after the Theseus had brought up astern of her, the Revenge unexpectedly kept afloat, until, to the surprise of her captain,* she reached a fine anchorage between the Boyart and Palles shoals, in five and a quarter fathoms' water, at the dead of a spring-tide ebb, out of reach of shot or shell; and where there was room for five or six sail of the line. It was in endeavouring to reach this anchorage, that the Valiant grounded on the edge of the Palles. The Indefatigable and Impérieuse also grounded, but got off in an hour or two without damage. At about 8 P.M. all the remaining frigates and brigs, except the Impérieuse, weighed and anchored with the Revenge in the Maumusson passage.

It was very near midnight before the three fire-ships were ready to proceed. The wind then became baffling; and, at 2 A. M. on the 13th, began to blow from the south-west, or directly out of the passage to Aix road. Profiting by this circumstance, Rear-admiral Stopford, at 2 h. 30 m. A. M., got under way and 2h. made sail; and at 4 A. M. the Cæsar came to anchor in Little Basque roads. As the fire-ships, which had been committed by the rear-admiral on his departure to the charge of Captain Bligh, could not for the present be put in operation, nothing further was done beyond setting fire to the Aquilon and Varsovie; both of which ships, it is said, had the water up to their orlop decks. Some persons have thought, however, that the Varsovie, represented to have been one of the finest two-decked ships in the world, might, with a little exertion, have been saved. But the Varsovie, as well as the Aquilon, was, by the orders of Captain Bligh, doomed to destruction.

The time occupied in removing the prisoners and their effects, made it a few minutes past 3 A. M. before the fire could be put to the two ships. At 3 h. 30 m. A.M. the flames began to ascend; and not being aware that the magazines of the two ships were drowned, the Impérieuse got under way, to avoid the effects of the expected explosion: as did also the three fire-ships, which, by the orders of Captain Bligh, had removed to the anchorage of the Impérieuse, to be employed, when the time suited, under Lord Cochrane's directions. One of these, while working out, ran aground off Isle d'Aix, and remained fast; but it does not appear that the few hands on board of her were either lost or made prisoners.

The appearance of the two flaming bodies led to some extraordinary occurrences on the part of the French. They actually mistook the burning Varsovie, and Aquilon for British fire-ships; and the Océan, Tourville, Indienne, and others of the grounded ships opened a cannonade upon them. This was not all. The captain and crew of the Tourville were so alarmed at the seeming approach of those dreadful engines, that they abandoned their ship, without waiting to furl the sails, which had been set to force

* Minutes, &c., p. 167.

her off the shoal, or even to see that the fire, which had been put to the ship in two places, had begun to take effect. Observing at daylight from Pointe des Barques, where he and his crew had landed, that the Tourville had neither suffered by fire from without, nor from within, and that the British line-of-battle ships and frigates were getting under way to return to Basque roads, Captain Lacaille prepared to go back to his ship. In about two hours after he had quitted her, he was again on board with, including three boats' crews that had returned from doing duty on board the Océan, about 230 officers and men, out of a crew of at least 660.

The French captain now learnt that, during his absence, a single British boat would have captured the Tourville, had it not been for the prowess of one of her quartermasters, who, unknown to M. Lacaille, had remained in the ship. We are unable to state what ship's boat it was that so nearly made a prize of a French 74; for, certainly, had the officer been aware of the abandoned state of the Tourville, a resolute attack must have been crowned with success. The following is a summary of the French quartermaster's story: His name was Eugène-Joseph Romain Bourgeois, and his age 31 years. Being resolved to stand by his ship to the last, he crept from the boat into which he had been ordered to embark, unperceived, through one of the Tourville's lowerdeck ports. As soon as the boats had all pushed off, he began constructing a raft, in case the two supposed firevessels should grapple the Tourville; or that the fire, which had been put to the ship in two places, should take effect. He had just completed his raft, when an enemy's boat approached the Tourville. He hailed the boat twice; and, receiving no reply, fired off the musket which the sentry at the gangway had in his haste thrown down. The boat returned the fire; but the intrepid Bourgeois was not to be so daunted: he ran to the captain's cabin, and, taking an armful of muskets from the rack, discharged 20 of them in quick succession. This had the desired effect, and the boat pulled away. After he had been on board about an hour, he discovered, lying on the lower deck, three of his shipmates, drunk and insensible. Shortly afterwards three of the Tourville's boats arrived from on board the Océan; and a young midshipman-volunteer (aspirant de première classe), named Marinier, took the command of the 30 men now present, and made suitable preparations for defending the ship: indeed, every man of this little band is represented to have sworn to defend the Tourville to the utmost of his power.

