board during the chase of the squadron by sir 1805. Richard Strachan. This fact is stated on oath in the Nov. written depositions of the Formidable's late officers, lodged in the admiralty prize-court, and is confirmed by the official return of the prize broker, it there appearing that no more than 68 guns were found on board the ship. ance british In the battle of Trafalgar, neither the french nor the british frigates fired a shot: in this battle all four british frigates, three of them especially, contributed their full share towards achieving the victory. It is true that the official letter, the extraor- Assistdinary brevity of which has been so admired by some renderand blamed by others, states that, when the french ed by ships tacked," the frigates were to-leeward of the frigates enemy." But sir Richard surely never intended to have it thence inferred, that they took no further part in the action. An officer of one of the line-ofbattle ships, apparently the Namur, in a letter published on the same day as the official account, considers that the tacking of the french ships "gave the frigates in the rear the credit of taking a good share in the action." The French indeed represent, that every one of their ships, when the squadron got on the larboard tack, found herself assailed by a ship of the line to-windward and a frigate to-leeward, the latter placing herself in a comparatively safe but harassing position on the quarter. This is saying too much. What the frigates really did may be thus stated. The Phoenix, by her skilful manoeuvres, decoyed the french squadron within sight of the british squadron. This frigate, then, accompanied by the Santa-Margarita, gallantly fought, and considerably annoyed, the rearmost french ship; so much so, doubtless, as to have checked the way of all the french ships, and thereby enabled sir Richard the more quickly to overtake them. When the french squadron tacked, the Santa-Margarita got thrown out, because she had received a dangerous shot in the magazine, besides several other shot in her star 1805. board side; to stop the holes of which the ship was Nov. obliged to be kept on the heel for two hours. But the Santa-Margarita's place was ably supplied by the Révolutionnaire, who, with the Phoenix, gave the finishing blow to the Scipion. The Eolus exchanged a few distant shot with the french ships as they passed to-windward, and made herself useful in taking possession of the Mont-Blanc after that ship had struck to the Cæsar. Small rem force Trafal léon's The capture of M. Dumanoir's squadron may nant of fairly be considered as an emanation from the battle french of Trafalgar. So that, out of the 18 sail of the line engag- which France possessed on the morning of the 21st ed at of October, in a fortnight afterwards she could count gar. only five, and those five shut up in a spanish port, helpless to themselves and useless to their country. The news of these sad reverses reached the french emperor in Austria, in the midst of his brilliant triumphs. Napoléon is said to have flown into the rage on most violent rage, and to have declared, in allusion learn- to Byng's fate, that he would "teach french admirals ing his how to conquer." "Je saurai bien apprendre aux verses. amiraux français à vaincre."* In a little time, however, Buonaparte's habitual duplicity resumed its sway over his mind; and he was weak enough to imagine that, because he told the legislative assembly that a few of his ships had been lost in a storm,† and the Moniteur and other french papers refrained from publishing a word on the subject, the world at large were a jot less wise respecting the real fate of the franco-spanish fleet. re His treat ment of some The french emperor subsequently gave a gracious reception to captains Lucas, Infernet, Magendie, and Villemadrin; saying to the first two: "Those capof the tains who, instead of closing with the enemy, kept out tains. of gun-shot, shall be prosecuted, and if there is cause, shall be made a striking example of;" "Les capitaines de vaisseau qui, au lieu d'aborder l'ennemi, сар se sont tenus hors de portée de canon, seront pour- 1805. suivis, et, s'il y a lieu, il en sera fait un exemple Nov. éclatant;"* and to the last two: "You are among those who fought well; you shall have your reward." "Vous êtes du nombre de ceux qui se sont bien battus, vous prendrez votre revanche.”