He preferred serving under his junior officer .-- _Cor.

of Lafayette._] Rodney was apprized of the destination of De Grasse, but seems not to have suspected that the whole fleet would sail for the continent of America.

Supposing therefore that a part of his squadron would be sufficient to maintain an equality of naval force in the American seas, he detached Sir Samuel Hood to the continent with only fourteen sail of the line.

That officer arrived at Sandy Hook on the twenty-eighth of August.
Admiral Greaves, who had succeeded Arbuthnot in the command of the fleet on the American station, lay in the harbour of New York with seven ships of the line, only five of which were fit for service.

On the day that Hood appeared and gave information that De Grasse was probably on the coast, intelligence was also received that De Barras had sailed from Newport.
The ships fit for sea were ordered out of the harbour; and Greaves, with the whole fleet, consisting of nineteen sail of the line, proceeded in quest of the French.
Not suspecting the strength of De Grasse, he hoped to fall in with one or the other of their squadrons, and to fight it separately.
Early in the morning of the 5th of September, while the French fleet lay at anchor just within the Chesapeake, the British squadron was descried.