Abandoning then his intentions against the fleet, he moved to another bay, landed some French soldiers, and assaulted the position of the English troops.
Failing here also, he retired to Martinique; and the French garrison, which had been driven into the interior of the island, surrendered.
It seems scarcely necessary to point out the admirable diligence of Admiral Barrington, to which and to the skill of his dispositions he owed this valuable strategic success; for such it was.Sta.Lucia was the island next south of Martinique, and the harbor of Gros Ilot at its northern end was especially adapted to the work of watching the French depot at Fort Royal, their principal station in the West Indies.

Thence Rodney pursued them before his great action in 1782.
The absence of precise information causes hesitation in condemning D'Estaing for this mortifying failure.

His responsibility depends upon the wind, which may have been light under the land, and upon his power to anchor.

The fact, however, remains that he passed twice along the enemy's line within cannon-shot, yet did not force a decisive action.
His course was unfavorably criticised by the great Suffren, then one of his captains.[133] The English had thus retrieved the capture of Dominica, which had been taken on the 8th of September by the French governor of the West India Islands.

There being no English squadron there, no difficulty had been met.