back his fastest frigate,
with all the intelligence he could gather, directing her to keep in the
track Pocock would follow, in order to meet him betimes. The frigate
thus sent, having first made a running survey of the unfrequented
passage north of Cuba, by which the expedition was to proceed, joined
Pocock, and, by the latter's report, acted as pilot for the fleet.
"Having taken sketches of the land and cayos on both sides, Captain
Elphinstone kept ahead of the fleet, and led us through very well." This
service is claimed to the credit of Rodney's foresight by his
biographer. This may very well be, though more particular inquiry and
demonstration by his letters would be necessary to establish specific
orders beyond the general instructions given by him. It is, however,
safe to say that such particularity and minuteness of detail would be
entirely in keeping with the tenor of his course at this period. His
correspondence bears the stamp of a mind comprehensive as well as exact;
grasping all matters with breadth of view in their mutual relations, yet
with the details at his fingers' ends. The certainty of his touch is as
obvious as the activity of his thought.

In accordance with the spirit of his instructions, Rodney went in person
to Martinique, the spot named by him as best for the rendezvous, there
to superintend the preparations; to sow the seed for a harvest in which
he was to have no share. Incidental mention reveals that the sending of
the ships-of-the-line with Douglas had reduced him to three for his own
command; and also that Moncton, having now superior authority to do so,
found himself able to spare troops for Jamaica, which were afloat in
transports by the time Pocock came. In the same letter the admiral
frankly admits his anxiety for his station, under the circumstances of
the big detachment he had made; a significant avowal, which enhances the
merit of his spontaneous action by all the credit due to one who endures
a well-weighed danger for an adequate end.

The despatch of Pocock's expedition, which resulted in the fall of
Havana, August 13, 1762, practically terminated Rodney's active service
in the Seven Years War. In a career marked by unusual professional good
fortune in many ways, the one singular mischance was that he reached a
foremost position too late in life. When he returned to England in
August, 1763, he was in his full prime, and his conduct of affairs
entrusted to him had given clear ass