hn Balchen's widow.

As an example of the danger those on board fire-ships ran, a fearful
accident which happened to one of them must be mentioned. While the
fleet of Admiral Matthews was engaged with the Spaniards in the
Mediterranean, he ordered the _Anne_ galley fire-ship, commanded by
Captain Mackay, to go down and burn the _Real_. In obedience to his
orders, that brave officer approached the Spanish admiral.
Notwithstanding the heavy fire opened on his vessel, he ordered all his
people off the deck, and boldly steered the fire-ship, with a match in
his hand. As he approached, he found that the enemy's shot had such an
effect that his ship was fast sinking; at the same time, observing a
large Spanish launch rowing towards him, he opened fire on her with his
guns, when, on a sudden, the fire-ship appeared in a blaze, and almost
immediately blew up, but at a distance too great either to grapple or
damage the _Real_. The gallant commander, with his lieutenant, gunner,
mate, and two quartermasters, perished.

The Admiralty at this time appear to have considered that the best way
of inducing naval officers to perform their duty was to shoot or
otherwise severely punish them if they did not. On the 22nd of April,
1745, the _Anglesea_, of 40 guns and 250 men, commanded by Captain Jacob
Elton, fell in with a French privateer of 50 guns and 500 men. After a
severe action, in which the commander and his first lieutenant were
killed, the ship being much disabled, and above sixty of her crew killed
or wounded, Mr Barker Phillips, her second lieutenant, who succeeded to
the command, surrendered her to the enemy. On his return to England, he
was tried by a court-martial, and sentenced to be shot, which sentence
was carried into execution on board the _Princess Royal_ at Spithead.

The war again broke out in 1755, when information being received that
the French were preparing a fleet of men-of-war to sail from different
ports, the ministry immediately equipped a squadron, the command of
which was given to Admiral Boscawen, who was ordered to proceed to North
America. The first ships taken during the war were by the _Dunkirk_,
Captain Howe, who after an engagement of five hours captured the
_Alcide_ and _Lys_, part of the squadron of M. de la Motte.

A fleet of ten ships, under the command of Admiral Byng, was sent out to
the Mediterranean. With his squadron but imperfectly manned, he sailed
from Spithead on the 7th of