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their wind, and make sail on the larboard tack.

ordered the Victory to be placed on the lee quarter of the rear-most ship of the enemy, the Salvadra del Mundo; and threw in so effectual a discharge, that her commander, seeing the Barfleur, carrying viceadmiral Waldegrave's flag, bearing down to second the Victory, thought proper to strike.

The advantage was now evidently on the side of the British; and while the advanced division warmly pressed the centre and rear of the enemy, the admiral meditated with his division a co-operation, which must effectually compel some of them to surrender. In the con- Thus four of the enemy's ships fusion of their retreat, several of the were in possession of the British: Spanish ships had doubled on each while the van ships continued to other. It was, therefore, admiral press hard on the Santissima Trini Jervis's plan, to reach the weather- dad, the Spanish admiral's ship, and most of those ships, then to bear up the others which composed the rear and rake them all in succession, of the flying fleet. The career of with the seven ships composing his victory was, however, stopped by division. The casual position of circumstances not in the power of the rear ships in his own division, the British commander to control. however, prevented his executing The ships, which in the morning this design. He therefore ordered had been separated from the main the leading ship, the Excellent, body of the Spanish fleet, were nowcaptain Collingwood, to bear up, able to make their approach; two while, with his own ship, the Vic fresh ships also, which had not ap tory, he passed to leeward of the peared in the action, bore down rear-most ships of the enemy. Cap- from windward, and two of the tain Collingwood, in obedience to flying ships tacked about to sup the admiral's orders, passed between port their chiefs. These circumthe two rear-most ships of the ene- stances, therefore, with the lateness my, and gave one of them, the San of the hour, and the necessity of Isidro, so effectual a broadside, that securing the prizes, dete: mined the having been much injured before, conquering adnaral to bring to. she was obliged to submit. The A little after four in the afternoon, Excellent then passed on to the the signal was made to this effect; relief of the Captain, which was and a strong line was formed for the engaged with a three-decker, carry- protection of the prizes and dis ing a flag; but before she could abled vessels. The enemy's fresh a-rive, this vessel became entangled ships, on approaching, opened a fire with her second, a two-decker. on the covering ships, but though In this state they were both board- superior in number, and fresh for ed by the Captain, and the smaller ection, they contented themselves of them, the San Nicholas, was in a with a few irregular broadsides, and short time in the possession of her left the British admiral to sil of opponents. The three-decker, the triumphantly with his prizes, which San Josef, followed the fate of her the reader will remember amounted second, and became immediately a to four, viz. two, the Salvador del prize to commodore Nelson, who Mundo und the San, Josef, of 112 headed the party which boarded guns, the San Nicholas of 81, and her from the San Nicholas. In the San Isidro of 7+ guns. The the mean time, admiral Jervis had Spanish admiral, which was greatly

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the object of attention to the British ships, was rendered a perfect wreck; her firing had ceased before the close of the action, and Come even affirm that she had struck her colours. The loss of the British in this engagement, in killed and wounded, was exactly 500 men; the loss of the Spaniards, in the ships which were captured, amounted to 693, and the ships which escaped must also have suffered considerably.

So important a victory with so decisive a disparity of force, is, perhaps, unparalleled in our naval annals. The ability displayed by the commander was only to be equailed by the valour and adroitness of the seamen; indeed we have been informed by an eye-witness, that the fire of the British was superior to that of their opponents, in the proportion of five or six to one, during the whole of the action: and the expenditure of ammunition was consequently beyond example. The Culioden, it is said, expended 170 barrels of powder; the Captain 146; and the Blenheim, 180. The Spaniards fought bravely, but with little skill; and it is but fair to remark, that their fleet was ill-equipped and very indifferently mained, and in no respect fit for action; their flag-ship had not more than sixty or eighty seamen on board, the rest consisted of impressed landmen, or soldiers of their new levies.

As the port of Cadiz had been their original destination, and as many of their ships were disabled, the Spaniards manifested no inclination to renew the action, but took shelter in Cadiz, where they have ever since remained blocked up by the victorious admiral. Soon after the news arrived of the engagement, sir John Jervis was cre

ated a British peer by the title of lord St. Vincent, in allusion to the place where this extraordinary victory was achieved.

The Dutch were still more unfortunate than the Spaniards in their naval operations, though their failure was, it must be confessed, less inglorious.

