W\ and M. Naval Expeditions, 6c c. of the English, Book

1693. ed a Line of Battle : (e) And the Dayafter the Fleet came to Spithead, theFlag Officers took into Consideration,pursuant to Her Majesty’s Command,what Number of Ships might be properfor them, to carry off of Erejl, as alsowhat might be attempted when there.It was agreed, that if the Fleet, for thatService, could consist of seventy, theywould proceed to the said Port, and en-deavour to attempt the French Ships;And their Reason for insisting on thatNumber was the Uncertainty whetherthe Ships from Toulon had joined theEreji Squadron, or not ?

A Consult a- Another Council of War was called,

tion concern- t j ie fifteenth of May, to consider how

Convey* the Streights Fleet, with the Tradebound to Turky, might most safely pro-ceed, under the Conduct: of Sir GeorgeRooke. yd)

Particular By Her Majesty’s Commands, the

tleAdisral. L J ds of , the Admiralty sent the Admi-rals, on the nineteenth or May, particu-lar Orders, (<?) which ’till then theyhad not had ; Upon which, aCounci 1 ofWar being called, they came to a De-termination, how far the whole Fleetshould proceed with the Turky Compa-ny : (f) But being come the Height li-mited, on the fourth of June, they ^ re-

solved, in another Council of War, to 1 693 'proceed yet farther, (g) f

All this while,they had not met withany of the Enemy’s Fleet; But the Blackwa 1 ^Lords of the Admiralty received Ad- the Th 00 'vice, on the thirteenth, by Sir Lambert l° n s l utl 'Elackwell, Consul at Leghorn) which ^ n,uhe had from the Master of a MalthefeBark, that the Toulon Squadron, withfive and thirty Gallies, were ready toproceed from Marseilles ; And, someTime before this, the Country was a-larmed with a Number of Ships seenoff of Scilly, which were thought to bethe French Fleet-, But they proved tobe only Danes and Swedes, under Con-voy of a Man of War, of about four andforty Guns.

Several Ships having been sent to jg 0 nc°f^gain Intelligence, on the French Coast, En^Tstone of them, the IVarspight, returned S!: s en dto the Admirals, the seventeenth ofg r est.June, with an Account, that she hadstood in as near with St.Matthew^sEomt,as to bring Erejl-Fs ay open, and thatneither Ship, nor other Vessel, couldbe discovered there, except two or threesmall Fishing Boats; Whereupon, it wasdetermined to fail off of Scilly, in Questof the Enemy, (having not yet been in-formed

Burchett.

C) This Line, according to its several .Divi-sions, was as follows:

English.

I. II. III.

In the Div. of the )Vice-Admiral of; 035the Blue. j

Adm. ofth tBlue. 213Rear-Ad.of th eBlue.o 2 6

Rear-Ad.ofth eRed. 123Admiral of the Red. 315Dutch.

Vice-Admiral. 124Admiral. 2 1 <5

Another Vice-Adm.z o 4

Rates.

IV. V. VI. Firelh.

100 3

i ° r 3

100 2

100 2

r 2 2 3

zoo 2

102 3

301 x

12 si 40 xx 26 19

In all a Hundred and two Sail, besides Bri-gantines, Bomb-Veffels, and Hospital-Ships ; And,of these, seventy-five were of the Line of Battle;And tho’ the Dutch do not distinguish their Shipsby Rates, yet, in this List, they are placed so,with a due Regard to the Proportion of theirForce.

(d) This Matter having been duly debated,they were of Opinion, that if the Toulon Squadronwas come out of the Streights, and joined tothose of Brest, ten Men of War, a small Frigat,and a Fire-ship, would be sufficient for the afore-said' Convoy, and that the seperate Convoy forSpain ought to proceed with them, while theBody of the Fleet accompanied both out ot theChannel ; But that if the French were not joined,it was proper the whole Squadron should forth-with proceed with their Convoys- On the otherHand, if the French Ships were joined, and atSea, it was judged adviseable for the main Fleet

to proceed with the Mediterranean Squadron, asfar as a Council of War, might think proper whenthey should be in the Soundings-, But that if nocertain Advice could be got ot the Toulon Squa-dron's being come out of the Streights, or wherethey were, before the Fleet failed from St. He-len’s, the Mediterranean Squadron (that is to lay,ten Men of War, a Frigat, and aFire-lhip) shouldremain at St Helens , until Intelligence could begained.

(<?) These Orders were to fail in Company ofthe Squadron bound to the Mediterranean , andof the Virginia and Bilboa Convoys, and that, al-ter they had proceeded with them, as far asmight be judged requisite, they should order thosebound to the Streights , to steer such a Course toCadiz , as might be thought most safe, by a Coun-cil of War, withRefpect as well to the Brest-Eleet,if gone out, as to the Toulon Squadron, and then,with the Body of the Fleet, to put in Executionthe Instructions they had received.

(f) It was determined, that the Fleet, andMediterranean Squadron, should proceed toge-ther, thirty Leagues W. S. W. from lists ant, andthat when the Admirals spread a Blue Flag, a£the Main-top-mast-Head, and sired three Guns,Sir George Rooke , as well as the other Convoy 3 *should go forward, according to the Orders theyhad received from the Lords of the Admiralty-

(g) It was now determined, That since theyhad no Intelligence of the Enemy, they wouldaccompany the hAediterranean Squadron, twentyLeagues farther, and then return to the formerStation, to take up the Cruisers, from whenceit was judged adviseable, to proceed to the Ren-dezvous ten Leagues N. W- of Ujhant ; So that,leaving the Streights Squadron, on the sixth, mthe Evening, they arrived at the said Rendezvoustwo Days after.

1