The _Formidable_ was plainly at her last gasp, as it were; a wreck above and below, her masts down and her rigging lying in tangled heaps of torn canvas and cordage over the side, the bulwarks shattered to the level of the deck, the hull gashed with gaping holes from which streams of sea water spouted in cascades at every roll of the ship. Still, with all that, her gallant first lieutenant, the sole surviving naval officer on board, would not give in. The _Formidable_ was a flagship, he declared, and, as a point of honour, to a flagship only should she strike. Manning what guns he could, he made his final effort to hold out just a little longer. It was magnificent, but it was hardly war. It was heroic, but it proved impossible. The gallant young Frenchman’s ambition was destined not to be realized. There was no time for it. The big _Royal George_, with Hawke’s blue flag flying out at the main, could be seen approaching, but she was not yet quite alongside. Before the _Royal George_ could challenge, the deadly fire of the _Resolution’s_ guns had done its work, and all hope of further resistance was at an end. Yet another British ship also, the _Burford_, was fast approaching the scene, intent apparently on joining in with the _Resolution_. It was hopeless now to wait for the _Royal George_, and the heroically defended ensign of the _Formidable_ had to come down. The _Formidable_ lowered her colours to the _Resolution_—exactly at five minutes to four o’clock. Towards the end, Conflans himself in the _Soleil Royal_, with de Beauffremont and one of his captains, tacked and doubled back as if to the rescue of the _Formidable_, but they were too late. * * * * *