-HAP. VII.

during the Reign oj §tyeen Ann.

n l 7^

e Fnemy

The Battle ended with the Day,

fetr . v when the Enemy went away, by the

eats ‘ Help of their Gallies, to the Leeward.^ In the Night, the Wind shifted to theNorthward, and, in the Morning, tothe Westward, which gave the Enemyj the Wind of us. We lay by, all Day*

■ within three Leagues of one another,

repairing our Defects, and, at Night,they filed, and stood to the Northward.

On the fifteenth, in the Morning, theEnemy was got four or five Leagues tothe Windward of us; But, a little be-fore Noon, we had a Breeze of Wind,Easterly, with which we bore down onthem ’till four o’Clock, in the Afternoon.It being too late to engage, we broughtto, and lay by, with our Heads to the5^ Northward, all Night. (h)

VrV'V On the sixteenth, in the Morning,fern's bt the Wind being still Easterly, hazyWeather, and having no Sight of theEnemy, or their Scouts, we filed, andbore away to the Westward, supposingthey would have gone away for Cadiz ;(z) But being advised from Gibraltar ,and the Coast of Barbary , that they didnot pass the Streights, we conclude theyhave been so severely treated, as to o-blige them to return to ’Toulon , whichmay prevent any Attempt upon Gibral-tar, this Winter, the sending any Suc-cour into Cadiz, or the insulting theCoast of Portugal, and constrain themto a Winter-Pastage to W ? '(l-France, ifthey intend any of their Ships thitherthis Year. (k)

We have not yet the Particulars ofthe Enemy’s Loss. The Marquis deVilladarias, marching with his Armyto besiege Gibraltar, sent a Letter to thePrince of Hejse, Governourofthat Place,advising him; That the French had burnteight of our Ships, taken sixteen, funkseven, and he allows the French hadlost four Men of War, and one Gaily,and that the Count De Thouiouse waswounded* During the Action, we lawtwo of the Enemy’s Gallies link, andmany of their Ships so disabled, thatthey were towed off by their Gallies,and we have Reason to believe severalof them perished; Whereas there wasnot one of Her Majesty’s Ships lost, andthe Dutch lost only one, their Admiral,called the Albemarl , of sixty-four Guns,which blew up by Accident, the six-teenth, in the Afternoon, after we hadlost Sight of the Enemy, and had onlynine Men saved. We lost, besides, sixHundred and ninety five Men killed,among whom were two Captains, SirAndrew Leake, of the Grafton, andCaptain Cow, of the Ranelagh ; And six-teen Hundred and sixty-three wounded,among whom were three Captains, Cap-tain Mynge of the Namur, Captain Ba-ker, of the Monmouth, and CaptainJumper, of the Lenox . Of the Dutch,Captain Liinjlager was killed, and theyhad four Hundred Men killed andwounded.

Sir Cloudejly Shovel, in his Accountof this Engagement, fays, the Action9 was

795

1704. ^Vain Glory ofthe Spani-ards.

A DutchShip blownup.

Loss of MenonbothSideSi

Some otherParticularsof the Adiori

three and twenty Years of Age, gave many me-morable Instances of his undaunted Courage, stea-dy Resolution, and prudent Conduct. In general,all the Officers and Seamen, of the ConfederateFleet fought with unparalleled Intrepidity andResolution, and had not the Center been soweakn-ed, by the Loss of the Service of those Ships,which, thro' Want of Ammunition, were forcedto leave their Stations, ’tis highly probable theConfederates would have obtain’d a more complectand uncontesled Victory than they did.

(h) The Confederates braved the Enemy toconceal their own Waakness; For neither Sidehad any great Inclination, or, indeed, were in aCondition to come to a second Engagement,wherefore they were both glad to lose Sight ofone another.

(i) They kept on their Course towards theSpanish Coast, and the Confederates made Use ofthe same Opportunity to bear away to the West-ward, and so got into Gibraltar .

(k) Tho’ both Parties claimed the Victory,yet, in the Opinion of all impartial Judges, nei-ther had a very clear Title to it. For as therewas not one Ship, either burnt, funk or taken(the French Gallies excepted) on either Side (theDutch Ship blew up, by Accident, twoDays afterthe Fight) so was the Loss of Men near equal onboth Sides. The Englifi and Dutch, however,carried their Point, which was to disable the

French Fleet, from a stilling the Spaniatds, in re-taking Gibraltar. Which, together with the vastDisproportion of Strength, with which they en-gaged the Enemy, makes their Advantage littleless, than a Compleat Viilory. Besides, whateverthey may pretend, it is certain, that the Issue ofthis General Engagement deprived them of theInclination to hazard another' For, after this,they never ventured theit* Fleet at Sea ; But con-tented themselves with sending out Squadrons todisturb the Commerce of the Confederates, by at-tacking their Convoys: And for this Fleet, inparticular, it is certain, it suffered so much,, inthis Action ; and went into Toulon so disabled,that the Ships could not be put into a Conditionto go to Sea again in many Months. Tho’ theNumber of the slain and wounded on both Sideswere pretty equal, yet the French , by their ownAccount, lost many more Officers, and Persons ofNote. They name eight and thirty Persons ofNote killed, among whom were Monsieur DeBelle-IJlei a Flag-Officer, and the Count DeChateau-Renaud-, And a Hundred and twelve:wounded, among whom were several Persons ofDistinction, particularly, the Count De Thouiouse,Commander in Chief, Monsieur Da Cafe, a Flag-Officer, the Count de Rclinguc, a LieutenantGeneral, the Count De Sept-Ville, and the Mar-quis De Chateau-Renaud.