In the meantime Prescott had landed and had made an effort to relieve Brimston Hill. He was beaten back by Bouillé with superior numbers. As it was obvious that they could do nothing, the troops were embarked on the 29th and sent off to Antigua. Hood maintained his anchorage till all hope was gone. The planters of St. Kitts had suffered severely by Rodney’s confiscations at St. Eustatius, and were sulky. They had not even mounted the twelve 24-pounders and two mortars given them for their protection. These pieces fell into Bouillé’s hands, and were used against Brimston Hill. When the Frenchman found the siege of the hill slow work, he took to his usual course of burning the plantations. The planters raised a clamour, and under pressure from them Shirley offered to capitulate on the 13th February. On the 14th, Hood having done all that in him lay, summoned his captains to the flagship, instructed them to set their watches by his, and to get under way at ten that night. The fleet slipped off quietly, and without interruption from Grasse, round the north end of St. Kitts. There is no finer passage of combined caution and daring in the war. We had lost the islands, but Grasse had thrown away the chance to crush the English ships. He no doubt wished to preserve his own ships for their ulterior purpose, the conquest of Jamaica. While tendering them he inevitably allowed the escape of Hood’s ships, which were to have a conspicuous share in ruining that ulterior purpose in the following April. Between such opponents, only the fitting occasion was required to show beyond all peradventure where the superiority lay.
The occasion was at hand. Hood reached Antigua on the 19th February. On the 22nd he left for Barbadoes, and met at sea Rodney, who had reached that island on the 19th. Rodney had left Plymouth on the 14th January with twelve sail of the line. He had beaten out of the Channel in the teeth of the wind, and had rounded Ushant in a gale which sent the waves over the deck of his flagship, the Namur. He came back to his command somewhat restored in health by an operation he had undergone at Bath, but more aged, more secluded, than ever, and he had to bring with him a private doctor, Gilbert Blane. Blane should be mentioned with honour in every history of the navy, for he did much excellent work in introducing into our ships that cleanliness which means health, which again means efficiency and the power to endure. The improvement in this respect was already great. Our fleets in the West Indies presented a spectacle such as would have filled the seamen of Queen Anne with amazement. They were showing that it was possible to keep the crews long at sea on that sickly station and yet preserve them more free from disease than in port and at home.
Rodney took his united command to Gros Islet Bay, in Santa Lucia, and there settled down to watch Grasse, who had returned to Fort Royal on the 26th February. The next move of the French was a secret to nobody. Grasse was to ship Bouillé with his soldiers, to go to San Domingo and there pick up more French ships and soldiers. Then he was to be joined by the Spaniards from Cuba, and the whole force was to fall on Jamaica. The success of this large scheme depended wholly on the ability of Grasse to get away with his ships and men from Martinique. It was Rodney’s duty to see that he did not, and under the veil of disease and premature age weighing on him, he was resolute to do that duty. He did not forget the exhortation of Sandwich, that he carried the fate of the empire in his hands, and he meant to bear his charge worthily. Therefore he kept strict watch. Neither man nor officer landed except on duty, and a line of frigates kept the French under observation. The watch lasted till the 8th April, when Captain Byron of the Andromache frigate came into Gros Islet Bay with the news that the French were getting to sea. Before noon the fleet was at sea, and standing to the north in pursuit of the enemy.
Of the two fleets about to engage in the greatest and the most decisive encounter of the war, the English was the stronger. Sir Charles Douglas, Rodney’s captain of the fleet, did indeed endeavour to show by comparisons of tonnage and guns that the French though outnumbered were materially stronger than ourselves. But our guns were heavy enough to shatter our enemy, and there were more of them. Moreover, the great improvements in gunnery introduced by Douglas himself, and other captains, constituted an element of superiority far more valuable than any mere weight of the pieces. The average skill of our officers and men was higher than the French. Finally, and this was a very important consideration indeed, the French admiral was hampered by a great convoy. He was compelled to detach the two 50-gun ships out of his total force of thirty-three ships of the line, to guard his transports. Two of his liners were disabled by accident on the evening of the 11th April. Rodney’s thirty-six ships of the line were all free for fighting alone, and he lost none by mismanagement.
