SIR HARRY NEALE AND A FRENCH FRIGATE-SQUADRON. 489 271 men and boys, had one seaman killed and 18 1799. seamen wounded, two of them dangerously; the April. Amelia, out of her net complement of 281 men and boys, one midshipman (Mr. Bayley) and one seaman killed, and 17 seamen wounded, one of them dangerously. A french brig, which the San-Fiorenzo captured. on the evening of the action, and which had just quitted the Loire, represented the loss on board the french frigates as particularly severe; and that the commodore's ship alone, the Cornélie, had upwards of 100 men killed and wounded, including among the latter the commodore himself. According to a paragraph in the Moniteur, captain Caro of the Vengeance was mortally wounded, and the loss of the Sémillante included 15 men killed. Without reckoning the gun-vessel, or the battery on Hædic rocks, there was, in this action between two british 18-pounder frigates and two french 18pounder and one 12-pounder frigate, and whose aggregate crews alone must have amounted to very few short of 1000 men, a sufficient disparity of force to excite surprise at the abandonment of the contest by the french ships. The latter were met by the english ships almost within the jaws of their own port: the french commodore, therefore, had no interference to dread, and, in the event of success, might have harboured his prizes before the sun had even set upon his victory. The comparatively heavy metal of the three british rasés, Anson, Indefatigable, and Magnanime, invested them with such powers of ubiquity, that every british single-decked ship larger than a sloop, seen or encountered along the french coast, was pronounced "un vaisseau rasé." As the difference in size between the Amelia and San-Fiorenzo (two french frigates originally, one the Proserpine, the other the Minerve) was only 27 tons, we are at a loss to conceive to which of the two the Moniteur meant to apply the wonder-working designation. At all 1799. events, whatever may be thought of the conduct of April. the french commodore, there can be but one opinion, among those acquainted with the facts, as to the gallant behaviour, and the (let the French themselves speak to that) well-directed fire, of captains Neale and Herbert, and their respective officers and ships' companies. May. On the 13th of April, the east end of Jamaica bearing south-south-west distant 25 leagues, the british 14-gun brig-sloop Amaranthe, (12 carronades, 24-pounders, and two light long guns,) captain Francis Vesey, after a long chase came up with and engaged, nearly within pistol-shot, the french schooner letter-of-marque Vengeur, of six 4-pounders; and the latter, notwithstanding her great inferiority of force, fought for one hour and eight minutes. The Amaranthe, out of a crew of 86 men and boys, had one quartermaster killed, and three seamen slightly wounded; and the Vengeur, out of a crew of 36, including passengers, 14 men killed and five wounded, one of them mortally. The schooner was from San-Jago de Cuba bound to Jérémie, with a cargo of flour. The noble defence, made by her officers, crew, and passengers, was worthy of every praise, and, to the credit of captain Vesey, did not pass unnoticed by him. On the 4th of May the british 10-gun polacre Fortune, commanded by lieutenant Lewis Davis, in company with the Dame-de-Grâce, a prize gun-boat, sailed from the bay of Acre, having been ordered by sir Sidney Smith, of the Tigre, to cruise for three weeks on the coast of Syria, in order to cut off any supplies that might arrive from Alexandria for the use of the french army before Acre. On the 8th, at 3 A. M., when about four miles from the shore near Jaffa, the Fortune and gun-boat fell in with rearadmiral Perrée's squadron, of three frigates and two brigs. At daybreak one of the latter, the Salamine, displaying a british red ensign, ran alongside of the Fortune. Lieutenant Davis hailed her, and was answered with a broadside and a volley of musketry; 1799. after which the Salamine hauled down the british, May. and hoisted french colours. The Fortune promptly returned the salute, and a smart conflict ensued. At 6 A. M. all the cartridges, and the greater part of the shots, of the Fortune were expended, three of her guns dismounted, and her masts, yards, and rigging cut to pieces. While she was in this utterly defenceless state, the Salamine came close upon her larboard quarter with intent to board; whereupon the Fortune, seeing the three frigates also approaching, struck her pendant; her colours, having just been shot away the third time, were already down. The Fortune's guns were french 4 and 3 pounders, all in bad condition, and her crew amounted to 28; of whom she had two seamen killed, and her commander and three seamen wounded. The Salamine mounted 16 long french 6-pounders, with a crew of 126 men. What loss or damage, if any, the Salamine sustained does not appear. The