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captains on board of our ship who came away in the hurry and left
their ships to follow. We shewed lights from the gun-whale to the main
topmast-head; and all our lieutenants were employed amongst the fleet
to tell the ships not to wait for their captains, but to put the sails
to the yards, slip their cables and follow us; and in this confusion
of making ready for fighting we set out for sea in the dark after the
French fleet. Here I could have exclaimed with Ajax,
"Oh Jove! O father! if it be thy will
That we must perish, we thy will obey,
But let us perish by the light of day."
They had got the start of us so far that we were not able to come up
with them during the night; but at daylight we saw seven sail of the
line of battle some miles ahead. We immediately chased them till about
four o'clock in the evening, when our ships came up with them; and,
though we were about fifteen large ships, our gallant admiral only
fought them with his own division, which consisted of seven; so that
we were just ship for ship. We passed by the whole of the enemy's
fleet in order to come at their commander, Mons. La Clue, who was in
the Ocean, an eighty-four gun ship: as we passed they all fired on us;
and at one time three of them fired together, continuing to do so for
some time. Notwithstanding which our admiral would not suffer a gun to
be fired at any of them, to my astonishment; but made us lie on our
bellies on the deck till we came quite close to the Ocean, who was
ahead of them all; when we had orders to pour the whole three tiers
into her at once.
The engagement now commenced with great fury on both sides: the Ocean
immediately returned our fire, and we continued engaged with each
other for some time; during which I was frequently stunned with the
thundering of the great guns, whose dreadful contents hurried many of
my companions into awful eternity. At last the French line was
entirely broken, and we obtained the victory, which was immediately
proclaimed with loud huzzas and acclamations. We took three prizes, La
Modeste, of sixty-four guns, and Le Temeraire and Centaur, of
seventy-four guns each. The rest of the French ships took to flight
with all the sail they could crowd. Our ship being very much damaged,
and quite disabled from pursuing the enemy, the admiral immediately
quitted her, and went in the broken and only boat we had left on board
the Newark, with which, and some other ships, he went after the
French. The Ocean, and another large French ship, called the
Redoubtable, endeavouring to escape, ran ashore at Cape Logas, on the
coast of Portugal; and the French admiral and some of the crew got
ashore; but we, finding it impossible to get the ships off, set fire
to them both. About midnight I saw the Ocean blow up, with a most
dreadful explosion. I never beheld a more awful scene. In less than a
minute the midnight for a certain space seemed turned into day by the
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