Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/79

Rh malcontent captains, that it appeared to the English as if their enemy was about, after all, to decline an engagement. At length, however, their intentions became clear. Their line, though badly formed — the ships being at unequal distances from each other, here crowded, there separated by a long interval — approached till within cannonshot.

Suffren, dissatisfied with the unequal formation his ships had taken up, signalled then to his captains to reserve their fire till they should be at close quarters with the enemy. He endeavoured to enforce this order by firing a gun. The signal was misunderstood to signify the immediate opening of fire. The fire accordingly opened simultaneously along the whole line of the fleet. The compliment was quickly returned, and in a few minutes the action became general.

Leaving for a moment the van and rear guards of both fleets, we will turn our attention to the centre, in which the rival commanders were opposed to each other. The French centre was composed of the Héros, the Illustre, the Sphinx, the Flamand, and the Petit Annibal. Of these five the Sphinx and the Petit Annibal had, by bad seamanship or ill-will on the part of their captains, mixed themselves with the vanguard, the Flamand had tacked herself on the rearguard, whilst, on the other hand, the Ajax, of the rearguard, had joined the centre. It was then, with only three vessels, the Héros, the Illustre, and the Ajax, that Suffren came to close quarters with the English admiral.