shyness as he displayed is not only
infectious, but saps that indispensable basis upon which military
effectiveness reposes, namely, the certainty of co-operation and
support, derived from mutual confidence, inspired by military
discipline, obedience, and honor. It is well to note here that the
remoteness of Lestock's division thus affected Burrish, who evidently
could not understand either its distance or its failure to approach, and
who, being what he was, saw himself threatened with want of that backing
which he himself was refusing to the _Marlborough_. While he was blaming
Lestock, hard things were being said about him in Lestock's division;
but the lesson of Lestock's influence upon Burrish is not less
noteworthy because the latter forfeited both duty and honor by his
hesitation. It is to be feared that the captain of the _Essex_,
following the _Dorsetshire_, was a coward; even so Burrish, an old
captain, certainly did not cheer his heart by good example, but rather
gave him the pretext for keeping still farther off. The rearmost two
ships of the division but confirm the evidences of demoralization, and
the more so that their captains seem from the evidence to have been
well-disposed average men; but the five Spanish vessels approaching,
with the _Dorsetshire_ and the _Essex_ holding aloof, was too much for
their resolution--and not unnaturally. The broad result, however, was
lamentable; for four British ships feared to come to the aid of an
heroic and desperately injured consort, in deadly peril, because five
enemies were drawing nigh.

Upon these four therefore fell, and not unjustly, the weight of national
anger. Burrish was cashiered, and declared forever incapable of being an
officer in the Navy. Norris, of the _Essex_, absconded to avoid trial.
The two others were pronounced unfit to command, but, although never
again employed, mitigating circumstances in their behavior caused them
to be retained on the lists of the Navy. It is not too much to say that
they were men just of the stamp to have escaped this shame and ruin of
reputation, under more favorable conditions of professional tone.

Concerning the vice-admiral's action at this time, which had its share
in the ruin of these captains, another curious instance of men's bondage
to the order of battle transpires. The three rear ships of his squadron
were clean, that is, relatively fast; and they were rearmost for this
very reason of speed, because, when the