his sword to any but Hawke, who also took possession of the prize with a
party from his own ship; thus establishing beyond dispute, by all
customary formalities, his claim to the one trophy of the day. The
occurrences through which she was afterwards lost to the British, so
that only the honor of the capture remained, and that to Hawke alone,
must be briefly told; for they, too, are a part of the mismanagement
that has given to this battle its particular significance in naval
history.

As the unlucky fire-ship bore down, Mathews began wearing the
_Namur_,--turning her round, that is, from the wind, and therefore
towards the _Marlborough_ and her opponents. In this he seems to have
had first in view supporting the fire-ship and covering the
_Marlborough_. Boats were ahead of the latter towing her from the enemy.
As she was thus being dragged off, but after the fire-ship blew up, the
_Namur_ passed between her and the hostile line; then, hauling to the
wind on the starboard tack, she stood north towards Lestock's division.
This movement to the rear was imitated by the British ships of the
centre,--the _Dorsetshire_ and others,--and, beyond a brush with the
rear five Spanish vessels as they came up, the action in the centre here
ceased.

This retrograde movement of Mathews and his division drew the centre
away from the van. At about the same time the allied van, composed
wholly of French ships, seeing the straits of the _Poder_ and the
_Real_, tacked--turned round--to come down to their assistance. This
imposed a like movement upon the British van, lest it should be engaged
apart from the rest of the fleet, and perhaps doubled on, by a number of
perfectly fresh ships. The _Poder_, having lost her chief spars, could
not be carried off, nor was Hawke able even to remove the men he had