ore his absence had
caused great loss. It was a risky enterprise, but a wise leader takes
risks. He intended to be back in the West Indies before the end of
October.

It was not easy for the British to realize that they could be outmatched
on the sea. Rodney had sent word from the West Indies that ten ships
were the limit of Grasse's numbers and that even fourteen British ships
would be adequate to meet him. A British fleet, numbering nineteen ships
of the line, commanded by Admiral Graves, left New York on the 31st of
August and five days later stood off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. On
the mainland across the Bay lay Yorktown, the one point now held by the
British on that great stretch of coast. When Graves arrived he had an
unpleasant surprise. The strength of the French had been well concealed.
There to confront him lay twenty-four enemy ships. The situation was
even worse, for the French fleet from Newport was on its way to join
Grasse.

On the afternoon of the 5th of September, the day of the great rejoicing
in Philadelphia, there was a spectacle of surpassing interest off Cape
Henry, at the mouth of the Bay. The two great fleets joined battle,
under sail, and poured their fire into each other. When night came the
British had about three hundred and fifty casualties and the French
about two hundred. There was no brilliant leadership on either side. One
of Graves's largest ships, the Terrible, was so crippled that he
burnt her, and several others were badly damaged. Admiral Hood, one
of Graves's officers, says that if his leader had turned suddenly and
anchored his ships across the mouth of the Bay, the French Admiral with
his fleet outside would probably have sailed away and left the British
fleet in possession. As it was the two fleets lay at sea in sight of
each other for four days. On the morning of the tenth the squadron from
Newport under Barras arrived and increased Grasse's ships to thirty-six.
Against such odds Graves could do nothing. He lingered near the mouth of
the Chesapeake for a few days still and then sailed away to New York
to refit. At the most critical hour of the whole war a British fleet,
crippled and spiritless, was hurrying to a protecting port and the
fleurs-de-lis waved unchallenged on the American coast. The action
of Graves spelled the doom of Cornwallis. The most potent fleet ever
gathered in those waters cut him off from rescue by sea.

Yorktown fronted on the York River with a de