as before, and he continued
to chase, in hopes of bringing them to an engagement; but all his
endeavours proved fruitless till the third day of August, when, having
obtained the weather-gage, he bore down upon them in order of battle.
The engagement began with great impetuosity on both sides; but in little
more than ten minutes, M. d'Apche set his foresail, and bore away, his
whole squadron following his example, and maintaining a running fight in
a very irregular line. The British admiral then hoisted the signal for
a general chase, which the enemy perceiving, thought proper to cut away
their boats, and crowd with all the sail they could carry. They escaped,
by favour of the night, into the road of Pondicherry, and Mr. Pococke
anchored with his squadron off Cari-cal, a French settlement, having
thus obtained an undisputed victory, with the loss of thirty men killed,
and one hundred and sixteen wounded, including commodore Stevens and
captain Martin, though their wounds were not dangerous. The number of
killed and wounded on board the French squadron amounted, according to
report, to five hundred and forty; and their fleet was so much damaged,
that in the beginning of September their commodore sailed for the island
of Bourbon, in the same latitude with Madagascar, in order to refit;
thus leaving the command and sovereignty of the Indian seas to the
English admiral, whose fleet, from the beginning of this campaign, had
been much inferior to the French squadron in number of ships and men, as
well as in weight of metal.

Mr. Lally having reduced Cuddalore and fort St. David's,* resolved to
extort a sum of money from the king of Tanjour, on pretence that, in
the last war, he had granted an obligation to the French governor for a
certain sum, which had never been paid.

* Cuddalore was in such a defenceless condition, that it
could make no resistance; and there being no place in fort
St. David's bomb-proof, nor any provisions or fresh water,
the garrison surrendered in twelve days, on capitulation,
after having sustained a severe bombardment.

Lally accordingly marched with a body of three thousand men into the
dominions of Tanjour, and demanded seventy-two lacs of rupees. This
extravagant demand being rejected, he plundered Negare, a trading town
on the sea-coast, and afterwards invested the capital; but after he
had prosecuted the siege until a breach was made, his provisions and
ammunition begi