V.

I.

Chap* XVI. during the Reign of §lyeen Ann.

1711. After this unhappy Disaster, andplying two Days, with very fresh Gales,between the W. and the 8 . to savewhat Men and other Things we could,I called a Consultation of the Captainsof the Men of War; And, upon En-quiry of the Pilots, who had been forc-ed on Board the Men of War, by theGovernment of New-England, and dulyexamining into every Thing, they alljudged it impracticable to get up to Que-bec with a Fleet; And it has been theOpinion of every Body, both Englishand French, that had we been at thatTime, or since, higher up that River,with the hard Gales we have had, allthe Ships must inevitably have beenlost.

After the Consultation, having sentthe Sapphire to Boston, to give an Ac-count of our Misfortune, and the Mon-tague, to find out the Elumber and De-vonshire, and stop all Things coming toQuebec, and leaving the Leopard, withsome Sloops and Brigantines, to takeany Men off the Shoar, that might bethere, and try to save some Anchors leftbehind, I proceeded to Spanijh River,the Place appointed for our Rendezvous.Great Part of the Fleet got in there,the fourth, but not all, ’till the ninth.

(/) . .

The seventh, the Leopard coming m

from the River, and the King ft on also,the following Day, I called a Councilof War of the Sea-and Land-Officers, by

Consent of the General, and proposed, jto their Consideration, our present Cir-cumstances, and whether it was practi-cable to undertake any Thing againstPlacentia , which every body very muchinclined to; But our Provisions, in ge-neral, being reduced to ten Weeks,short Allowance, and of Bread muchless, being but a bare Quantity necessa-ry to return to England, it was unani-mously agreed, that we could undertakenothing, but return, as soon as ready,to Brittain, having no Prospect of aSupply of Provisions from New Eng-land, and the Season of the Year beingtoo far advanced for the safe Navigationin these Parts of the World.

The Enterprize and 'Triton's Prizecame in here the tenth ; I sent the for-mer to Annapolis, with the Troops de-tached by the General for thatGarrison,which when he has done, and seen theShips from thence safe to Boston, he isto return to his Station. The TritonsPrize , I have directed to cruise for theSapphire, in her Return from Bofton, todeliver her my Orders for her remainingto attend the Garrison left at Annapolis ;And I sent the same Orders by the En-terprize. I have ordered the Marines,that were left at that Garrison, to bebrought to Britain, by the first Oppor-tunity.

The Leopard comes with this Packet,and the Men of War with me are theEdgar, Swiftfure, Monmouth, Windsor10 H Montague

the four Indian Chiefs or Kings; And his Return,with a Lieutenant-General's Commission, and thetaking of Port-Roy al, were the Fore-runners of it.That Sir Hovenden himself was not previously letinto the Secret is plain from many Circumstances ;And Mr- Burchett tells us, the then Lords Com-miffioners of the Admiralty were so far from it,that the Defign on which this Fleet was bound wasrather industriousy hid from them, and that a cer-tain Person seemed to value himself very much,that a Defign of this Nature was kept a Secretfrom the Admiralty. It was an Expedition (faysthe fame Gentleman) very chargeable to the Na-tion, and from which no Advantage could reason-ably be expert ed, considering how unadvisedly itwas set on Foot, by those who nursed it up, uponfalse Suggestions and Representations. The Cafeof the Admiral, in the mean Time, was very hard,I never heard or could find, that any Thing waslaid to his Charge, as contributing to^the Misfor-tune, or the least Blame laid on his Conduct, andyet, after the Miscarriage, many loud and invidi-ous Clamours were raised in general, without de-scending to Particulars, against him ; He had theMisfortune to incur the Displeasure of somebody,and not only was, (after another Voyage to theIVest-lniits, of which I shall give an Account be-

low) struck out of the List of Admirals, but outof the Half-pay List too. There may have beensome Circumstances unknown to me, that mayhave occasioned his Disgrace ; But upon a View ofwhat has come to my Knowledge, I have notbeen able to forbear thinking him hardly used, es-pecially since (if I mistake not in the Year 1725-) Ihad an Opportunity of being acquainted with him,in Hamburg and Hanover, and found him a Gen-tleman os Letters, good Understanding, readyWit,and agreable Conversation ; And withal the mostabstemious Man living; For I never saw, or heard,that he drank any thing but Water or eat anything but Vegetables. I hope he then partook ofhisRayal Master’s Bounty; The Ministry, at least,seemed to look on him, with a favourable Eye ;And I was an Eye-witness, that His Royal High-ness, the Prince of Wales, when, upon a certainOccasion, we were both so happy to be an Hour,or more together in His Presence, gave him a ve-ry gracious Reception.

(/) The fame Day, a French Bark, a Coasterbetween Quebec and Placentia, was taken by aNew England Transport, and brought into theFleet: And, the same Afternoon, Capt. Walton,in the Mountague, brought in a French Privateer-Sloop which he had taken.