|
only answer by musketry. After receiving a few well-directed volleys, the brig and cutter made sail after their companions; and at 11 p.m. all firing ceased between the Glatton and her many opponents. The dismantled state of the Glatton rendered pursuit on her part out of the question. Every brace, and every stay except the mizen, had been cut away or rendered useless ; and so had all the running and the greater part of the standing rigging. The principal part of the enemy's fire had passed between her tops and gunwale, so that the lower sails of the Glatton were cut nearly from the yards : the jib and mainsail, indeed, were in ribands. The mainmast, and the fore and main yards, were also badly wounded, and ready to fall. Scarcely half a dozen shot had struck the hull ; and, in consequence, no men were killed, and, except a few bruises and scratches, two only wounded. One of the latter was Captain Henry Ludlow Strangeways of the marines ; the other, a corporal of the same corps. The first-named gallant officer, although badly wounded by a musket-ball in the thigh, and compelled in consequence, to have a tourniquet applied, insisted on returning to his quarters ; where he remained until, being faint with loss of blood, he was carried off the deck : he died shortly afterwards. The Glatton, during the night, used every exertion to put herself in a state to renew the action by morning, with the assistance, it was hoped, of one or two ships of Captain Savage's squadron. On the 16th, at daybreak, the French squadron, drawn up in a close head and stern line, was still in sight, with the advantage, by a shift of wind during the night to south-west, of the weathergage. At 8 a.m., having knotted and spliced her rigging, bent new sails, and otherwise refitted herself, the Glatton offered battle to her opponents ; but these, having felt too sensibly the effects of her 68lb. shot, declined a renewal of the engagement, and about noon bore away for Flushing, followed by the Glatton. Having thus compelled a whole squadron of French ships to take shelter in port, the Glatton turned her head to the northward, and, standing in need of great repairs, steered for Yarmouth roads ; where, on the 21st, she came to an anchor. The Glatton's affair, like many other drawn battles, is imperfect in its details, for the want of any correct information as to the names, force, damage, and loss, of the ships which she had engaged. One French frigate was known to be the Brutus, a 74-gun ship cut down, mounting from 46 to 50 guns ; 24-pounders on the first or main deck, * and 12-pounders, with 36-pounder carronades, on the quarterdeck and forecastle. A second ship is stated to have been the 38-gun frigate Incorruptible ; † and a third, the 36-gun frigate Magicienne. A Flushing paper, of July 5, 1796, states that the French frigate, * See p. 51, ^ back to top ^ |