44

HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

which took place on the 26th day of November: but the severity of the stroke,great as it certainly was, proved not to have perceptibly weakened the force em-ployed, nor diminished the future exertions of the nation. Squadrons succeedingto squadrons, were dispatched to Lisbon, under the admirals Rooke, Leake, andDilks, Charles of Austria, whose pretensions to the crown of Spain were sup-ported by all the weight of the British power, was conveyed to the Tagus withconsiderable pomp ; and the power of the allies seemed on the point of dictating toSpain, or to any other country where they chose to assume such a right, whoshould be placed over it as its sovereign. While operations of this kind were pur-sued to the southward, a fleet of twenty-five ships of the line was put under theorders of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, to counteract the movement of a French arma-ment then in a complete state of equipment in Brest, under the command of theCount de Thoulouse. The instructions given to the admiral decidedly prove theperfect conviction entertained by the British ministers, that the fleet intrusted withthe defence of the nation was fully competent to its task in all quarters of theworld, under any circumstances that could possibly occur. The blockade ofBrest, provided the enemy had not quitted that port previous to the arrival of theBritish armament on the station, or its immediate pursuit of them, in case of theirprevious * escape, formed the principal features of those orders, and the enemy

having

* His Force consisted of "the following Ships :

Men.

Guns,

Saint George - —

680

9<i

Namur -

680

90

Barfleur — —

710

90

T orbay — . —

500

RO

Shrewsbury — —

540

60

Boyne — -

500

SO

Norfolk

500

80

Ranelagh — —

535

SO

Dorsetshire - -

500

80

Royal-Oak -

500

76

Essex - -

440

70

Warspight — -

540

70

Orford — -

440

70

Swiftsure — —

440

70

Lenox — -

440

70

Nassau — —

440

70

Rupert