THE AMERICAN WAR had been an unparalleled disaster. With Britain outnumbered on land and sea by French, Spanish and Dutch forces, the American colonies had secured their independence, and attacks on British possessions in Gibraltar and India had only just been beaten off. A new government led by William Pitt took office in 1784, and applied itself to restoring Britain's power and prestige. Thin, sickly and austere, with no passions except for port wine, Pitt had nevertheless inherited his father's oratorical skills and ability to manage Parliament. Under his leadership the country's recovery was rapid. Government expenditure was slashed and the country's financial credit restored. The decline in transatlantic trade proved less than had been feared, but nevertheless stimulated a search for other markets in the East and the exploration of the Pacific, the Antipodes and the north-west coast of America by such men as James Cook, Matthew Flinders and George Vancouver.

The Royal Navy to which Thomas Trotter was dedicated and which he had now managed to rejoin had emerged from the American War in good state. The last-minute victory by Sir George Rodney over the French at the Battle of the Saints in April 1782 had restored morale, and his breaking of the enemy's line of battle, whether done accidentally or deliberately, had shown the solution to the tactical problem that had perplexed admirals throughout the eighteenth century. Since the time of Samuel Pepys, warships had been required to fight in long parallel lines.