was so
much injured that he expired shortly afterwards. The action was
continued during the whole night, and at 2 a.m. the following morning
Admiral Rodney finding that the enemy's ships were too much disabled to
enable them to escape, hove to. Besides the one which blew up, the
_Phoenix_ 80-gun ship and five 70-gun ships were taken. The weather
being bad, it was not without great difficulty that the fleet, which had
got into shoal water, could work off again. Two of the prizes, on board
of which prize-crews had been put, but from which on account of the bad
weather it had been impossible to remove the officers and men, were
recaptured by the Spaniards and carried into Cadiz. The small-pox
raging on board the _Bienfaisant_, Captain Macbride, who had taken
possession of the _Phoenix_, actuated by principles of humanity worthy
of being recorded, to avoid the risk of infection spreading among the
prisoners, sent the following proposals to Don Juan de Langara, who
accepted them with thanks:--

"Captain Macbride consents that neither officers nor men shall be
removed from the _Phoenix_, Admiral Langara being responsible for their
conduct; and in case we shall fall in with any Spanish or French ships
of war, he will not suffer Lieutenant Thomas Lewis, the officer now in
command of the _Phoenix_, to be interrupted in conducting and defending
the ship to the last extremity. And if, meeting with superior force,
the _Phoenix_ should be retaken and the _Bienfaisant_ fight her way
clear, the admiral and his officers and men are to hold themselves
prisoners of war to Captain Macbride, upon their parole of honour,
(which he is confident with Spanish officers is ever sacred). Likewise,
if the _Bienfaisant_ should be taken and the _Phoenix_ escape, the
admiral and his officers will no longer be prisoners, but freed
immediately. In short, they are to follow the fate of the
_Bienfaisant_."

This remarkable agreement was executed with the strictest honour.

Soon afterwards Captain Macbride, after a smart action, captured the
_Comte d'Arotis_, private ship of war, mounting 64 guns, and 644 men,
commanded by the Chevalier de Clonard.

Admiral Rodney, who had been joined by Rear-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker at
Saint Lucia, gaining intelligence of the French fleet, which consisted
of 25 sail of the line and 8 frigates, sailed in search of them. On the
19th of April, having come in sight of the enemy on the previous
evening, about noo