1809	Light Squadrons and Single Ships	188

Green of the marines, who nobly fell in the struggle. The Renommée would probably have made a similar attempt on the opposite side; but the Junon dropping her foresail, shot ahead, clear of her two opponents. The latter, however, were not slow in regaining their position, and, boarding the Junon simultaneously, one on each side, took possession of the British frigate, which had by this time fought her four opponents more than 45 minutes, the whole of the time, with two of them at least, yardarm and yard-arm.

The Junon was cut to pieces in her hull and lower masts ; and, out of her reduced crew of 224 men and boys, of whom 44 were Spaniards and Portuguese, she lost 20 officers and men killed and 40 wounded. The Observateur, who had hauled her wind as soon as she saw what was likely to be the fate of her consort, suffered neither damage nor loss. The Renommée, as acknowledged by Captain Roquebert, had, out of her 360 men and boys, 15 men killed and only three wounded ; and the Clorinde, where complement was the same, six killed and 15 wounded ; total, 21 killed and 18 wounded. The two armées en flute, each of which had on board, including 200 troops, about 400 men and boy owing to their safe position during the engagement, escaped, it appears, without any loss whatever. In so shattered a state was the Junon at the time she surrendered, that her captors, despairing of getting their prize into port, although Guadaloupe, the island to which they were bound, was at no great distance to leeward, quickly removed the prisoners and set the ship on fire.

The Junon had on board her French guns, 46 in number, and the Renommée and Clorinde were each armed exactly the same as she was. Commodore Roquebert is honourable enough to say of his antagonist, " Le capitaine anglais, a manoeuvré sa frégate avec autant de courage que d'habileté mais il lui était devenu impossible de nous échapper." † It is somewhat strange, however, that the French captain should refer to the Loire and Seine no otherwise than as, without naming them, "les transports que nous convoyons," and should not state that they took the slightest part in the action. We hope, for the sake of consistency in M. Roquebert, that the minister of marine, or the supervisor of official letters, has been the cause of so important an omission.

What is there in this action, that the account of it should have been denied a place in the usual depository of naval and military achievements, the London Gazette ? Here is a British frigate defending herself against four ships, each of two of them her equal in guns, and greatly her superior in men, until she loses more than a fourth of her crew in killed and wounded,

* See p. 152.

† " Trois," Moniteur, February 3, 1810 ; probably a misprint for " vingt-trois: "

^ back to top ^