had the wind taken out of her sails by the former, 1808. and, in consequence, dropped astern; but the british May. brig still maintained a running fight with her antagonist as long as her guns would reach. mage, re sumes In this smart encounter the Wizard had her lower Damasts and main yard badly wounded, and her boats, &c. to booms, rigging, and sails much cut, and had also one Wizard man killed and five wounded. The loss on the part of the Requin must have been much more severe, as the Wizard's guns were directed chiefly at her opponent's hull; while those of the french brig were pointed high, as if to disable the rigging of her antagonist. At 6 P. M., by which time the Wizard had Wizard fished her lower masts and main yard, repaired the principal part of her rigging, and was again in chase pursuit under every sail she could spread, the island of Toro bore east by south half-south distant 12 leagues, and the Requin south-east half-east distant a mile and a quarter. At 9 P. M., the breeze having nearly died away, the sweeps of the Wizard were again resorted to, and were unceasingly plied until 11 P. M.; when, a moderate breeze springing up from the westward, the sails again performed their office, to the great relief of the fatigued but not disheartened crew, whose hammocks, during the whole of a se cond night, remained lashed in the nettings. chase. On the 12th, at 5 A. M., the Requin altered her Second course from south-east by south to south; and at day's 6 h. 15m. A. M. the Wizard got near enough to fire her lee guns, but the former soon increased her distance. At 7 A. M. the Requin was out of gun-shot, and at 8 A. M. one mile ahead; the Wizard still sweeping with all her strength, and who, to quicken her progress in the light air that was blowing, knocked away the stanchions from under the beams of her deck and started the wedges of her masts. Notwithstanding all this, the Requin, with her sails alone, increased her distance, at noon to a mile and a half, and at 4 P. M. tó two miles and a half. The Wizard now ran her sweeps across the deck, and got her bow guns amid ~ May. 1808. ships, but still could do no more than keep way with her opponent. At 9 h. 30 m. P. M., a light breeze. springing up from west by north, the Wizard trimmed sails, and, being near the land, bent the small bower cable, and got a hawser ready for a spring. This done, midnight left the two brigs still two miles and a half apart, the Requin bearing from the Wizard south by west, and the african coast right ahead, distant about seven miles; and again there was no sleep for the british crew. Third day's chase. an On the 13th, at 0 h. 30 m. A. M., the Requin tacked; and the Wizard, on getting abreast of the latter's lee beam, and nearly within gun-shot, did the same, under all sail. At 5 A. M., the weather becoming foggy, the two vessels lost sight of each other; but at 6 A. M. the Wizard was again cheered with the sight of her enemy, about two miles off right ahead, and apparently going a point free. At noon, after an interval of fog, the weather got more clear, and the Requin was seen bearing east by north, distant three miles and a half, and at 4 P. M. south by east three miles. At 8. P. M. the return of thick weather again concealed the two vessels from each other; but at 10 h. 20 m. P. M. the rising of the moon discovered the Requin in the south, three and a half miles off. The Wizard was once more at her sweeps, and at 11 P. M. fired a gun, to excite the attention of any british cruisers that might be off Cape Bon. This she repeated two or three times. At midnight the wind freshened up, and enabled the sailors again to suspend their labours at the sweeps, but still not a hammock could be moved below. Wizard On the 14th, at 4 A. M., Cape Carthage bore westchors south-west four miles, and the Requin was right in neu- ahead distant about two miles and a half, steering port. for the bay of Tunis. At 5 A. M. the french brig tral anchored close under Fort Goleta in Tunis bay; where, as it was a neutral port, the Requin lay as safe as if in the harbour of Toulon. The Wizard now did all she was empowered to do: she ran under the under stern of the fugitive, tacked, and hove to; and, be- 1808. sides reading" Le Requin" upon her stern, observed May. that the french brig was much cut up by shot about Wizard the hull and lower rigging. At 6 A. M. the Wizard runs filled and made sail out of the bay; and very soon her the hammocks were piped down, and her truly gal- and lant crew enjoyed that rest which, during four suc- stands cessive nights, had unavoidably been denied to them.out. stern In this extraordinary chase, the two vessels ran Re369 miles in 88 hours, making an average of rather marks. more than four knots per hour; which was as fast as the light and variable state of the wind, during the greater part of the time, would admit. They had run 109 miles when the Requin brought to to engage; and engage she did, till she was beaten, fairly beaten, by a brig a trifle inferior, but say equal, to herself in force. The usual excuse of being charged with despatches cannot seemingly apply to this case; or why did captain Berard at length become the assailant? The truth