De la Clue was about to make his second mistake. Admiral Boscawen, he apparently imagined, would think twice about following him into neutral waters and attacking him there. But the neutrality of Portugal was of little account at such a moment. Might was right that August day for “Old Dreadnought.” International proprieties notwithstanding, the British Admiral “in a very Roman style made free with the coast of Portugal,” as Horace Walpole put it. Boscawen swept straight down after de la Clue, with his men at quarters and his guns run out. The final phase opened about eight o’clock on the 19th of August, Monday morning, when the French flagship _L’Océan_ was seen to run heavily aground. She brought up hard and fast, and the next moment her three masts went crashing over the side. Boscawen instantly signalled to the leading British ship, a seventy-four, the _America_, to deal with the French flagship. The order was carried out promptly. The _America_ closed nearly alongside the wrecked three-decker and opened fire on her; whereupon the doomed _L’Océan_ lowered her flag. In the brief interval before the _America’s_ boats, sent off to take possession of the prize, could board the French flagship, M. de la Clue himself, mortally wounded and with one leg broken, was hastily got away and rowed ashore, to die there a little later. Almost at the same time that _L’Océan_ wrecked herself, the _Redoutable_ ran on shore close by, breaking her back. [Illustration: ADMIRAL BOSCAWEN’S VICTORY _Painted by Swaine. Engraved and Published in 1760._ _In the foreground to the right is seen the “Warspite” attacking the “Téméraire.” Boscawen’s flagship the “Namur” is in the centre flying the Admiral’s Blue Flag at the main; and at the fore the red battle-flag,—the “Bloody Flag” of the Old Navy._] There remained the _Téméraire_ and the _Modeste_, which two ships, for their part, let go anchor close under the guns of a Portuguese fort on shore. The _Warspite_, a seventy-four of equal strength with the bigger French ship, was told off to deal with the _Téméraire_. She closed on her antagonist forthwith, in spite of warning shots from the Portuguese fort, and attacked at pistol-shot range. Hopeless as his case was, with no possibility of escape open to him, for upwards of an hour M. de Chastillon, the _Téméraire’s_ captain, made a fight of it. Then having done all he could he gave up his ship. The _Modeste_ surrendered not long afterwards, and so Boscawen’s battle ended. It was Captain Bently, of the _Warspite_, who gave the Royal Navy its first _Téméraire_. The story of that morning’s work is told in the _Warspite’s_ log: