Six weeks later, when he reached the neighborhood of Port Mahon, his fleet had been increased to thirteen ships-of-the-line, and he had with him four thousand troops.

It was already late; a practicable breach had been made in the fortress a week before.

When the English fleet came in sight, La Galissoniere stood out to meet it and bar the entrance to the harbor.
The battle that followed owes its historical celebrity wholly to the singular and tragic event which arose from it.

Unlike Matthews's battle off Toulon, it does afford some tactical instruction, though mainly applicable to the obsolete conditions of warfare under sail; but it is especially linked to the earlier action through the effect produced upon the mind of the unfortunate Byng by the sentence of the court-martial upon Matthews.

During the course of the engagement he repeatedly alluded to the censure upon that admiral for leaving the line, and seems to have accepted the judgment as justifying, if not determining, his own course.