Chap. V.

n

from the I. of George L to the Tear 1734.. mol 8

CHAP. y

Naval Expeditions and Transactions .of the British Nation, with other 'Occurrences*from the Beginning of the Tear, 1726. to the Death of King George, I.

1726.King inbanger, at*ea.

—<6

hauls insafety.

H E Beginning of the Year,1726. was a Time of greatConsternation and Uneasiness toall who were follicitious for the Safetyand Welfare of His Majesty, who, byall Circumstances, they were justly ap-prehensive, must be at Sea, in His Re-turn from Hannover, during a violentStorm, which lasted from the first ofJanuary, in the Evening,, ’till the third,in the Morning : But these Anxietieswere soon difpel’d, by the Arrival ofone of His Majesty’s Messengers, thefourth, in the Afternoon, at the Cock-pit, with the joyful News, that His Ma-jesty landed, in Safety, at Rye, the Daybefore, after a dangerous Passage; (a)And, the ninth, in the Evening, Hearrived, in perfect Health, at St.James's.

The twentieth, the Parliament met,meets. anc } t p@ fj x and twentieth, the House ofCommons resolved, that ten ThousandMen be employed for the Sea-Service,for the Year 1736. at four Pounds perMan, per Month, for thirteen Months.The twenty-third of February, they re-solved, that two Hundred and twelveThousand, three Hundred and eightyone Pounds, five Shillings, be granted,for the Ordinary of the Navy, for thesame Year. if)

The four and twentieth of March,

Parlia-

^ SupplyRanted forNavy.

His Majesty sent a Message to the House ij-xO,of Commons, informing them, that He sncreafesfound it necessary to augment-His Wl&- Seame s rc ~ritime Force, and hoped He should be ?Wn?enabled, by the Assistance of Parliament,to encreale the Number of Seamen al-ready voted, and granted for the Serviceof this Year : (c) To which, after some And grantedDebate, they gave their Assent, by anAddress presented for that Purpose, (d)

The private Intriegues which had . rbeen for some Time carrying on, between yffcoms oftwo very distant Courts, those of Madrid Petersburgan d Petersburg, began now to ripen ; JfndMzdnd.His Majesty had, without Doubt, earlyNotice of their Designs, and these were,probably, what He hinted at in HisMessage to the House of Commons, toprevent and frustrate which, the Lordsof the Admiralty had, by His Majesty’sOrders, given the necessaryDirections forthe fitting out of the different Squadronswith all possible Expedition. One ofthese designed for the Baltick , wasput under the Command of Sir CharlesWager, Vice Admiral of the Red* and,under him, Sir George Walton, Rear- rhrge FkmAdmiral of the Blue-, Another was for ordered atthe Mediterranean, to be commanded 0 '-^ to Sea.by Sir John Jennings ; And the third forthe Weft-Indies, under the Command ofAdmiral Hofer. For the better Infor-mation of my Readers, I shall treat of

each

(a) His Majesty embark'd on Board the Caroli-na Yacht, at Helvoetfiuys, about one in the After-noon, on New Years Pay, with a fair Wind, atNorth-East, and set Sail immediately; But about'seven, the same Evening, a most violent Stormarose, with Hail and Rain, which so seperatedthe Fleet, that only one Man of War, command-ed by Captain Dansie, kept Company with theKing's Yacht, on Board of which was Sir JohnNorris. The Tempest continued so high, andthe Sea so boisterous, for above fix and thirtyHours, that the whole Fleet was in the utmostDanger, The third, in the Morning, the Yachtsand Men of War were near Dover , and one ofthe Yachts, with some of His Majesty’s Attend-ants, entered the River ; Bnt it was thought moreadviseable, that His Majesty should land at Rye,where He arrived about Noon.

(b) About this Time, was publi/h’d a List ofthe Ships, taken or plundered by the Spaniards ,in the Weft-Indies , from the Peace in 1712 . tothis Time, being seven and forty in Number, andamounting to, at a moderate Computation, oneHundred, and one and forty Thousand Pounds.

(c) The Necessity urged by His Majesty, for

this Augmentation, Was, that He might therebybe enabled, not only to secure to His own Subjectsthe full and free Enjoyment of their Trade andNavigation, but, in the best Manner, to preventand frustrate such Designs as had been formed a-gainst the particular Interest of this Nation, andthe general Peace of Europe.

(d) They humbly addrefs’d His Majesty, thathe would be pleased to make such an Addition tothe Number of Seamen already voted, and to con-cert such other Measures, as He, in His greatWisdom, should think most conducive to the Se-curity of the Trade and Navigation of this King-dom, and to the Preservation of the Peace ofEurope; Assuring His Majesty, that they wouldeffectually provide for, and make good, all suchExpences and Engagements, as should be made,for obtaining those great and desirable Ends.

(e) A Proclamation which had been pub-lished, prohibiting the Importation of severalj English Manufactures, into the Island of Sicily,gave, at the same Time, no small Disgust to theNation, against another _ Court, which, it wasthought, was- under the strictest Ties and-Obliga-tions to act otherwise.