Rodney had sent word from the West Indies that ten ships were the limit of Grasse's numbers and that even fourteen British ships would be adequate to meet him.

A British fleet, numbering nineteen ships of the line, commanded by Admiral Graves, left New York on the 31st of August and five days later stood off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.

On the mainland across the Bay lay Yorktown, the one point now held by the British on that great stretch of coast.

When Graves arrived he had an unpleasant surprise.

The strength of the French had been well concealed.
There to confront him lay twenty-four enemy ships.