During the night of the 8th April the two fleets stood to the north, past the island of Martinique, and along the west side of Dominica. On the morning of the 9th, fifteen of the French ships of the line had worked clear of the land, and were in the “true breeze” blowing through the Saints Channel—the straits between Dominica and Guadaloupe. The others and the transports were in the belt of calms under the west side of the island. Sir Samuel Hood with nine ships of the English van had worked up as far as the leading French. The others were becalmed under the land. The Comte de Grasse had now a magnificent opportunity to crush a part of his opponent’s fleet when it could not be supported. He made, however, only a very half-hearted attack on Hood, cannonading his ships at a respectful distance from windward, and doing little damage except to the spars. As the other British ships worked up he grew still more timid, and the evening came before any decided result had been obtained. From the evening of the 9th to the evening of the 11th the two fleets continued to struggle with the wind or want of it, rather than with one another. Grasse succeeded in working his convoy out from under the shadow of Dominica, and sending it to Guadaloupe protected by the two 50-gun ships. Two of his liners were disabled by bad seamanship. Yet on the evening of the 11th he had so far succeeded in his manœuvres to avoid battle that the bulk of his ships were through the passage. Rodney prevented his attempt to get away by ordering “a general chase.” His quickest vessels were allowed to sail at their best speed, and soon overtook the laggards among the French. Grasse was compelled to call his whole fleet back to cover the menaced vessels, and at nightfall both fleets were to westward of the passage again. During the night the Zélé, 74, ran into the French flagship, and was severely damaged. It was necessary to send her in tow of a frigate to Guadaloupe. When day broke on the 12th, the fleets were so placed that Grasse could no longer avoid a battle. The French were to the north of Rodney, and both fleets were in the easterly trade wind. Ships were sent from the British van to pursue the crippled Zélé on her way to Guadaloupe. Grasse, to cover her, called down the ships to windward of his flag, and began to form his line. Sir George, who had been roused in the morning by the flag-captain with the welcome news that “God had given him his enemy on the lee bow,” made prompt answer to the preparations of the Frenchman. Time would have been lost by waiting for the return of the ships pursuing the Zélé. The rear, therefore, was ordered to lead into action. The last ship in the line stretched up towards the French, the next fell in behind her, and so on till the order of the fleet was reversed; the rear became the van and the van the rear, the pursuing ships taking their places as they returned. The fleets approached one another on a converging line forming an obtuse angle, the French having the wind on the port, and the British on the starboard side. Rodney’s order to engage the enemy close to leeward was hoisted at about 8 a.m. The leading ship of his line reached the third in the French at 7.45 a.m., and then bearing up, began to pass along the French line on the lee side. Others followed in their order, and the two went past one another slowly, the English in excellent order, firing rapidly and steadily, the French in ragged disorder, fighting gallantly but at a growing disadvantage. When the leading English ship had just passed the last French, and the two lines were side by side from end to end, there occurred the movement which gives this battle its peculiar importance in naval history.
The action had lasted for about two hours, and the confusion in the French fleet had been increased by the shift of the wind to the southward, which forced the head of the line towards the English. A great gap was formed in the formation of the French astern of the seventeenth ship. Sir Charles Douglas, who saw the opening, urged Rodney to pass through it and cut the French line. The movement was easy, for the English ships were not close-hauled, and by putting the helm down could pass to windward through the opening. Sir George hesitated before assuming the responsibility of departing from the rule that an admiral should not alter the formation in which he began an action. On the second and urgent appeal of his captain of the fleet, he consented to make the movement. The helm of his flagship, the Formidable, 100, was put down, and she passed through the enemy, followed by the vessels immediately astern of her. One of the vessels ahead, the Namur, 90, followed the admiral’s example. All the ships of the English line, counting from the last of the centre to the rear, passed through another gap in the French, in the smoke, without knowing what they had done till they found themselves to windward of the enemy. Thus the fleet of the Comte de Grasse was broken into three fragments. The van bore on to the south. Six ships cut off in the centre turned westward. The rear ships were headed off from the isolated fragment of the centre.
The wind now fell, and the two fleets remained for a space motionless. When it rose again, the English streamed down on the isolated Frenchmen in the centre. They were surrounded, overpowered, and compelled to surrender. The flagship, the Ville de Paris, 100, was surrendered by Grasse after a long and gallant fight. It was the general opinion in the fleet that an insufficient use was made of the victory, and that twenty prizes might have been taken if Rodney had been more energetic. Sir Samuel Hood, a bitter judge of his superior, had some difficulty in obtaining leave to follow the enemy on the 18th April. He took three other prizes in the Mona Channel on the following day.
The battle of the 12th April, or of the Saints, or of Dominica, for it is known by all names, may be said to have been the end of the naval war in America; for no operations of any consequence took place there till the peace of the following year. The discontent of Rodney’s captains was not made public. To the nation which had seen no such success in the war hitherto, the victory appeared wholly glorious, and was a very natural subject of triumphant satisfaction. Rodney was made a peer of Great Britain, and Sir Samuel Hood received an Irish peerage. In naval history the battle is chiefly remarkable because it marked the end of the old formal, or rather pedantic, style of fighting established in the seventeenth century. It showed naval officers by practical example that the way to win decisive victories was to break into the formation of the enemy, even if they did thereby sacrifice their own, and so bring about a mêlée in which individual superiority would have full play.
The war can now be wound up by a brief account of the final relief of Gibraltar and of the contemporary naval campaigns in the East Indies.