ed violence
on a lee-shore, and the British squadron being entangled among unknown
shoals and islands, sir Edward Hawke made the signal for anchoring to
the westward of the small island Dumet; and here the fleet remained all
night in a very dangerous riding, alarmed by the fury of the storm, and
the incessant firing of guns of distress, without their knowing whether
it proceeded from friend or enemy. The Soliel Royal had, under favour
of the night, anchored also in the midst of the British squadron; but
at day-break M. de Conflans ordered her cable to be cut, and she drove
ashore to the westward of Crozie. The English admiral immediately made
signal to the Essex to slip cable and pursue her; and, in obeying this
order, she ran unfortunately on a sand-bank called Lefour, where the
Resolution, another ship of the British squadron, was already grounded.
Here they were both irrecoverably lost, in spite of all the assistance
that could be given; but all their men, and part of their stores, were
saved, and the wrecks were set on fire by order of the admiral. He
likewise detached the Portland, Chatham, and Vengeance, to destroy the
Soleil Royal, which was burned by her own people before the English
ships could approach; but they arrived in time enough to reduce the Hero
to ashes on the Lefour, where she had been also stranded; and the Juste,
another of their great ships, perished in the mouth of the Loire. The
admiral, perceiving seven large ships of the enemy riding at anchor
between Point Penvas and the mouth of the river Vilaine, made the signal
to weigh, in order to attack them; but the fury of the storm increased
to such a degree, that he was obliged to remain at anchor, and even
ordered the top-gallant masts to be struck. In the meantime, the French
ships being lightened of their cannon, their officers took advantage
of the flood, and a more moderate gale under the land, to enter the
Vilaine, where they lay within half a mile of the entrance, protected
by some occasional batteries erected on the shore, and by two large
frigates moored across the mouth of the harbour. Thus they were
effectually secured from any attempts of small vessels; and as for large
ships, there was not water sufficient to float them within fighting
distance of the enemy. On the whole, this battle, in which a very
considerable number of lives was lost, may be considered as one of
the most perilous and important actions that ever happened in any
war be