6£o W. and M. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the Englilb, Book $
1691.
comes toTown.
Returns totie Fleet .
commanded him, before the Fleet sail-ed, to block up that Port, if the DutchThe Admiral Ships, which were expected there, didnot arrive in 1 ime.
When he returned to the Fleet, hehad Orders, to fend some Ships into theJrijh Channel, to cruise upon the Coastsof Scotland, without Cantire, to preventthe French transporting any Forces fromIreland to that Kingdom : But the Shipswhich were expected from Dunkirk , notbeing come, and the Dutch Admiralrefusing to send Ships of his Squadron tosupply in Part, their Places, these Or-ders could not be complied with. TheQueen being informed of this Delay,renewed her Order, that the FleetIhould fail as loon as possible, accordingto Her former Instructions, withoutstaying for the Return of the DunkirkSquadron.
The twentieth of May, the Fleetwas ready, and the Admiral intendedto fail, the next Morning, from theDowns to For bay, and to leave Ordersfor Mr. Churchill , to follow him thither,with the Squadron under his Command,off of Dunkirk ; But a South-West Windpreventing him, he received the Queen’sOrders, the twenty-second, to proceedbefore Brest.
The twenty-third, in the Morning,the Fleet set Sail; But, being got asfar Westward as Dengenejfe, was forcedback into the Downs, with a hardGale, at South-West; And, soon after,Advice came, that the French were ar-rived, with a Hundred Transports, inthe River Shannon, and that their Con-voy was cruising between that River andGalloway ; Upon whichHer Majesty or-dered the Admiral to proceed oif ofBrest, but to send a Frigat to Kingsale ,for Intelligence, and, if there was anyProbability of destroying those Ships, todetach a Squadron for that Purpose,with Orders to return to the Fleeti assoon as the Service was performed. Itwas again recommended to him, to getthe bestlnformation he could, of the Bo-dy of the French Fleet, to remain off ofBrest, or thereabouts, if Wind andWea-ther would permit, 'till the SmirnaFleet which was expected, arrived, or
ReceivesOrders toproceed be-fore Bresl.
Burchett.
(i) From thence, he sent a Letter to the Se-cretary of State, desiring that it might be con-sidered, whether the Fleet, before its Return,could be serviceable towards the Reduction ofIreland ; For that the Provisions would last nolonger than the latter End of August, and, after
as long after as he Ihould think necesia- 169 1 ’ry.
T11 e first of 'June, the Admiral wasacquainted, that the News of the Dukeof Berwick ’s being gone to Scotland wascontradicted, and not many Days afterhe received Advice from Court, thatthe French Squadron was certainly goneback from Ireland, and the Transportswould probably be clear of that King-dom, before the Fleet could arrive:
His Orders were therefore renewed, tofail to Brest, Belle-Ule, or some Stationthereabouts, to prevent the French fromattempting our Smirna-Fleet.
The Weather being, at Length, fa- TheFV 1 .vorable, the Fleet put to Sea, and, on j outs tothe fourteenth of June, being six LeaguesSouth-East from the Iste of Height, itwas, by a Council of the Flag Officers,resolv’d, that the Station Ihould be eightLeagues West from UJhant, and thatfrom thence some ’Ships should be de-tached to look into Brest. The nine-teenth, they got off of Plymouth, but, ^
by bad Weather were forced back to But islorbay. There the Admiral received back* 0 ’'a Letter from Mr. Aylmer, dated off of ba y-Cape St. Vincent, by which he judgedthe Smirna-Fleet was in Ireland, or, atleast, very near the Soundings. TheAdmiral got under Sail, the twenty-se-cond, and when he was off of Dart-mouth, an Express brought Advice,that the French were at Sea, with eigh-ty Ships; And the eight and twentieth,it was confirmed by some Fishermen,who said they had lain four Days be-calmed, off of UJhant, which then boreEast-South-East from them, about nineLeagues; Upon which it was resolved,by the Flag-Officers, to stretch over toCape-Clear ; And, when the Admiralcame off of Kingsale, he found the Smir-na-Fleet in safe Harbour there.
The Admiral having conyoy’d this cA'Fleet, off of Scilly, parted with them voy’^K <there, the thirteenth of July, and strap-ed his Course towards the French Coast, Egy.in Search of the French Fleet; (/) And ^no sooner was UJhant discovered fromthe Mast-head, than Sir Cloudesty Shovelwas sent to look into Brest, while theAdmiral followed at a convenient Di~
stance.
that Month was expired, he thought it not fafstor the great Ships to be out of Harbour, but de-sired that a Supply of Provisions might be readyat Plymouth , that so the Want thereof might notobstruct any necessary Service.