ted
of the British men-of-war on the coast. A line-of-battle ship and three
frigates were still missing. Their absence would not have materially
weakened the enemy, whose force still exceeded what the rebel delegates
had required; but the two commanders had embarked in one of the missing
frigates, the _Fraternite_; and Rear-Admiral Bouvet and General Grouchy,
the seconds in command, could scarcely act with decision while their
chiefs were hourly expected.

The _Fraternite_, with the other three ships in company, was very near
the fleet on the 20th, but it was concealed from her by a fog; and a
gale which dispersed the fog, separated her from her consorts.
Proceeding alone to the Bay, she had nearly reached it on the 21st, when
she fell in with a British frigate, which she mistook for one of her own
fleet till she was almost within gun-shot. Night saved her from capture,
but the chase had carried her far to the westward, and it was eight days
before she obtained a fair wind to return.

The ships continued beating up to Bearhaven against a fresh easterly
breeze until the evening of the 22nd, when the Rear-Admiral anchored
off the eastern extremity of Great Bear Island, with eight sail of the
line, two frigates, and some smaller vessels. Seven sail of the line,
and eight frigates, kept under sail; and the wind rising in the night
blew them all off to sea.

It blew hard, with a heavy sea, through the next day and night. On the
24th, the weather having moderated, it was determined in a council of
war to land the remaining troops immediately, and General Grouchy made a
formal requisition for that purpose. A suitable landing-place was found,
and the necessary preparations were completed; but it was now late in
the afternoon, and the landing was necessarily deferred until morning.
That night, the gale rose from the eastward, and increased through the
next day to a tempest. At length the ships began to drive from their
anchors. The _Indomptable_, 80, ran foul of the _Resolve_ frigate, and
totally dismasted her. The other frigate, the _Immortalite_, in which
Rear-admiral Bouvet had embarked, though his proper flag-ship was the
_Droits de l'Homme,_ parted one of her cables in the evening, and was
obliged to cut the other, and run out to sea. The weather would not
allow her to return until the 29th, and then the Rear-Admiral, hopeless
of re-assembling the fleet, decided to proceed to Brest.

Others were less fortunate. The _Tor