hap.XV. from the Revolution, to the Death of iX, William 689

*694. Disorder, and it happening, at the sameTime, to be an Ebb-Tide, most of theBoats stuck fast, so that the Men onBoard them were either miserablyslaughtered, or forced to beg Quarter;Burnet says not above a Hundred cameback. In this Action were slain,wounded, or taken Prisoners, of theLand-Troops, at least five HundredMen, and the brave Lieutenant Gene-ral Falmarjh himself, being wounded intheThigh, died soon after, at Plymouth.(g) The Monk , Charles-Gally and Shore-,ham , some of the Ships which were sentto protect the Landing, and to batterthe French Forts, were very muchshattered, and in them, and the others,about a Hundred and twelve (Rennetfays four Hundred) Men were killedand wounded. A Dutch Frigat of thirtyGuns, called the Wstep, was funk, andher Captain killed;' Besides which, wereceived many other Damages: And itwas with incredible Labour and Hazard,that the Marquis of Carmarthen broughtthe Ships off, with all their Rigging cutto Pieces, and most of their Sails andYards disabled.

The whole Extent of theBaysof Ca- 1694*

maret and Bertheaurne (which ly on eachSide of the Entrance into Brest IVater')was in a Manner a continued Fortifica-tion : For where there was any Place toput Forces on Shoar, there had theFrench Batteries and Retrenchments, andthey threw Bombs at our Ships fromfive or six Places, {h)

The Land Forces being embarked, a Concluded inGeneral Council of War was held, and re-

as theAttempt upon Brejl was found im- turn toSpit-practicable, the Debate was what could head.be done with the Fleet and Army. TheLieutenant General informed them, hewas not authoriz'd to attempt any otherPlace ; It was, therefore, agreed to re-pair to Spithead, to land the Troops,and resit the Ships; And thus endedthis fruitless Expedition.

Th e fifteenth of June, the Fleet ar-rived at St. Helens, and there found Or-ders from the Queen, that a Council ofWar, of the General and Flag-Officers,should consider how the Ships andTroops might be best employ’d. (J)

The Queen having sent Her Orders,which were received the seven and

twentieth

(g) Some have pretended to fay, that thisGallant Officer was destined to be a Sacrifice inthis Undertaking, by the Envy of some of hispretended Friends; It being certain, that theFrench had Time to provide themselves againsta Design, which was become a Town-Talk, inLondon , some Months before it was put in Exe-cution. Burnet gives him the Character of abrave and generous Man, and a good Officer, ve-ry fit to animate and encourage inferiour Officersand Soldiers; But, adds he, he was much too aptto be discontented, and turn mutinous; So that,upon the whole, he was one of those dangerousMen, who are capable of doing as much Mis-chief as good Service.

A little before his Death, he is reported tohave said, that as he lost his Life, in the Perfor-mance of his Duty to so good a Prince, he wasperfectly easy as to that; But it was a greatTrouble to him that the Government had beenso basely betrayed.

(h) Let us now see, what Account the Frenchgive of this Matter. Father Daniel fays ; thatthe Lord Berkeley came into the Bay of Cam ar et,with a Squadron of six and fifty Men of War,Bomb and otherVeffels- General Talmarjh madea Descent, at the Head of a Batallion of Grena-diers, and between eight and nine Hundred Men,which were landed by a great Number of Shal-lops. A brisk Fire ensued, as well from the En-glish on one Side, as from the French Batteriesand Intrenchments on Land, on the other. TheSieur de Benoife , Captain of a French Companyof Marines, observing that there was some Con-fusion among the Englp Troops, sallied out“Word in Hand, at the Head of sixty Men, be-*ng immediately followed by another Company.

defeated the Enemy, killed a great Numbertheir Men, and pursued them to their Shal-°P S * Into which they threw themselves, in such

Numbers, that they could by no Means get themoff. Upon this, the Count de Servcn, Marsha],de Camp , the Sieurs de Vaife , Brigadier of Foot,and du Plestis, Brigadier of Horle, marched aSquadron of the Regiment of du Pleffis up to theShoar, which soon obliged the Englp, in theBoats which were stranded, to demand Quarter.

The others, which had not yet made their De-scent, retreated, under Favour of the Cannon oftheir Ships. A Dutch Vessel, which venturedtoo near the Shoar, ran aground, and was obli-ged to surrender. The Englp lost four Hun-dred Men in the Descent, among whom was theirGeneral Talmarp ; and forty Officers, with fiveSoldiers made Prisoners. Many more weredrowned, and a Bomb happening to fall into aBomb-Vessel, full of Soldiers, it blew up, withall that were in it. This Enterprise cost th e En-glp and Dutch, two Thousand Men; They burntone of their Vessels in the Night, and another ofsixty Pieces of Cannon was run aground. TheFrench, on the contrary, had no more than fiveand forty stain. (Some Particulars of this Rela-tion, hitherto, must be read with a small Allow-ance ; But what follows seems to have prettymuch the Face of Truth.) Monsieur de Vauban,

(fays the fame Author) who commanded at Brest,had taken all his Precautions, with an admirableSkill, as well with Regard, to the Batteries as theIntrenchments, in which was placed a Batallionof Marines, with some other Soldiers, under theCommand of the Marquis de Langeroli. D .

(?')'They were of Opinion, that the Fleet Burchet ishould fail to the Coast of France , and annoy theEnemy, not only with the Bomb- Vessels, but bylanding in the Country ; and that the fame mightbe better effected, it was desired, that some moresmall Frigats might be sent to the Fleets to su-stain the said Bomb-Vessels, which the greaterShips could not do.

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