For the two Halifax ships which helped to make this most welcome reinforcement, the Admiral was indebted to the diligence of the officer there commanding, who hurried them away as soon as he learned of d'Estaing's appearance on the coast.

The opportuneness of their arrival attracted notice.

"Had they appeared a few days sooner," says a contemporary narrative, "either they must have been prevented from forming a junction with our squadron, and forced again to sea, or we should have had the mortification to see them increase the triumph of our enemy." On the 1st of August, forty-eight hours after the _Cornwall_ had come in from a stormy passage of fifty-two days, the squadron was ready for sea, and Howe attempted to sail; but the wind hauled foul immediately after the signal to weigh had been made.

It did not become fair at the hour of high water, when alone heavy ships could cross the bar, until the morning of the 6th.

"Rhode Island was of such importance," says the narrator already quoted, "_and the fate of so large a portion of the British army as formed the garrison was of such infinite consequence to the general cause_, that it was imagined the Admiral would not lose a moment in making some attempt for their relief." He had learned of the detachments made from the French fleet, and hoped that some advantage might be taken of this division.