At ten o'clock on the morning of the 31st of July, the 15th and 78th Regiments, 200 men of the Royal Americans, and all the Grenadiers of Monckton's brigade, embarked in the boats of the fleet at Point Levi: they made for the northwest point of the island of Orleans, where they were joined by four more companies of Grenadiers. The whole flotilla then pushed out into mid-channel and awaited orders. At eleven o'clock the two armed transports stood in for the Point de Lest, and grounded; one, under Lieutenant Garnier, within musket-shot of the French redoubt. At the same time, Admiral Saunders, in the Centurion, brought to a little further from the shore, opposite the ford, and all three vessels opened fire. This gave the signal to the gunners at Point Levi and on the east bank of the Montmorency: they also began to work; the enemy replied; and in a few minutes the whole of the vast amphitheater resounded with the roar of artillery. Wolfe was in the transport which had first grounded. He promptly observed that the redoubt, if taken, was too distant from the water to allow of effectual support by the guns and the small arms of the shipping. He saw, moreover, that his threatening movements had caused an unusual stir in the French lines; bodies of troops were moving to and fro, between the several points of defense, with that degree of irregularity which usually attends the sudden re-formations of undisciplined men: two battalions of the enemy were observed marching from the roar of their left in the direction of the ford, three miles up the Montmorency River: their object was evidently to cross the stream, and fall upon the British batteries on the left bank, while the mass of Wolfe's army was occupied in the attack upon the intrenchments. This movement was immediately met by a counter-demonstration: the 48th Regiment, which had been left in the works at Point Levi, was ostentatiously pushed up the right bank of the St. Lawrence, as if about to cross and attempt the French position above the city. Montcalm, upon this, gave up his flank attack, and dispatched the two battalions to watch the 48th from the opposite side of the river.