6±o W. and M. Naval Expeditions , &c. of the English, Book: sV'
1690. The whole Fleet, without the Dutchconsisted of three and forty Ships, greatand small, viz. one First-Rate, eightSecond-Rates, eight and twenty Third-Rates, four Fourth-Rates, three Sixth-Rates, and ten Fire-ships, of which allbut eight were joined. They were allorder’d to be victual’d at Portsmouth , inthe following Manner : The First- andSecond-Rates were to be furnished tothe twelfth of 0 Boh er, and the Third-Rates, and under, to the six and twen-tieth of that Month. They had, atthis Time, on Board, the Earl ofMarlborough, General of his Majesty’sForces, with upwards of five ThousandSoldiers, bound to Ireland.
The great The Winter Season advancing, theShipss enta ~ Admirals were, however, soon directedlout to Chat-fend their great Ships, viz. the Sove-ham. reign, Duke , Coronation, ' Dutchefs ,Sandwich, Neptune, Ossory, and RoyalCatherine, to Chatham ; So that theAdmiral was obliged to hoise the Union-Flag on Board the Kent, a Ship of thethird Rate. Besides this, Provisions fellvery short, and there was a great Wantof good Seamen.
Amidst all the Difficulties, these Ad-A Scarcity mirals put to Sea, pursuant to the Com-cf Seamen mands they had received, from theKing, and arrived before CVF-Harbourthe one and twentieth of SeptemberThe Admi- j} ere they anchor’d ; For the Tide ofT md ^arrive Flood being done the Pilots would notin Ireland, venture in. The Earl of Marlborough,who was on Board, with some Forces,as I have said above, immediately gaveNotice of his Arrival to the Duke ofWirtemberg , and Major General Sera-venmore ; his Orders being to act in thisExpedition, in Concert with some otherTroops, which were already there, un-der the Command of these General Of-ficers. Next Day they weighed, and,in a Calm, towed in towards the Har-bour’s Mouth. Several Shot were firedat them from the Larboard-Side, whichas they afterwards found, came from a
small Battery of eight Guns; But three I h*) 0 "of their Boats being sent on Shoar, arm-ed with some stout resolute Fellows, toattack them, the Irish were soon forcedto abandon their Guns, which being dis-mounted, their Carriages were throwninto the Sea, and the Ships got in, with-out farther Interruption.
On the three and twentieth, between proceedinptwo and three in the Morning, the against c ° r 'greatest Part of the Soldiers headed bythe Duke of Grafton were put into pro-per Vessels, which carried them up toa Place called Passage , (c) and, in theAfternoon, the Rest, together with theMarines, were landed. The next Day,about five or six Hundred Seamen,
Gunners, and Carpenters were put onShoar, who proved very usefull in draw-ing up the Cannon to batter the Town.
The Powder and Shot taken out of thegreat Ships at Portsmouth, being nowmade Use of by the Army, they beganto besiege the Town in Form. (d) «
The Admirals had, on the five and The City^twentieth, before Day, sent ten Pinna- 9 ork taces up with armed Men, to assist in at>tacking the Town ; and they were putin Hopes, by the Earl of Marlborough,that it would be in the Possession of theKing’s Troops in three or four Days; Asindeed it happened; For they took it thenine and twentieth, and made the wholeGarrison, consisting of four ThousandMen, Prisoners of War; Tho’ not ’tilla considerable Breach was made in theirWall, and a general Asiault, in whichthe Duke of Grafton received his Death’sWound, was actually begun. The ,fifth of Offober, the Earl of Marlborough 'f affed ^opened the Trenches before Kingsale, taken-and on the fifteenth, near Midnight,that Place capitulated, and surrenderedlikewise, the next Morning early. Bysubduing these two Sea-port-Towns, aneffectual Stop was put to all Suppliesfrom France, at least on the SouthernCoasts, and the Irish were almost confin-ed to the Province of Ulsier. This glori-ous
o So Mr. Secretary Burchett calls it; ButKennet , and the Author of the History os KingWilliam fays, up the Paflages : I believe, howe-ver, tho' I cannot affirm it, that the former is inthe Right.
(d) AT this Siege, a warm Dispute happenedbetween the Duke of Wirtemberg, and the Earlof Marlborough , being both Lieutenant-Generals,Concerning the chief Command ; The first prettyhaughtily laying Claim to it because he was aPrince ; And the other, with great Temper, andhis usual Gentleman-like Moderation, insisting up-
on his Right, both as eldest Officer, and becausehe led the Troops of his own Nation ; Whereasthe Duke of Wirtemberg was only at the Head ofAuxiliaries. Monsieur la Meloniere interposing,u o Marlborough was contented to sharethe Command with the Duke, lest his insisting onhis full Right ihould retard His Majesty’s Ser-vice ' Accordingly, this discreet General com-manded the first Day, and gave the Word Wir-temberg ; And the Duke of that Name, com-manding the Day following, gave theWordMizr/-