Chap. V,

during the Reign of §yeen Ann.

779

1703. his Passage, arrived in the Downs, theseventeenth of November. (Æ)

The Orford, Warsplght and Litch-jield, which parted from him six Daysbefore, met, soon after, with a FrenchMan of War, of two and fifty Guns,and five Hundred (Mr. Burchett fays butthree Hundred and seventy) Men, cal-led the Hazardous , commanded by Mon-Srench ^eur R ue > coming from New-

xnofWarfoundland, whom they engaged, and,tQ ^n. after an obstinate Fight of nine Hours,took; She having lost her Fore-top-mast, and all her Sails, and her stand-ing and running Rigging being verymuch shattered. She could have mount-ed more Guns, and was larger than anyof our sixty Gun-Ships; So she was re-gistered in the List of the Royal Navy.

Par I'm- The ninth of November , the Parlia-nt meets. m ent met, and, on the five and twenti-Numb. XIX.

eth, the Commons resolved, that forty 1*703;

Thousand Men, including five Thous-and Marines, be employed for Sea-Service, for the Year, 1704. and thata Sum of four Pounds per Month, for A Supplythirteen Months, be allowed for main - S tbtNavptaining the said forty Thousand Men,including the Ordnance for Sea Service.

The next Day (the six and twenti-eth) was fatal to England, for the most A 011016111violent Storm, that ever was known ' m Storm 'that Kingdom, in the Memory of anyMan living, or recorded in History. Itbegan between eleven and twelve of theClock, at Night, being W. S. W. witha Noise that resembled Thunder at aDistance, attended with great Flashesof Lightning; And continued with analmost unrelenting Fury, ’till seven thenext Morning. (/)

9 M CHAP.

Urn et. (£) I shall give my Readers Bishop Bur net’&

short Account of this Expedition in his ownWords: It was resolved (fays he) to fend astrong Fleet into the Mediterranean : It was nearthe End of June , before they were ready to fail,and they had Orders to come out of the Streights,by the End of September-. Every Thing was so illlaid in this Expedition, as if it had been intendedthat nothingjlhould be done by it, besides the con-voying our Merchants Ships, which did not re-quire the fourth Part of such a Force. : Shovelwas sent to command ; When he saw his Instruc-tions, he represented to the Ministry (as well hemight) that nothing was to be expected from thisVoyage : He was ordered to go, and he obeyedhis Orders; He got to Leghorn , the Beginning ofSeptember. His Arrival seemed to be of greatConsequence; And the Allies began to take Cou-rage from it; But they were soon disappointed oftheir Hopes, when they understood, that, by hisOrders, he could only stay a few Days there. Norwas it easy to imagine what the Design of so greatan Expedition could be, or why so much Monywas thrown away on such a Project, which madeus despised by our Enemies, while it provokedour Friends ; Who might justly think they couldnot depend upon such an Ally, who managed sogreat a Force, with so poor a Conduct, as neitherto hurt their Enemies, nor protect their Friends.

There was also (fays the Bishop, in anotherPlace,) great Complaint thro’ the whole Fleet oftheir Victualing; We lost many of our Seamen,who, as was said, were poisoned by ill Food;And tho’ great Complaints were made of the Vic-tualers, before the Fleet went out, yet there wasnot such Care taken to look into it, as a Matterof that Consequence deserved- The Merchants,likewise, complained, that they were ill servedwith Convoys, and so little Care had been takenof the Newcastle Fleet, that the Price of Coalsrose very high. It was also said, that there wasnot a due Care had of our Seamen, who were ta-ken by the Privateers; Many of them died byReason of their ill Usage, while others, to deli-ver themselves from that, went into the FrenchService. Thus all our Marine Affairs were muchout of Order, and these Disorders were chargedon those, who had the Conduct of them.

(/) It blew down a Multitude of Chirnnies,

Tops of Houses, and even whole Buildings ; Toreup a great Number of Trees, in St. James’s Park, Annals ofthe Inns of Court, Moorfielis , and other Places, er Ann.by the Roots, and broke off others in the Middle ;

Beat down several Spires off of the Steeples; Roll'dup great Quantities of Lead, like Scrolls of Parch-.ment, and blew them off of Churches, Halls andHouses. Several People were kill’d in their Beds,particularly the Bishop of Bath and Wells and hisLady; Several others were wounded; But far morealmost miraculously preserved. A great Numberof Vessels, Barges and Boats, were funk in the Ri-ver Thames , and the Arches of London Bridge Werestop’d with the Wrecks of them. The Damagedone in London and Westminster was conjectured toamount to one Million Sterling, and that of theCity of Bristol to little less than a Hundred andfifty Thousand Pounds. This Calamity was not,however, universal, the Northern Parts of this I-sland having felt but little of the Effects of it. Toenumerate the Losses at Land, and Sea, (belongingto private Persons) would be endless, I shall,therefore, only particularize those sustained in theRoyal Navy.

A List of the Ships cast away in the Storm,with an Account of the Number of Men lost.

1. The Reserve , aFourth-Rate, Captain JohnAnderson , Commander, lost at Yarmouth. TheCaptain, the Surgeon, the Clerk, and four andforty Men saved, and the Rest of her Company,being a Hundred and seventy-five, drowned. Mr.chett says, not one Soul belonging to her was sav-ed.

2. The Vanguard , a second Rate, sunk inChatham- Harbour, with neither Men nor Gunsin her.

z. The Northumberland , a Third-Rate, Cap-tain Greenaway , lost on the Goodwin-Sands , Allher Company was lost, being two Hundred andtwenty Men, including four and twenty Ma-rines.

4. The Sterling-Castle, a Third-Rate, CaptainJohnson , on th eGoodwin-Sands ; Seventy Men (ofwhich four were Marine-Officers) saved, theRest, being two Hundred and six drowned.

5. The Restoration , a Third-Rate, Captain Em-mes, on the Goodwin-Sands, all her Companylost, being three Hundred, and ninety-one.

6 , The