Having appointed the Prince of Darmstadt governor, and left as many men to garrison the Rock as could be spared from the fleet, Sir George Rooke sailed for Tetuan to take in wood and water. He then went in search of a French fleet which had been equipped at Toulon, and was under the orders of the High-Admiral of France, the Comte de Thoulouse, who had been joined by some Spanish vessels. Rooke came up with the enemy off Malaga on the 13th of August. The superiority of force lay with the French, who counted fifty line-of-battle ships, carrying 3543 guns and 24,155 men; eight frigates, mounting 149 guns, with 1025 men; nine fire-ships; and a couple of transports. Sir George Rooke had under his command forty-one English and twelve Dutch sail of the line, carrying 3700 guns and 23,200 men, with six frigates, and seven fire-ships. The French vessels, however, were better built than the English, and better armed. They included three ships of 104 guns, and four of 92 and 90 guns, all the rest being from 88 to 52 guns. On the other hand, the combined fleet contained only three of 96 guns and two of 90 guns, the remainder being from 80 to 50. On Sunday morning, the 13th, the combined fleet being to windward, the centre led by Sir George Rooke, the van by Sir Cloudesley Shovel and Sir John Leake, and the rear by the Dutch vice-admiral Callunbuy, signal was made to bear down upon the enemy; and upon reaching within half gun-shot, the action began. It was long and hotly contested; the combatants fought all day; yet not a ship of the hundred vessels engaged on either side was taken, or burned, or sunk. The French had not at that time acquired that sense of the superiority of the British at sea which was forced upon them by a disastrous series of defeats in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars; and the British admirals lacked that boldness of attack and contempt of the enemy which Howe, Jervis, and Nelson made a tradition. At all events, the battle, though it lasted all day, had no decisive result; and both fleets drew off at nightfall, having gained nothing except honour. Sir Cloudesley Shovel describes the fight as “very sharp;” and adds, “There is hardly a ship that must not shift one mast, and some must shift all.” The French fleet suffered even more than the English, and on the following morning sailed away for Toulon, with a loss in killed and wounded variously estimated at from 2000 to 3000. The loss of the English was 695 killed, and 1663 wounded; that of the Dutch, 400 killed and wounded. So far as the “butcher’s bill” went, both England and France had equal reason to claim a victory; and thus, while a _Te Deum_ was chanted in Notre Dame, thanksgivings were also publicly offered at St. Paul’s. * * * * *