BOSCAWEN DEFEATS M. DE LA CLUE.

The honour of the British flag was much more effectually asserted by the gallant admiral Boscawen, who, as we have already observed, was intrusted with the conduct of a squadron in the Mediterranean. It must be owned, however, that his first attempt savoured of temerity. Having in vain displayed the British flag in sight of Toulon, by way of defiance to the French fleet that lay there at anchor, he ordered three ships of the line, commanded by the captains Smith, Harland, and Barker, to advance and burn two ships that lay close to the mouth of the harbour. They accordingly approached with great intrepidity, and met with a very warm reception from divers batteries, which they had not before perceived. Two small forts they attempted to destroy, and cannonaded for some time with great fury; but being overmatched by superior force, and the wind subsiding into a calm, they sustained considerable damage, and were towed off with great difficulty in a very shattered condition. The admiral seeing three of his best ships so roughly handled in this enterprise, returned to Gibraltar in order to refit; and M. de la Clue, the French commander of the squadron at Toulon, seized this opportunity of sailing, in hopes of passing the Straits’ mouth unobserved, his fleet consisting of twelve large ships and three frigates. Admiral Boscawen, who commanded fourteen sail of the line with two frigates, and as many fire-ships, having refitted his squadron, detached one frigate to cruise off Malaga, and another to hover between Estepona and Ceuta-point, with a view to keep a good look-out, and give timely notice in case the enemy should approach. On the seventeenth day of August, at eight in the evening, the Gibraltar frigate made a signal that fourteen sail appeared on the Barbary shore, to the eastward of Ceuta; upon which the English admiral immediately heaved up his anchors and went to sea. At day-light he descried seven large ships lying-to; but when the English squadron forbore to answer their signal, they discovered their mistake, set all their sails, and made the best of their way. This was the greater part of the French squadron, commanded by M. de la Clue, from whom five of his large ships and three frigates had separated in the night. Even now, perhaps, he might have escaped, had he not been obliged to wait for the Souveraine, which was a heavy sailer. At noon the wind, which had blown a heavy gale, died away, and although admiral Boscawen had made signal to chase, and engage in a line of battle ahead, it was not till half an hour after two that some of his headmost ships could close with the rear of the enemy, which, though greatly out-numbered, fought with uncommon bravery. The English admiral, without waiting to return the fire of the sternmost, which he received as he passed, used all his endeavours to come up with the Ocean, which M. de la Clue commanded in person; and about four o’clock in the afternoon, running athwart her hawse, poured into her a furious broadside: thus the engagement began with equal vigour on both sides. This dispute, however, was of short duration. In about half an hour admiral Boscawen’s mizen-mast and topsail-yards were shot away, and the enemy hoisted all the sail they could carry. Mr. Boscawen having shifted his flag from the Namur to the Newark, joined some other ships in attacking the Centaur, of seventy-four guns, which, being thus overpowered, was obliged to surrender. The British admiral pursued them all night, during which the Souveraine and the Guerrier altered their course, and deserted their commander. At day-break, M. de la Clue, whose left leg had been broke in the engagement, perceiving the English squadron crowding all their sails to come up with him, and finding himself on the coast of Portugal, determined to burn his ships rather than they should fall into the hands of the victors. The Ocean was run ashore two leagues from Lagos, near the fort of Almadana, the commander of which fired three shots at the English; another captain of the French squadron followed the example of his commander, and both endeavoured to disembark their men; but the sea being rough, this proved a very tedious and difficult attempt. The captains of the Téméraire and Modeste, instead of destroying their ships, anchored as near as they could to the forts Xavier and Lagres, in hopes of enjoying their protection; but in this hope they were disappointed. M. de la Clue had been landed, and the command of the Ocean was left to the count de Carne, who, having received one broadside from the America, struck his colours, and the English took possession of this noble prize, the best ship in the French navy, mounted with eighty cannon. Captain Bentley of the Warspite, who had remarkably signalized himself by his courage during the action of the preceding day, attacked the Téméraire, of seventy-four guns, and brought her off with little damage. Vice-admiral Broderick, the second in command, advancing with his division, burned the Redoubtable, of seventy-four guns, which was bulged, and abandoned by her men and officers; but they made prize of the Modeste, carrying sixty-four guns, which had not been much injured in the engagement. This victory was obtained by the English admiral at a very small expense of men; the whole number of the killed and wounded not exceeding two hundred and fifty on board of the British squadron, though the carnage among the enemy must have been much more considerable, as M. de la Clue, in his letter to the French ambassador at Lisbon, owned, that on board of his own ship, the Ocean, one hundred men were killed on the spot, and seventy dangerously wounded. But the most severe circumstance of this disaster was the loss of four capital ships, two of which were destroyed, and the other two brought in triumph to England, to be numbered among the best bottoms of the British navy. What augmented the good fortune of the victors was, that not one officer lost his Life in the engagement. Captain Bentley, whom the admiral despatched to England with the tidings of his success, met with a gracious reception from the king, who knighted him for his gallantry.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760