During the following night the British tacked several times, to keep their position to windward.  At daylight of January 25th, the two fleets were to the westward of Nevis; the British near the island, the French abreast, but several miles to leeward.  Foiled in his first spring by an unexpected accident, Hood had not relinquished his enterprise, and now proposed to seize the anchorage quitted by the French, so establishing himself there,—­as he had proposed to Graves to do in the Chesapeake,—­that he could not be dislodged.  For such a defensive position St. Kitts offered special advantages.  The anchorage was a narrow ledge, dropping precipitately to very deep water; and it was possible so to place the ships that the enemy could not easily anchor near them.

At 5.30 A.M. of the 25th Hood made the signal to form line of battle on the starboard tack, at one cable interval.[108] It is mentioned in the log of the Canada, 74, Captain Cornwallis, that that ship brought-to in her station, fourth from the rear, at 7 o’clock.  By 10 o’clock the line was formed, and the ships hove-to in it.  At 10.45 the signal was made to fill [to go ahead], the van ships to carry the same sail as the Admiral,—­topsails and foresails,—­followed, just before noon, by the order to prepare to anchor, with springs on the cables.  The French, who were steering south, on the port tack, while the British were hove-to, went about as soon as the latter filled, and stood towards them in bow and quarter line.[109]

[Illustration]

At noon the British fleet was running along close under the high land of Nevis; so close that the Solebay, 28, one of the frigates inshore of the line, grounded and was wrecked.  No signals were needed, except to correct irregularities in the order, for the captains knew what they were to do.  The French were approaching steadily, but inevitably dropping astern with reference to the point of the enemy’s line for which they were heading.  At 2 P.M. de Grasse’s flagship, the Ville de Paris, fired several shot at the British rear, which alone she could reach, while his left wing was nearing the Barfleur, Hood’s flagship, and the vessels astern of her, the centre of the column, which opened their fire at 2.30.  Hood, trusting to his captains, disregarded this threat to the rear half of his force.  Signals flew for the van to crowd sail and take its anchorage, and at 3.30 P.M. the leading ships began to anchor in line ahead, (Fig. 1, a), covered as they did so by the broadsides of the rear and the rear centre (b).  Upon the latter the French were now keeping up a smart fire.  Between the Canada and her next astern, the Prudent, 64,—­which was a dull sailer,—­there was a considerable interval.  Towards it the French admiral pressed, aiming to cut off the three rear vessels; but Cornwallis threw everything aback and closed down upon his consort,—­a stirring deed in which he was imitated by the Resolution