
and 142 wounded; but to this should be added properly that of the
_Sphinx_, 64, the _Monmouth's_ first adversary: 22 killed and 74
wounded. At 3.40 P.M., fearing that if he continued steering west he
would get entangled with the shore, Hughes wore his ships, forming
line on the port tack, heading off shore. The French also wore, and
Suffren hoped to secure the _Monmouth_, which was left between the two
lines; but the quickness of a British captain, Hawker, of the _Hero_,
ran a tow-rope to her in time, and she was thus dragged out of danger.
At 5.40 Hughes anchored, and Suffren did the same at 8 P.M. The total
British loss in men on this occasion was 137 killed and 430 wounded;
that of the French 137 killed, and 357 wounded.

[Illustration]

The exhausted enemies remained at anchor in the open sea, two miles
apart, for a week, repairing. On the 19th of April the French got
under way and made a demonstration before the British, inviting
battle, yet not attacking; but the condition of the _Monmouth_ forbade
Hughes from moving. Suffren therefore departed to Batacalo, in Ceylon,
south of Trincomalee, where he covered his own convoys from Europe,
and flanked the approach of his adversary's. Hughes, on the 22d of
April, got into Trincomalee, where he remained till June 23d. He then
went to Negapatam, formerly a Dutch possession, but then held by the
British. There he learned that Suffren, who meanwhile had captured
several British transports, was a few miles north of him, at
Cuddalore, which had surrendered to Hyder Ali on April 4th. On the 5th
of July, at 1 P.M., the French squadron appeared. At 3 P.M. Hughes
put to sea, and stood south during the night to gain the wind,--the
south-west monsoon now blowing.

Next morning, at daylight, the French were seen at anchor, seven or
eight miles to leeward. At 6 A.M. they began to get under way. One of
their sixty-fours, the _Ajax_, had lost her main and mizzen topmasts
in a violent squall on the previous afternoon, and was not in the
line. There were therefore eleven ships on each side. The action,
known as that of Negapatam, began shortly before 11, when both fleets
were on the starboard tack, heading south-south-east, wind south-west.
The British being to windward, Hughes ordered his fleet to bear up
together to the attack, exactly as Suffren had done on the 12th of