seventy-four-gun ship Vengeur, after a three hours’ fight, yardarm to yardarm, with the British Brunswick, was left in a sinking state by her antagonist, who was herself in no condition to help.  In the confusion, the Vengeur’s peril was for some time not observed; and when it was, the British ships that came to her aid had time only to remove part of her survivors.  In their report of the event the latter said:  “Scarcely had the boats pulled clear of the sides, when the most frightful spectacle was offered to our gaze.  Those of our comrades who remained on board the Vengeur du Peuple, with hands raised to heaven, implored, with lamentable cries, the help for which they could no longer hope.  Soon disappeared the ship and the unhappy victims it contained.  In the midst of the horror with which this scene inspired us all, we could not avoid a feeling of admiration mingled with our grief.  As we drew away, we heard some of our comrades still offering prayers for the welfare of their country.  The last cries of these unfortunates were, ‘Vive la Republique!’ They died uttering them.”  Over a hundred Frenchmen thus went down.

Seven French ships were captured, including the sunk Vengeur.  Five more were wholly dismasted, but escaped,—­a good fortune mainly to be attributed to Howe’s utter physical prostration, due to his advanced years and the continuous strain of the past five days.  He now went to bed, completely worn out.  “We all got round him,” wrote an officer, Lieutenant Codrington, who was present; “indeed, I saved him from a tumble, he was so weak that from a roll of the ship he was nearly falling into the waist.  ‘Why, you hold me up as if I were a child,’ he said good-humoredly.”  Had he been younger, there can be little doubt that the fruits of victory would have been gathered with an ardor which his assistant, Curtis, failed to show.  The fullest proof of this is the anecdote, already quoted in the sketch of Rodney,[13] which has been transmitted by Admiral Sir Byam Martin direct from the sailing-master of the Queen Charlotte, afterwards Admiral Bowen; but his account is abundantly confirmed by other officers, eye and ear witnesses.  Taken in connection with these, Codrington’s story of his physical weakness bears the note, not of pathos only, but of encouragement; for the whole testifies assuredly to the persistence, through great bodily debility, of a strong quality diligently cultivated in the days of health and vigor.  In truth, it was impossible for Howe to purpose otherwise.  Having been continuously what he was in his prime, it could not be that he would not intend, with all the force of his will, to persevere to the utmost in the duty before him.  The faithfulness of a lifetime does not so forsake a man in his end.  What he lacked in that critical hour was not the willing mind, but the instrument by which to communicate to the fleet the impulse which his own failing powers were no longer able directly to impart.