e
for the enemy, the signal for battle was made, followed by the message
that the Admiral's intention was to engage closely; he expecting,
naturally, that every ship would follow the example he purposed to
set. The captain of the ship which in the formation (aa) had been
the leader, upon whose action depended that of those near her,
unfortunately understood Rodney's signal to mean that he was to
attack the enemy's leader, not the ship opposite to him at the moment
of bearing away. This ship, therefore, diverged markedly from the
Admiral's course, drawing after her many of the van. A few minutes
before 1 P.M., one of the headmost ships began to engage at long
range; but it was not till some time after 1 P.M. that the _Sandwich_,
having received several broadsides, came into close action (S^2) with
the second vessel astern from the French Admiral, the _Actionnaire_,
64. The latter was soon beat out of the line by the superiority of
the _Sandwich's_ battery, and the same lot befell the ship astern of
her,--probably the _Intrepide_, 74,--which came up to close the gap.
Towards 2.30 P.M., the _Sandwich_, either by her own efforts to
close, or by her immediate opponents' keeping away, was found to be
to leeward (S^3) of the enemy's line; the _Couronne_ (C) being on her
weather bow. The fact was pointed out by Rodney to the captain of the
ship, Walter Young, who was then in the lee gangway. Young, going over
to look for himself, saw that it was so, and that the _Yarmouth_, 64,
had hauled off to windward, where she lay with her main and mizzen
topsails aback. Signals were then made to her, and to the _Cornwall_,
74, to come to closer engagement, they both being on the weather bow
of the flagship.

De Guichen, recognising this state of affairs, then or a little
later, attributed it to the deliberate purpose of the British Admiral
to break his line. It does not appear that Rodney so intended. His
tactical idea was to concentrate his whole fleet on the French rear
and centre, but there is no indication that he now aimed at breaking
the line. De Guichen so construing it, however, gave the signal to
wear together, away from the British line. The effect of this, in any
event, would have been to carry his fleet somewhat to leeward; but
with ships more or less crippled, taking therefore greater room to
manoeuvre, and with the exigency of re-forming the line upon them, the
tendency was exaggerated. The movement which the French called