794* Ann.

Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English,

Book ^ Cha

1704,, to His Royal Highness: Making suchRemarks and Additions, in the Notes,as I lhall judge proper : And.this beingthe only general Engagement, whichhappen’d during this whole War. Ishall be the more particular.

On Sunday, the thirteenth of August,egim. Morning, (fays this Relation) we

bore down upon the Enemy, in Orderof Battle, ’till a little after ten o’Clock,when, being about half Gun-shot fromthem, they set all their Sails, at once,and seemed to intend to stretch a-head,and weather us; (d) So that our Admi-ral was obliged to put the Signal out,and begin the Battle, which was conti-nued, with very great Fury on both, Sides; But, about two in the Afternoon,Van the Enemy’s Fan gave Way to ours,

Rear give which was commanded by Sir CloudeflyWay. Shovel , and led by Sir John Leake ; As

their Rear did to the Dutch, towards ijoFNight: (e) But their Body being verystrong, and several of the Ships, of theAdmiral’s, Rear-Admiral Byng’s, andRear-Admiral Dilkes Division, beingforced to go out of the Line, for Wantof Shot, the Battle fell very heavy on £ngliftthe Admiral’s own Ship, the St. George, W a n tAn^‘and the Shrewsbury, (f) This Want nition-of Shot was occasioned by our great Ex-pence of it at Gibraltar ; And tho’ eve-ry Ship was supplied to have five andtwenty Rounds, two. Days before theBattle, which was judged sufficient, andwould have been so, if we could havegot so near the Enemy as the Admiralintended j (thd > the French pretend itwas they who endeavoured to Fight close ,but the English avoided it ;) Yet everyShip, that was on that Service, wanted .Ammunition before Night, (g)

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(d) The Marquis de Gillette observing that theAdmiral, as he bore down, was at some Distancefrom the Center , and thinking that he might geta-head of that Squadron, with his fore-most Ships,made a Signal to the head-most Ships of the FrenchLine, to croud all the Sail they could. AdmiralShovel still bearing down upon the Enemy withthe Van, insensibly found himself in their Line a-head of them, which the French , judging to be afavorable Opportunity, resolved to make theirAdvantage of it, by keeping their Wind, andcrouding all the Sail they were able, in Order tocut ofl' the Van of the Confederates from the Restof their Fleet; Hoping, with Reason, that if itgrew calm, which usually happens in a Sea-fight,their Gallies might tow them off, so as that theymight make a Double, and, weathering SirCloudefly Shovel, fire upon him on both Sides. ButAdmiral Shovel having discovered the Enemy'sIntention, immediately clapp’d upon a Wind, andSir George Rooke , forefeing what would be theConsequence, if his Van was intercepted, boredown upon the Enemy, with the Rest of the Con-federate Fleet, and put out the Signal for theFight, which was immediately begun by AdmiralShovel The French Accounts own, that in thisPart of the Engagement, between the MarquisDe Villette, and Sir Cloudefly Shovel, the formerwas obliged to bear out of the Line to repair, hisPoop being blown up by a Bomb, and his Ship seton Fire, and in Danger of blowing up likewise ;And that the same happened to Monsieur DeBelle-I/le’s Ship, he himself being before kill'd.

(e) The Dutch, in the Rear, engaged the Ene-my, with the greatest Courage and Alacrity, and,being better provided with Ammunition, continu-ed firing, something later than the Rest; ButNight coming on, put a Period to the Dispute onthat Side also: But Monsieur De Rouvre one ofth eFrench Rear-Admiral’s Seconds, was obliged togo out of their Line to stop his Leake, before theFight ended.

(f) This being observed by Sir Cloudefly Sho-vel, he like a good and valiant Officer, immedi-ately back’d astern, and endeavoured to re-inforcethe Admiral. This Act, both of Valour and goodSea-man Ship, had two useful Effects; First itdrew several of the Enemy’s Ships from our Cen-ter, which was so hard press’d, by a great Supe-

riority, both of Strength and Number, and drovethem at Length out of the Line ; For after theyhad felt the Force of this Supply, from some ofthe Ships of Sir Cloudefly Shovel’s Division, whichwere a-stern of him, they found it not safe to ad-vance along his Broadside; But being clean, andbetter Sailers, they set their Sprit-fails, and withtheir Boats a-head towed from him, without giv-ing him the Opportunity of Exchanging a singleBroad-fide with them. These were the Vice-Ad-miral of the W hite, and the Rear-Admiral of theirWhite and Blue, with Part of their Divisions :And tho’ the Count De Thouloufe was sustained bythe best Ships and Commanders in the Center, andassisted by the greatest Officers for Quality, Ex-perience and Courage, who were placed as Coun-fellours near him, yet he shared, at Length, thelike Fate as his Van, and, about seven o’Clock,was obliged to tow out of Danger.

(g) There happened an Action in the Center ,which deserves a particular Mention:The Serieux,a Ship in the French Admiral’s Division, com-manded by Monsieur Champmelin, thrice boardedthe Monk, an English Ship, commanded by Cap-tain Mills, who, with great Activity and Courage,every Time cleared the Deck of the Enemy, andmade them at last bear away: The fame FrenchCommander (as they themselves own) had his Shipafterwards so disabled, that he was obliged to quitthe Line, as was likewise the Chevalier De Gran -cy, whose Ship was wholly disabled. MonsieurDe Roche Hard was likewise totally disabled;And the Chevalier d’Ofmont, and Monsieur DePoulett , also, quitted their Line, for the sameReason. Captain Jumper did, likewise, eminent-ly signalize his Valour, in this Fight, with hissingle Ship engaging three of the Enemy’s. Aboutseven, in the Evening, one of the French Admi-ral’s Seconds advanced out of the Line, and be-gan a closer Engagement with the St. George , com-manded by Captain Jennings ; But, notwithstand-ing that the St. George had already suffered much,she met with such rough Treatment, that she hadDifficulty enough to rejoin the Line, after theLose of both her Captains, and Abundance of herMen. But, among the Actions of other braveCommanders, we must not forget those of thegallant Earl of Durjley, Commander of the Boyne,an eighty Gun-Ship, who, tho’ then but about

three