It was known for a considerable time in England, that immense preparations were making in the ports of Holland; and the fleet of admiral Duncan had blocked up the Texel during a great part of the summer. The Dutch fleet was ready for sea some time before it left the Texel, and the command of it was intrusted to admiral de Winter, a brave and judicious officer, who had been a lieutenant in the famous action off the Dogger Bank in the last war, and was afterwards advanced to the rank of captain; but having taken part against the Stadtholder in the memorable struggle of 1786, hẹ was obliged to take refuge in France, where he was promoted to the rank of a major-general, and returned to his country with the army of Pichegru. When the order to put to sea was first issued by the Dutch convention, the admiral, conscious of his inferiority to the British force, remonstrated strongly, it is asserted, against the order; but having received a second positive order to that effect, he determined, whatever the force of the British might be, not to shrink from the contest, but to maintain the honour of his flag in every circumstance, however adverse to his wishes.

The destination of the Dutch fleet was never openly avowed; but it has since appeared that the invasion of Ireland was the object, and that a large body of troops under general Daendaels had been ac

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tually embarked for that purpose, but were afterwards put on shore when the peremptory order was issued to admiral de Winter, to hazard an engagement with the British fleet, in opposition to his pressing remonstrances. The British admiral had, at this period of which we are now treating (the beginning of October), quitted his station off the Texel, and retired to Yarmouth roads to refit: a circumstance which might weigh with the Dutch ministry, in pressing the departure of their fleet. A small squadron only, under the command of captain Trollope, in the Russel of 74 guns, was left as a squadron of observation; and on the morning of the 9th of October a signal was made by a vessel at the back of Yarmouth sands to admiral Duncan, intimating that the Dutch fleet was at sea. The whole of the British fleet, consisting of 16 sail of the line and three frigates, got under weigh with surprising alacrity, and were out of sight in the afternoon. At nine in the morning of the 11th, the admiral got sight of captain Trollope's squadron, with signals flying for an enemy to leeward. The admiral immediately bore up, and made the signal for a general chase, and in less than an hour came within sight of the enemy, forming in a line on the larboard tack to receive him.

The Dutch fleet consisted of four ships of 74 guns; five of 68; two of 64; four of 56, and two of 44; in all 15 ships of above 50 guns, and 17 ships of force, besides a few smaller frigates. The British fleet consisted of seven ships of 74 guns;

seven of 64 guns; and two of 50: in all 16, besides frigates. The su periority in men and guns was, therefore, evidently on the side of the British, though, had it been otherwise, such is the skill and alertness of the English seamen, that there is little doubt but that victory would still have attended their exertions.

As the British admiral approached near, he made the signal for the fleet to shorten sail in order to con nect them; soon after he saw the land between Camperdown and Egmont, about nine miles to leeward of the enemy, and finding there was no time to be lost in making the attack, at half past 11 he made the signal to bear up, break the enemy's line, and engage them to leeward, each ship her op ponent: and by these means he got between them and the land, whither they were fast approaching. The Dutch admiral, perceiving the design of his opponent, made at the same time the signal to close: he was, in this instance, alertly obeyed by the vice-admiral Reventjies; but rear admiral Story, with three other ships of the centre division, ran off in the very commencement of the action, and entered the Texel the following day.

The signals of the British admiral, on the contrary, were obeyed with great promptitude by the whole feet. Vice-admiral Onslow, in the Monarch, bore down on the enemy's rear in a most gallant manner, and was followed by his whole division*. The action commenced at about 40 minutes after twelve o'clock, at which time every ship

* The British fleet was in two divisions: the starboard or weather division under admiral Duncan; and the larboard or lee division under vice-admiral Onslow. The Dutch was in three divisions: the van commanded by vice-admiral Reventjies and rear-admiral Menses, the centre commanded by admirál de Winter; and the rear by rear-admiral Bloys,

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of the British had broken the ene my's line, and cut them off from getting into the Texel, the land being then distant about seven miles. While the rear was attacked by the larboard division under vice-admiral Onslow, the commander-in-chief directed all his attention to the enemy's van; and his own ship, the Venerable, was in close action for near two hours and a half, when he observed all the masts of the Dutch admiral's ship go by the board; she was, however, defended for some time after in a most gallant manner; but being overpowered by numbers, her colours were struck to the Venerable; admiral de Winter himself being, it is said, the only man left on the quarter-deck who was not either killed or wounded.

