Hawke keeps the blockade supplied at sea

Hawke placed Augustus Hervey's two small ships of the line near the Black Rocks, close enough to observe the Goulet, while the main squadron stayed in safer water west of Ushant. Another detachment watched Rochefort and the transports around Morbihan. By August 1759, thirty-two ships of the line allowed vessels to rotate through port while about twenty remained on station. Transports carried live cattle, vegetables, beer, and water from Plymouth and transferred them in exposed anchorages or at sea. Beating to windward with heavily laden merchantmen and bringing them alongside warships made this expensive and difficult. The supply system kept crews healthy and sustained the blockade through the summer and autumn.