D'Estaing very properly reserved his heaviest ships to force the main channel.] [Footnote 28: _Flora_, 32; _Juno_, 32; Lark, 32; _Orpheus_, 32; _Falcon_, 16.] [Footnote 29: I have not been able to find an exact statement of the number; Beatson gives eight regiments, with a reinforcement of five battalions.] [Footnote 30: It may be interesting to recall that this was the ship on the books of which Nelson's name was first borne in the navy, in 1771.] [Footnote 31: Troude attributes d'Estaing's sortie to a sense of the insecurity of his position; Lapeyrouse Bonfils, to a desire for contest.

Chevalier dwells upon the exposure of the situation.] [Footnote 32: For the respective force of the two fleets see pp.

66, 67, 71.] [Footnote 33: This account of the manoeuvres of the two fleets is based upon Lord Howe's dispatch, and amplified from the journal of Captain Henry Duncan of the flagship _Eagle_ which has been published (1902) since the first publication of this work.

See "Navy Records Society, Naval Miscellany." Vol.

i, p.