Chap. X.

during the Reign of §@een Ann.

2

1707.

\fai n

§dd 0ck

d$ es tie

^..ngala

fe «Ch.

seventy-six, and the Chefter and Ruby,of fifty. They fell in, the next Day, offof the Lizard, with the Breft and Dun-kirk- Squadrons, making in all fourteenSail, under the Command of MonsieurForbin, and Mons. Du Gue Trouin ; Oneof seventy-two Guns, others of sixty,some of fifty, and none under forty:Tho’ Mr.' Burchett (with whom Mon-sieur Du Gue Trouin agrees) makes thembut twelve.

The Convoy, to give the Merchant-men the better Opportunity to escape,engaged the French, and, by a stoutResistance, especially that of the De-vonshire, most of the Transports andTrading Ships arrived safely at Lisbon,(k) This Fleet was ordered to fail (faysBishop Burnet ) as if it had been by Con-cert, at a Time when a Squadron fromDunkirk had joined another from Breft,and lay in the Way waiting for them.Some Advertisements were brought tothe Admiralty of this Conjunction, butthey were not believed.

The thirtieth of December, CaptainHaddock, Commander of Her Majesty’sShip Ludlow-Caftle, got Sight, off of theLong Sand, of two Frigat-like Ships,which proved to be the Nightingale andSquirrel, formerly Her Majesty’s Ships,but fitted out from Dunkirk as Priva-teers, and had each of them as manyMen as the Ludlow-Caftle . They both

lay by ’till he came within Gun-sliot of 1707.them, but then made Sail from him,before the Wind. At eleven at Night,he came up with the Nightingale, andtook her; Which as soon as the Captain 'of the Squirrel perceived, he sheered off

(0

Some farther Transactions at home thisTear .

The twenty-third of OBober, of this 7^^Year, was memorable for the Meeting Parliamentof the First Parliament of GREAT ^OrestBritain; which, after the Commons softs'had chosen a Speaker, was adjourned tothe thirtieth, when the Commons havingpresented their Speaker, the Qu,een ap-proved of him, and then adjourned themto the sixth of November, which Day HerMajesty made a Speech to Both Houses .

The Commons soon after voted an Ad-dress of Thanks to Her Majesty; Butthe Lords, instead of taking Her Maje-sty’s Speech into Consideration, accord-ing to Custom, entered immediately in-to an Examination of the State of theNation, and particularly of the ill Con-dition, and late Mismanagments of theNavy. This Matter being taken into P j jeir Proa more particular Consideration, in a ceedingsCommittee of the whole House, on the uE Rela-nineteenth, at which the Queen was t0 lhe

present y '

(k) They fought with great Courage and Ob-stinacy ; But th ^.Cumberland having lost herMasts,being overpowered, and her Commander sorelywounded, was taken by Monsieur Du Gue Trouin,as were also the Chefter and Ruby , by MessieursDe Courserac, and De Nesmond. Monsieur DuGue Trouin says, the latter was taken by Mon-sieur De la Moinerie Murac, tho' Forbin pre-tends to it. The Devonshire maintained a runningFight, against five Men of War, 'till the Dusk ofthe Evening, when (by what Accident is un-known) lhe was blown up, and two of her Menonly saved- Monsieur De Beauharnois , (or, asFather Daniel fays, Bearnois) Commander of theAchille, boarded the Royal Oak , _ but _ both theirBoltfprits being broken, the Britijh Ship made off,and, with some few Vessels, made the Harbour ofKingfale, having lost only twelve Men killed, andfour and twenty wounded. Monsieur Forbin says,if Monsieur Du Gue Trouin would have concertedMatters with him, before the Engagement, theymight easily have taken this whole Fleet; Butthat his Ships being clean, and he himself hurriedon by his Vivacity and Courage, which out-runhisPrudence, failed a-head, and would not stop tospeak with him. He adds, that as his Squadronconsisted of Frigats, much inferiour in Force toours, if our Commanders had taken the Advan-tage they might have done, they might easily havedestroyed his whole Squadron: And Mr. Secre-tary Burchett hints the fame. Monsieur Du GueTrouin-, on his Side, is not backward in blamingthe Conduct of Monsieur Forbin. He fays, that

being at the Mouth of the Channel, he left him;Butfeinghim, soon after, change his Course, heconcluded he had made some Discovery, and fol-lowing him, found he was in Pursuit of the Fleet.That he made up to him to receive his Orders iBut finding he had put out a Signal for a Chace,he made all the Sail he could, and wronged himabove aLeague ; That being withinGun-lhot of theFleet, he was surprized to see M .Forbin take in aReef, in which, however, he followed him,-Thatit being near Noon, and finding M. Forbin not inHaste to come up, he, at Length, made Sail, andmaking a Signal for all his Captains to come onBoard him, one by one, gave them his Orders,and then began the Attack. M. Forbin fays, thewhole Fleet of Merchant-ihips escaped : But, ac-cording to M. Du Gue Trouin several were takenby the Amazon, or by the Privateers, who lay inWait to take Advantage of their Defeat, and werecarried into different Parts of Bretagne. Be thisas it will, the Men of War were carried in Tri-umph into Breft. And, it was reported, thatwhen they were carrying intoHarbour, the Frenchwere so vain, to cry out, by Way of Ridicule;Make Way for the Masters of the Sea : But whilethey were indulging this silly Vanity, they wouldhave done well to have looked back on the Affairsof La Hogue, Vigo and Gibraltar, which mighthave abated their Pride.

(I) The Captain of the Nightingale, was oneThomas Smith, who had formerly commanded aSloop in Her Majesty’s Service, and was broke ata Court-Martial for irregular Practices.