There were two naval objects which demanded the attention of the ministry at the commencement of the year 1780, the relief of Gibraltar and the protection of the West Indies. To secure both these Admiral Rodney was appointed to command a fleet in the West Indies, and _en route_ to convoy a large supply of provisions and stores to Gibraltar. The admiral had been but a very few days at sea when he fell in with a Spanish fleet, bound from St. Sebastian to Cadiz: it consisted of fifteen sail of merchantmen under the protection of a fine new sixty-four gun ship, four frigates, mounting from twenty-six to thirty-two guns, and two smaller vessels; these ships of war belonged to the Royal Company of the Caraccas, and had been assigned to the others as a convoy. The whole fleet were captured; and on examining the cargoes of the merchantmen, the capture was ascertained to be extremely fortunate, as the greater part of them were laden with wheat, flour, and other stores, which the admiral of course destined for Gibraltar. On January 16th, about a week after this capture, he fell in with another Spanish squadron, consisting of eleven ships of the line, under the command of Don Juan Langara, off Cape St. Vincent. As the Spaniards, being inferior in force and favoured by the wind, endeavoured to escape, the British admiral changed the signal for a line of battle abreast to that for a general chase, with orders to engage as the ships came up. Night came on, but the pursuit was still continued, though the dangers of a dark and tempestuous night were increased by the vicinity of the shoals of St. Lucar. About four o'clock the headmost ships began to engage. Early in the action the Spanish ship _St. Domingo_, of seventy guns and seven hundred men, blew up, and all on board perished; the English ship opposed to her nearly suffering the same fate. The engagement did not terminate till two in the morning, when the _Monarca_, the headmost of the enemy's fleet, struck to the _Sandwich_, Admiral Rodney's own ship. Three others were also taken and carried safely into port; among these was the _Phoenix_, of eighty guns, Don Langara's ship. Two others had struck, but after the officers had been taken out, they were driven on shore by the tempestuous weather, and one of them was entirely lost. Two frigates and four ships of the line escaped; of the latter, two were much damaged in the action. Our loss amounted to thirty-two killed and one hundred and two wounded. The convoy having been conducted safely to Gibraltar, and the provisions and stores having been landed there, Admiral Digby, taking under his charge the Spanish prizes and homeward bound transports, sailed for England on February 15th, 1780; and Admiral Rodney, with the remainder, proceeded to his station in the West Indies.