He was entrusted with the duty of embarking the fugitives when the town was evacuated.
Smaller vessels they were able to beat off and so, in spite of the activity of the British cruisers and of many sharp encounters, the concentration was effected at Boulogne, where an army of 130,000 was encamped and was incessantly practised in embarking and disembarking.
In reality the young tsar had no intention of embarking on wild political adventures, and was fully determined not to let his hand be forced by men less cautious than himself.
The news of his father's death reached Eric as he was on the point of embarking for England to press in person his suit for the hand of Queen Elizabeth.
Perhaps he wished to avoid further discussion of a project upon which his mind was set, the more so as he was embarking on the enterprise with a force greatly inferior to that which Falkenhayn had considered necessary.
