Graves before Hood;
but neither got to him at all. The _Swallow_ arrived safely in New
York on the 27th of July; but Graves had sailed with all his squadron
on the 21st, for Boston Bay, hoping there to intercept an expected
convoy from France, concerning which a special caution had been sent
him by the Admiralty. The _Swallow_ was at once sent on by the senior
naval officer at New York, but was attacked by hostile vessels, forced
ashore on Long Island, and lost. The _Active_ was captured before she
reached New York. Graves, thus uninformed of the momentous crisis at
hand, continued cruising until the 16th of August, when he returned to
Sandy Hook. There he found the duplicates of the _Swallow's_ letters,
but they only notified him of the course a reinforcement would take,
not that Hood had started. On August 25th the latter, being then off
the Chesapeake, sent duplicates of the _Active's_ dispatches, but
these preceded by little his own arrival on the 28th. That evening
news was received in New York that de Barras had sailed from Newport
on the 25th, with his whole division. Hood anchored outside the Hook,
where Graves, who was senior to him, undertook to join at once. On
the 31st five sail of the line and a 50-gun ship, all that could be
got ready in time, crossed the bar, and the entire body of nineteen
ships of the line started at once for the Chesapeake, whither it was
understood now that both the French fleet and the united armies of
Washington and Rochambeau were hurrying.

Count de Grasse upon his arrival at Cap Francois had found that many
things must be done before he could sail for the continent. Measures
needed to be taken for the security of Haiti; and a large sum of
money, with a considerable reinforcement of troops, was required to
insure the success of the projected operation, for which but a short
time was allowed, as it was now August and he must be again in the
West Indies in October. It was not the least among the fortunate
concurrences for the American cause at that moment, that de Grasse,
whose military capacity was not conspicuous, showed then a remarkable
energy, politic tact, and breadth of view. He decided to take with him
every ship he could command, postponing the sailing of the convoys;
and by dexterous arrangement with the Spaniards he contrived to secure
both the funds required and an efficient corps of thirty-three hundred
French troops, without stripping Haiti too closely. On the 5th of