awke, on hearing of it, sent two ships to demand his immediate
release. This request was complied with. Shortly afterwards the _Saint
George_ was overtaken by a furious storm, in which she foundered, her
brave commander and crew perishing.

At this time, while Lord Clive was, by a series of victories, laying the
foundation of the British Empire in the east, Admiral Watson commanded
in the Indian seas. To assist the army the squadron entered the
Hooghly, when a body of seamen was landed to attack the fort of Boujee.
By a singular event it was carried without bloodshed. A seaman by the
name of Strachan, belonging to the _Kent_, having drunk too much grog,
strayed under the walls of the fort in the dead of night, and observing
a breach, entered at it, giving loud huzzas. This alarmed some more of
his comrades, who had also strayed the same way. They instantly mounted
the breach, and drove the Indian garrison from the works. By this time
the whole camp and squadron were alarmed, and the troops, flying to the
fort, entered and gained possession of it without the loss of a man.
After everything was quiet, Admiral Watson sent for Strachan to admonish
him for his temerity, and addressing him, observed, "Strachan, what is
this you have been doing?" The untutored hero, after having made his
bow, scratching his head with one hand and twirling his hat with the
other, replied, "Why, to be sure, sir, it was I who took the fort, but I
hope there was no harm in it." The admiral then pointed out to him the
dreadful consequences that might have resulted from so rash an act, and
insinuated as he left the cabin that he should be punished. Strachan,
highly disappointed at this rebuke from the admiral when he thought
himself entitled to applause, muttered as he was leaving the cabin, "If
I'm flogged for this here action, I'll never take another fort as long
as I live."

A gallant action fought in the West Indies, in the year 1757, is worthy
of note. Admiral Cotes, commander-in-chief on the station, despatched
Captain Arthur Forrest, of the 60-gun ship _Augusta_, with the
_Edinburgh_, Captain Langdon, of 60 guns, and the _Dreadnought_, Captain
Maurice Suckling, of 60 guns, to cruise off Cape Francois, where the
French were assembling a fleet of merchant-vessels for Europe. The
French squadron consisted of two seventy-fours, one sixty-four, one
fifty, one forty-four, and two of thirty-two guns. On the 21st of
October, early in th