e French fleet that lay there at anchor, he ordered three
ships of the line, commanded by the captains Smith, Harland, and
Barker, to advance and burn two ships that lay close to the mouth of the
harbour. They accordingly approached with great intrepidity, and met
with a very warm reception from divers batteries, which they had
not before perceived. Two small forts they attempted to destroy, and
cannonaded for some time with great fury; but being overmatched by
superior force, and the wind subsiding into a calm, they sustained
considerable damage, and were towed off with great difficulty in a
very shattered condition. The admiral seeing three of his best ships so
roughly handled in this enterprise, returned to Gibraltar in order
to refit; and M. de la Clue, the French commander of the squadron at
Toulon, seized this opportunity of sailing, in hopes of passing the
Straits' mouth unobserved, his fleet consisting of twelve large ships
and three frigates. Admiral Boscawen, who commanded fourteen sail of
the line with two frigates, and as many fire-ships, having refitted
his squadron, detached one frigate to cruise off Malaga, and another
to hover between Estepona and Ceuta-point, with a view to keep a good
look-out, and give timely notice in case the enemy should approach. On
the seventeenth day of August, at eight in the evening, the Gibraltar
frigate made a signal that fourteen sail appeared on the Barbary shore,
to the eastward of Ceuta; upon which the English admiral immediately
heaved up his anchors and went to sea. At day-light he descried seven
large ships lying-to; but when the English squadron forbore to answer
their signal, they discovered their mistake, set all their sails, and
made the best of their way. This was the greater part of the French
squadron, commanded by M. de la Clue, from whom five of his large ships
and three frigates had separated in the night. Even now, perhaps, he
might have escaped, had he not been obliged to wait for the Souveraine,
which was a heavy sailer. At noon the wind, which had blown a heavy
gale, died away, and although admiral Boscawen had made signal to chase,
and engage in a line of battle ahead, it was not till half an hour after
two that some of his headmost ships could close with the rear of the
enemy, which, though greatly out-numbered, fought with uncommon bravery.
The English admiral, without waiting to return the fire of the
sternmost, which he received as he passed, used all