+ terious Ville neuve. Napoléon's intentions respecting M. Villeneuve Mysare not very clear. This unfortunate admiral, hav- death ing obtained his parole, sailed from Plymouth in a of M. cartel on the 9th of April, and on the night of the 22d landed at Morlaix; intending, it was understood, to proceed straight to Paris to justify himself before the french emperor. A few evenings afterwards M. Villeneuve, while waiting at the Hotel de la Patrie at Rennes for Napoléon's orders respecting his future movements, was found dead in his bed, stabbed in several places, as alleged, by his own hand, but, as very generally suspected, by the agency of Buonaparte. Buonaparte has since denied this; but who would confess such an act? On the 20th of October, 1809, and not before, rear-admiral Dumanoir, for his conduct on the 21st of October, 1805, was tried by a court of inquiry, which had Court been summoned by Napoléon's orders, and was ac- quiry quitted. The court sat at Paris, and was composed on of the two senators, the comtes de Fleurieu and noir, Bougainville, and the two vice-admirals Thevenard for batand Rosily; who gave it as their opinion, "That Trafalrear-admiral Dumanoir manoeuvred conformably to signals and the dictates of duty and honour." "Que le contre-amiral Dumanoir a manoeuvré conformément aux signaux, et à l'impulsion du devoir et de l'honneur." "That he did all that the wind and circumstances would permit to succour the commander in chief." "Qu'il a fait ce que les vents et les circonstances ont pu lui permettre pour venir au secours de l'amiral." "That he engaged, as closely as he could, all the ships that he met in his way to † Ibid. * Victoires et Conquêtes, tome xvi. p. 198. of in on M. Duma tle of gar. Trial of last action. 1805. the centre." "Qu'il a combattu, d'aussi près qu'il a Nov. pu, tous les vaisseaux qu'il a rencontrés jusqu'au centre." "In short, that he did not individually abandon the contest until forced to do so by the damages of his ship, and in particular by the impracticability of manoeuvring, owing to the state of his masts and rigging." "Enfin, qu'il n'a personellement quitté le combat, que forcé par les avaries de tout genre de son vaisseau, et particulièrement par l'impossibilité de manoeuvrer dans l'état où se trouvait sa mâture.' On the 29th of December, 1809, the same court M. Da of inquiry sat to investigate M. Dumanoir's conduct manoir for his on the battle of the 5th of November. The members would not question the bravery of a french admiral, but they found fault with his tactics. There was some colour for this; and the question still lies open, Why did not M. Dumanoir, on the 4th, or on the day preceding the battle, with his four sail of the line, tack and fall upon the three british sail of the line and three frigates then solely in pursuit of him? Not satisfied with the sentence pronounced upon him, M. Dumanoir demanded and obtained a naval court-martial. It was held at Toulon, and honourably acquitted him. M. Dumanoir is now the fifth viceadmiral on the list. Captains Maistral and Epron outlived Napoléon's displeasure; and the name of the survivor of the two, captain Epron, is not eclipsed in honorary marks of distinction by that of any officer of the same rank in the "Etat Général de la Marine." Arrival prizes in Eng &c. Sir Richard Strachan carried his four prizes in of safety to Plymouth, and they were all added to the british navy; the Formidable, under the name land, of Brave, the Duguay-Trouin, under that of Implacable, and the remaining two under their own names. The Implacable and Scipion were the only ships that afterwards went to sea. On the 9th of November, two days before his despatches reached the admiralty, and consequently without reference to his recent success over the enemy, sir Richard was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral. On the 29th 1805. of the ensuing January, sir Richard, for his conduct in the action of the 5th of November, became invested with the order of the Bath; and, about the same time, the rear-admiral, and the captains and officers who served under him, received the thanks of parliament. Gold medals were also distributed, and the first lieutenants of the line-of-battle ships, we believe, made commanders. LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. and five On the 21st of January the british schooner Jan. Gipsy, (tender to the flag-ship at Port-Royal, Ja- Gipsy maica,) of ten 4-pounders and 45 men and boys, com- privamanded by lieutenant Michael Fitton, while lying to teers. off Cape Antonio, waiting to deliver despatches from the commander in chief to the 36-gun frigate Princess-Charlotte, captain the honourable Francis Fayerman Gardner, was chased by two schooner and three felucca privateers from under the land. Lieutenant Fitton immediately filled and stood out to the offing, in the hope that the privateers would separate in the chase, and afford him a chance of capturing one or two of them. In a short time the largest of the two schooners got considerably ahead of her companions. By way of encouraging this vessel to continue the pursuit, the Gipsy paid a cable out of her stern-port, which slackened her way, and appeared to produce its intended effect. Having run the leading privateer to a sufficient distance from the rest, the Gipsy tacked and stood for her. privateer immediately put about, and a running action ensued between her and the Gipsy; so much, Drives however, to the former's disadvantage, that she ran one on on the Colorados reef, and was totally wrecked. lorados Seeing the fate of their companion, the remaining four privateers crowded sail away, and left the Gipsy to remain unmolested upon her station. In three days afterwards the Princess-Charlotte arrived on the spot, and lieutenant Fitton delivered The the Co |