The news that St. Eustatius was fair prize reached Rodney on the 27th January. On the 3rd February he seized the island. The neighbouring port of Saba was taken at the same time, and a Dutch convoy was followed and captured. From that moment and for the ensuing weeks Rodney became blind to the interest of his country and to his own honour in the contemplation of the stupendous mass of booty which was at last to make him a rich man. A part of his force was to have sailed to seize the Dutch possessions on the mainland of South America. The admiral would not part with a ship. Essequibo and Surinam were left to be taken by a swarm of privateers. There was no French force in the Leeward Islands except four of the line at Fort Royal. Lest they should come to molest him at St. Eustatius Rodney stationed the bulk of his fleet outside that port. In vain did Hood, who was detached for the blockade, point out that the belt of calm under the land of Martinique, the fitful breezes, and the westerly set of the current in the Caribbean Sea made it impossible to lie close up to the land and intercept reinforcements coming to the French from Europe. In vain did he ask leave to cruise to windward of Martinique on the track of any French force which might be coming. Rodney, reduced to the moral level of a buccaneer, would think of nothing except that if Hood were to windward of the island, the French at Fort Royal might slip out and recapture the booty at St. Eustatius. There he himself remained superintending the sorting and packing of the spoil. In that position they were at the end of April when Grasse was seen coming round the south end of Martinique on the 28th April.