is, the Requin would have captured the Wizard if she could, but found herself unequal to the task: nay, more, the french brig found that her own surrender must ensue, if she did not make use of the only available quality in which she excelled, quickness of sailing. This property carried with it, as we have seen, another advantage: the french crew were under no necessity, at every fall of the breeze, to tug at the sweeps; nor were they, night by night, kept from their natural rest. In a pursuit before a light wind, where every inch of canvass is out, and where the chased is only a short, distance ahead, the chaser is obliged to be always on the alert, that she may be ready to shorten sail the instant her enemy begins to take in: whereas the chased knows no such alarms; a head wind is all she dreads, and that only until she has trimmed her sails to meet it. This points out another advantage, and no slight one either, which the Requin possessed over the Wizard. It must have been peculiarly annoying to the tars May. 1808. on board the Wizard, to see a vessel, that had cost them so many hours of toil and anxiety, so many sleepless nights and tantalizing prospects of reward, moored close to the muzzles of their guns, and yet not be allowed to spring on board of, nor even to snap a trigger at her. So it was; and the Wizard had no alternative but to leave the french captain to enjoy, along with the possession of his fine brig, his reflections upon the degrading circumstances under which he had preserved her. Wizard puts into Requin The Wizard was obliged to put into Malta, to get herself new lower masts and a new main yard. In Malta. 15 days she was again at sea, keeping, no doubt, a sharp look-out for her old antagonist; but the latter fell to the share of another british vessel of war, the captur-22-gun ship Volage, captain Philip L. J. Rosened by hagen, who captured her on the 28th of July, to the northward of the island of Corsica, after a nine hours' chase. It was confirmed, that the Requin was the brig that had been engaged by the Wizard; but the particulars of her loss were not communicated. Volage. Capt. pro Vice-admiral lord Collingwood, to evince his opiFerris nion of the conduct of captain Ferris in the arduous moted and persevering chase and gallant defeat of the Rebut not quin, appointed him, on the first vacancy, to the comfirmed. mand of the 100-gun ship Royal-Sovereign; but, con captain Ferris's commission as post not being dated until two years afterwards, we may conjecture that the board of admiralty did not sanction the promotion, with which the Mediterranean commander in chief had thought fit to reward the Wizard's commander. On the 11th of May, in the forenoon, the british 20-gun ship Bacchante, (18 carronades, 32-pounders, and two nines,) captain Samuel Hood Inglefield, cruising off Cape Antonio, island of Cuba, chased, and at 3 P. M. brought to action, the french brig-corvette Griffon, of 14 carronades, 24-pounders, and Griffon two sixes, lieutenant Jacques Gautier. After sustured, taining and returning the heavy fire of her superior cap May. antagonist for 32 minutes, and persisting in her en- 1808. deavours to escape until she was within 200 yards of the breakers off the Cape, the Griffon hauled down her colours. The Bacchante had no man hurt on board; and the Griffon, out of a crew of 105 men and boys, only five men wounded. The brig was afterwards added to the british navy under the same name. The crowd of canvass, under which, owing to the lightness of the breeze, this action was fought by the Bacchante, Curiis somewhat remarkable. She carried sky-sails with sail set the wind abeam, and, above the main sky-sail, a by Bac lateen "moon-raker," which hoisted 14 feet above the mast-head. It was the invention, we believe, of captain Dacres, captain Inglefield's predecessor in the command of the Bacchante. 66 ous chante. chases tures On the 2d of May, at daybreak, the british 18- Unité pounder 36-gun frigate Unité, captain Patrick Camp- and bell, cruising off Cape Promontoro in the Gulf of capVenice, came up with and captured the italian brig- Ronco. corvette Ronco, mounting 16 brass carronades, represented as 32-pounders," but, we suppose, french 36-pounders, with a crew of 100 men. No loss was sustained on either side, although the brig fired several broadsides at the frigate, and cut her sails and rigging a good deal. Scarcely had the Ronco hauled down her colours, when an italian frigate and schooner were observed in the north or windward quarter. The Unité immediately made sail in chase but, owing to the lightness of the wind, the ship and schooner escaped into Pola before captain Campbell could get within two gun-shots of either. ; three brigs of On the 31st, at about 5 P. M., having just weighed Chases from under the island of Lusin, where she had been sheltering herself from a heavy north-east gale, the war. Unité discovered, close under Premuda, three brigs on the starboard tack with the wind at east. The frigate proceeded in chase, and presently made out the vessels to be three brigs of war. On observing the Unité, the three brigs, two of which were the italian corvettes, Nettuno and Teulié, of the same force as |