REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY-REIGN OF ANNE-1689 TO 1714HERBERT EARL OF TORRINGTON-RUSSEL EARL OF ORFORD-SIB JOHN BERRY-JOHN NEVILLE-ADMIRAL BENBOW-SIR CLOUDESLEY SHOVEL-SIR GEORGE ROOKE-SIR DAVID MITCHELLSIR JOHN LEAKE-ADMIRALS DELAVAL, CHURCHHILL, ANDREW LEAKE-THOMAS DILKES-STAFFORD FAIRBORNE.

WILLIAM, Prince of Orange, landed at Torbay on the 4th of November, 1688, and was declared king of England on the 13th of February following. The military genius and persevering enterprise of this great prince are well known, and these, with his championship of civil and religious liberty, have justly raised his name to the highest place in the temple of fame among modern monarchs.

From his earliest youth he had struggled for the independence of his country against Louis XIV., one of the most powerful sovereigns of these or any other times, and with armies and resources infinitely inferior he had defeated the ablest captains, humbled the pride, and checked the progress of that ambitious king. He brought with him to the English throne the most deep-rooted feelings of hostility towards Louis, whom he with strong reason believed to aim at universal monarchy; and who, having taken up the cause of

the deposed James, was undisguisedly William's personal enemy, as well as that of the liberties of England.

War with France then was a ruling principle in the new king's policy, and in this, in the present temper of the nation, he was heartily seconded by his subjects.

King William's tastes and predilections, however, were entirely military, and he does not appear ever to have applied those talents and that valour which shone so conspicuously in the field to the conduct of naval warfare. In this respect, the inclinations of his great antagonist, coincided with his own, and their most important contests, were decided on the battle field and not on the ocean. Still it will appear from a brief review of the principal naval transactions of this reign that the honour of the British flag was not left unsupported, and from notices of a few of those heroes, by whom that flag was upheld, it will be seen that the Blakes and the Montagues were not without worthy successors.

During the unhappy and inglorious period immediately preceding the accession of William, France had pursued an insidious policy. Aware of her inability to cope by sea with either Holland or England separately, and much less when united, she fomented by every means in her power the dissensions which had arisen between them, and while making a sbow of entering into alliance, at one time with the one, and at another time with the other, she was in reality taking every means to increase her own naval power, secretly rejoicing to observe those two nations which she hated, mutually destroying each others' fleets, and wasting each others' resources, and thus, it was anticipated, paving the way for her assuming the sovereignty of the seas.

The advent of the Stadtholder of Holland to the throne of England, put a sudden check to these schemes, and produced an alliance between the English and the Dutch, which, although marred at first in some degree by heartburnings arising out of recent events, was soon cemented during the ensuing wars, by a sense of common injury and danger into a cordial friendship.

Louis's first attempt was to fit out a considerable fleet to escort king James and his invading army to Ireland. Having performed this service, the French Heet was attacked in Bantry-bay by that of England, under the command of admiral Herbert. In this engagement, the English, who were rather inferior in numbers, were worsted, but without any considerable loss. On the return of the fleet to Ports

mouth, William, to show the world that he did not attribute his misfortune to want of conduct, created Herbert earl of Torrington, knighted captains Ashby and Shovel, and distributed rewards among the seamen. This is a line of policy which might be more frequently adopted with advantage.

The English were again beat in the next encounter of any consequence. It had now become a matter of great importance to convey William's troops safely to Ireland, that monarch having resolved to take the field in person against James.

This design was brought to bear about the beginning of the month of June, when his majesty embarked his forces on board two hundred and eighty-eight transports on the 11th, and, escorted by a squadron of six men-of-war under Sir Cloudesley Shovel, sailed for Carrickfergus, where be safely arrived on the 14th of the same month.

There was nothing better understood in England than the absolute necessity of assembling early in the year, a strong fleet in the channel. The honour of the kingdom depended upon it; for the French, after their small advantage in Bantry-bay, had given out that they would the next summer insult the joint fleets of the English and Dutch. What was still more, the nation's safety depended on this measure no less, since the king and the greatest part of his forces were abroad: scarcely seven thousand regular troops left in England; and such as were in the interest of king James, almost every where in motion, and waiting, in all appearance, for nothing but the sight of a French fleet on the coast, to take up arms, and declare against the govern

ment.

