Chap. IL during the Reign of §yeen km. 755

? 1702. For ,the better Execution. of theRe-

ir^t rations solution taken in this Council of War,the Admiral spent a great Part of theNight, in going from Ship to Ship, inhis own Boat, to give the necessary Or-ders, and to encourage both Officers andSeamen, to do their Duty, the nextDay. As soon as the Land-Forces were^ got on Shoar, the twelfth, in the Morn-

knf° rce * ing, (K) the Admiral gave the Signal toKssf u i. weigh, the Line was formed, (V) andthe Squadron was briskly bearing up tok Cc . the Boom, but when the Van was got^ a -Fcr{es. * within Shot of theBatteries, it fell calm,so that they were necessitated to cometo an Anchor again. However, afresh Gale coming up, not long after,Vice-Admiral Hopson, in the lor bay,being next to the Enemy, immediatelycut his Cables, clapt on all his Sails, andbearing up directly upon the Boom, a-midst all the Enemies Fire, broke thro'it at once, cast. Anchor between the

Bourbon , and DEJperance , (or the Hope ) 1702.

two French Men of War, which CountChateau-Renaud, had placed near theBoom,and, with unparellel’dRe/biution,received several Broadsides from them.

The rest of Vice-Admiral Hopson's Di-vision, and Vice-Admiral Vundergoes,with his Detachment, having weighedat the same Time, sailed a-breast to-wards the Boom, to add the greaterWeight and Force to the Shock, butbeing becalmed, they all stuck, andwere obliged to hack and cut their Waythro’; But a Fresh Gale blowing again,the Dutch Vice-Admiral made suchgood Use of it, that having hit the Pas-sage, which the Valiant Hopson hadmade, he boldly went in, and madehimself Master of the Bourbon. Allthis while, Admiral Hopson was in ex-tream Danger; For being clapt onBoard, by a FrmcÆ Fire-lhip, wherebyhis Rigging was presently sec on Fire9 F j he

and thence proceed on, where they might mosteffectually annoy the Enemy ; That, because itwas not well known, what Depth of Water theremight be, the Attempt should be made with thesmaller Ships, and that to give the better Coun-tenance to the Service, all the Flag-Officerslhould go in with the Squadron.

(b) The Duke of Ormond was landed, in asandy Bay, about two Leagues distant from Vigo,on the South-fide of the River, with betweentwo and three Thousand Men ; And meeting withno Opposition in Landing, his Grace ordered theGrenadiers, under the Lord Shannon , and Colo-nel Peirce , to march directly to the Fort, whichguarded the Entrance into the Harbour, wherethe Boom lay, which they executed with muchAlacrity and Courage; And the Duke himself,at the Head of the Rest of the Forces, marchedon Foot, over craggy Mountains, to sustain thefirst Detachment; At the same Time, there ap-peared about eight Thousand Men between theFort and the Hills, yet theyjmade only a feintSheWof Skirmishing at a Distance, and, as the Gre-nadiers advanced, they retired ; And the former,in like Manner, driving before them anotherParty of the Enemy, followed them to the veryFort,' and bravely made themselves Masters ofthe lower Platform, whereon , were eight andthirty Pieces of Cannon. Hereupon, LieutenantGeneral Churchill Regiment advanced on theLeft, and took their Posts as they saw most con-venient : The Batteries being taken, tho’ (as Mr.Burche'tt observes) the French and Spaniards-, ac-cording to Report, had near twenty ThousandMen, at or near the Place ; (And, indeed, con-tinues, he had not the Forts and the Battery, atthe End of the Trench, been first taken, therewould have been much more Difficulty found, inforcing the Boom, and burning the French Ships)The Enemy retired into an old Tower or Stone-Caslle, and from,thence, for some short Time,fired briskly upon the Fnglijh't But the Grena-diers plying them warmly with their Grenadoes,and pelting them With their Fuzees, as soon asthey appeared on the Wall, M- de Sorel , a va-liant Captain of a French Man of War, who com-manded in the Fort, haying encouraged his Men

to make a daring Pulh for their Lives, opened theGates, intending tp; force his Way thro’ the En-glish, with, Swordin Hand j. But the Grenadiersrushing immediately into the Castle, made them-selves Masters, of it, and took near three Hun-dred French Seamen, and fifty Spaniards, withtheir Officers, Prisoners at Discretion. A smallParty of the Enemy endeavoured to make theirEscape, thro’ the Water; But were stopped by aDetachment of the Dutch .

(/) The Line, which was formed, consisted of App, to the

the following Ships :

Mary,

Graf ton,Torbay,

Kent,Dordrecht,

I Provinces,^eluve^Berwick ,

EJfex,if (sure,Danelagh,Somerset ,Bedford,

a fa*

•splland,

Fine,

Deygersberg,

Cambridge,

sorthumberl.

Oxford,

. Dembroke ,Gouda,Klckmaer,Gatwick,

(Vice-

Adm.Hopson.

PhoeniX,V i ilture,

I. Vol of theAnnals ofL Ann.

-One Fire-ship.

7 Vice-Adm.

\Vatidergoes-

7 Rear-Adm. Terrible, 7 Fire-\Fairborn. Griffin, r ships,

•Adm. Rooke.

Hawke, ? Fire-Hunter , ^ ships.

.Adm. Callemberg.Bar. Wajsenaer.

One Fire-ship.

(Rear-Adm.(Graydon.

? Vice-Adm. \^ Pietersen. £

_ tning,Fire-ship.

One Fire-ship.

In all 24 ; Tho’ the general Account says, 25.

The small Vessels and Bomb-Vessels, to be rea-dy to fail up the River, upon a Signal made for sodoing.

Association, ? Ordered to, batter the Forts, onBarfleur, £ each Side the River,