Chap. X. during the Reign of §yeen Ann. 81

,^ 0 '* (k) where he arrived, the twenty-chirdj. of December, having left the Command

Jetstone™ C ^ e ^h J P s designed for farther Service,»c °>nes to n ^ofe Parts, under the Command of

^gland. Commadore Kerr, of whose ProceedingsI shall now give an Account. (/)

Commadore Kerr’j Proceedings in theWeft-Indies.

the destroying of the Enemy’s Ships, 2706.which might ly in the Bays of Loganeand Petit Guavas, but this Attempt,likewise, miscarrying (m) they return-ed to Jamaica, where a Mortality a-mong the Men obliged them to ly, the Sickness a-Remainder of the Year, without doing mjgJbeany farther Service. {ri) t en '

Ab e jig n Sir PVlUiam IVhetJione being depart-j'A’sPort ed, Commadore Kerr stretched, with’rnT ls f° un ^ his Squadron, from Jamaica, over tojjaciua- tJ-, e Coast of Hijpaniola, appointing theIfle of Vljhe for his Rendezvous. His De-sign was upon a French Settlement cal-led Port S.Louis,but finding it not prac-ticable, (the Pilots not being acquaintedwith the Entrance into the Port) it wasdetermined to proceed to Petit Guavas,and, the better to cover their Design,to go to the Northward of the Island^ Guanava.

on The thirteenth of September, the\ Commadore ordered Captain Boyce,

V ar with the Dunkirk’s, Prize, and all theBoats manned and armed, to endeavour

Sir John Jennings’.; Proceedings in theWest-Indies.

Sir John Jennings being directed, asI have said above to repair to Lisbon, torefit and victual his Squadron, failedfrom thence, the fifteenth of Oklober,but contrary Winds preventing hisreaching the Maderas, he bore awayfor Fenerijf, and stood close into the ^ ts r J rrtv JBay of Santa Cruz. (0) The fourth of ^ enerl ’November, he arrived at St. J ago, thechief of the Cape Verde Islands, where Barbadoes;he watered* and supplied his Ships withsome fresh Provisions. He failed again,the twelfth, arrived in Cartifle-J&y, atBarbadoes, the nine and twentieth, andsailed from thence, the fifth of Decem-

9 X t her,

h J’np.h. D

Ai

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(k) Before Sir William sailed for Englandthe Cruizers of Jamaica brought in there eightPrizes. One of them was a French Merchant,very richly laden, commanded by one Cordier ,and taken by the Experiment Man of War, aPrivateer of Jamaica being in Company.

(/) In his Voyage from England-, before hejoined’Sir William Whetfione , he saw the Tradein bound for Virginia and Newfoundland , about aHundred Leagues into Sea, and calling at Barba-does , and the Leeward-Islands , (at the latter ofwhich he left Colonel Park, whom he had carriedover to be Governour of those Islands.) It wasresolved, that his Squadron should be re-inforcedby the two Fourth-Rates attending on Barbadoes,and the Fifth-Rate at the Leeward-Isands, believ-ing Jamaica to be at that Time in Danger of theFrench.

About the Time that Colonel Park arrived atJntegoa, an Irijh Vessel from Belfast , having onBoard nine Men and fix Boys, was attacked inSight of that Ifland, by an open Sloop, with fiftyFrench Men in her, and made so good a Defence,that forty of the Enemy were wounded, and theSloop was taken, and brought into Antegoa.

(m) He was ordered to range in the Night, a-long the Bays of Logane and Petit Guavas , withall possible Care and Secrecy, and so to dispose ofthem, as that they might destroy the Enemy'sShips, in either of those Roads, and to return tothe Squadron, the next Morning, npon a Signalgiven. But if he got Notice, at Logane , thatthere were any Number of French Ships at Petit-Guavas, he was, without proceeding farther, tocome off and join the Commadore ; But some ofthe Boats straggling from the Rest, alarmed theCoast, and thereby rendered the Attempt j$nprac-■ k- in ticable.

(. n) The Merchants of Jamaica (fays the Au-thor of the Brttijh Empire in America ) havingbeen extreamly abused by Captain Kerr , and,

ett.

thro' his Negligence or Avarice, lost severalSloops, bound thither, from the Spanish West-ln-dies, with Plate, they resolved to apply to theParliament for Redress; Accordingly they em-ployed Mr. Thomas Wood to be their Agent inEngland , on this Occasion, and he , withgreat Industry and Prudence,' prosecuted theMatter; So that Justice was done the Mer-chants on the Offenders, and the chief of themhad his Commission taken from him, withoutHopes of ever being employed in Her Majesty’sService more.

In the Month of August , of this Year, theFrench made an Attempt on Carolina , and camewith such an Assurance of Success, that theywould allow the Governour but an Hour to re-solve, whether he would surrender the Country,for the Use of the King of France; But his An-swer was, he wanted not half a Minute, he knewhis Duty, &c. and would not fuller the Officer tofay a Word more. The French endeavour’d toobtain by Force what they could not by Threats;

But met with so brave and gallant a Resistance,

•that of eight Hundred Men, which they had onBoard their Ships, three Hundred were killed,drowned or taken, and among the latter ten Offi.cers, viz. their chief Commander at Land, hisLieutenant, three Captains of Ships, four Lieu-tenants, and a Master, who together offered tenThouland Pieces of Eight for their Ransoms.

(0) He there discovered five Ships near to the Barrh/>MFortifications; Upon which he sent some of thesmaller Frigats in, to endeavour, by their Boats,to cut their Cables, and turn them on Shoar ;

But the French and Spamards fired so hotly, fromthe Platforms they had raised, that it was notpracticable to make any Attempt with the Boats,without laying some Ships, in such Manner, withtheir Broad-sides, that they might batter theForts, they therefore desisted from the Attempt,

Compl. Hist.of Europe,547 -