In the beginning of June, the English and Dutch fleets sailed down the channel. On the sixth, sir George Rooke was detached to the Straits with a squadron of three-and-twenty ships as convoy to the Mediterranean trade. The grand fleet returned to Torbay, while he pursued his voyage, having taken under his protection about four hundred merchant ships belonging to England, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Hamburgh, and Flanders. On the sixteenth his scouts discovered part of the French fleet under Cape St. Vincent; next day their whole navy appeared, to the amount of eighty sail. Sixteen of these plied up to the English squadron, while the vice-admiral of the white stood off to sea to intercept the ships under convoy. Sir George Rooke, by the advice of the Dutch vice-admiral Vandergoes, resolved if possible to avoid an engagement, which could only tend to their absolute ruin. He forthwith sent orders to the small ships that were near the land to put into the neighbouring ports of Faro, St. Lucar, and Cadiz, while he himself stood off with an easy sail for the protection of the rest. About six in the evening, ten sail of the enemy came up with two Dutch ships of war commanded by the captains Schrijver and Vander-Poel, who seeing no possibility of escaping, tacked in shore, and, thus drawing the French after them, helped to save the rest of the fleet. When attacked they made a most desperate defence, but at last were overpowered by numbers and taken. An English ship of war and a rich pinnace were burned; nine-and-twenty merchant vessels were taken, and about fifty destroyed by the counts de Tourville and D’Etrées. Seven of the largest Smyrna ships fell into the hands of M. de Cotlegon, and four he sunk in the bay of Gibraltar. The value of the loss sustained on this occasion amounted to one million sterling. Meanwhile Rooke stood off with a fresh gale, and on the nineteenth sent home the Lark ship of war with the news of his misfortune; then he bore away for the Madeiras, where having taken in wood and water, he set sail for Ireland, and on the third day of August arrived at Cork with fifty sail, including ships of war and trading vessels. He detached captain Fairborne to Kinsale with all his squadron except six ships of the line, with which, in pursuance of orders, he joined the great fleet then cruising in the chops of the channel. On the twenty-fifth day of August they returned to St. Helen’s, and the four regiments were landed. On the nineteenth day of September, fifteen Dutch ships of the line and two frigates set sail for Holland; and twenty-six sail, with seven fire-ships, were assigned as guard-ships during the winter.
EXPEDITION TO THE WEST INDIES.
The French admirals, instead of pursuing Rooke to Madeira, made an unsuccessful attempt upon Cadiz, and bombarded Gibraltar, where the merchants sunk their ships that they might not fall into the hands of the enemy. Then they sailed along the coast of Spain, destroyed some English and Dutch vessels at Malaga, Alicant, and other places, and returned in triumph to Toulon. About this period sir Francis Wheeler returned to England with his squadron from an unfortunate expedition in the West Indies. In conjunction with colonel Codrington, governor of the Leeward Islands, he made unsuccessful attempts upon the islands of Martinique and Dominique. Then he sailed to Boston in New England with a view to concert an expedition against Quebec, which was judged impracticable. He afterwards steered for Placentia in Newfoundland, which he would have attacked without hesitation; but the design was rejected by a majority of voices in the council of war. Thus disappointed, he set sail for England, and arrived at Portsmouth in a very shattered condition, the greater part of his men having died in the course of this voyage.
BENBOW BOMBARDS ST. MALOES.
In November another effort was made to annoy the enemy. Commodore Benbow sailed with a squadron of twelve capital ships, four bomb-ketches, and ten brigantines, to the coast of St. Maloes, and anchoring within half a mile of the town, cannonaded and bombarded it for three days successively. Then his men landed on an island where they burned a convent. On the nineteenth they took the advantage of a dark night, a fresh gale, and a strong tide, to send in a fire-ship of a particular contrivance, styled the Infernal, in order to burn the town; but she struck upon a rock before she arrived at the place, and the engineer was obliged to set her on fire and retreat. She continued burning for some time, and at last blew up with such an explosion as shook the whole town like an earthquake, unroofed three hundred houses, and broke all the glass and earthenware for three leagues around. A capstan that weighed two hundred pounds was transported into the place, and falling upon a house, levelled it to the ground; the greatest part of the wall towards the sea tumbled down; and the inhabitants were overwhelmed with consternation, so that a small number of troops might have taken possession without resistance, but there was not a soldier on board. Nevertheless the sailors took and demolished Quince-fort, and did considerable damage to the town of St. Maloes, which had been a nest of privateers that infested the English commerce. Though this attempt was executed with great spirit and some success, the clamours of the people became louder and louder. They scrupled not to say that the councils of the nation were betrayed; and their suspicions rose even to the secretary’s office. They observed, that the French were previously acquainted with all the motions of the English, and took their measures accordingly for their destruction. They collected and compared a good number of particulars that seemed to justify their suspicion of treachery. But the misfortunes of the nation in all probability arose from a motley ministry divided among themselves, who, instead of acting in concert for the public good, employed all their influence to thwart the views and blacken the reputations of each other. The people in general exclaimed against the marquis of Carmarthen, the earls of Nottingham and Rochester, who had acquired great credit with the queen, and, from their hatred to the whigs, betrayed the interests of the nation.
THE FRENCH KING HAS RECOURSE TO THE MEDIATION OF DENMARK.
But if the English were discontented, the French were miserable in spite of all their victories. That kingdom laboured under a dreadful famine, occasioned partly from unfavourable seasons, and partly from the war, which had not left hands sufficient to cultivate the ground. Notwithstanding all the diligence and providence of their ministry in bringing supplies of corn from Sweden and Denmark, their care in regulating the price and furnishing the markets, their liberal contributions for the relief of the indigent, multitudes perished of want, and the whole kingdom was reduced to poverty and distress. Louis pined in the midst of his success. He saw his subjects exhausted by a ruinous war, in which they had been involved by his ambition. He tampered with the allies apart, in hopes of dividing and detaching them from the grand confederacy; he solicited the northern crowns to engage as mediators for a general peace. A memorial was actually presented by the Danish minister to king William, by which it appears that the French king would have been contented to purchase a peace with some considerable concessions; but the terms were rejected by the king of England, whose ambition and revenge were not yet gratified, and whose subjects, though heavily laden, could still bear additional burdens.