^Hap. I. from the Revolution, tor68§.

Admiral Herberts Engagement withthe French, in Ban cry-Bay.

Rennet. King William being sensible of what^■fchett. Importance it would be,to have a potentMVfir^ Fleet early at Sea, this Year, and more»'-Daniel™’ particularly, in Order to prevent thef etn oir s 'de French King’s sending the late KingCre"’ De J ames > with a Body of His ownTroops,F/l. J; into Ireland, (d) no Preparations were£ rai }ce, wanting to accomplish this End.helt! Admiral Herbert , who was soon as

ter create ^ Karl of Forrington , was ap-% Tal °f tie pointed Admiral of this Fleet, the four-kti teenth of March ; He, with the Earl ofCarbery, Sir Michael Wharton, Sir Tho-mas Lee, Sir John Chichely, Sir JohnLowther and Mr. Sacheveril, beingmade Lords Commissioners, for execut-ing the Office of Lord High Admiral.

Upon Admiral Herberfs coming toPortsmouth, on the twentieth of March,he found the Ships, which were orderedto join him, from the East, lay wind-bound in the Downs: And, on thetwentieth of April, those designed forthe Mediterranean had Orders to joinhim.

Hr had, some Time before, receiv^ed Notice, that King James landed, onthe twelfth of March , at Kingfale, inIreland. He, therefore, made for thatCoast, with all the Ships which he couldget in Haste together, in Hopes to in-tercept the Convoy, in it’s Return. Hecommanded the Rest of the Fleet to fol-low him, and that they might lose noTime, to sail singly, without waitingfor one another, the Places appointedfor Rendezvous being the Coast of Ire-land, or ten Leagues West of S cli-ff ly-

hifooeeds The Admiral came before Cork, theseventeenth of April, (e) having onlysid ' twelve Ships of War, one Fireffiip, twoYachts, and two Smacks with him.

the Death of ^William, 623

Here the News he had before received, 1689.as I said above, that King James (whohad been convoyed over by two andtwenty Ships from France ) was landedat Kingfale, about two Months before,was again confirmed. This led him toproceed first offi of Brest, and then torange two and fro in the Soundings , inHopes of meeting those Ships, which,as he was informed, were taking in, atBref, a considerable Supply, sendingby the King of France to King James .

Being, however, disappointed in theseHopes, and returning to the Irijh Coasts,the nine and twentieth of April, in theEvening, he discovered off of Kingfale, Gets Sighta Fleet of four and forty Sail, keeping °fthe Frendttheir Wind, which made him keep his Fieet "likewise, all Night, to hinder their get-ting into Kingfale. The thirtieth, heheard that the Enemy was gone intoBaltimore, upon which he bore away to-wards that Place ; But finding there noSign of them, judging them to be to theWestward of him, he bore away, withthe Wind Easterly, for Cape Clear , andin the Evening he law them standinginto Bantry-Bay.

He lay off the Bay ’till Morning, and ^

then, by Break of Day, Rood towards piggtsfthem. In this Time, he had encreasedhis Strength to eighteen Men of War,the Dartmouth, a small Frigate, and aFire-ffiip • (according to Sec. Burchett ,and others) But Kennet makes them twoand twenty, viz. eight Third Rates, tenfourth Rates, one Fifth Rate, and twoTenders. The French were at Anchor,being eight and twenty Men of War,most of them from sixty to upwards ofseventy Guns, and some larger, withfive Fireffiips, under the Command ofMonsieur Chateau-Renaud. The Tran-sport Ships (which had carried aboutfive Thousand Men to Ireland ) were atsome Distance, plying to Windward.

The same Day, being the first of They come toMay , the French , encouraged by their an Engage-

7 T great

Jd ) King William acquainted the House of (e) According to Mr. Secretary Burchett j tt-Commons, on the seven and twentieth of February , But according to the Account we have of this J- rr

With the certain iSews of the late King James Transaction in Rennet's Collection, the Admiralbeing failed Irom Brest, _ wth a considerable Num- must have been upon the Coast of Ireland before: V iam ‘her of French Troops, in Order to land in Ire- For, he fays; " That Admiral Herbert, havingland, whereupon the Commons unanimously voted; “ refitted, at Milford-Haven, the Damages which

“ That they would stand by, and affist the King, “ some of his Ships had sustained by ill Weather,

“ with the r Lives and Fortunes, in Supporting “ on the Coast of Ireland, intended to have gone" the Alliances abroad, in Reducing of Ireland , “ directly to Brest, but the Wind coming Easter-

" and in Defence of the Protestant Religion and “ ly, which might bring the French Fleet out,

" Laws of the Kingdom : In which Vote, the “ he stood, on the four and twentieth of April ,

Beers concurred, and, on the fifth of March, " over to Kingfale, which he judged the likeliestboth Houses agreed upon an Address to His Ma- " Way to meet them. On the nine and twen-jesty, on the fame Acccn nt : Which we find men- " tieth, &c. With which the Account in thetioneci in the City Address. History of King William perfectly agrees,