At 5 A. M., agreeably to a signal made by Rear-admiral Stopford, Captain Bligh got under way with the Valiant, Theseus, and Revenge, and was followed by the Indefatigable, Unicorn, Aigle, and Emerald. While the Impérieuse, in her way to the anchorage she was about to take up, was passing within hail of the Indefatigable, Lord Cochrane proposed to Captain Rodd that, if the Indefatigable would go on one quarter of the Océan❜

the Impérieuse would take the other. Captain Rodd declined to do so; alleging as his reason, that the Indefatigable's main topmast had a shot through it, that her draught of water was too great for the service in contemplation, and that he should not be justified in acting without orders, in the presence of two superior officers, Captains Bligh and Beresford. At 6 A. M. the Impérieuse anchored in the Maumusson passage; and at 6 h. 30 m. A. M. the Pallas passed under sail, on her way to Basque roads after the other ships. Captain Seymour hailed the Impérieuse, to know whether or not he should remain. Lord Cochrane directed him to do so, if he, Captain Seymour, had received no orders to the contrary. The Pallas immediately anchored; and the Beagle and gun-brigs followed her example. At 8 A. M., which was as early as the tide suited, Lord Cochrane despatched the brigs and bomb-vessel to attack the nearest French ships aground at the entrance of the Charente; meaning to follow with the two frigates, if the water, which happened not to be the case, should prove sufficient. At 11 A. M. the Beagle, Etna, Conflict, Contest, Encounter, Fervent, Growler, the rocket schooner Whiting, and the two rocket cutters Nimrod and KingGeorge, coming to anchor, opened their fire upon the Océan, Régulus, and Indienne, as those ships lay aground. The Océan, during the preceding night, had landed all her boys, and the greater part of her soldiers: the faint-hearted (hommes pleureux) of her crew had also been allowed the same indulgence. This left on board just 600 officers and men, determined to defend their ship to the last extremity. Since daylight the third tier of water had been started, the shifting ballast, 100 barrels of flour, and a great quantity of salt provisions, thrown overboard; but the Ocean still remained fast. The Beagle, in the most gallant manner, took a position, in 16 feet water (her draught was 12 feet forward, and very nearly 15 abaft), upon the French three-decker's stern and quarter, and engaged her for five hours. The Océan returned the fire with her eight stern-chasers; from which, although her two poop-carronades from being overheated had upset early in the action, she is represented to have fired 260 36-pound shot, 340 24-pounders, and 380 12-pounders.

The Beagle appears to have borne the brunt of the engagement. At all events, that brig suffered more than any one of her consorts; having had her hull struck in several places, her main yard and main topmast shot through, and her standing and running rigging very much injured. The Beagle did not, however, sustain any loss of men; none at least that has been recorded. The bomb-vessel and gun-brigs also appear to have escaped without loss, as well as without any material damage; except that the Etna, as was now become an invariable case, had split her 13-inch mortar. At the time that the flotilla ceased firing, the Océan and Régulus, it being then high water, were preparing to push further up the Charente. At 4 P. M., the

tide then falling, the Beagle and her consorts weighed and worked back to their former anchorage, exposed, during a part of the time, to a heavy fire from the batteries on Isle d'Aix ; but which, nevertheless, appears not to have injured any one of the British vessels.

