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Abo ut Noon, the Sea-breeze sprungs up, at West-North-West, and North-West, when the Admiral bore away a-long Shoar, upon the Enemy,, discover-ing their Strength the more, the nearerhe came to them. At last, he reckonedabout eighty Sail, commanded by Mon-sieur de Fourville ; But the Numberthat ply’d up to him was not above six-teen, with three Flags, viz. The Ad-miral, Vice-Admiral of the Blue, andRear-Admiral of the White ; For theVice-Admiral of the White stood off toSea, that he might weather our Squa-dron, and fall in with the Merchant-Ships, whilst the Body of their Fleetlay to Leeward of one another, as faras they could be seen.

. A t three in the Afternoon, ourSquadron being within four Miles ofthe Enemy, Vice Admiral Vandergoesbrought to, and sent to Sir GeorgeRooke,to let him know, that he was then sen-sible of the Deceit, their whole Fleetbeing now visible; For which Reason,he was for avoiding fighting, if possible,being fearful,that not only many of theMerchant-Ships would be lost, but anEngagement be too hazardous.

The Admiral thought he was ad-vanced too far to think of retreating,and therefore ’till he received thisMessage, was fully resolved to pulh forit; But considering afterwards the Blamewould ly upon him, should he exposehimself to the Hazard of so unequal aFight, contrary to the Opinion and Ad-vice of the Dutch Flag-Officer, and

miscarry, he brought to, and stood off 1693.with an easy Sail, that the Dutch, and Sir Georgethe heavy Ships might work up to the ^ ookeWindward. He lent, at the lame^^iTime, the Sheerness , with Orders to thesmall Ships that were near the Land,and probably could not keep up withthe Fleet, to endeavour to get alongShoar in the Night, and save themselvesin Faro , St. Luc ar or Cadiz.

The French Admiral and Vice-Ad-miral of the Blue, with eight or ten oftheir Ships fetched very fast upon ourSquadron, which obliged them to makeSail; Notwithstanding which they cameup with the Leeward, most-about sixo’Clock. These were three Dutch Menof War, two of which were commandedby the Captains Schryver, and FanderPoel who fought first eleven, and thenseven French Men of War, for fiveHours, and got clear of the first eleven;

But were at last forced to give Way tothe superior Force. The Dutch Mer*chant Ships soon after thought sit totack, and stand in for the Shoar as theEnemy did after them, and therebygave a fair Opportunity to our Shipswhich were to Windward, and a-head,to make their Escape; Which saved agreat Part of the Fleet. The Admiralstood off all Night, with a press’d Sail,having a fresh Gale at N. N. W. and,on Sunday Morning,four and fifty of theMerchants Ships , wih several Menof War were about him; (c) Five Sailof the Enemy's Ships being to Leeward,

two

The ^Oppor-tunity ourShips had toescape bythe Enemasfollowingsome DutchShips intothe Shoar>

Fleet was coming upon them; And, indeed, (faysBishop Burmt) had they come so far with them,here was an Occasion offered, which perhaps maynot be found again in an Age, of destroying theirwhole Strength at Sea.

(c) In a Letter written by Captain Littleton ,Commander of the Smyrna- Factor Man of War,from Cadiz-, we have the following Particulars ;Some of which are not in any other Accounts.The six and twentieth of June , (I suppose hewrites New Stile) at Nine in the Morning, wearrived in the Height of Cape St. Vincents and,about two in the Afternoon, the Head-most Sai-lors discovered the French , and about four in theAfternoon both Sides engaged, for some Time.After which, the Head-most retired, and gaveNotice the seme Evening to the Officer in Chief:The seven and twentieth, in the Morning, we ar-rived near Lagos, and our Ships took a Fire-ship°f the Enemy’s, which reported, That therewere at Lagos eighteen French Men of War, withsome Fire-ships and Merchant-men. About fourin the Morning, two Ships blew up, or else theEnemy set them on Fire themselves, within Can-non-shot of the Convoy. The Commander alsogave the Signal of drawing into a Line of Battle jFor ’till then we descried no more than nine andstyenty Sail of the Enemies. There was noWmd

stirring ’till ten o’Clock 5 at which Time a freshGale arose, and then we discovered a greaterNumber of Ships. The Convoy also steeringSouthward, perceived, on the one Side, fortySail, under three Flags, besides another Squadrop,which endeavoured to get between us and theCoasts: Which the Admiral observing gave No-tice to the Merchant-men, to make all the Sailthey could for the Port of Cadiz , while the Menof War kept the Enemy in Play. This Designwas observed by the French , who made all theSail they could to intercept us. But the Convoy,having the Wind, kept the Enemy in Play, ’tillthe Evening, and gave Time to the nimblest Sai-lors to get hither. Towards five in the After-noon, the eighteen French Men of War above-mentioned engaged the Convoy, and the Fightlasted some Part of the Beginning of the Night,the Rest of the Fleet not being able to come upwith them. The eight and twentieth, in theMorning, the Fight began with greater Fury, sothat about seven o’Clock, our Vessels saw fourShips on Fire, not knowing whether French orEnglijh , and the Guns were heard ’till nine, tho”the Event be not yet known. It is to be feared,we may have lost some Men of War, and severalMerchants. This Engagement happened aboutsix Miles from Cape St. Mary,