The same night he saw two strangers further out at sea, and chased them until three in the morning, when, getting pretty nigh, ho surmised that they must needs be vessels of his own squadron, which, previous to his entering the Firth of Forth, had separated from his command.

Daylight proved this supposition correct.

Five vessels of the original squadron were now once more in company.

About noon a fleet of forty merchantmen appeared coming round Flamborough Head, protected by two English man-of-war, the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough.

Descrying the five cruisers sailing down, the forty sail, like forty chickens, fluttered in a panic under the wing of the shore.