About the same time the viceadmiral's ship appeared dismasted, and surrendered to admiral Onslow. Several others of the Dutch (according to some reports, not less than 13 in all) had struck before half past three o'clock: but the British admiral finding himself in only nine fathoms water, and but five miles from the land, had his attention so much occupied in getting the heads of the disabled ships off the shore, that he was not able to distinguish the number which were captured; and the wind blowing constantly on the land, the British ships were unavoidably dispersed. Some of the vessels which had struck, therefore, took advantage of the night to escape; and two or three of them were seen going into the Texel the following morning. The prizes, however, which were secured, were eight ships of the line, two of 56 guns, one of 44, and a frigate. One of these, however, the Delft, of 56 guns, foundered within sight of the British coast, and the frigate also was lost.

A more bloody conflict than this is not to be found in the naval history of this country. The loss in killed and wounded on board nine ships only of admiral Duncan's fleet was upwards of 700. The loss of the Dutch must have been immense. The carnage on board the two ships that bore the admirals' flags was (in the words of lord Duncan) beyond all description;" there were no less than 250 men killed and wounded on board each of them, and none of the Dutch ships that surrendered, it is said, lost less than 100 men, The British lost in the action capt. Burgess, of the Ardent, and several other officers were killed and

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wounded. The Dutch vice-admiral, Reventjies, died soon after his arrival in England. The battle was fought so near the shore that every manœuvre might be distinctly seen, and the whole coast for many miles was crowded with thousands of spectators, who had the mortification of observing the entire destruction of their own fleet, with-. out the possibility of affording them relief.

The great merit of admiral Duncan in this action was the running his fleet between the enemy and a lee-shore, a step which none of his predecessors had ever dared to take in similar circumstances, and which was considered as too hazardous to be attempted even by admiral Keppel, who was not deficient either in judgement or spirit. This, it is obvious, and this alone, rendered the victory of admiral Duncan so decisive as it proved; and he showed that his judgement in closing the contest in proper time, and in extricating his feet and prizes from so difficult a situation, was equal to his boldness in hazarding so decisive a measure. The gallant admi

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ral immediately on his return was created baron Duncan of Lundie, in the shire of Perth (te place of his nativity), and viscount Duncan of Camperdown, in allusion to that part of the coast of Holland where the victory was aciered.

We have often had crasion to remark, that while the English nation is invincible at sea, they should never engage without the most urgent necessity in military operations on the land. In the month of July the Spaniards received some consolation for their ignominious defeat off cape St. Vincent's, by the total failure of an attempt on the island of Tenerife, by a part of the same squadron which had defeated their grand fleet on the fourteenth of February. From a variety of intelligence which lord St. Vincent had received, he was led to consider the town of Santa Cruz, in the island of Tenerific, as an assailable object. On the 15th of July, therefore, the commander-inchief dispatched sir Horatio Nelson, now advanced to the rank of rear-admiral, with four ships of the line, three frigates, and two cutters, to make an attack upon that place. On his arrival before the town, the rear-admiral finding it impossible for the ships to approach sufficiently near the town, oidered, from the different ships under his command, one thousand men to be landed under the direction of capt. Trow. bridge, of the Culloden, and captains Hood, Thompson, Freemantle, Bowen, Miller, and Wailer. The boats of the fleet were accordingly manned, and the landing was ef fected in the course of the night. The party with little or no oppos sition entered the town of Santa

Cruz, of which they were in in fall possession for about seven hours. Finding it impracticable, however, to storm the fort, they prepared for dich retreat; but in this they were prevented by fresh reinforcements having arrived to the garrison, and by the circumstance of the boats having been stoven by the violence of the surge upon the beach. Thus circumstanced, the Spanish general summoned the British commander to surrender; but received for answer, that he would not capitulate as long as a man remained alive. The conduct of the Spaniard on this occasion reflects the highest honour on his character, and on the military profession. On receiv ing the reply of the British commander, he immediately, it is said, dispatched a polite message to ad minal Nelson, informing him, that, to spare the effusion of human blood, he and the remains of his forces were at liberty to return in peace to their ships; and that he would even provide them with boats, as their own were unfit for the service. With a generosity worthy of a great man, it is added, he furnished the retreating invaders with a ratio of biscuit and wine, and conveyed them on board their respective vessels, not as enemies but as friends. If there be any truth in this representation, which we have copied from the daily papers, it would have been becoming in the publisher of the Gazette to have spoken of this magnanimity in the terms it deserved. Though the Gazette, however, is silent both as to these facts, and as to the resistance which the British forces met with from the garrison, the loss in killed and wounded in this unfor

Thus it was stated in the Gazette; but some of the opposition papers have asserted, that the expedition was forced upon him by the ministers,

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