Background
The British had 30 ships-of-the-line commanded by admiral Augustus Keppel, in HMS Victory, sailing from Spithead on 9 July 1778. The French fleet had 29 ships commanded by admiral the Comte d'Orvilliers, sailing from Brest on 8 July 1778. Keppel sighted the French fleet west of Ushant on 23 July. D'Orvilliers, who had orders to avoid battle, was cut off from Brest but retained the weather gage. Two of his ships, standing to windward, escaped into port, leaving him with 27.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Ushant (1778)
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)