their consort, and have captured one at least of them. 1805. This, if done promptly, and before much damage July. had been suffered by the Blanche or her prize, would have greatly reduced the odds, and been an additional motive for captain Baudin to have permitted the Blanche to proceed to her destination. The moderate loss sustained by the Blanche would lead us to infer, that she struck too soon; as would the much slighter loss inflicted by her upon the Topaze, that the Blanche did not employ her force in a manner becoming a british frigate of her class. M. Baudin states, from the information probably of captain Mudge himself, that he put more than 30 shot in the Blanche, both above and below water; but what was that to perform in a two hours' engagement? He boasts, with more reason, of having wounded the masts, and cut to pieces the rigging and sails, of his prize, and assigns the delay it would cause to repair them as his motive for setting the Blanche on fire. And we feel the more disposed to attach credit to the statements of M. Baudin, on account of the uncommon accuracy with which he describes the force of his prize, giving her "vingt-seize canons de 18 en batterie, quatorze carronades de 32 et quatre canons de 9 sur les gaillards." reason suffered loss. Although scarcely five years' old and an oak-built One ship, the Blanche had become so thoroughly infected that with the dry-rot, that the enemy's shot passed clean Blanche through her side, scattering dust instead of splinters. To this, and to her short-manned state, has been slight a mainly attributed the smallness of the Blanche's loss, in reference to the time the ship was engaged, the force opposed to her, and the alleged closeness of the action. As respects the british frigate, this reasoning may carry weight; but how are we to explain the truly insignificant loss sustained by the french * The same cause, although we omitted to notice it, contributed to the slight loss sustained by the Wilhelmina in her action with the Pysché. See vol. iii. p. 385. 1805. frigate; as well as the entire state of impunity July. which, notwithstanding their alleged important share in the action, attended the three corvettes? The Topaze, as the british records prove, was a sound ship four years after she had captured the Blanche, and went into action, captain Mudge himself informs us, with a crew nearly twice as numerous as his Cha tish crew. own. Admitting, as captain Mudge alleges, that the Blanche did really engage the Topaze closely, what was she about with her guns not to do more execution than to kill or wound one man every 10 minutes, or 12 men in two hours? This is the more unaccountable, because the crew of the Blanche were a racter remarkably fine set of men, and the very last from of bri- whom such treatment of an enemy was to be expected. If, contrary to what has been officially asserted, the Blanche, having mistaken the national character of the Topaze and her consorts until the french frigate had begun to open her fire, had been all in confusion when the attack commenced; if, instead of endeavouring to retrieve her error by a prompt and vigourous application of her means of defence, the Blanche had sought to avoid a combat by a hurried resort to her means of escape, firing an occasional ill-directed shot at one or the other of her opponents: if, we say, all this had been the case, the very cheap rate at which M. Baudin gained his prize would need no other explanation. Letters of capt. Mudge. The duty of an historian, who, in most cases, has to elicit truth from conflicting statements, has often obliged us to animadvert, with more or less of severity, upon the bombastical accounts published by the French. In common fairness, therefore, we cannot avoid noticing the three letters, one official and two private, written by the captain of the Blanche, and published in all the english, and some of the foreign newspapers. Two of those letters, including the official one, are dated on one day, the 22d of July. One of the two private accounts is in the form of an ex tract from the Blanche's log, thus: "July 19th, at 8 1805. A. M., fell in with a squadron of french ships cruising; July. at eleven in close action with the same; at half past eleven reduced to a perfect wreck, ship filling fast; at twelve struck the colours, and at six she sank." The official letter requiring to be more circumstantial and precise, the "french squadron as per margin" is made to consist, with a slight overrating in the force, of the three ships and brig described in our account of the action. "I concluded they were french," says the captain, "and therefore determined to sell the ship as dearly as possible." As a proof that he did so, he declares that a quarter of an hour (not half, as stated in the above private account) before the Blanche struck, she was "a perfect wreck;" meaning, not, as might be imagined, that her masts were all shot away, but that her sails were "totally destroyed," and that she had "ten shot in the foremast, (expecting it to fall every minute,) the