760 Ann. Naval Expeditions, &e* of the English, BookA

1702. there were three laden withSalt,five andtwenty with Fish, and one from Marti-nica, with Sugar and Molosses. (ft) Andthat then, having left his whole Squa-dron, excepting the Exeter, Medway,ftfiftttnce and Litchfield, to convoy theTrade, to the several Places agreed up-on, the second of 0 SI oh er, he made thebest of his Way for England.

Captain Bazil Beau month Proceedings,as Commander oft a Squadron employedagainjl the French Ships at Dun-kirk,

Capt. Beau- The fame Day Captain Leake receiv-J ed'otTof <ier ' e< ^ Inductions, for failing to New-Dunkirk. foundland, Captain Bazil Beaumont wasordered to Sea, with a Squadron, par-ticularly designed to observe the Mo-tion of the Enemy’s Ships at Dunkirk,{c) The next Day, there was Advice,that the two biggest Ships at Dunkirkwere got down to the Heads, and thatthree more were preparing for the Sea ;Upon which Captain Beaumont receivedOrders to proceed thither immediately.

09

Pursuant to his Orders, he set Sail,Sets Sail. anc j j^ing off of Dunkirk, the eigh andtwentieth of June, sent a Sloop to theAdmiralty, with an Account, that hehad discovered eight large Ships in

Flepmijh Road, which he imaginedwould put to Sea that very Spring-tide,and that being too weak to oppose them,he resolved to join the Dutch Ships atSchoneveldt. (e) This he did, the nineand twentieth, and acquainted Vice-Admiral Evertzen what he had observ-ed, desiring him to add some of hisSquadron to our Ships; But the Dutchbeing, at thatTime, apprehensive of aDescent uponZealand, refused to complywith his Request. However, they suf-fered Part of their Squadron to go a lit-tle farther Westward, to be readier toassist our Ships, if the Fleet should comeout.

The tenth of July, our Fleet wasre-inforced to seven Fourth-Rates, andone Sixth-Rate, and three Dutch Shipsjoined them five Days after, with a Pro-mise, that a Rear-Admiral, with thir-teen Ships, should observe the French,who (they said) were preparing, atDunkirk and Oftend, not only theirShips of War, but Fire-ships, Pontoons,and other Necessaries for a Descent, (f)

Upon a Meeting of the Englijh andDutch Officers, some Time after, itwas agreed, that Captain Beaumont, withseven Englijh Men of War, and fiveDutch, should ly S. and S. by E. fromDunkirk, and stretch away 8. W. andN. E. the better to keep the Enemyin, or to attack them if they got out.

And

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(h) Of the nine and twenty Ships taken, eightfell to the Share of the Exeter, the Medway seiz-ed Nine, the Montague and Litchfield each of themtook four, three were taken by the Charles-Gal-ly , and one by the Reserve. Had our Ships (faysMr. Secretary Burchett) arrived on the Coast ofNewfoundland a Fortnight sooner, they mighthave given a better Account of the Enemy ; Formany of them had made their Voyage, and weregone from their several Stations, to Placentia ;And even those that escaped from St. Peters musthave gone with little or none of their Cargo; Forrunning away, they left Part thereof behind,which the Medway and Charles Gaily destroy-ed-

(r) He was directed to proceed over to thatPort, and if by the Falling of the Tides, he judg-ed their biggest Ships could not get out to Sea, todivide his Squadron, and appoint one Part tocruise Northward, and the other Westward, be-tween the Coasts of E.ngland and France; Butyet so, as that they might timely join at the Gene-ral Rendezvous , which was to be either at theGunfleet , in the Downs, Oufiey Bay or TarmouthRoads, as Winds and Weather, and other Cir-cumstances might make it most proper.

(d) He was to go with four Fourth-Rates anda Sloop, and, when there, to govern himself ac-cording to the aforesaid Instructions ; But he wasdirected to leave Orders for the other -Ships, un-der his Command, to follow him from the Downs

as soon as possible; And there being a Squadron ofDutch Ships, off of Schoneveldt at this Time, itwas recommended to him, if he found himself notstrong enough, to keep Monsieur Ponti in, to joinhi.s Squadron with that.

(e) By this Sloop, Orders were sent to him, toremain off of Dunkirk, if joined with the DutchShips, and that the French were .still in that Port:But lest Accidents might have brought him intothe Downs, Orders were, at the fame Time, sentthither, directing him first to proceed to Yar-mouth Roads, and then to use his best Endeavoursto protect the Trade from Hamburg, the Eaft-Country, and Holland.

(f) This Account being received from Cap-tain Beaumont, he was ordered to proceed toLeith, in Scotland, in Cafe Monsieur Ponti wasgone to Sea with his Squadron, and that he hadno Prospect os coming up with him, for therewas a Suspicion, that he was designed to thatKingdom ; But if he found him not there, nor In-telligence where he might meet him, he was tocome to the Gunfleet, calling in at Newcafile, andthe several Northern Parts, for the Trade boundinto the River: And by other Orders, dated thefourth of August, it was recommended to him, t0take particular Care of the Merchant-fhips fromRussia and the Baltick, laden with Stores, as we"for the Navy as the Merchants Service.