e sail of the line and a body of troops, set sail
immediately; and on the tenth day of March descried five ships of war
hauling out of the bay of Gibraltar. These were commanded by de Pontis
in person, to whom the English admiral gave chase. One of them struck,
after having made a very slight resistance; and the rest ran ashore to
the westward of Marbella, where they were destroyed. The remaining part
of the French squadron had been blown from their anchors, and taken
shelter in the bay of Malaga; but now they slipped their cables and made
the best of their way to Toulon. The mareschal de Thesse, inconsequence
of this disaster, turned the siege of Gibraltar into a blockade, and
withdrew the greater part of his forces. While sir John Leake was
employed in this expedition, sir George Byng, who had been ordered to
cruise in soundings for the protection of trade, took a ship of forty
guns from the enemy, together with twelve privateers, and seven vessels
richly laden from the West Indies.

BARCELONA REDUCED BY SIR C. SHOVEL AND LORD PETERBOROUGH.

But the most eminent achievement of this summer was the reduction of
Barcelona, by the celebrated earl of Peterborough and sir Cloudesley
Shovel, who sailed from St. Helen's in the latter end of May with the
English fleet, having on board a body of five thousand land forces; and
on the twentieth day of June arrived at Lisbon; where they were joined
by sir John Leake and the Dutch admiral Allemonde. In a council of war,
they determined to put to sea with eight-and-forty ships of the line,
which should be stationed between cape Spartel and the bay of Cadiz,
in order to prevent the junction of the Toulon and Brest squadrons. The
prince of Hesse-d'Armstadt arriving from Gibraltar, assured king Charles
that the province of Catalonia and the kingdom of Valencia were attached
to his interest; and his majesty, being weary of Portugal, resolved to
accompany the earl of Peterborough to Barcelona. He accordingly
embarked with him on board of the Ranelagh; and the fleet sailed on the
twenty-eighth day of July, the earl of Galway having reinforced them
with two regiments of English dragoons. At Gibraltar they took on board
the English guards, and three old regiments, in lieu of which they left
two new raised battalions. On the eleventh day of August they anchored
in the bay of Altea, where the earl of Peterborough published a
manifesto in the Spanish language, which had such an effect th