In order that they might not report his force or his movements, the British Admiral sent two of his own frigates, with the request that they would speak him.

One, the _Belle Poule_, 36, refused; and an engagement followed between her and the British ship, the _Arethusa_, 32.

The King of France subsequently declared that this occurrence fixed the date of the war's beginning.
Although both Keppel's and d'Estaing's orders prescribed acts of hostility, no formal war yet existed.
Byron had a very tempestuous passage, with adverse winds, by which his vessels were scattered and damaged.

On the 18th of August, sixty-seven days from Plymouth, the flagship arrived off the south coast of Long Island, ninety miles east of New York, without one of the fleet in company.

There twelve ships were seen at anchor to leeward (north), nine or ten miles distant, having jury masts, and showing other signs of disability.