Captain Gardiner had a worthy antagonist. The Marquis du Quesne-Menneville, whose broad pennant flew at the _Foudroyant's_ mast-head that day, had the reputation of being as able an officer as any in the French service. No braver man ever wore the _bleu du Roi_. And he commanded a man-of-war that was, by common consent, considered the finest ship in all King Louis's navy. Only a short time before this a French officer, a prisoner of war, in conversation with one of his captors, had said of the _Foudroyant_: 'No single ship in the world can take her, not even your new _Royal George_! She can fight all to-day, and to-morrow, and the next day, and still go on fighting!' The _Foudroyant's_ weight of metal, indeed, was heavy enough to have sent the _Monmouth_ to the bottom at a single discharge. M. du Quesne, however, did not think fit to let the _Monmouth_ come up alongside. He would not venture to bring-to and accept the _Monmouth's_ challenge because of the _Swiftsure_ and the _Hampton Court_. They were a long way off, several hours distant, but they were to him, as far as the _Foudroyant_ was concerned, an enemy 'in being,' and he kept on before the wind. 'At half-past seven,' says Lieutenant Carkett, 'we came very nigh her, gave our ship a yaw, and discharged what guns we could bring to bear on her.' This meant checking the ship's way and hauling up at an angle to her course, turning off as it were to let fly a broadside right ahead. Apparently the _Monmouth_ lost ground in so doing. According to the first lieutenant's log, Captain Gardiner did not repeat the manoeuvre, and it took the _Monmouth_ nearly an hour to regain the distance that she dropped back. 'At half-past eight,' says Lieutenant Carkett, 'we came to a close engagement.' [Illustration: IN ACTION AT MIDNIGHT From the engraving after T. Stothard, R.A.] The _Monmouth_ now ranged up on the _Foudroyant's_ larboard quarter and hurled into her a crashing broadside of round-shot and grape, at half musket range. It was the first heavy blow, and it got home. Then fastening with a bulldog's grip on her big opponent, the _Monmouth_ set to and blazed away fiercely into the French ship as fast as the guns could be loaded and run out. Nothing could be more masterly than the way the British captain handled his ship. Captain Gardiner knew his business. He meant to settle his personal score with the _Foudroyant_ once for all; but he had no idea of sacrificing needlessly the life of a single man. There was to be no reckless clapping of the little _Monmouth_ side by side with the _Foudroyant_. Gardiner was well aware of the weight of his opponent's metal. He laid the _Monmouth_ on the _Foudroyant's_ quarter and kept her there, skilfully placing her in a way that allowed every gun on the _Monmouth's_ broadside to train on the enemy, while, at the same time, the French were unable to bring a number of their guns in the fore-part of the ship to bear.