positive
convictions too; but their combination is rare. A two-sided man is apt
also to be double-minded.

The loss of men in this sharp encounter was: British, killed, 120,
wounded, 354; French, killed, 222, wounded, 537.[85] This gives
three French hit for every two British, from which, and from the much
greater damage received aloft by the latter, it may be inferred that
both followed their usual custom of aiming, the British at the hull,
the French at the spars. To the latter conduced also the lee-gage,
which the French had. The British, as the attacking party, suffered
likewise a raking fire as they bore down.

Rodney repaired damages at sea, and pursued, taking care to keep
between Martinique and the French. The latter going into Guadeloupe,
he reconnoitred them there under the batteries, and then took his
station off Fort Royal. "The only chance of bringing them to action,"
he wrote to the Admiralty on the 26th of April, "was to be off that
port before them, where the fleet now is, in daily expectation of
their arrival." The French represent that he avoided them, but as
they assert that they came out best on the 17th, and yet admit that he
appeared off Guadeloupe, the claim is not tenable. Rodney here showed
thorough tenacity of purpose. De Guichen's orders were "to keep the
sea, so far as the force maintained by England in the Windward Islands
would permit, without too far compromising the fleet intrusted to
him."[86] With such instructions, he naturally and consistently shrunk
from decisive engagement. After landing his wounded and refitting in
Guadeloupe, he again put to sea, with the intention of proceeding to
Santa Lucia, resuming against that island the project which both he
and De Bouille continuously entertained. The latter and his troops
remained with the fleet.

Rodney meantime had felt compelled to return momentarily to Santa
Lucia. "The fleet continued before Fort Royal till the condition of
many of the ships under my command, and the lee currents,[87] rendered
it necessary to anchor in Choque Bay (Anse du Choc), St. Lucie, in
order to put the wounded and sick men on shore, and to water and
refit the fleet, frigates having been detached both to leeward and to
windward of every island, in order to gain intelligence of the motions
of the enemy, and timely notice of their approach towards Martinique,
the only place they could refit at in these seas." In this last clause
is seen the strategic idea of