front the I. of George I, to theTear, 1734.

Chap. II.

! CHA P. II.

Sir George Byng’j Expedition to Mediterranean, with a particular Accountof the DefruSlion of the Spaniili Fleet, off of Syracusa, in the If andof Sicily* iff) I

1718. M BOUT the Middle of March, of he went to Spithead, and hoisted his

Sir George /-U this Year, Sir George Byng was Flag on Board the Barfleur . He was

pomes to appointed Admiral, and Com- immediately saluted by the whole Fleet,

command in lander in Chief, of His Majesty’s Fleet, and it being the Anniversary of Hisf 6eMedi- and to command the Squadron designed Majesty’s Birth Day, at Noon, all theG-ranean. f or t p e Mediterranean ; Sii Charles Wa- Flags and Colours were spread abroad,ger was appointed Vice-Admiral of the the whole Fleet fired their Guns, andRed ; And the Captains Delaval and Mi- great Rejoycings were made. (b)ghells Rear-Admirals of His Majesty’s The third of June, about three, inFleet. the Morning, the Fleet failed from St.

Sir George having received his last Hellenes. About eight, they came tokeceivss his Instructions from His Majesty, the four an Anchor, by Reason of a strong Tideand'departs ant * twentieth of May, set out, the fix and no Wind ; But, about an Hourfrom hon - and twentieth, for Portsmouth , where after, a brisk Gale springing up again atdo »- he arrived, the next Evening. The East, they let sail again, and wereeight and twentieth, in the Morning, out of Sight at Noon. (c)

10 N The

an Account from the Town of Najfau , on the I-(land of Providence-, of the eleventh of Novem-ber, that Captain Woodes Rogers , Governour ofthe Bahama-Istands with the Assistance of someof His Majesty's Ships, had taken Possession of thatIsland, Town and Fort, the Inhabitants havingjoyfully received him, and the Pirats having alltaken the Benefit of His Majesty's Proclamation,excepting one Captain Vane, who escaped in aSloop, with about ninety of his Men, and after-wards took two Ships coming out of Carolina, oneof four Hundred, and the other of two HundredTuns,, bound for London ; That Captain 1 Rogershad formed a Council and Civil Government inthose Islands, appointed Civil and Military Of-ficers, formed the Inhabitants into a Militia,constituted Deputy-Goyernours for the other I-slands, and built several Forts for the Defenceand Maintenance of them.

(a) This Expedition being the most considera-ble of this last Book of my History, I shall givemy Reader as Circumstantial an Account of it, asI have been able to procure.

(h) The Fleet under Sir George Byng’s Com-mand consisted then of one Second-Rate, elevenThird-Rates, and eight Fourth-Rates, besides Fire-ihips, Bomb- Vessels, Hofpital-and Store-ships, andother Tenders As follows :

Second Rate.

Ships. , Captains.

Barfleur, Sir G. Byng, Admiral, 1. Sawders-

2. Leflock.

Dorfetpire,

Grafton,

Captain,

Effix,

Breda,

Barford,

Royal Oak,

Kent,

Orford >

Buzzer.

N. Haddock.Hamilton.Rowzier.Harris.

Vanbrugb.Kempthorn•Matthews.Falkingham .

Third Rates.Rear Adm. Delaval,

Ships.

Rupert,

Shrewsbury,

Captains.

Field.

Balchen.

Fourth Rates.

Dreadnought,

Montague,

Rippon,

Superhe,

Dunkirk,

Canterhurfi

Lenox,

Rochester,

Garland, ^ Firefhxps.

Griffin, 5

Ba/ilisk, \ Bcmb-V effels.

Blast, ->

IV. Haddock.Beverley.Obrien.Masters.Drake.Walton.Strickland .Wyndar .Atkins,Orme .

Loo, Hospital-ship.William- and Martha,Thomas and Dorothy ,

1

Tenders.

Besides the Ships abovementioned, Sir GeorgeByng was to be joined by the Squadron cruisingin the Sfreights, against the Corsairs of Sallee , un-der the Command of Rear-Admiral Cornwal, whowas recalled from being his Majesty's Plenipoten-tiary, for concluding a Peace with the Emperourof Morocco.

(c) That my Readers may the better under-stand theMotivesto, andDefign of, this Expedition,it may not be amiss previously to put them inMind ; That the Treaty concluded at London, in1716. between the Emperour and Great Britain,importing a Guaranty of the Emperour ’s Dominionsin Italy, taken from Spain ; And the Triple Mi -liance, concluded, the ensuing Year, at the Hague,between Great Britain, France and the UnitedNetherlands , to settle the Neutrality in Italy ; Nothaving sufficiently supplied what was wanting toperfect the Treaties of Utrecht and Baden , by ad-justing the Differences between the Emperour andthe King of Sicily, on the one Side, and th e Kingof Spain on the other ; And Spain having actual-ly taken Sardinia, from the Emperour, anotherAlliance was, about this Time treating of, betweenthe Emperour, Great Britain and France. This

T reaty