The web of naval warfare covered the North Atlantic, the threads crossed, the shuttle flew to and fro. All were players in the same game and each acted on the other. The squadrons detached to the Cape and the Indian Ocean by Darby and Grasse went into a wider field and acted apart. The North Sea was a field by itself, but the other fleets and squadrons from Newport in Rhode Island, down the East Coast of America to the West Indies, across the Atlantic to the Straits of Gibraltar, and north to the Channel, worked together, and on one another in harmony or in conflict. Let us see how the players stood when Darby sailed from the south of Ireland for Gibraltar, and Grasse steered from Brest for the West Indies. When the year began the French squadron of seven sail of the line and two frigates lay at Newport. It was commanded by Chevalier Destouches, who succeeded to the command on the death of Ternay, on the 15th December 1780. Arbuthnot was in command of the British squadron of eight ships of the line, two 50-gun ships, and twenty-three frigates, with his headquarters at Long Island. His ships had to patrol the coast and to co-operate with the British forces acting in the southern Colonies. In January he sailed to reconnoitre the French, but on the 23rd his squadron was beaten back by a violent gale. The =Culloden=, 74, was lost on the end of Long Island, and the =Bedford=, 74, dismasted. The =America=, 74, was driven out to sea, and did not rejoin his flag for weeks. Washington throughout the year was striving to bring about a concentration of French and American forces on either the northern or southern parts of the divided British. He urged Destouches to put to sea while Arbuthnot was disabled. But the Frenchman was oppressed by anxiety lest the stormy weather should be as fatal to him as to his opponent. He sent Le Gardeur de Tilly with one 64 and two frigates to fall on the British transports of Arnold’s force in Virginia. The French officer found that they had taken refuge in Elizabeth River, and returned. On his way to Rhode Island he captured the =Romulus=, 44, and a number of prizes. Meanwhile Arbuthnot lay at Gardiner Bay in Long Island. Under the steady driving of Washington, Destouches got to sea on the 8th March, with seven of the line and two frigates—one of them the captured =Romulus=, and 1500 French soldiers under Viomesnil, to reinforce the Americans in Virginia. On the 10th Arbuthnot followed him with eight ships of the line and two frigates. The two steered for the Chesapeake in squally weather, mists, and driving rain. The English squadron was the quicker of the two. On the 16th March it overtook the French between forty and fifty miles N.E. by E. of Cape Henry. It was in the power of Arbuthnot to put himself to leeward of Destouches, and between him and the coast in the north-easterly wind. But faithful to tradition he let the Frenchman run to leeward of him, and then made two rushes at him in the old style.