hips near
Conquet-bay; and this service being performed, he returned to St.
Helen's, where he had left Adm. Cloudesley Shovel with a squadron, to
take on board a body of land forces intended for a descent upon the
coast of France. These being embarked under the command of general
Ptolemache, the whole fleet sailed again on the twenty-ninth of May.
The land and sea officers, in a council of war, agreed that part of the
fleet designed for this expedition should separate from the rest and
proceed to Camaret-bay, where the forces should be landed. On the fifth
day of June, lord Berkeley, who commanded this squadron, parted with the
grand fleet, and on the seventh anchored between the bays of Camaret and
Bertaume. Next day the marquis of Carmarthen, afterwards duke of
Leeds, who served under Berkeley as rear-admiral of the blue, entered
Camaret-bay with two large ships and six frigates, to cover the troops
in landing. The French had received intelligence of the design, and
taken such precautions, under the conduct of the celebrated engineer
Vauban, that the English were exposed to a terrible fire from new
erected batteries, as well as from a strong body of troops, and though
the ships cannonaded them with great vigour, the soldiers could not
maintain any regularity in landing. A good number were killed in the
open boats before they reached the shore; and those who landed were
soon repulsed, in spite of all the endeavours of general Ptolemache,
who received a wound in the thigh, which proved mortal. Seven hundred
soldiers are said to have been lost on this occasion, besides those who
were killed on board of the ships. The Monk ship of war was towed off
with great difficulty; but a Dutch frigate of thirty guns fell into the
hands of the enemy.

After this unfortunate attempt, lord Berkeley, with the advice of a
council of war, sailed back for England, and at St. Helen's received
orders from the queen to call a council, and deliberate in what manner
the ships and forces might be best employed. They agreed to make some
attempt upon the coast of Normandy. With this view they set sail on the
fifth day of July. They bombarded Dieppe, and reduced the greatest part
of the town to ashes. Thence they steered to Havre-de-Grace, which met
with the same fate. They harassed the French troops who marched after
them along shore. They alarmed the whole coast, and filled every town
with such consternation that they would have been abandoned by