gun-boat also fell into the hands of M. Perrée, who immediately scuttled and sank both his prizes. The Fortune had been captured on the 11th of the preceding August by the Swiftsure 74. She was then called, by mistake, a corvette of 18 guns. The Fortune, in fact, was a mere shell of a vessel, and measured only 150 tons; while the Salamine, which was afterwards in the british service, was a regular man-of-war brig, and measured 240 tons. Considering the very great disparity of force, the defence of the Fortune was highly creditable to her commander and crew. On the 12th of May, in the morning, the british hired armed cutter Courier, of twelve 4-pounders and 40 men, commanded by lieutenant Thomas Searle, while on her way from Yarmouth roads, to join the Latona frigate off the Texel, discovered an armed brig about eight or nine leagues off Winterton, in the act of capturing a merchant sloop. The Courier immediately made sail, and at 1h. 30 m. P. M. 3 May. 1799. brought to close action a french privateer of 16 guns. The two vessels continued engaged at close quarters for an hour and 40 minutes; when the brig, being the better sailer, and having the advantage of the wind, effected her escape. The Courier continued in chase until midnight; at which time, the weather becoming thick, she lost sight of her adversary. The Courier had five men wounded. The obvious damages received by the brig, whose guns were afterwards ascertained to have been 6 and 8 pounders, indicated that her loss was far more severe than the cutter's. A french lugger-privateer lay to-leeward during the whole of the action, but evinced no inclination to interfere. June. On the 13th, at daylight, lieutenant Searle saw a sail in the north-east, which he at first judged to be his old opponent; but the vessel, as the Courier neared her in chase, proved to be schooner-rigged. At 8 A. M. the cutter arrived up with, and without any resistance captured, the french privateer-schooner Ribotteur, of four (originally six) 3-pounders and 26 men; a consort, as it turned out, of the brig which lieutenant Searle, with so much gallantry and effect, had engaged the day before. On the 9th of June the british 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Success, captain Shuldham Peard, chased a spanish polacre into the harbour of La Selva, a small port about two leagues to the northward of Cape Creux. There being no appearance of batteries to defend the harbour, and the weather being favourable, captain Peard detached 42 officers and men in three of the frigate's boats, under the command of lieutenant Philip Facey in the barge, assisted by lieutenant Gustavus Stupart in the launch, and lieutenant John Davison, of the marines, in the cutter, to endeavour to bring out the polacre; with instructions, however, to lieutenant Facey to return, should he find any opposition of consequence. Notwithstanding that the polacre, which was the Bella-Aurora, from Genoa bound to Barcelona, laden with cotton, silk, and rice, mounted 10 car- 1799. riage-guns, 8 and 6 pounders, had on board a crew June. of 113 men, and was surrounded with a boardingnetting, and supported by a small battery and by a large body of men at small-arms on the shore, lieutenant Facey (himself the first on the enemy's deck) and the 41 officers and men under his command gallantly carried and brought out the vessel. This bold and well-conducted enterprise was not, however, performed without so serious a loss to the British, as four seamen killed and mortally wounded, and lieutenant Stupart and eight seamen badly wounded. For the firmness and bright example he had shown on this trying occasion, lieutenant Facey, a few months afterwards, was deservedly promoted to the rank of commander. On the 22d of June, latitude 38° 50′ north, longitude 31° west, the british 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Alemène, captain Henry Digby, discovered a strange ship boarding an american vessel, and was soon afterwards informed by the latter that the ship, then about two leagues distant, was a french privateer. The Alemène immediately proceeded in chase, and, by great exertions, succeeded during the night, in spite of calms and light winds, in getting round the island of Corvo. On the 23d, at daybreak, the privateer again made her appearance, towing and sweeping to the westward with all her strength. The chase continued, in this slow manner, during the whole of that and the two succeeding days, on one of which the Alcmène passed an english convoy of 40 vessels, in charge of two brig-sloops, bound to Lisbon. At length a breeze sprang up from the northward, which, by 6 A. M. on the 26th, brought the Alemène within gunshot of the privateer. A running fight now commenced, and continued, but without, as it appears, any loss or important damage on either side, until about 7 A. M.; when, in latitude 39° 29′ north, longitude 33° west, the french |