Among the damages sustained by the Océan in this attack, was a 32-pound shot (one of the Beagle's) right through the mizenmast to the spindle, spankerboom cut in two, six main and two mizen shrouds cut through, maintopsail yard badly wounded, and two chain plates and all three topgallant yards shot away. The hull had also been struck by several shot and pieces of shell, and even the decks in many places ripped up. But, notwithstanding this heavy damage, the Océan had only one killed, a young midshipman, while standing near the admiral at the commencement of the action. M. Allemand immediately ordered all the hands, not wanted at the stern-chase guns, to go below. Owing to this wise precaution, no other life was lost, and only a few men slightly wounded. The Régulus was at too great a distance to be much annoyed by shot, especially when discharged from carronades. Three shells, however, fell on board of her; and one of them went through all her decks, and burst in the hold. Her loss we are unable to state. The Indienne had only three men wounded; one with his thigh shot off. Several shot, however, are represented to have struck the frigate's masts. The Cassard, Jemmappes, and Tourville, appear likewise to have had a slight share in this engagement, but were too distant to suffer from it.

While this action was going on, the Impérieuse and Pallas lay at the anchorage, unable, from the strength and direction of the wind and the velocity of the tide, to advance with safety to the attack of the grounded ships. At noon the Dotterel, Foxhound, and Redpole, and two more rocket-vessels, from Basque roads, joined Lord Cochrane, and anchored near the two frigates. By these vessels Lord Cochrane received both a public and a private letter from Lord Gambier. The public one directs Lord Cochrane to make an attempt upon the Océan, with the bomb and rocket vessels, but expresses a strong doubt about the success of the attack. Lord Cochrane is then ordered to come to Basque roads as soon as the tide turns. The private letter states thus: "You have done your part so admirably, that I will not suffer you to tarnish it by attempting impossibilities, which I think, as well as those captains who have come from you, any further efforts to destroy those ships would be. You must therefore join as soon as you can with the bomb, &c., as I wish for some information which you allude to, before I close my despatches." To the first or public letter, Lord Cochrane replied: "I have just had the honour to receive your lordship's letter. We can destroy the ships which are on shore, which I hope your lordship will approve of." Either a few minutes before or after

the receipt of Lord Gambier's letter, it was considered on board the Impérieuse that her signal of recall was made by the Caledonia. The Impérieuse answered the supposed signal (for it is doubtful if it was made), and telegraphed that the enemy could be destroyed. It was shortly after this that the Beagle, Ætna, and smaller vessels, reanchored near the Impérieuse and Pallas.

On the 14th, at 2h. 30 m. A. M., by throwing overboard the chief part of her guns and other heavy materials, the Tourville got afloat and entered the Charente; but, presently afterwards, through the alleged carelessness of her pilot, the ship ran on shore on the opposite side of the river, off the town of Fouras, and close to the wreck of one of the largest of the fire-ships, probably the Mediator. The Océan was equally unsuccessful in her efforts to get into the channel, and grounded on the same side of the river as the Tourville; but the Patriote, Hortense, Elbe, and Pallas were more fortunate, and ascended the Charente beyond the reach of danger.

At 9 A. M. the Impérieuse, it is admitted, was recalled by signal from the Caledonia; which signal also directed Lord Cochrane to communicate with Captain Wolfe of the Aigle, who had been ordered to supersede his lordship in the command of the Aix flotilla. At noon the Aigle joined the Impérieuse; and at 4 h. 30 m. P. M., in compliance with the admiral's orders, the latter weighed and stood towards Basque roads. On the 15th the Impérieuse sailed for England, having on board Captain Sir Harry Neale with Lord Gambier's despatches. About an hour previous to the departure of the Impérieuse from the anchorage in the Maumusson passage, the Etna and five of the brigs had proceeded to attack the Régulus, Indienne, and the other ships in their vicinity. The bombardment and cannonade continued until 7 P. M., and only ceased then because the Ætna had consumed all her 10-inch shells. Very little effect appears to have been produced on either side by this engagement. During its progress, the Jemmappes had cleared herself and run up the

river.

In consequence of the strong north-west winds which had been blowing, the French expected that the tide of the 15th would be of an extraordinary height. To prepare for this, the Océan threw overboard the whole of her thirddeck guns, half of those on her first deck, and four 24-pounders from her middle deck. As soon as the ship began to feel the flood-tide, a great strain was hove upon the cables which had been laid out the day before, and the driver and all the after sails were set, to bring the ship's head to the wind, which still blew strong from the north-west. At 2 A. M. the Océan felt the canvass, and got out of her bed. The bead-sails were then set, the cables cut, and the French three-decker moved ahead through the mud. After forcing her through it for 500 yards, the Océan got into the fair