e
had 115 men killed and drowned, and 9 wounded, while his sails and his
rigging were burnt and scorched. He was, therefore, compelled to leave
his ship, and hoist his flag on board the _Monmouth_.

At the same time, Captain Bokenham, in the _Association_, laid his
broadside against the town, while Captain Wyvill, in the _Barfleur_, a
ship of the like force, was sent to batter the fort on the other side.
The firing of the great and small shot of both sides was continued for
some time, till the French admiral, seeing the platform and fort in the
hands of the English and his fire-ship useless, while the confederate
fleet were entering, set fire to his own ship, ordering the rest of the
captains under his command to follow his example, which was done in so
much confusion, that several men-of-war and galleons were taken by the
English and Dutch. The allies and French lost about an equal number of
men, but by this victory a vast amount of booty, both of plate and other
things, was captured. The Spanish fleet was the richest that ever came
from the West Indies to Europe. The silver and gold was computed at
20,000,000 of pieces of eight, of which 14,000,000 only had been taken
out of the galleons and secured by the enemy at Lagos, about twenty-five
leagues from Vigo, and the rest was either taken or sunk in the
galleons. Besides this, there were goods to the value of 20,000 pieces
of eight, and a large quantity of plate and goods belonging to private
persons. A few years ago only, a company was formed in England for the
purpose of dredging for the treasure sunk in the galleons, but the
scheme was abandoned on the discovery that much less amount of treasure
than here described was really lost, the confederates having captured
nearly all of that which had not been landed at Lagos.

By this blow the naval power of France was so deeply wounded, that she
never recovered it during the war.

Admiral Benbow had in the meantime been despatched to the West Indies,
in command of a small squadron, to prevent the Spanish islands from
falling into the power of France. Hearing that Monsieur de Casse, the
French admiral, had sailed for Carthagena, he pursued him. On the 19th
of August, in the afternoon, he discovered ten sail steering westward
along the shore under their topsails. Upon this, he threw out a signal
for a line of battle. The frigates being a long time coming up, and the
night advancing, Benbow steered alongside the F