Chap. XI.

daring the Reign os Queen Ann.

: 7 ° 7 -

V?e Siege of1 ouloa rais-ed, J

j ,,r Cloudei-)’ returnsSn theheights.

haves Sir7 -lo. Dilkes7'^ a Squa-S at Gi-r altar.

lr Clondes-

'l left a-* 0 *g the I-

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at Noon, ’till the next Morning at fiveo’Clock, with great Success; (n) Butthe Enemy, at Length* brought so ma-ny Guns and Mortars against those VeFsels, as obliged them to retire, not alittle damaged. The same Night, theConfederate Army quitted the Camp atLa Valette, and marched away in fiveColumns, taking the same Route, asthey did when they came to Toulon, (o)

Thus ended an Expedition, attendedwith so much Charge, against the mostconsiderable Port the French have in theMediterranean ; (y>) And Sir GloudejlyShovel, being not a little mortified at theMiscarriage, tho’ he contributed all inhis Power towards reducing it, bent hisCourse homewards,with one Ship of theFirst-Rate, two of the Second, seven ofthe Third, two of the Fourth, one ofthe Fifth, two of the Sixth, four Fire-ships, one Sloop and one Yacht, leaving,at Gibraltar, Sir Thomas Dilkes, withnine Ships of the Line of Battle, threeFifth-Rates, and one of the Sixth, forService on the Coast of Italy.

Coming into the Soundings, the twen-ty-third (other Accounts fay the twenty-second) of Oslober ,he had ninety FathomWater, in the Morning, and, in the Af-

ternoon, he brought the Fleet to, and ' i7°7‘lay by, with a very fresh Gale at S. S*

W. but hazy Weather. At six, atNight, he made Sail again and stood a-way under his Courses, E. and by N.believing, as it is presumed, he had tho.

Channel open, and saw the Light at Scil-ly\ Soon after which,several of the Shipsmade the Signal of Danger as he himselfdid. Sir George Byng was not then half ,

a Mde to Windward of him, who saw apph

the Breaches ot the Sea, and loon alter i y escape.the Rocks of Scilly above Water; Onone of which, known by the Name ofthe Bishop and his Clerks, the Admiralstruck, and in less than two Minutesthere was not any Thing of his Shipseen. The Ship where Sir George Byngwore his Flag was providentially sa-ved, chiefly by his own Presence ofMind, in this imminent Danger, evenwhen one of the Rocks was almost un-der her Main Chains; And Sir JohnNorris, and the Lord Durfiey, withvery great Difficulty disentangled them-selves from the threatning Fate, besideswhom several others run no small Haz-ard, among these dangerous little I-flands. (q)

Sir.

\

(») Thev set Fire to the great Magazine osCordage, quite ruined several stately Buildings,and destroyed, or made unlit for Service, eGhtMen of Vv ar : viz. The Triomphant , of ninety-two Guns j the Sceptre , of ninety; the Vainqueur ,of eighty-six ; the Neptune, of seventy-six; theInvincible, of seventy; the Serieux of sixty ; theLaurier , of sixty; and the Sage , of four and fiftyGuns.

(o) The Retreat was made, in so good Order,that nothing was left in the Camp at La Valette ,that could be of any Use to the Enemy ; And al-tho' the Marshal de Tejse, who commanded in theTown, could not but judge that the Allies wereupon the Point of decamping, yet he did not thinkfit to pursue them, 'till the twelfth, and then onlyat a Distance, and either durst not, or could notcome up with them.

(y>), VARIOUS were the Opinions of the Mis-carriage of this Design, which was concerted withadmirable Prudence and Foresight, and the Prepa-rations for it carried on with all possible Secrecyand Diligence; And which, in the Opinion of ma-ny, could not have failed of Success, had the Ex-ecution thereof been attempted with equal Vigourand Unanimity of Counsels. Envy, Jealousyand a Misunderstanding, between the two Chiefson Land, probably contributed as much as anyThing to it; And as they unfortunately differedin their Opinions, concerning the Manner of put-ting the Project in Execution, neither was zealousin pushing what was to be done in Conformity tothe Desire of the other, and each had their Fol-lowers, who had a View to nothing but the Willof their Chief.

Notbing can be more ridiculous, than the

Opinion of those mentioned by De Larrey , whopretend to, lay the Miscarriage to a Disgust takenby the Duke of Savoy, upon Sir Cloudejly Shovel’smaking Difficulty to pay him the Subsidies deposi-ted in his Hands, for his Use, so readily as heinsisted upon. I find no Mention of this Incidentin other Historians; Or, if there were any Thingin it, It would argue a great Weakness in hisRoyal Highness. No Doubt but Sir Cloudejly hadhis Orders, and there is as little Reason to ques-tion but those Orders were conformable to theTreaty of Alliance with the Duke.

Be it as it will, this Expedition was far frombeing fruitless: Besides the great Damage theEnemy sustained in their Shipping; The Burningof above a Hundred and sixty Houses in Toulon,and the Devastations committed in Provence byboth Armies, to the Value of thirty Millions ofFrench Livres, this Enterprize brought the fartherAdvantage to the Common Cause, that it gave agreat Diversion to the Enemy’s Forces, wherebytheir Army in Germany was weakned; The Dukeof Orleans’s Progress, aster the Battle of Almanzawas retarded in Spain-, The Succouring of Na-ples was prevented, and the Conquests of theAllies, in Italy , were secured.

(q) Besides the Association, in which SirCloudejly Shovel , with many Officers and Gentle-men, and eight (some say nine) Hundred Seamenperished, the Eagle Man of War, commanded byCaptain Hancock, with all her Company, under-went the same Fate. The Phoenix was lost, butall her Crew was saved. The Ruftiney and Fire-brand-Fite-fhip struck on the fame Rocks, and thetwo Captains, with five and twenty of their Men,had only the good Fortune to escape, Some Ac-counts