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A Consulta-tion onBoard theFrench Ad-miral.

Hen, VT1.L Naval Expeditions 5 &c. of the English, Boole I

Gallies; They bore down upon themwith that Impetuosity, and gauled theirSterns in such Manner, with their Ar-tillery, the Gallies having no Cannon,to defend them on their Poops, that no-thing but apparent Destruction appear-ed on all Sides; For if they had offeredto tack about, the Englijh would havebeen on Board of them, under full Sail,and must inevitably have funk them.Nevertheless, the Prior of Capua, Bro-ther of the Lord Peter Strojje , not be-ing able to put up with this Indignityany longer, began to tack about, uponone of the Enemy’s Vessels, which wasadvanced before the Rest, and was atthevery Stern-post of one of our Gallies;But the Englijh Vessel being shorter,'and of Course nimbler, shifted quicker,and soon regained theFleef, after which,neither site, nor the Rest of the Fleet,continued the Pursuit any farther. Inthe mean Time, the Admiral, havingranged his Fleet, in the Order I havealready described, gave the Signal forthe Battle, believing the Englijh wouldcontinue their Course : But he was soonundeceived, and found they were morecircumspect than he expected. Theyhad only pursued the Gallies, as far asthey could do it with Safety, and thenretreated towards their Forts, thinkingthat we, depending upon our fuperiourStrength, would have followed them,and have hazarded a Battle, at so greata Disadvantage. In this Skirmish, welost some Gally-Slaves, and a few pri-vate Soldiers, but not one Person ofDistinction.

The next Day, the Admiral, per-ceiving .that the English would not haz-ard a Battle in the open Sea, began tothink of attacking them, where theylay. To this End, he called togethera Council of the Pilots, Captains andchief Mariners, to be informed of theNature and Circumstances of the Place,and by what means he might best formthe Attack, amidst theDifficulties whichattended it. He represented to them,how much we were superior to xheEng-lijh, as well in Number of Ships, asthe Valour of our Men; {true FrenchVanity /) and what Advantage a Victory(which he believed was in their Option)would be of to their King and Country.As well the Men as the Officers ex-prefs’d a great Willingness to engage ;But the Sea-Commanders and Pilots de-clared it was not to be attempted, with-

out an evident Loss. The Reasonsthey alledged were these; that theycould not attack the Englijh without ven-turing into a Channel, where but fourShips could go in Front, and these theEnglijh might oppose with the sameNumber: And besides, as they couldnot go in, but by Favour of the Windand Tide, as soon as the first Ships wereengaged, those which follow’d wouldinevitably drive upon them with theStream, and shatter them to Pieces. Tothis they added, that as they must en-gage the Englijh, under the Cannon oftheir own Forts, they should be exposedto a great Disadvantage on thatAccount.And that, if they should attempt tograpple and board them, the Force ofthe Stream would certainly drive themafhoar, one upon the other. It wasthen proposed to engage at Anchor ;But to this the Pilots answered, thattheir Cables might be cut; and tho’they were not liable to that, the Dangerwould not be the less; Because, whenthey were at Anchor, the Stream, whichcarried them in, would naturally obligethem to lye with their Sterns towardsthe Enemy, instead of their Heads, orBroad-sides. To this they added yetanother Difficulty, which was, whenthey let fall their Anchors, they mustveer out the Cables by Degrees, andcould not pretend to stop the Ships short,because the Force of their Run wouldeither sink them, or if their Cables shouldgive Way, and they should part fromtheir Anchors, they would then bedriven aground, and beat to Pieces, bythe Force of their own Weight.

These Reasons carried so evident aConviction with them, that there wasno Room for opposing them. How-ever, the Admiral, and other Comman-ders fearing lest the Pilots, who wereunanimous in their Opinion, might,thro’ Cowardice, represent Mattersworse than they, in Fact, were, wouldnot be satisfied without sending properPersons to found the Channel, and toexamine into every Circumstance of theGulph, that might be of Advantage tothe Englijh, To this End, he lent aBoat, the following Night, with threePilots, accompanied with the fameNumber of Captains, to perform thisCommission, for which they had all theLeisure they could wilh. In the Morn-ing, at their Return, they reported,that they not only found every Thing as

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