The evening was now far advanced; the tide was beginning to flow; the ammunition of the whole army was damaged by the heavy rains; the waters looked angry beneath a threatening gale; the enemy's strength was concentrated; they had suffered little or no loss, while the British were weakened by 33 officers and 410 men. Wolfe had learned by painful experience the prodigious advantage of the French position, which, although nearly invulnerable to attack, yet afforded admirable facilities for retreat. He was baffled; all that now remained was to conduct the re-embarkation with safety and regularity. Such of the wounded as could be yet saved were carried from the field; the stranded transports were abandoned and burned, and the flotilla rowed away from the fatal shore. Townshend and Murray, whose untouched brigades had covered the embarkation, then recrossed the ford without interruption, and resumed their position on the heights east of the Montmorency. Wolfe knew that the enterprise of the 31st of July was of such a nature that nothing but success could justify its temerity. By failure his military error had been thrown into strong light, and yet it was probable that he would have succeeded but for a strange adversity of circumstances. The officers of the fleet had remained in unaccountable ignorance of the reef of rocks which delayed and disordered the attack. The storm of rain not only injured the ammunition of his men, but rendered the steep ascent of the enemy's position so slippery that they could not find firm footing, and the ill-timed audacity of the Grenadiers had confounded all his calculations. The leading fault of his plan was undoubtedly the attempt of a combined attack by land and water. Had Monckton's brigade been landed beyond the falls, and the whole army crossed the ford together, the fatal embarrassments of the disembarkation would have been avoided. Wolfe suffered intense mental distress from this mishap; his mind preyed upon his feeble frame; his chronic ailment attacked him with unusual violence; fever supervened, and for some weeks he lay absolutely helpless, to the grief of the whole army. In the mean time, however, he issued the following merited rebuke to the corps whose indiscretion had led to results so disastrous: