fate is unknown, for he never reached his destination, and no trace of him was left, save a vague story that a great ship, which may have been his, had been wrecked on the coast of Malabar, and that the survivors of the crew had been massacred by the natives. While these operations were running their indecisive course in the North Sea, two great armaments had sailed from Spithead and from Brest, each on a distant mission, and each carrying with it subordinate squadrons to be detached for still more remote destinations. On the 13th March Admiral Darby sailed from Spithead with twenty-eight line-of-battle ships. Some were to be detached to the West Indies, and others to sail for the Cape of Good Hope and take it from the Dutch, when Darby’s immediate service was performed. He had also with him the outward-bound East Indiamen. His orders were to collect the vessels laden with provisions in Irish ports for the use of the garrisons of Gibraltar and Mahon, to convoy them to the fortresses, to detach the reinforcements for the West Indies, and the squadron destined to the Cape with the East Indiamen under its charge, and to return to the Channel. To meet the victuallers, he steered for the south coast of Ireland, and was there delayed till they joined him from Cork. While Darby was waiting on the south coast of Ireland the Comte de Grasse left Brest on the 22nd March, with twenty sail of the line, bound for the West Indies, and having with him a small squadron to be detached for an attack on the British settlements in the East Indies. Darby, having collected his victuallers, went on his way, and Grasse on his without a meeting. The strenuous futility which is conspicuous in the operations of all parties in this war was never more visible than in this misuse of two great fleets. If Darby had fallen on Grasse and had driven him back to Brest, the Americans would have been deprived of the aid which enabled them to take Yorktown at the close of the year. If Grasse had been joined by even six or eight Spanish ships in an efficient state, and had fought a whole-hearted battle with Darby off the Old Head of Kinsale, it is possible that the entire naval defence of Great Britain might have been ruined, and it is eminently probable that the relief of Gibraltar would have been stopped—in which case the fortress must have fallen for it was at the end of its resources. But the rulers in London and Paris had their eyes on the end of the earth and could not see that victory at home would mean success all over the world.