July 1778 Monday 13th
Light Hous1 EbN Distant 1 Mile Fresh breezes & Hazey wear. Hove up and stood to our Station Came to Anchor in 5 Fathom water Lt House bearing EbN dist. 1 Mile at 4 am Employd about Barracading the Ship for Action got a Stream anchor over our Stern and Bent the Messenger to it got Springs forward from Each Gunroom port,2 The Adml.3 made a Signal for a petty Officer sent the Cutter on Board—
D, UkLPR, Adm. 52/1964, fols. 36–37.
1. The lighthouse at Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
2. A messenger was a length of rope secured to a cable, hawser, etc. as a means of hauling or heaving a ship into a desired position. The springs on the cable allowed Roebuck and the five other ships of the line and H.M. armed storeship Leviathan (formerly H.M.S. Northumberland), which Vice Adm. Viscount Howe had arranged in a line extending from Sandy Hook across the main channel into New York harbor, to fire a broadside at comte d'Estaing's fleet as it sailed into the harbor, and then, if the French vessels survived that first broadside, to swing and fire again as the French ships passed. James, British Navy in Adversity, p. 100; see also, Journal of H.M.S. Nonsuch, 16 July, below.
3. The "Admiral" was Vice Adm. Viscount Howe's flagship, H.M.S. Eagle.
