The Commander-in-Chief, with his staff and the captain of the ship, fretting and fuming on the _Victory's_ quarter-deck; the signals flying which have been mentioned; Harland's division getting into line ahead; and four points on the weather quarter, only two miles distant, so that "every gun and port could be counted," a group of seven or eight sail, among them the flag of the third in command, apparently indifferent spectators.

The _Formidable's_ only sign of disability was the foretopsail unbent for four hours,--a delay which, being unexplained, rather increased than relieved suspicion, rife then throughout the Navy.

Palliser was a Tory, and had left the Board of Admiralty to take his command.

Keppel was so strong a Whig that he would not serve against the Americans; and he evidently feared that he was to be betrayed to his ruin.
Palliser's defence rested upon three principal points: (1), that the signal for the line of battle was not seen on board the _Formidable_; (2), that the signal to get into the Admiral's wake was repeated by himself; (3), that his foremast was wounded, and, moreover, found to be in such bad condition that he feared to carry sail on it.

As regards the first, the signal was seen on board the _Ocean_, next astern of and "not far from"[51] the _Formidable_; for the second, the Admiral should have been informed of a disability by which a single ship was neutralizing a division.