the Royal-Sovereign, the latter having shortened sail for that purpose, and took her station next in line to the Brunswick. At a few minutes before noon the cannonade became general on the part of the British ships, each firing her stern or quarter guns as she could bring them to bear. At 1 p.m. the second ship of the French van opened her fire on the British rear ; and at 1 h. 30 m. p.m. the first ship, having had her main topgallantmast shot away, and being otherwise damaged, by the fire of the Mars, sheered off, and dropped astern. The supposed Zélé's late second astern, the present van-ship, now opened a brisk cannonade on the larboard quarter of the Mars.

A harassing fire continued to be kept up at intervals by the leading French ships in succession, during the next three or four hours ; at the end of which Vice-admiral Cornwallis, observing that the Mars, from the crippled state of her rigging and sails, had fallen to leeward, and was likely to be overpowered, threw out the signal for her to alter her course to starboard, or from the ships that were most annoying her.

Immediately afterwards the Royal-Sovereign bore round up in the direction of the Mars, and, opening her powerful broadside on the enemy, ran down, in company with the Triumph, to the support of her gallant, but crippled friend ; who was thereby soon brought into close order of battle, and saved from further molestation. The commencement of this bold and well-executed manoeuvre, we have endeavoured to illustrate by the following diagram.