"tUp.VlL from the Revolution to
*691. stance. When he was about a Leag. fromSt. Matthew's Point* he saw about fortySail coming out of i 3 r<?/AHarbour, whichproved to be coasting Vessels from Bre-tagne, with three Men of War, of a-bout forty Guns each. Sir CloudejlyShovel, to decoy these Ships, stood in,^ips decoy- with ^ art °f hk Squadron, under Frencha stra- Colours, and the Rest without any;
Sem ' Which made them believe they weresomePrizes fentHome, withPart of theirown Fleet; So that they were comingout to meet them; But finding theirMistake, every one shifted for himself,as well as he could. (£)
defame The seven and twentieth, the Fleetll^tegem being about thirty Leagues from UJhant,several Vessels were seen under Convoytme " of a Man of War, and two Ships sup-posed to be Fire Ships. The fame Stra-tagem was made Use of as before, todeceive them, with white Colours; Butone of our Captains being too forwardin the Chafe, only three of the smallVessels fell into our Hands. (/)
^* Admiral The Admiral finding all Methods for
%Q d !% coming up with the Enemy proved in-' ° effectual (for, as Bishop Bur net observes,
they had Orders to avoid an Engage-ment) was desirous of fresh Orders, howto proceed with the Fleet; When, onthe nine and twentieth, the Queen senthim Directions, if the French Fleet wasnot at Sea, or in such a Station, that hecould not prudently attack them, heshould forthwith repair to the Coast ofIreland , for Security of our Mercbant-Ships ; But left him at Liberty to go toKingfale , to refresh his Men, or to re-main in such Station, near that Place,
the Death oj K, William. 6§t
where he should judge the Fleet might 1691.be most safe, and in the greatest Readi-ness to execute Orders, (m) He was,however, advised, not to leave theFrench Coast immediately, because hemight probably soon, if at all, have anOpportunity of Fighting.
The thirty-first of July (the Fleethaving 'till then kept it’s Station, aboutsixty Leagues, West-South-West fromXJjhanf ) the Admiral gave Orders, oncemore, to stand for UJhant ; And threeDays after, the Marquis of Carmarthen'sSloop, being upon the Chafe, off ofUJhant, saw upwards of a Hundred Sad,
• in Bi oad Sound, which, as they fuppof 7Frenched, proved to be the FA-r-ffi Fleet going Fleet getsto Brejl. This being made known to lnt0 ^ rest ’the Admiral, it was agreed, in a Coun-cil of War, on the fifth of Ftuguji, thatit was absolutely necessary for our Fleetto sail to Torbay, as well to refresh th e Al nd theMen, as to recruit with several Thingsthey stood in need of, which was done Torbay.accordingly.
At Torbay, Pier Majesty’s former The Admi-Orders and Instructions were renewed r J^ s I ”^ ruc ''and explained, with the Addition, of pi a ind~.Care to be taken of the Trade comingfrom the tp r ejl-Indies: And, as the Ad-miral thought it necessary, that thethree deck’d Ships should be sent home,at the End of this Month, Her Majestyconsented that they should be orderedto Spithead. Not long after, the Ad- Certainmiral received a Letter from the Lords ^rttcoibof the Admiralty, proposing certain LoralsQuestions, to which not only his Ops the Admiral*nion, but the Opinion of all the Flag-Officers was desired, (n)
8 C The
^ett.
(k) On this Occasion, the Admiral got Xntel-icrence, that the French Fleet had been at Sealear forty Days, that they were eighty-four Shipsif the Line of Battle, and were supposed to be'raising up and down in the Soun 'ings.
' ,i\ This Convoy was gomg with fresh Provi-inm to the Fleet, which the Prisoners reported■q confi fl 0 f seventy-six Sail, from a Hundred toiftvGuns, and that they expected them to lyixtv Leagues West, or West-South-West fromTlhant ■ Which, as our Scouts, tho’ they weretationed so as to discover twenty Leagues, indear Weather, had not teen them, confirmed aBelies that Monsieur de Fourville had Orders totvoid the Englist, and, to that End, shifted theirstations as fast as their Scouts discovered any os
(m) The chief Occasion ot this Order washe King’s Success in Ireland , which was so great,hat His Majesty thought he might employ arood Part of his Army, this Year, on a Descentn France , in which the Fleet was to be assistant;3ut this Project came to nothing,
(n) How long it might be convenient to keepLe Fleet at Sea, in a Body? How long they
might be ventured at Sea, in Cafe the French didnot disarm their Ships, or the Publick Serviceshould require so great a Fleet ? And when thegreat Ships could no longer keep the Sea, wherethey might, with most Safety, remain for someTime, before they were laid up, so as to be rea-dy to join the Rest of the Fleet, in Cafe theFrench should come upon our Coast ? Hereupon,a Council of War was called, the nineteenth ofAugust, where were present the Flag-Officers fol-lowing, viz. English j Admirals Rujfel, andKillegrew ; Vice-Admirals Apby and DelavalsAnd Rear-Admirals Rook and Shovel: Dutch ;Admiral Allemonde, Vice-Admirals Fan de Putteand Callemberg ; And Rear-Admiral Evertzen.Who, taking these several Particulars into Con-sideration, returned the following Answers tothem : viz.
r. That it was not convenient for His Ma-jesty’s Service, the Fleet should continue at Sealonger than the last of August.
2. But if the Service did absolutely requiretheir slaying out longer, the utmost Time oughtto be the tenth of Septefflber.
Z. That