The next day the transports began to move down the river; but, owing to the intricate navigation, head winds, and calms, they did not get to sea until the 28th of June.

On the 8th of July, ten days too late, d'Estaing anchored in the mouth of the Delaware.

"Had a passage of even ordinary length taken place," wrote Washington, "Lord Howe with the British ships of war and all the transports in the river Delaware must inevitably have fallen; and Sir Henry Clinton must have had better luck than is commonly dispensed to men of his profession under such circumstances, if he and his troops had not shared at least the fate of Burgoyne." Had Howe's fleet been intercepted, there would have been no naval defence for New York; the French fleet would have surmounted the difficulties of the harbour bar at its ease; and Clinton, caught between it and the American army, must have surrendered.

Howe's arrival obviated this immediate danger; but much still needed to be done, or the end would be postponed only, not averted.

A fair wind carried the fleet and the whole convoy from the Delaware to Sandy Hook in forty-eight hours.