To contend against fourfold odds would have been madness.

It was much that he was able to save his squadron from titter destruction.
He exerted all his skill.

Two or three Dutch men of war, which were in the rear, courageously sacrificed themselves to save the fleet.

With the rest of the armament, and with about sixty merchant ships, Rooke got safe to Madeira and thence to Cork.

But more than three hundred of the vessels which he had convoyed were scattered over the ocean.