respectively. In the simple order of retreat they kept two points before
the beam.

[5] No reference to these orders appears in the correspondence of the
generals at this time, unless it be in a letter of John Poortmans,
deputy-treasurer of the fleet, to Robert Blackbourne, in which he writes
on March 9: 'The generals want 500 copies of the instructions for
commanders of the state's ships printed and sent down.' (_S.P. Dom._ 48,
f. 65.)

[6] _Clarendon MSS._ 45, f. 470.

[7] Hoste, _Evolutions Navales_, p. 78. Dr. Gardiner declared himself
sceptical as to the genuineness of the French gentleman's narrative,
mainly on the ground of certain inaccuracies of date and detail; but, as
Hoste certainly believed in it, it cannot well be rejected as evidence
of the main features of the action for which he used it.



_COMMONWEALTH ORDERS_, 1653.[1]

[+Duke of Portland's MSS.+]

_By the Right Honourable the Generals and Admirals of the Fleet.
Instructions for the better ordering of the fleet in fighting_.


First. Upon the discovery of a fleet, receiving a sign from the
general, which is to be striking the general's ensign, and making a