A CARAVEL OF THE TIME OF COLUMBUS.
X.
BATTLE OF CAPE LA HAGUE. A. D. 1692.
La Hague, or La Hougue, is in the Department of the Manche, in the north of France. It is to the westward of Cherbourg and on the same peninsula. It is often confounded with La Hogue, another cape to the eastward of Cherbourg; and the battle which took place off this point in 1692, and which gave such a fatal blow to the naval power of Louis XIV, is generally called, in the histories, La Hogue.
Louis XIV, having seen the failure of the expedition which he had prepared to attack Ireland, with a view to the re-establishment of James II, resolved, if possible, to strike a vital blow at England in another manner. He, therefore, prepared an armament which was to protect and take part in a descent upon the territory of England, herself the hereditary enemy of France.
The French King reckoned not only upon the number and force of his fleet, but also upon the revulsion in public opinion which seemed to have taken place in England, in regard to King William. Many eminent persons, among others the famous Duke of Marlborough, were known to have opened secret relations with James II; and that Prince had reason to count upon many adherents in the English fleet, which he had for a long time commanded, previous to his accession. Among others, he is said to have depended upon Admiral Russel and Rear Admiral Carter.
Louis XIV, confident in the ultimate result of all his designs, laid down the plan of a naval expedition, by which he would be enabled to land a force of 30,000 men, fully equipped, upon the English coast.
Tourville was ordered to the command of the French fleet. Aimé Hilarion de Cottentin, Count de Tourville, was born at the Chateau of Tourville, in Normandy, in 1642. He entered the Order of Malta while still a boy, and at the age of eighteen began to serve in the galleys of the Order, where he soon made a reputation, so much so that he was called to court, and given the grade of Capitaine de Vaisseau. He served under the Duke de Beaufort, at the relief of Candia, then besieged by the Turks; and afterward distinguished himself in the war with Holland; and still later, distinguished himself at the relief of Messina, which had revolted against the Spanish rule.
The following year he took part in Duquesne’s brilliant expedition against the Algerines and Tripolitans, when the Corsairs received the most crushing blows which had ever been dealt to them, up to that time.
In 1684 he participated in the bombardment of Genoa, and four years after, in a successful cruise against the Dutch. In the same year he inflicted a severe bombardment upon Algiers.