France was as superior in force at sea as on land; and a fleet of two hundred vessels gathered at Sluys to intercept him.

But the fine seamanship of the English sailors justified the courage of their king in attacking this fleet with far smaller forces; the French ships were utterly destroyed and twenty thousand Frenchmen slain in the encounter.

It was with the lustre of this great victory about him that Edward marched upon Tournay.

Its siege however proved as fruitless as that of Cambray in the preceding year, and after two months of investment his vast army of one hundred thousand men broke up without either capturing the town or bringing Philip when he approached it to an engagement.

Want of money forced Edward to a truce for a year, and he returned beggared and embittered to England.
[Sidenote: Edward's distress] He had been worsted in war as in diplomacy.