6 34- W.and M. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the Englisli, Book I' 1

CHAP. III.

A Particular Relation of the Engagement fought between the Englisli Fleet, un-der the Command of the Earl of Torrington, and the French Fleets under Mon-feur De Tourville, off of Beachy, in 1690.

1690.

Rennet.

Burchett.

Burner.

Hist. of K.William.Memoir es deForbin.

F. Daniel.ColumnaRostrata.Larrey ,Hist.de France,sous LouisXIV.

Hiftoire deGuillaume,III. Roi deAngl. & ’c.

The Earl ofTorringtonreceives Ad-vice of theFrench beingin the Chan-nel.

I S H A L L now leave His Majestyfor a Time in Ireland, and looknearer Home; But more particular-ly on the Transactions of our Fleet;Tho’ the first I am to take Notice of wasnot attended with that Success, whichhas usually been the Companion of ourNaval Expeditions; I mean the En-gagement off of Beachy, in Sussex, onthe thirtieth of June.

The English Fleet was, this Year,far inferiour to the French, both inNumber of Ships and Force 3 (#) Andas there was a common Report, thatsome of the Officers and Seamen weredislaffected to the present Government,while the Fleet yet lay in the Downs,an Address {b) was by them thoughtthe properest Test of their Loyalty.

The Earl of Torrington, who waswith the Fleet at St. Helen's, was not alittle lurpriz’d when he received Advicefrom Weymouth, that the French wereentered into our Channel; (c) For so

far was he from believing them (accord- 1 6go-ing to his Intelligence) in such Forward-ness, that there were not at that Timeany Scouts Westward, to observe andbring 'an Account of their Motions.

This News was soon confirmed frommany other Places; And it was there-fore judged high Time, to get togetherall the Ships that were within Reach,both English and Dutch, and to putthem into the best Condition of Defencethat possibly might be.

This being done, hisLordlhip failed. HisPree^the four and twentieth of June, early in S s tW*®in the Morning, with the Wind at E . on '

N. E. and stood to the S. E. towardsthe French Fleet, which had been seen,the Day before, by the Scouts latelysent out, off of Frefh-Water-Gate, onthe Back of the Isle of Wight ; But theWind taking him short, he came to anAnchor near Dengenejfe, within fiveLeagues of the Enemy. The nextDay, our Fleet being re-inforced by the

Lion ,

sous LouisXIV.

. (a) This, Monsieur de Forbin , who was him-

jyLemoires de f e ]f in the Action, allows, and asserts the Num-Forbin. ber of the English and Dutch to have been butDe Larrey eight and fifty Ships, of the Line of Battle :Hist. de Fr. Whereas, according to him, the French had four-score. And in this, Monsieur De Larrey per-fectly agrees with him.

The English Fleet was commanded by theEarl of Torrington , Admiral; Ralph Delaval ,Esq; Vice-Admiral, and George Rooke, Esq; Rear-Admiral, for the Red Squadron ; And Mr.Ruffe/,Admiral, with Sir John Apby , Vice-Admiral,and Sir Cfoudefy Shovel , Rear-Admiral, for theBlue Squadron.

(b) The Address of the Fleet to Their Ma-jesties was as follows :

“ \X1 E, the Flag-Officers, Captains, and other

W Officers of Your Majesties Navy, being“ now ready to enter upon Action, for the Ser-u vice of Your Majesties, and the Defence of“ our Country, do most humbly beg Leave to de-" clare to GOD, Your Majesties, and the whole" World, That we do acknowledge Your Maje-" flies to be the undoubted Rightful King and“ Queen of England , and all the Dominions“ thereto belonging: And we do hereby solemnly“ renounce all Allegiance and Obedience to the“ late King James ; and do faithfully promise,“ That we wiil, with our Lives, defend and as-« fist Your Majesties, against the late K, James ,« his Adherents, and all Your Enemies whatfo-" ever.

(c) The Design of the French was to dividetheir Fleet, of which one Part was to %ear up theThames, while the Jacobites in London made anInsurrection, and leized the Queen and her ChiefMinisters, and the other Part was to join theirGallies, and to land eight Thousand Men at Tor-bay , with Arms for a far greater Number: Af-ter this, the Gallies and Men of War were to join,and to fail into the Irifi Sea, to hinder the Returnof King William , and his Forces.

According to this Plan, the French Fleet en-tered the Channel, and hovered about the En-glifh Coast, expecting the Effect of the Conspi-racy, which was to have broken out on the eigh-teenth of June ; But the Vigilance of the Queenand Her Ministers, rendered the Designs of thediscontented Party abortive.

Bishop Burnet lays, The Earl of Torrington ,who had the chief Command of the Fleet, was aMan of Pleasure, and did not make the Hastethat was necessary, to go and join it; Nor did theDutch Fleet come over so soon as was promised ;So our main Fleet lay long at Spithead. TheFrench understood that our Fleets lay thus divid-ed, and fay the Advantage of getting betweenthem: So they came into the Channel, with sofair a Wind, that they were near the Isle ofWight, before our Fleet had anyAdvice, of theirbeing within the Channel. The Earl of Torring-ton had noAdvice-Boats out, to bring him News;And tho’ fssotice thereof was sent Post overLand,as soon as the French came within the Channel,

yet