Chap.VI. from the I, of George I to theYear 1734. inch 915

1731* Britain, to be accepted of, in Lieu ofHis formal Accession to the late Treatyof Vienna. (2)

I shall now proceed to give myReaders a particular Account of theprincipal Naval Transaflions of thisYear.

Sir Charles Wager’j Expedition to theMediterranean.

T h e twenty first of May, Sir CharlesWagers-* Wager received an Order from the Lordsderedto com- Commissioners of the Admiralty, to takemand a upon him the Command of a SquadronSquadron, of His Majesty’s Ships, (a) and getthem fitted up and manned, with allExpedition.

'Repairs to Pursuant to these Orders, Sir CharlesChatham; repLifd to Chatham, the fifth of June,and hoisted his Flag (as Vice Admiral ofthe Red) on Board the Namur, then inthe Dock there. The thirtieth, he re-ceived Orders, to repair immediately tothe Downs, and take upon him the Com-mand of all the Ships there, and of allthe Ships, Yachts and Sloops, in theRiver ‘Thames and Medway. [b) Accord-ingly, the next Day, he went down, inthe Admiralty-Barge, to the Hope, andhoisting his Flag on Board Ais Majesty’sTksfCrrr. Ship, the Deal-Cafile, proceeded to theNore, where he anchor’d. The nextAnd the Morning he sailed for the Downs, and,Downs. being arrived there, removed his Flagfrom the Deal-Cajlle to the Graft on.

(#) In Pursuance of this new Agreement withSpain a fine Squadron of Men of War were or-der'd to be equip’d for the. Mediterranean, in Or-der to conduct Don Carlos to Italy.

Letters which came, about this Time, fromthe iTefi-Indies , were still full of the Depreda-tions, Cruelties and Barbarities committed by theSpaniards in those Parts, on our Merchant-men ;Among which nothing can be more inhuman thanthe Case o i Robert Jenkins, Master or the Rebec-ca^ which is too well known to need repeating,and, indeed, almost too shocking to bear relat-ing.

(a) Ships. Places where. Ships. Places where.Namur, Chatham. Exeter, Portsmouth.

Carnival, -— 11 Canterbury, -

Hampton-C.— -- Dreadnought, -

Edinburg, — - Romney, -

Orford , -- Portland, ---

Pr. Amelia, Portsmouth. Advice. —--.

Berwick, —-- Norfolk, Plymouth.

Kent, -- Sunderland, Sheerness;.

Tork, —-

(b) These Motions and Preparations were, itwas thought, made on Account of the Motion ofthe French Troops towards Dunkirk, and otherParts of their Coast over against England.

(c) In the Night, the Master of a Deal-Bozt(which Captain Haddock had sent, on the fame

The third, be ordered the Deal Ca- 1731.file and fVeazel Sloop, to cruize, for six Cruizersjen sDays, on the Coast of Fm^ce, oL Calais °A Dunkiric ’and Dunkirk, (c) to obfervsfc,whether anyEmbarkation was preparing there. Thesixth Sir Charles received Orders, from Stf ciiariesthe Lords of the Admiralty to take Wager comesRear-Admiral Balchen under his Com- w J lh kismand, together with a Squadron of His Softhead* ^Majesty’s Ships, mentioned below, (d)and to proceed with such of them as werein the Downs , to Spithead, leaving theCommand of the remaining Ships andSloops, with the Senior Captain, toge-ther with a Copy of His Majesty’s secretInstructions. Pursuant to these Orders,he set Sail, the next Morning early, (e)and arrived, the eighth, in the Morn-ing, at Spithead. (f) The next Day,he received His Majesty’s farther In- j

structions and full Powers. The tenth,

Rear Admiral Balchen removed his Flagfrom the Dreadnought, on Board the .. . ■

Princess Amelia. (g ) The same Morn- jinfraiefing, Sir Charles received a Copy of His the Blue.Majesty’s Directions to the Lords of theAdmiralty, for their appointing himAdmiral of the Blue, and, the nextMorning, he received his Commissionaccordingly. At Noon, Sir Charlesstruck his Flag, as Vice Admiral of theRed, in the Grafton , and hoisted hisFlag, as Admiral of the Blue, on Boardthe Namur, being saluted, on that Oc-casion, by all the Ships there.

The twelfth, Sir George JValton ar-rived from London, and, the next Morn- cpme?'to

10 Z ing, Spithead,

Errand, before Sir Charles arrived) returned,with an Account of there being eight ThousandMen in Dunkirk, and more daily expected : Andthat he had run along Shoar as far as Diep ■, Buthad met with no Vessels except Fishermen, on theFrench Coast.

(1 i) The Namur, Princess Amelia, Carnival,Hampton-Court, Grafton , Edinburg, Buckingham,

Kent, Canterbury, Dreadnought, Exeter, Tork andKingsale.

(e) Sir Charles sailed in the Grafton, havingwith him, the Namur, Carnival, Buckingham,Hampton-Court, and Kingsale, leaving Orders withCaptain Rouizier , of the Portland, to take theCommand of the Ships, &c- in the Downs, vis.the Diamond, Torrington, Deal-Castle , Ferret,Spy,

Hawk, Bonetta, Weasel, and Salamander- Sloops,and giving him a Copy of His Majesty’s Instruc-tions.

(f) He found these, Rear-Admiral Bale hen’sFlag, on Board the Dreadnought , the Tork, Ber-wick, Canterbury , Exeter, Princess Amelia andEnterprise.

(g) The same Day, Sir Charles received Ad-vice, from Mr. Secretary Burchett, that Sir GeorgeWalton was Ordered down to Portsmouth, and Or-ders from the Lords Commissioners to take him un-der his Command, during his Stay there, and todeliver him a Copy of His Majesty’s secret Instru-ctions, sent him to the Downs.