1809	British and French Fleets	112

French ships. The reason, officially assigned by the admiral, for anchoring at so great a distance was, that the wind blew fresh from the northward, and combined with the strength of the floodtide, rendered it hazardous to run into Aix roads; but, according to the evidence of Captain Broughton examined at Lord Gambier's court-martial, his lordship was induced to anchor so far off, because, " as the enemy were on shore, he did not think it necessary to run any unnecessary risk of the fleet, when the object of their destruction seemed to be already obtained." *

As a further proof that the British admiral, whatever may have been his original intention, had now abandoned the idea of employing the fleet to cannonade the works on Isle d'Aix, or the French ships aground on the Palles shoal, Lord Gambier did not make the customary signal for the ships to get springs on their cables, and be ready to anchor by the stern, because that signal (No. 14) began by calling upon the ships to " prepare for battle. " He therefore had recourse to the telegraph, as the only means of making the latter part of the signal without the former. The admiral did, however, direct the Ætna bomb [vessel], covered by the gun-brigs Insolent, Conflict, and Growler, to proceed towards Aix road, and take a position for bombarding the grounded French ships ; and Captain Bligh was directed to take under his orders the Valiant, Bellona, and Revenge, also the frigates and sloops, and to anchor them as close as possible to the Boyart [Boyard] shoal, to be ready to support the bomb-vessel and gun-brigs. While therefore the latter, as they had been ordered, stood on towards the road of Aix, the Valiant and her division came to an anchor about a mile nearer to the grounded ships than the spot at which the Caledonia and the remainder of the line-of-battle ships were then lying.

This movement on the part of the British fleet auguring an immediate attack, the Foudroyant and Cassard, who had been since daylight getting up their topmasts, cut their cables and made sail for the Charente, the latter at 45 minutes past noon, and the former in a few minutes afterwards ; but, in attempting to ascend the river, the two ships grounded on the shoal at its entrance, very near to the castle of Fouras. In the mean time, as the tide flowed, all the ships that had previously grounded began to get upright, and their crews to exert themselves anew to float them off the bank. The water and provisions were started, many of the guns and much of the ammunition thrown overboard, and anchors laid out for warping. Since 6 a.m. the Océan had carried out a stream-anchor, with six cables. At about 2 p.m., by similar means, the Patriote, Régulus, and Jemmappes, succeeded in getting afloat, but grounded again on the muddy shoal at the entrance of the Charente. By the time

* Minutes, &c., p, 222.

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