“I have had so much joy in learning that, with forty-four of my ships, you have fought, for a whole day, ninety of my enemies, that I feel no sorrow for the great loss which I have suffered.”
This letter was intended, no doubt, to soothe the wounded feelings of Tourville. Indeed, Louis seems to have taken upon himself the whole responsibility of the defeat, as he should have done.
The following year he bestowed upon Tourville, in company with the Duke de Villars, Marquis de Boufflers, the Duke de Noailles, and Catinat, the baton of a Marshal of France.
XI.
BENBOW. A. D. 1702.
For some reason Benbow has always been considered the typical seaman of the latter part of the 17th century, a distinction which he appears to owe to his honesty and bravery, together with the fact that he was almost always actively employed in the service of King William III, with whom he was a favorite. He was born in 1650, and entered the navy as a midshipman in the reign of James II.
Queen Anne ascended the English throne on the 8th of March, 1702, and on the 2d of May declared war against France.
In September, 1701, Vice-Admiral Benbow had sailed to the West Indies with a squadron of ten sail of third- and fourth-rate ships, under orders to detain the Spanish galleons, which were to make their yearly voyage home, with treasure and valuables.
Admiral Chateau Renaud also sailed from Brest, with the same destination, with fourteen sail-of-the-line and sixteen frigates, to meet the galleons and escort them to Cadiz. Benbow was very active in the West Indies, not only in protecting English trade, but in combating the plans of Chateau Renaud, of which he had managed to become informed.
On the 19th of August, 1702, in the evening, Benbow, with his small squadron, being off Santa Martha, fell in with ten sail of French ships, under Admiral Du Casse. His squadron, consisting of four ships, each mounting sixty or seventy guns, one large Dutch ship, another full of troops, and the remainder chiefly small vessels, were running down close in shore, under their topsails.