The main ship-channel, then as now, ran nearly east and west, at right angles to the Hook and close to its northern end.

Beyond the channel, to the north, there was no solid ground for fortification within the cannon range of that day.

Therefore such guns as could be mounted on shore, five in number, were placed in battery at the end of the Hook.

These formed the right flank of the defence, which was continued thence to the westward by a line of seven ships, skirting the southern edge of the channel.

As the approach of the French, if they attacked, must be with an easterly wind and a rising tide, the ships were placed with that expectation; and in such wise that, riding with their heads to the eastward, each successive one, from van to rear, lay a little outside--north--of her next ahead.