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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

With a navy, little inferior to that of the Combined Powers, then in an actualstate of equipment, France had been able to effect very little mischief against the

commercial

Anglesea, Portland, Reserve,

Southampton, Ruby, Dover,

Swiftsure, August, Ramifies,

Warspite, Nassau, Sun prize, and

Severn, Albemarle, Two fifth-rates.

All this while the merchants lay at great charges, besides the damage of their cargoes, and loss ofmany of their voyages for the following season.

About the 10th of February, the Ruby and Feversham, appointed as convoy for them,, gave sailingorders ; but were again countermanded, and the Ruby went into the dock to clean.

Afterward, upon farther opportunity, the August was ordered to join the Ruby and Feversham;but, instead of going from the Downs, they went first to fetch the coasters from Topsliam, and thencame to call for the ships at Portsmouth.

For a farther evidence, the merchants produced to their lordships the Gazette of the Sth of May,1707, and shewed the paragraph from Ostend, in which are these words :

“ A fleet of merchant ships, which lay five months in the Downs, consisting of fifty-five sail, ar-** rived at Ostend this evening, to the great advantage and satisfaction of this place.”

This, the merchants observed, was a great delay for so short a passage, and must extremely pre-judice the Flander’s trade, which the parliament thought fit to encourage, by passing an act the lastsession for repealing the prohibition of importing lace.

A third ground of the merchants complaint was, that, by the untimely and unseasonable proceed-ing of convoys, especially to the West Indies, they were great sufferers upon many accounts.

The Jamaica merchants complained that they had long lain under great discouragements.

That, about October, 1 705, they applied themselves to the prince’s council, complaining of themany losses in their fleet the preceding year : but that, however, depending upon their repeated as-surances that they should have a sufficient convoy to depart early, and more particularly upon an ordersent from that board to the Jamaica coffee-house, that the merchants should get their ships ready todepart by the 20th of January at farthest, they had prevailed with sundry persons to let their ships goto Jamaica. Accordingly, ships were fitted out with great expedition, and men hired at extravagantwages: but, after all these fair promises, their ships thus fitted lay almost two months before thetime prefixed, for want of a convoy.

The 21st of March, the merchants, as men in despair, reciting the former assurances given them,petitioned his royal highness that their ships might depart with the first squadron bound out of theChannel; adding, that, if their fleet should miscarry by their late going out, they desponded of gettingships for carrying on the trade of the succeeding year.

Howbeit that fleet was detained till the beginning of May, and the ill success too well answered themerchants apprehensions, for the greatest part of the fleet, being separated from their convoy in thei-rreturn, were lost.

T hat by these, and many other hardships, the Jamaica trade is brought to so low a state, thatwhereas, at the beginning of the war, their fleets home have consisted of 30 or 40 sail, when they were

lately