Origins
In January 1780 the Comte de Guichen was sent to the French base at Martinique in the West Indies with a strong squadron. He was opposed by British admiral Sir George Rodney, who reached the British base at St. Lucia in late March.
Guichen sailed from Martinique on April 13, 1780, with a fleet of 23 ships of the line and 3,000 troops. His objective was to draw Rodney out, but then to escape him and make an attack on either St. Lucia or the British base at Barbados. Rodney sailed out at once upon being informed that Guichen had sailed. On April 16, his sentinels spotted Guichen on the leeward side of Martinique, beating against the wind. Rodney gave chase, but was unable to close in time for battle that day. Rodney managed to maintain contact with Guichen and hold his line that night.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Martinique (1780)
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)