About the latter end of March, captain Samuel Falkner, in the ship Windsor, of sixty guns, cruising to the westward, discovered four large ships to leeward, which, when he approached them, formed the line of battle ahead, in order to give him a warm reception. He accordingly closed with the sternmost ship, which sustained his fire about an hour: then the other three bearing away with all the sail they could carry, she struck her colours, and was conducted to Lisbon. She proved to be the Duc de Chartres, pierced for sixty cannon, though at that time carrying no more than four-and-twenty, with a complement of three hundred men, about thirty of whom were killed in the action. She belonged, with the other three that escaped, to the French East India company, was laden with gunpowder and naval stores, and bound for Pondicherry. Two privateers, called Le Chasseur and Le Conquérant, the one from Dunkirk, and the other from Cherbourg, were taken and carried into Plymouth by captain Hughes, of his majesty’s frigate the Tamer. A third, called the Despatch, from Morlaix, was brought into Penzance by the Diligence sloop, under the command of captain Eastwood. A fourth, called the Basque, from Bayonne, furnished with two-and-twenty guns, and above two hundred men, fell into the hands of captain Parker of the Brilliant, who conveyed her into Plymouth. Captain Antrobus of the Surprise, took the Vieux, a privateer of Bourdeaux; and a fifth, from Dunkirk, struck to captain Knight of the Liverpool, off Yarmouth. In the month of May, a French frigate called the Arethusa, mounted with two-and-thirty cannon, manned with a large complement of hands under the command of the marquis de Vaudreuil, submitted to two British frigates, the Venus and the Thames, commanded by the captains Harrison and Colby, after a warm engagement, in which sixty men were killed and wounded on the side of the enemy. In the beginning of June, an armed ship belonging to Dunkirk was brought into the Downs by captain Angel, of the Stag; and a privateer of force, called the Countess de la Serre, was subdued and taken, after an obstinate action, by captain Moore, of his majesty’s ship the Adventure.
PRIZES TAKEN IN THE WEST INDIES.
Several armed ships of the enemy, and rich prizes, were taken in the West Indies, particularly two French frigates, and two Dutch ships with French commodities, all richly laden, by some of the ships of the squadron which vice-admiral Coats commanded on the Jamaica station. A fifth, called the Velour, from St. Domingo, with a valuable cargo on board, being fortified with twenty cannon, and above one hundred men, fell in with the Favourite sloop of war, under the command of captain Edwards, who, after’ art obstinate dispute, carried her in triumph to Gibraltar. At St. Christopher’s, in the West Indies, captain Collingwood, commander of the king’s ship the Crescent, attacked two French frigates, the Améthyste and Berkeley; the former of which escaped, after a warm engagement, in which the Crescent’s rigging was so much damaged that she could not pursue; but the other was taken, and conveyed into the harbour of Basseterre. Notwithstanding the vigilance and courage of the English cruisers in those seas, the French privateers swarmed to such a degree, that in the course of this year they took above two hundred sail of British ships, valued at six hundred thousand pounds sterling. This their success is the more remarkable, as by this time the island of Guadaloupe was in possession of the English, and commodore Moore commanded a numerous squadron in those very latitudes.
ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE HERCULES AND THE FLORISSANT.
In the beginning of October, the Hercules ship of war, mounted with seventy-four guns, under the command of captain Porter, cruising in the chops of the channel, descried to windward a large ship, which proved to be the Florissant, of the same force with the Hercules. Her commander, perceiving the English ship giving chase, did not seem to decline the action, but bore down upon her in a slanting direction, and the engagement began with great fury. In a little time, the Hercules having lost her top-mast, and all her rigging being shot away, the enemy took advantage of this disaster, made the best of his way, and was pursued till eight o’clock next morning, when he escaped behind the isle of Oleron. Captain Porter was wounded in the head with a grape-shot, and lost the use of one leg in the engagement.
HAVRE-DE-GRACE BOMBARDED.
Having taken notice of all the remarkable captures and exploits that were made and achieved by single ships since the commencement of the present year, we shall now proceed to describe the actions that were performed in this period by the different squadrons that constituted the naval power of Great Britain. Intelligence having been received that the enemy meditated an invasion upon some of the British territories, and that a number of flat-bottomed boats were prepared at Havre-de-Grace, for the purpose of disembarking troops, rear-admiral Rodney was, in the beginning of July, detached with a small squadron of ships and bombs to annoy and overawe that part of the coast of France. He accordingly anchored in the road of Havre, and made a disposition to execute the instructions he had received. The bomb vessels, being placed in the narrow channel of the river leading to Ronfleur, began to throw their shells, and continued the bombardment for two-and-fifty hours, without intermission, during which a numerous body of French troops were employed in throwing up intrenchments, erecting new batteries, and firing both with shot and shells upon the assailants. The town was set on fire in several places, and burned with great fury; some of the boats were overturned, and a few of them reduced to ashes, while the inhabitants forsook the place in the utmost consternation: nevertheless, the damage done to the enemy was too inconsiderable to make amends for the expense of the armament, and the loss of nineteen hundred shells and eleven hundred carcasses, which were expended in this expedition. Bombardments of this kind are at best but expensive and unprofitable operations, and may be deemed a barbarous method of prosecuting war, inasmuch as the damage falls upon the wretched inhabitants, who have given no cause of offence, and who are generally spared by a humane enemy, unless they have committed some particular act of provocation.