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1709.

Takes seve-ral Prizes.

Burchett.

Annals ofA Ann.

Ann. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English, Book V- Cm

where he received Orders to proceed in-to the Soundings ; And accordingly setSail the thirtieth of that Month 5 But be-ing once or twice put bach, by contraryWinds, he re turned to the lame Port,the Beginning of January, without hav-ing had an Opportunity to display hisaccustomed Valour, {a)

At Plymouth, His Lordship receiveda Commission of Vice-Admiral of theWhite ; And having, according to hisOrders, caused his Ships to be cleaned,sailed, the fourteenth of February, (V)and, off of the Start, the Medway tooka French Privateer of twelve Guns. TheDartmouth took another Privateer oftwelve Guns, with which she was order-ed to Plymouth, to stop a Leak.

The twenty-second, His Lordshipfell in with eleven Sail, about twelveLeagues from Scilly ; (c) But losingthem again, in the Night, stretch’d inFor Plymouth, where, the Captain of theDartmouth, who, as I have said above,was sent in there some Time before, in-formed him that he had been chased bynine large Ships, off of the Lizard,which he supposed to be the same whichhis Lordship met with, and which had

1709.

fallen in with, and engaged CaptainToilet (or Foliar ) in his Passage fromIreland, of which Action I shall nowgive some Account. v

Towards the Conclusion of s t

Month, Captain Toilet set Sail from Sea.

Cork j (d) And the second of March, (<?)

about five in the Morning, saw four Sail

standing after him, he steering away E.and by N. the Lizard bearing then a-bout N. N. E. eight Leagues by Estima-tion. About seven, they came withinRandom-shot, and then brought to.He then made a Signal for the Hamp-shire and Fljsijlance to draw into a Line,and another to the Merchant-ships tobear away, which they took no Noticeof. About eight, they bore down tohim, having made a Signal for theirLine, and then, coming within Musket-shot, hoisted French Colours. Uponwhich a very sharp Engagement begun,and was continued for about two Hours,and then the Enemy standing away,to cut off some of the Convoys, CaptainToilet brought off what he could, intoPlymouth , having seen several othersbear away for Falmouth, during the En-gagement. (/)

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{a) All his Lordship was able to do was thetaking a French Newfoundland- Banker, and bychasing two Ships, one of sixty and the other offifty Guns, to oblige them to throw several Thingsover Board, in Order to escape out of his Hands :The Salisbury having, in the mean Time, takena French Privateer of twenty Guns.

(b) His Lordship had, with him, one Third-Rate and three FourtffRates; And, on the seven-teenth, was joined by two Fourth-Rates, and oneFifth-Rate more.

(c) He had then with him only the Kent,Monk Plymouth, and Litchfield , and, it beingthick Weather, was separated from the two lat-ter.

(d) He was in Her Majesty’s Ship, the Assur-ance, of seventy Guns, and [had, with him, theSunder land of sixty, and the Hampshire and An-glesea, of fifty Guns each, being joined by the As-sistance , another Ship of the like Force* and theTrade from Kingfaje-, But, in their Passage, theJnglefea and Sander land , with Part of the Trade,lost Company with them.

(<?) Mr. Secretary Burchett makes their Depar-ture from Ireland to have been the five and twen-tieth of April , and their discovering the four Sailstanding after them to have been the sixth ( conse-quently of May) which is a direct Contradictionto what he himself relates, but a few Lines be-fore, of the Captain of the Dartmouth.

(/) The French Commadore, which was aSKip of seventy Guns or upwards, came rangingalong the Larbofd- Side of the Assurance, and fellaboard her; So that they engaged, Yard-Arm andYard-Arm, for almost the Space of half an Hour,during which the French-mun plied Captain Toiletso warmly with small Shot, that they cut offmost of his Marines and Seamen that were quar-

tered on Deck. They then put off, and fell onBoard again on the Lee-side of the Assurance , firstranging on her Bow, and then on to her Quarter,while she fired her Upper Deck, and Part of herLower Deck-Guns, with such Vigour, that she o-bliged the Enemy to sheer off, and stand away a -head towards the Merchant-Ships. The three ci-ther Ships, which were of Forty or fifty Guns,then came ranging along the Side of the Assurance,firing several Broad-fides into her, and after that,bore away, as the former. The Damage she re-ceived was very great; Her Sides were shot thro’and thro’, in a great many Places, her Shrouds andBack-stays, cut to Pieces, as likewise her Main-,and False-Stay, which, if not timely seen, had oc-casioned the Loss of her Mast. Her Fore-fail andFore-top-fail were torn to Pieces, her Best Bowercut away, one of the Flukes of the Spare Anchorshot off and her small Bower, by the Enemy’sBoarding, drove thro’ her Bow. All possible Dis-patch was made in fixing her Rigging, which,with the bending of a new Fore-fail and Fore-top-fail, took up some Time; After which they allbore down, to secure what Merchant-ships theycould, expecting, likewise, to engage the Enemyagain; But they declined it. The Captain of theAssurance, who had been four Months sick, andhad been carried upon Deck in a Chair, was wound-ed; The first Lieutenant was shot in the Leg,which he got drefs’d, and then - returned to hisCharge upon Deck. The second Lieutenant waskilled, as were several French Officers, whichthey brought with them from Ireland-, But more.ofthe latter were wounded. In the whole, theAsurance had five and twenty killed, and threeand fifty wounded, some of whcm died of theirWounds; For the Enemy making their chief At-tempt on her, she had been feverly treated. The

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