accident,
the fleet still continued the pursuit, and anchored near Cape La Hogue.
On the twenty-second of the month, about seven in the morning, part
of the French fleet was perceived near the Race of Alderney, some at
anchor, and some driving to the eastward with the tide of flood. Russel
and the ships nearest him immediately slipped their cables and chased.
The Rising Sun having lost her masts, ran ashore near Cherbourg, where
she was burned by sir Ralph Delaval, together with the Admirable,
another first-rate, and the Conquerant of eighty guns. Eighteen other
ships of their fleet ran into La Hogue, where they were attacked by sir
George Rooke, who destroyed them and a great number of transports laden
with ammunition, in the midst of a terrible fire from the enemy, and in
sight of the Irish camp. Sir John Ashby, with his own squadron and some
Dutch ships, pursued the rest of the French fleet, which escaped through
the Race of Alderney by such a dangerous passage as the English could
not attempt without exposing their ships to the most imminent hazard.
This was a very mortifying defeat to the French king, who had been so
long flattered with an uninterrupted series of victories; it reduced
James to the lowest ebb of despondence, as it frustrated the whole
scheme of his embarkation, and overwhelmed his friends in England with
grief and despair. Some historians allege that Russel did not improve
his victory with all advantages that might have been obtained before
the enemy recovered their consternation. They say his affection to the
service was in a great measure cooled by the disgrace of his friend
the earl of Marlborough; that he hated the earl of Nottingham, by whose
channel he received his orders; and that he adhered to the letter
rather than to the spirit of his instructions. But this is a malicious
imputation, and a very ungrateful return for his manifold services to
the nation. He acted in this whole expedition with the genuine spirit
of a British admiral. He plied from the Nore to the Downs with a very
scanty wind through the dangerous sands, contrary to the advice of
all his pilots; and by this bold passage effected a junction of the
different squadrons, which otherwise the French would have attacked
singly and perhaps defeated. He behaved with great gallantry during the
engagement, and destroyed about fifteen of the enemy's capital ships; in
a word, he obtained such a decisive victory, that during the remaining
p