The Midshipman Prince by Tom Grundner

was like that all over the bay.
     
           By 2:00, the French had sorted themselves out and they came pouring through the Cape Henry Gap.
     
           “Signals from flag, sir. ‘To all ships:’ ‘Execute on my command,’ ‘Wear ships on larboard tack.’ ‘Form line ahead,’ ‘Heading east.’”
     
           This time Captain Hudson, watching the signal flags himself, had decoded the message before Smith. “No, it can’t be.”
     
           Rooney was more practical. “All hands man the braces. Standby to wear ship. Helm standby to come four points to larboard.” Rooney was responsible for the navigation of the ship and didn’t have time to question the order. He had to make sure that the Richmond could make the turn and still keep perfect station on the Barfleur .
     
           Upon his command, all British ships were to make a simultaneous 180 degree left turn and, yet again, form into a single file line, only this time heading due east. This would place the British line parallel to the French line and headed in the same direction. He then, amazingly, ordered his entire fleet to back their sails and come to a stop. In short, Graves was letting the French come out of Cape Henry without challenge.
     
           It only took a few minutes for word of this maneuver to reach all hands aboard the Richmond . The response was predictable with expressions of disgust emanating in four known and one unidentifiable language. The British would not challenge the French when and where the French were the weakest. They would wait until the French had emerged and formed themselves up, and then fight them.
     
           Worse, from the standpoint of Captain Hudson, his division was no longer in the lead. When it did its “about face” the British line had reversed itself so that now Admiral Drake’s division was in the van, Admiral Graves’ division still in the center, and Admiral Hood’s division, along with the Richmond , in the rear.
     
           For the next two hours the British and French fleets ran parallel to each other with the British fleet having the weather gage. In other words, the British ships were up-wind of the French, which gave the British a major advantage. By having the weather gage, the British could attack at the time of their choosing and have the wind at their back. If the French wanted to attack first, they would have to sail against the wind to do so. The ball was clearly in the British court.
     
           At 2:30 Graves had decided the British line was stable in its new formation and ordered the Shrewsbury , the lead ship in the formation, to “Lead the formation more to starboard.” He repeated the command at 3:17 and again at 3:34. The problem, however, was that the wind that was blowing from off the British larboard beam was also pushing the French ships away from them.
     
           Finally, Graves had had enough. It was after 4:00 and they would be running out of daylight soon. He had to attack now or postpone the attack until tomorrow—and who knew if they would even be in contact with the French in the morning.
     
           The same alternatives had occurred to the men of the Richmond but the betting heavily favored the notion that no fight would be happening this day. That was not necessarily a good thing from a morale standpoint. The men were willing and, more importantly, ready to fight. They had resigned themselves to that fact and were mentally prepared for what was to come—at least as prepared as one could be. To have to stand-down from that readiness would make it that much harder to achieve again the following day. Besides, the men also knew that the two fleets would lose visual contact with each other when night came. In the dark of night, either fleet could lose the other just by sailing off in a slightly different direction.
     
           “Two signals from the flag, sir. To all ships. ‘Maintain line ahead,’