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Kempenfelt was confident that it could not be done. He was sure that the unwieldy combined mass could be rendered powerless by his comparatively homogeneous and mobile fleet, inferior as it was, so long as he could keep it at sea and to the westward. The appreciation of the power of a nimble inferior fleet which he wrote at this time has already been given.
Harry thought to himself that he would be willing to swim ashore with such a "responsibility" in his arms. Maude turned to the Captain: "Can you swim, Captain Hornaby?" "Of course, Miss Maude. We Englishmen are all sea dogs, don't you know?" "But Englishmen are drowned sometimes," said Maude. "How about Admiral Kempenfelt and the Royal George?
It will be seen, therefore, that the conclusion that close blockade was always the best means of rendering the fleet most efficient for the function it had to perform must not be accepted too hastily. The reasons which induced Howe and Kempenfelt to prefer open blockade were mainly based on this very consideration.
These were twelve ships of the line, one 50, and some frigates, under Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt, who had left England on the 2d of the month, to cruise in wait for this expedition. The French numbers were amply sufficient to frustrate any attack, but de Guichen, ordinarily a careful officer, had allowed his ships of war to be to leeward and ahead of the convoy.
Nor was this all, for Kempenfelt was able to demonstrate the positive side of his theory in the most brilliant and convincing manner.
Helen's, where he could husband the ships and train his recruits, while at the same time he protected our trade and communications and harassed those of the enemy. Kempenfelt, than whom there was no warmer advocate of activity, entirely approved the policy at least for the winter months, and in his case no one will be found to suggest that the idea was prompted by lack of spirit or love of ease.
All these services received conspicuous and successful illustration during Howe's brief command, at the hands either of the commander-in-chief or of his subordinates, among whom were the very distinguished Barrington and Kempenfelt. Howe himself, with twenty-five sail-of-the-line, in July encountered an allied fleet of forty off Scilly.
Returns to England in the Leviathan. Providential escape from shipwreck. Visits Guernsey. Joins the Victory. A journey to London. Joins the Fortitude. Battle off the Dogger Bank. Anecdotes of Admiral Parker. Mr. Saumarez promoted to the rank of Master and Commander. Appointed to the Tisiphone. Sails for the West Indies with Admiral Kempenfelt. Action with Comte de Guichen.
After Barrington's return, Kempenfelt made a similar but uneventful cruise of a month in the Bay. Howe himself went first to the North Sea in the month of May. Having there held the Dutch in check during a critical moment, he was directed next to go to the entrance of the Channel, leaving only a division in the Downs.
Kempenfelt, an able tactician as well as seaman, seized his advantage, pushed between the men-of-war and the convoy, and carried off fifteen sail laden with military and naval stores, of great money value and greater military importance. More could not be done without risking a battle with a too superior force.
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