When he made his visit to General Sullivan, he left orders for the troops that were to join in the land expedition to follow. He had no knowledge, at that time, that Admiral Howe had received reënforcements, and had left New York to attack the French fleet then at Newport. A large number of the French seamen were upon Connanicut Island, on account of scurvy, and the fleet was scattered, without apprehension of an attack from the sea. A fog prevailed on the morning of the visit. D’Estaing returned to his flag-ship, and as the fog lifted, there appeared in the offing a British fleet of thirty-six sail. Admiral Howe had been reënforced by a portion of Admiral Byron’s fleet, which arrived in advance of its commander; and this force was superior to that of his adversary. D’Estaing was alert. Quickly gathering his ships, in spite of a rising gale, he succeeded in gaining and holding the “weather-gauge” of Howe, who did not dare press toward the land against such an advantage in D’Estaing’s favor. Both fleets were dispersed by the tempest over fifty miles of ocean, repeatedly meeting with collisions, and after several of his ships had been dismasted, Howe ran the gauntlet of a part of the French squadron, and returned to New York. On the twentieth, Count d’Estaing returned to Newport; and on the twenty-second sailed for Boston to refit. A protest, signed by General Sullivan and others, including John Hancock, who took an active part in the operations of the siege, did not change his purpose. He had no alternative. It is true that much bad feeling, soon proven to have been absolutely unjustifiable, existed among Americans at the date of his departure. Sullivan himself issued an intemperate order, which he speedily modified, but not until it had gone to the public; in which he used these words: “The general yet hopes the event will prove America able to procure that by her own arms, which her allies refuse to assist in obtaining.”