The British gunboats and Carleton now maneuver…
October 1776 CE
Thunderer and Maria are unable to make headway against the winds, and do not participate in the battle, while Inflexible eventually comes far enough up the strait to participate in the action.
Around 12:30 pm, the battle begins in earnest, with both sides firing broadsides and cannonades at each other, and continues all afternoon.
Revenge is heavily hit; Philadelphia is also heavily damaged and eventually sinks around 6:30 pm.
Carleton, whose guns wreak havoc against the smaller American gundalows, become a focus of attention.
A lucky shot eventually snaps the line holding her broadside in position, and she is seriously damaged before she can be towed out of range of the American line.
Her casualties are significant; eight men are killed and another eight wounded.
The young Edward Pellew, serving as a midshipman aboard Carleton, distinguishes himself by ably commanding the vessel to safety when its senior officers, including its captain, Lieutenant James Dacres, are injured.
Another lucky American shot hits a British gunboat's magazine and the vessel explodes.
Toward sunset, Inflexible finally reaches the action.
Her big guns quickly silence most of Arnold's fleet.
The British also begin landing natives on both Valcour Island and the lake shore, in order to deny the Americans the possibility of retreating to land.
As darkness falls, the American fleet retreats, and the British call off the attack, in part because some boats have run out of ammunition.
Lieutenant James Hadden, commanding one of the British gunboats, notes that "little more than one third of the British Fleet" saw much action that day.
When the sun sets on October 11, the battle has clearly gone against the Americans.
Most of the American ships are damaged or sinking, and the crews report around sixty casualties.
The British report around forty casualties on their ships.
Aware that he cannot defeat the British fleet, Arnold decides to try reaching the cover of Fort Crown Point, about thirty-five miles (fifty-six kilometers) to the south.
Under the cover of a dark and foggy night, the fleet, with muffled oars and minimal illumination, threads its way through a gap about one mile (one point six kilometers) wide between the British ships and the western shore, where native campfires burn.
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