tate of preparation. Not until the 5th of June, when d'Estaing was
already eight weeks out, was certain news brought by a frigate, which
had watched his fleet after it had passed Gibraltar, and which had
accompanied it into the Atlantic ninety leagues west of the Straits.
The reinforcement for America was then permitted to depart. On the
9th of June, thirteen ships of the line sailed for New York under the
command of Vice-Admiral John Byron.[20]

These delays occasioned a singular and striking illustration of the
ill effects upon commerce of inadequate preparation for manning
the fleet. A considerable number of West India ships, with stores
absolutely necessary for the preservation of the islands, waited at
Portsmouth for convoy for upwards of three months, while the whole
fleet, of eighty sail, was detained for five weeks after it had
assembled; "and, although the wind came fair on the 19th of May, it
did not sail till the 26th, owing to the convoying ships, the _Boyne_
and the _Ruby_, not being ready." Forty-five owners and masters signed
a letter to the Admiralty, stating these facts. "The convoy," they
said, "was appointed to sail April 10th." Many ships had been ready
as early as February. "Is not this shameful usage, my Lords, thus to
deceive the public in general? There are two hundred ships loaded with
provisions, etc., waiting at Spithead these three months. The average
expense of each ship amounts to L150 monthly, so that the expense of
the whole West India fleet since February amounts to L90,000."

The West Indies before the war had depended chiefly upon their fellow
colonies on the American continent for provisions, as well as for
other prime necessaries. Not only were these cut off as an incident of
the war, entailing great embarrassment and suffering, which elicited
vehement appeals from the planter community to the home government,
but the American privateers preyed heavily upon the commerce of the
islands, whose industries were thus smitten root and branch, import
and export. In 1776, salt food for whites and negroes had risen from
50 to 100 per cent, and corn, the chief support of the slaves,--the
laboring class,--by 400 per cent. At the same time sugar had fallen
from 25 to 40 per cent in price, rum over 37 per cent. The words
"starvation" and "famine" were freely used in these representations,
which were repeated in 1778. Insurance rose to 23 per cent; and this,
with actual losses by capture,[21] and