Chap. V. from the Resolution, to the Death oj

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M.

Squa-

f°*re. ia .

J Qr ced.

*690. marched out of the Place, with abouttwo Hundred and fifty Men, with theirArms and Baggage, leaving two andforty Guns mounted in the Castle. Herethe Rear-Admiral got Intelligence, thatall the French Ships, which had beent) u ncannon ° n t ^ e D eland, were failed to

Cafiie taken Limerick, together with the Privateers,his As. and Merchant-Men, in Order to secure'fiance. the Retreat of their Army, if they shouldattempt another Battle and be routed.

The Lords of the Admiralty being,in the mean Time, informed, that theywere gone from Limerick to Galloway,there to embark for France, on a Squa-dron of Ships, which failed from thelame Place, and were re-inforced byMonsieur d'Amfreville , they orderedthe Admirals to fend Sir Cloudesly Shovelto Plymouth (where he was arrived withPart of his Squadron) four Third Rates,four Fourth Rates, three Fifth-Rates,and four Firefhips, which when addedto those which he had with him, wouldtogether make a Squadron of five ThirdRates, ten Fourth-Rates, eight Fifth-t£s°°n as- Rates, and fix Fire-ihips. With theser div ided. he was ordered to fail in Quest of theEnemy; But other more pressing Ser-vices soon after requiring the Ships,Directions were sent to him, by theKing’s Command, on the eighteenth ofSeptember, to detach ten of them intothe Soundings, for the Security of theTrade, and to repair to the Downs withthe Remainder of his Squadron.

In Obedience to these Orders, he leftthree Third-Rates, four Fourth-Rates,and three Fifth-Rates, under the Com-mand of Captain Carter (who had join-ed him with several Ships) and he him-self, being off of the Blasket-lfands,lying at the North Side of the Entranceinto Dingle-Bzy, got Intelligence, thatthe French Fleet had indeed been gonefrom Gallaway, about a Week before ;But that there still remained five Sail atthat Place. Upon this he sent twoFrigats thither, not thinking it fase to goin with the whole Squadron ; Because,as it is a deep Bay a Number of Shipscould not easily get out, unless theyhad an Easterly Wind. These twoFrigats returning, on the six and twenti-eth, brought him the followingAccount.That, on the thirteenth of September ,Monsieur dfiAmfreville sailed from Galla-

way, with about sixty Ships and Vessels,- 1690.

eighteen whereof were Men of War : Monsieur _That they took with them only the Earl ifaif/rmof Tyrconel, Mr. Fitz James (natural Gaiiaway;Son to King J ames) Buffo, late Go ver- -Jd carriesnou r of Limerick, wtth a lew Bick Men,and about three or four Hundred Irish : and'others,That, on the fifteenth, they were joined with him toby the Ship called the Grand Monarch , France>and eleven other Capital Ships, whichhad been in the River Shannon, near aWeek, and could not get to Gallaway ,and that, upon the first Notice of ourSquadron’s coming,, they steered theirCourse directly into the Sea, and didnot venture to approach the Coast ofIreland, altho’ they did not seem to haveany Reason for apprehending Danger,considering the Superiority of theirForce.

It was the tenth of Qflober when Sir s ir Cloudes-Cloudefly Shovel arrived in the Downs, SJlovel a JWith Part or his Squadron, having given Downs.Orders to the Remainder to attend onsundry necessary Services. There hefound Orders, from the Lords of the Ad-miralty, to proceed to Plymouth, with allthe Ships which were in a Condition forthe Sea, and from that Port to take la-thers, with which he was to cruise in ^" f entshot Soundings, for Security of the Trade ; and crusesHaving gotten together what Ships h efprsomeTimecould, he proceeded with them to the ™*AeSound-aforefaid Port of Plymouth, and tsien ln ® s ‘failing thence, the third of December ,chased several Sails in th ^Soundings, butcould not come up with them, for mostof the Ships he had with him were foul.

At Length, the Deptford and Crowntook a small French Man of War, ofeighteen Guns and ten Patereroos, cal-led the Fripon, which Ship had beforefought four Dutch Privateers, whereinshe received considerable Damage, andhad thirty of her Men killed and wound-ed : Her Captains Name was St. Marca ,who, with theLieutenant, were wound-ed, and her Master was killed; Andfighting very obstinately, she yieldednot ’till the Crown shot away her Main-mast, and boarded her.

The Rear-Admiral, having ended his He arrivesCruise, he sent some of the Ships to theCoast of Ireland, left others in the Sound-ings, and arrived himself in the Downs,the Middle of January.

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CHAP.