besides having the starboard leech of her fore topsail and the slings of the main yard shot away, and her standing and running rigging and sails much cut. The Anson had also received several shot in the hull. What damage or loss the Foudroyant sustained has not been recorded : all we know is, that in a very short time after the action had ceased, she was at an anchor in Havana.

A French 80-gun ship, in weight of metal, number of men,, and size, is, be it remembered, a full match for a British 98 ; and, although the Foudroyant was disabled in her masts, she was not (for, if she had been, the French themselves would quickly have made it known) in her guns. Hence a tolerable idea may be formed of what chance the Anson would have stood, had she persevered in the contest. The French were so sensible of the disparity between the combatants, and of the little honour which had been gained by the larger vessel, that they not only described the British frigate as a " cut down line-of-battle ship, carrying two whole batteries, " but stated her to have been in company with other British men of war ; and this, although it was well known at Havana that the Anson was cruising alone. " Dans les environs de ce port, " says the French account, " le Foudroyant fut attaqué par une division anglaise, à la tête de laquelle se trouvait le vaisseau rasé l'Anson. " * Now, the Anson's captain, with more propriety, might have stated, that he was " attacked by a Franco-Spanish division, at the head of which was the Foudroyant ; " for the Spanish 74 San-Lorenzo and several gun-boats, just as the Anson had ceased firing, were seen coming out of Havana to assist the French ship. Resolved, for this gasconade, to pay the French in their-own coin, Captain Brenton declares, that the Anson, " after a severe action, drove him (M. Willaumez) for protection under the guns of the Moro castle. " †

Of the two British squadrons despatched in different directions in pursuit of the supposed single squadron which had put to sea from Brest, that under Sir John Warren has already had its proceedings in part detailed. The squadron of Sir Richard Strachan had returned to Plymouth equally unsuccessful. From certain information that M. Willaumez, after quitting St.-Salvador in April, had steered to the north-west, Sir Richard was again ordered in pursuit. It had by this time been found that a 98-gun ship was no acquisition to a flying squadron. The St.-George was therefore to be left at home ; as was also the Centaur, on account of Sir Samuel Hood's appointment to the command off Rochefort. In lieu of those two ships, three others were added, which made Sir Richard's squadron as follows:

*  Victoires et Conquetes, tome xvii., p. 303.

†  Brenton, vol. iv., p. 59.

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