The Saintes and the recovery of the Caribbean

By 1782 Britain had activated and refitted ships that might otherwise have remained hulks and sent Rodney seventeen fresh ships of the line. His fleet brought thirty-six ships of the line against thirty French ships under de Grasse. Copper sheathing added expense and dockyard work during the war, but the newly arrived ships had clean, coppered hulls. Rodney now commanded alongside Samuel Hood and Francis Samuel Drake, the same subordinate admirals who had served under Graves at Chesapeake. George III and Sandwich valued Jamaica more highly than the thirteen colonies, while France and Spain also made the island a major objective. British ships broke the French line, captured de Grasse, and removed the immediate threat to Jamaica. Hood boarded the captured French flagship before Rodney, accepting the danger himself while protecting the commander-in-chief.