Yet, for all this, our maritime proceedings were very slow, for which various and some almost incredible causes are assigned. It was given out that the greatest part of the fleet was disaffected; and to wipe off this suggestion, it was thought necessary that an address should be sent up from the Downs, which was accordingly done. On the other hand, it was late before the Dutch sent their fleet to sea, and the English, knowing that nothing of consequence could be done till after their junction, were the less solicitous about putting themselves in order, till they heard of the Dutch being at sea.

The conduct of the French in the mean time was of quite another kind; for, while the squadron before-mentioned was gone to Ireland, orders were given for equipping a fleet of

sixty sail at Brest, which was to put to sea by the end of May; this they actually did, and though they were forced by contrary winds to put back again to that road, yet, on the 12th of June, they put to sea in three squadrons, each squadron being divided into three divisions. Of these the white and blue squadrons, commanded by Count D'Estrees on board the Le Grande, a ship of eighty-six guns, formed the vanguard, consisting of twenty-six menof-war. The main body was composed of the white squadron, commanded by the admiral Count Tourville in the Royal Sun, a ship of one hundred guns. This squadron consisted likewise of twenty-six sail. The blue squadron made the rear guard, commanded by M. D'Amfreville in the Magnificent, a ship of eighty guns, and in this squadron there were but twenty-five sail. In all there were seventyeight men-of-war, twenty-two fire-ships, and the whole fleet carried upwards of four thousand seven hundred pieces of cannon. On the 13th of June they steered for the English coast, and on the 20th found themselves off the Lizard. The next day the admiral took some English fishing-boats, and, after having paid the people who were on board for their fish, he set them at liberty again; and these were the men that first brought advice of the arrival of the French fleet on our coast; while ours was lying idle and scarcely in a condition to put to sea.

He

Our admiral, the earl of Torrington, was at St. Helen's when he received this news, which must have surprised him very much, since he was so far from expecting any advice of this kind, that he had no scouts to the westward. put to sea, however, with such ships as he had, and stood to the south-east on midsummer-day, leaving his orders, that all the English and Dutch ships, which could have notice, should follow him. This shows how much he was confused, and how little notion he had of a speedy engagement; and indeed it was impossible he should have framed any proper scheme of action, when he had no certain account of the strength of the French. In the evening he was joined by several ships, and the next morning he found himself within sight of the enemy. The French landed, and made some prisoners on shore, and by them sent a letter from Sir William Jennings, an officer in the navy, who had followed the fortunes of king James, and served now as third captain on board the admiral, promising pardon to all such captains as would now adhere to that prince. The next day our

admiral received another reinforcement of seven Dutch men-of-war under the command of admiral Evertzen; however, the fleets continued looking upon each other for several days. It is certain that the earl of Torrington did not think himself strong enough to venture an engagement, and in all probability the rest of the admirals; viz. Ralph Delaval, vice-admiral of the red, Edward Russel, admiral of the blue, Sir John Ashby, vice-admiral of the same squadron, and George Rooke, rear-admiral of the red, were of the like opinion. Besides, he waited for Sir Cloudesley Shovel, rear-admiral of the blue, who was to have joined him with the Plymouth squadron, and some other ships.

His whole strength consisted of about thirty-four men-ofwar of several sizes, and the three Dutch admirals had under their command twenty-two large ships. We need not wonder, therefore, that seeing himself out-numbered by above twenty sail, he was not willing to risk his own honour and the nation's safety, upon such unequal terms. But the queen, who was then regent, having been informed that her father's adherents intended a general insurrection, and that, if the French fleet continued longer on the coast, this would certainly take effect, by advice of the privy council, sent him orders to fight at all events, in order to force the French fleet to withdraw. In obedience to this order, as soon as it was light, on the 30th of June, the admiral threw out the signal for drawing into a line, and bore down upon the enemy, while they were under sail, by a wind with their heads to the northward.

The signal for battle was made about eight, when the French braced their head sails to their masts, in order to lye by. The action began about nine, when the Dutch squa dron, which made the van of the united fleets, fell in with the van of the French, and put them into some disorder. About half an hour after, our blue squadron engaged their rear very warmly, but the red, commanded by the earl of Torrington in person, which made the centre of our fleet, could not come up till about ten, and this occasioned a great opening between them and the Dutch. The French making use of this advantage weathered, and of course surrounded the latter, who defended themselves very gallantly, though they suffered extremely from so unequal a dispute. The admiral, seeing their distress, endeavoured to relieve them; and while they dropped their anchors, the only method