Chap. XVII. during the Reign os G^een Ann. 857
1y11. ning of the South-Sea-Company, whichhas since been so famous, not only inEngland, but throughout all Europe ;And has been the Occasion of so muchGood, and, at the fame Time, of somuch Evil, that the History of it, willhardly pass, in future Ages, for anymore, than rneer Fiction and Fable.But to return to our Fleets.
Sir Thomas Hardyct Proceedings off of
Dunkirk, and in the Soundings. (A)
Sir Thomas Hardy, being appointedSir Thomas to command a Squadron, to observe thehardy ar- Motions of the Enemy at Dunkirk,es off of hoisted his Flag, the second of May, onn lrk ‘ Board the Canterbury ; And, sailingfrom the Downs, the tvventy-first, (c)arrived off of Dunkirk. He sent threePri zes taken Ships into Flemmifo Road, who forc’dTs un a ~ two Privateers, of twenty Guns each,r ' and a Dogger, of eight Guns, into thePort. The first of June three of hisCruisers brought in eight small Prizes.
Th e six and twentieth, the Advice, asmall FourtfnRate, commanded by.theLord Duffus, was chased, near Tarmouth,by several French Privateers, and oblig-ed to surrender to their superior Force.
. (d) The seventeenth of July, the Dart-
tje Prises mouth and Whiting Sloop run one of theFrench Coasting Convoys, of sixteenGuns, on Shoar ; And, the thirty-first,the Hampjhire, Cruizer, and Discovery,brought into the Downs five Prizes,
which they met off of Cape Antifer. (e) ij x i.
The eighth of August, Sir ThomasHardy, being in Tarmouth- Roads, re-ceived Orders to convoy the outward-bound Ruff a- Fleet to the Northward,
( f) and then return to the Downs.
Being returned, he received Orders toproceed Westward, and arrived at Ply-mouth, the twenty-third of Qtdober,where I shall, for the present, leavehim.
Sir John Jennings’.! Proceedings in theMediterranean.
Sir John Jennings, then Admiral of Sir Johnthe White, being appointed to com- J enni ng s ar ~mand the Fleet in the Mediterranean, Lhbonfset Sail from St. Helen's, the seventh ofJanuary ; And arrived at Lisbon, thetwenty-third. (g) The twentieth ofMarch, he arrived at Barcelona ; And, Barcelona }having appointed several Convoys, fail-ed for Port-Mahon ; Where he was join-ed, the nineteenth of May, (F) by ViceAdmiral Baker, with the greatest Part ° rt *of the Squadron.
Sir John Narris, arriving, in the sir Johnmean Time, the eighth of the fame Norris ar-Month, at Barcelona , and being desired g^elonato remain there, with some Ships, SirJohn Jennings found him there, thefirst of June. From®thence, the Admi-ral proceeded off of Toulon, and theCoast of Provence, to endeavour to in-tercept the Enemy’s Convoy with Corn
(b) Sir John Leake, who, as I have said above,was appointed Admiral of Her Majesty's Fleet,commanded in the Channel; But as the Frenchsent no Fleet to Sea, nothing remarkable happen-ed with the Body of our Naval Force.
(r) His Squadron consisted of four Fourth-Rates, two Fifth- and two Sixth-Rates.
(d) He defended her, with great Bravery, 'tillhis Sails and Rigging were almost torn to Pieces,many of his Men killed and wounded, and him-self had received eight Wounds.
(e) About the Middle of this Month, SirGeorge Byng was made Admiral of the White.
(f) Here he waited for the Dutch Squadron,and some Ships with the Transports from Ire-land ; But they not coming so soon as was ex-pected, the sixth of February , it was resolved, ina Council of War, to put to Sea, with s uc hTransports and Troops as were ready, and toleave Orders for the Rest to follow.
(g) Here he found, that Sir John Norris,with the Ships under his Command, was gone toFado, to guard the Troops from thence to Cata-lonia.
(h) F. Daniel gives an Account of a Skirmishor two, about this Time, between some FrenchMen of War, and some of ours, off of Fado, onthe Coast ol.Getioa; Which, however, I believe,
are the fame the Reader has had an Account ofin the Fourteenth Chapter. Messieurs L’Jigle,De Marquifan , Norey and Du Cafielet , who (faysour Author) commanded the Phœnix , Pembroke ,Ruby and Trident , had formed a Project to seizesome of the Englijh Ships at Fado , which wereto guard a Convoy designed for Barcelona .- Threeof the Englijh Ships, who first discovered them,came out to meet them, and (fays my Author) theFrench would certainly have carried them, afteran Engagement of three Hours, had not tenother Ships, from Fado, unexpectedly obligedthem to take to their Heels. The three Shipsreturned to Fado, very much shattered, and eachwith above fifty Men killed and wounded. (Theygot this Intelligence, I suppose, by Means ofsome Esprit famili er.) Mons. De Mar ptisan(continues my Author) was followed as far as "theGulph La Specie, by fix Englfi Ships, one ofwhich, of fixty-four Guns, came up with him, anda smart Engagement ensued. The Englifi Man(says F. Daniel ) was pierced thro' like a Sieve,with Cannon-shot, and, the Captain, with a Hun-dred Men, being killed or wounded, was uponthe Point of surrendering, when four isnglifi In-truders came up uncalled for, and, making himrun for it, deprived him of a Victory in Embryo.