PART OF THE BRITISH SQUADRON WRECKED IN A STORM.

By the reduction of Pondicherry, the French interest was annihilated on the coast of Coromandel, and therefore of the utmost importance to the British nation. It may be doubted, however, whether colonel Coote, with all his spirit, vigilance, and military talents, could have succeeded in this enterprise without the assistance of the squadrons, which co-operated with him by sea, and effectually excluded all succour from the besieged. It must be owned, for the honour of the service, that no incident interrupted the good understanding which was maintained between the land and sea officers, who vied with each other in contributing their utmost efforts towards the success of the expedition. On the twenty-fifth day of December, rear-admiral Stevens arrived with four ships of the line, having parted with rear-admiral Cornish and his division in stormy weather: but he joined them at Pondicherry before the place was surrendered. On the first day of January a violent tempest obliged admiral Stevens to slip his cables and to put to sea, where he parted with the rest of the squadron; and when in three days he returned to the road of Pondicherry, he had the mortification to find that his division had suffered severely from the storm. The ships of war called the duke of Aquitaine and the Sunderland foundered in the storm, and their crews perished. The Newcastle, the Queenborough, and the Protector fireship, were driven ashore and destroyed; but the men were saved, together with the cannon, stores, and provisions. Many other ships sustained considerable damage, which however was soon repaired. Admiral Stevens having intercepted the letter from Lally to Raymond, (See-note *), immediately despatched letters to the Dutch and Danish settlements on this coast, intimating that, notwithstanding the insinuations of general Lally, he had eleven sail of the line, with two frigates, under his command, all fit for service, in the road of Pondicherry, which was closely invested and blockaded both by sea and land: he therefore declared, that, as in that case it was contrary to the law of nations for any neutral power to relieve or succour the besieged, he was determined to seize any vessel that should attempt to throw provisions into the place.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760