mainmast and rigging cut to pieces." The inference here is, making every allowance for figurative language, that the mainmast, being "cut to pieces," was actually in a tottering state. Unfortunately, however, the surgeon of the Blanche, in his letter, published on the same day as his captain's, sums up the damages to her masts thus: "Eleven shot received in our foremast, several in the mainmast, and the spanker-boom shot away." of capt. Mudge. "The crew reduced to 190," proceeds captain Letters Mudge in his letter," and the rest falling fast, with no probability of escape, I called a council of officers for their opinion, &c." He then states the surrender of the Blanche " at twelve at noon," and that he was immediately "hurried on board the commodore." "At six," he adds, "the officers who had charge of the Blanche returned, and reported the ship to be sinking fast; on which she was fired, and in about an hour after she sunk,* for the magazine had been some time under water." In a "At six she sank." See the private account above. July. 1805. postscript the captain states, that the ship commenced action with 215 men, and that the loss, as far as came within his notice, amounted to eight killed and 13 wounded. The surgeon, in his letter, states the loss (and he was the officer whose duty it was to report it) at eight killed and 15 wounded, making a total of 23. This number, deducted from 215, leaves 192 men; and yet "the crew was reduced to 190, and they were falling fast." Why, after having ostentatiously declared, that he, captain Mudge, not himself, his officers, and crew, " determined to sell the ship as dearly as possible," by the ungenerous announcement, that he "called a council of officers for their opinion," endeavour to divide with the latter the blame, if any attached, of striking the colours? Letters Captain Mudge's second private letter, according of capt to the public papers, was addressed to his brother Mudge. in law, and bears date on board the Topaze, Au gust 10. It is too good a thing not to be given entire. "On my return from Jamaica to Barbadoes, I fell in with M. Baudin's squadron, cruising for our homeward-bound convoy. I fought the ship till she was cut to pieces, and then sunk. I cannot say what our loss is, as there have been no returns, the crew being all divided between the two frigates and two corvettes which engaged us. Twenty-one fell nobly within my own knowledge; I am afraid many more. I thank God the Blanche never wore french colours.* Lieutenant Thomas Peebles, of the marines, was the only officer materially wounded: his legs were broken by a splinter. During the severe contest, the squadron was never without hail. I have the consolation of knowing they were so much damaged as to spoil their cruise; they all stood to the northward as soon as repaired, leaving the passage open to the convoy under a 20-gun ship."+ * Nearly the same words occur in the official letter: "Thank God, she was not destined to bear french colours, or to assist the fleet of the enemy." See Naval Chronicle, vol, xiv. p. 186. After what has appeared, this letter will require 1805. very few comments. We may, however, just no- July. tice the extensive application given to the word 66 fell," as well as the singular circumstance, that captain Mudge should have had "no returns" of loss, when the late Blanche's surgeon was a fellow-prisoner with him on board the Topaze; and when, three days previous to the date of the captain's letter to major Fletcher, the surgeon had enumerated that loss in a letter to a friend. And had captain Mudge really forgotten what he himself, in his official letter, had stated respecting the loss on board the Blanche? One of captain Mudge's "two frigates," by his own account, mounted 22 guns. Nor was the Département-des-Landes so large, or so well armed a ship as the Constance, which, in the year 1800, gave captain Mudge his post-rank; and which, had he fought a battle in her, he would have been very indignant to have heard called a "frigate." M. Baudin was not "on a cruise," but bound straight from Martinique to France, and, besides being in the direct track to Europe, had made an excellent three days' run. The convoy, which did not sail from Tortola until 12 days after the Blanche's capture, was therefore not the french captain's object; nor was the Proselyte its only protection, the Illustrious 74 and Barbadoes frigate being in her company. We will conclude this case with stating, that, although she was "filling fast," at " half past eleven," the Blanche did not sink till late in the evening; and not then, the wet state of her magazine preventing an explosion, until she had been burnt to the water's edge by her captors; nor until they had removed every man of her crew, wounded and well, and, no doubt, as many of her stores as they required. Nor, even at this time, had one of her masts fallen. Less fond of the heroics than his captain, the surgeon says, that the Blanche, when she struck, had six feet water in the hold; which accords tolerably well with captain Baudin's ex |