 Toward sunset , Inflexible finally reached the action . Her big guns quickly silenced most of Arnold 's fleet . The British also began landing Indians on both Valcour Island and the lakeshore , in order to deny the Americans the possibility of retreating to land . As darkness fell , the American fleet retreated , and the British called off the attack , in part because some boats had run out of ammunition . Lieutenant James Hadden , commanding one of the British gunboats , noted that " little more than one third of the British Fleet " saw much action that day . 
