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36  him; and they all wore round, doubled upon the enemy, and thus placed between two fires those vessels, which by the first part of the manoeuvre they had cut off from the rest of the fleet. As soon as Admiral Rodney and the vessels which followed him wore, he made the signal for the van to tack, by which means they gained the windward of the French, and completed the disorder and confusion, into which the breaking of their line had thrown them.

The enemy, however, still continued to fight with great courage and firmness; and made an attempt to reform their broken line, by their van bearing away to leeward; this, however, they could not accomplish; during the whole of this time, Sir Samuel Hood’s division had been becalmed, and of course unable to take any part in the action; but at this critical moment a breeze sprung up, which brought forward most of his ships, and thus “served to render the victory more decisive on the one side, and the ruin greater on the other.”

One consequence of the breaking of the French line was, that opportunities were given for desperate actions between single ships; the most splendid and striking of which were the following, told in language, which it would be wrong to alter, because it would be scarcely possible to improve.

“The Canada, of 74 guns, Captain Cornwallis, took the French Hector, of the same force, single-hand. Captain Inglefield, in the Centaur of 74 guns, came up from the rear to the attack of the Caesar, of 74 also. Both ships were yet fresh and unhurt, and a most gallant action took place; but though the French Captain had evidently much the worst of the combat, he still disdained to yield. Three other ships came up successively, and he bore to be torn almost to pieces by their fire. His courage was inflexible; he is said to have nailed his colours to the mast; and his death could only put an end to the contest. When she struck, her mast went overboard, and she had not a foot of canvas without a shot hole. The Glorieux likewise fought nobly, and did not strike till her masts, bowsprit, and ensign were shot away. The English Ardent, of 64 guns, which had been taken by the enemy in the beginning of the war, near Plymouth, was now retaken, either by the Belliqueux, or the Bedford. The Diadem, a French 74-gun ship, went down by a single broadside, which some accounts attribute to the Formidable; it has also been said, that she was lost in a generous exertion to save her Admiral.” “M. De Grasse was nobly supported, even after the line was broken, and till the disorder and confusion became irremediable towards evening, by the ships that were near him. His two seconds, the Languedoc and Couronne, were particularly distinguished, and the former narrowly escaped being taken, in her last efforts to extricate the Admiral. The Ville de Paris, after being already much battered, was closely laid alongside by the Canada; and in a desperate action of near two hours, was reduced In these actions the Prince George bore a distinguished part, and had 9 men killed, and 24 wounded. 