OF THE LATE JOHN CLEllK, ESQ. OF ELDIN. 119 



almost with a certainty of success. As the evil arose from an 

 endeavour to diffuse the force of the attack, if one may say so, 

 over the whole surface of the Hne attacked ; so the remedy 

 consisted in concentrating the force of the attack, and in bring- 

 ing it to bear with proportionally greater energy on a single 

 point, or a small portion of the enemy's line. For this pur- 

 pose the admiral of the attacking and windward squadron, 

 is supposed to come down, not in line, but with his fleet in di- 

 visions, so as to be able to support the particular division de- 

 stined to break through the line of the enemy. The conse- 

 quence must be, that, if this attack is directed against the rear 

 of the enemy, the ships a-head must either abandon those that 

 are cut off, or must double back, either by tacking or wearing. 

 Here Mr Clerk shews, that if the enemy follow the first of 

 these methods, and make his line either tack in succession, or 

 altogether, such a distance must be left between them and the 

 three or four sternmost ships, that not only must those last be 

 easily carried, but that several more must probably be thrown 

 into such a situation as to subject them almost unavoidably to 

 the same fate. If the enemy attempt the same thing by wear- 

 ing, his condition will be still worse. The fleet, by falling to 

 leeward, must not only desert the ships attacked altogether, 

 but must leave the sternmost of the wearing ships so much 

 exposed as to render it certain that they will be entirely cut 

 off. 



At the time when this method of attack was proposed, it 

 was regarded as a manoeuvre quite new, and as having never 

 yet been acted on. Mr Clerk, indeed, has entered into a hi- 

 storical detail, which tends to establish this point, and in 

 which, from the most authentic documents, he traces the plans 

 of most of our remarkable naval actions, from that of Admiral 

 Matthews, off Toulon, in 1744, to that of Admiral Greaves 



off 



