6z6 W. and M. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the Englisli, Book 1^'

1690. judging it not safe to renew the Fight, atso great a Disadvantage, he weighed,But Retreat. Anchor at nine in the Evening, and re-treated to the Eastward, taking Advan-tage of the Flood-Tide. /

n-r. v ,r nhl The Admiral thought it requisite totionafi call a Council of War, the first of July .,Council of i n ^ Afternoon, and there it was re-^ ar ' solved; " To endeavour to preserve“ the Fleet by retreating, and rather" to destroy the disabled Ships, if they" should be press’d by the Enemy, than" to hazard another Engagement byft protecting them.

indiscretion T m e French , very indiscreetly, firstof the neglected coming to Anchor, when the

French. English did, to prevent their driving to

too great a Distance, and thereby to im-prove the Advantage they had obtain’d,and then, with as little Foresight, pur-sued in a formalLine of Battle.Whereas,had they come to Anchor, they wouldhave continued near us, and had theyafterwards left every Ship at Liberty tohave done her utmost, they would un-doubtedly have obtained a far greaterAdvantage, and we have been moreroughly handled, especially those Shipswhich were dammagedin Fight. On thecontrary, on our Side, each Ship shift-ing for herself, (as ’tis natural to do insuch Cases) and besides, all possibleCaution being taken to anchor to thegreatest Advantage, with Regard to theTides, which the French took little orno Notice of, we thereby got Groundconsiderably of them. This Monsieurde Forbin , who knew the Channel, tellsus, he foresaw, and was for anchoringthe Moment the English did; But wasover-ruled by his superiour Officers.However, they pursued us as far asRye-Bay , but with little Success, and oneof the English Ships called the Æn, ofseventy Guns, was run on Shoar near

Winchelsea , after having lost all her 169 0 ' cMasts. Here two French Ships, at- Partialds’tempted to burn her; But the Captainsaved them that Trouble, by precipi-tately setting Fire to her himself. Mon-sieur de Forbin says, two of the EnglishShips run aground on their own Coast,and were obliged to burn one another.

He likewise says, that th eEnglish lost a-nother Ship, which, having noAnchors,drove upon the French Fleet, and wastaken.

After the Retreat of the English andDtt^Fleet, thegreaterPart of the Frenchstood in and out, off of Bourne and Pern-sey, in Sussex , while about fourteen oftheir Ships lay at Anchor,near the Shoar.

Some of these (viz. two Ships and a Fire- p re u^ship, under the Command of Monsieur attempt,de Riberet and Monsieur de Forbin) at- vain, tosstempted to destroy a Dutch Ship of a- ® ^ tcbout sixty-four Guns, which lay dry, at *low Water, in P emsey-Bay ; But herCom-mander defended her so bravely, everyhigh Water, when they made theirAttacks, that they at last thought fit torelinquish their Design, and the Ship,being got off, was carried in Safety toHolland. It did not fare so well withthree others of that Nation, which wereon Shoar on the same Coast; For theirOfficers and Men, not being able to de-fend them, set them on Fire; so that,with these, and the three Ships destroy-ed by the French, in the Action, theStates General lost six Ships of the Lineof Battle. F. Daniel mentions one of Tthe Chief of the Dutch Vessels beingtaken by the Marquis de Nsfmond, Buthere our Accounts are silent De Larreyfays eight Ships were burnt or sunk.( f) c j,

The eighth of July,the French Fleet The sssstood towards their own Coast, but they ^were seen,the seven and twentieth,off of Coast’’the Berry Head, a little to the Eastward

of

(e) F. Daniel is not so modest; But, being " stroyed many os our Ships : Both the Admirals

F. Daniel. resolved to crown his Countrymen with Victory, “ were almost equally blamed, Ours for not fight-

at the Expence of Truth, fays, seventeen of the “ ing, and the French for not pursuing the Vic-

Englifh and Dutch Ships, which were unmafted, “ tory.

run afhoar upon the Coast, and were burnt: To (f) Among other Officers whom they lost inwhich he adds, This was one of the Sea-fights, this unequal Battle, were Rear-Admiral Jan Dick ,De Larrey, which left no Room to doubt of the Victory: And Rear-Admiral Bracket, Admirals of the MasseHifi.de Monsieur De Larrey fays much the same,withRe- and North-Holland, and Captain Nor del On the

France, Sous gard to the Certainty of the Victory. English Side were lost, Captain Botharn , Captain

Louis, XIV. A Dutch Author of the History of King Pomroy, with two Captains of the Marine Regi-Hist. de William , fays: “ In this Action, the French ments. Monsieur De Larrey , speaking of theGuillaume " gained the Victory, the Dutch the Honour, two former, says ; Whatever was the BehaviourIII. Roi cc an( i the English the Shame." So easily can the of the Lord Pornngton , it could not depress thed’Angl. Misconduct (whether real or pretended) of one Valour of some of the English Commanders. A-Commanding Officer bring a Blemish on a whole mongthese were the Captains Botham and Pomroy,Nation. Bishop Burnet thinks the two Admirals who seconding the Bravery of the Duke of Grafalmost equally deserved Blame : “ If (says he) ton, and, with him, breaking loose from the main

" the French had not lost the Night s ride, but Body of the Fleet, commanded by the motionless

“ had followed us close, they might have de- Admiral, went to the Assistance of the Dutch.