27/32 Ce fut en cet ordre qu'il fit vent arriere, foudroiant a droite et a gauche tous les anglois qui s'approchent' But if with the wind aft his two quarter lines bore from the flagship seven points from the wind, the formation would have been concave to the enemy and the convoy could not have been _au milieu_. 91.) The passage is in any case interesting, as showing that what was then called the crescent or half-moon formation was nothing but our own 'order of retreat,' or 'order of retreat reverted,' of Rodney's time. As defined by Sir Charles Knowles in 1780, the order of retreat reverted was formed on two lines of bearing, _i.e._ by the seconds of the centre ship keeping two points abaft her starboard and larboard beams respectively. |