104 THE OCTOPUS. 



storm, during which some them unfortunately foundered. The 

 various accidents which preceded the loss of these vessels was 

 related in evidence to the Admiralty by the survivors, and official 

 documents prove that De Montfort's fleet-destroying poulpe was 

 unequivocally a " devil-fish of fiction," and that the " devil-fish of 

 fact " had no part in the disaster he ascribes to it/'- 



* De JMontfort endeavoured to support his statements by so many inaccurate 

 details, which by a considerable number of uneducated persons of his own 

 nation were accepted as true, that I think some particulars of the events above 

 referred to may be interesting. My information is obtained from Rodney's 

 despatches, and paragraphs of contemporary naval news published in the 

 ''Gentleman's Magazine" of 1782 and 1783 ; from the "Annual Register" of 

 1783; and from Capt. J. N. Inglefield's own account of the loss of his ship 

 the "Centaur," in a rare pamphlet of thirty-nine pages, "published by 

 authority," and dated "Fayall, October 13th, 1782." 



In Sir G. B, Rodney's action with the French fleet under the Count de 

 Grasse, off St. Domingo, on the 12th of April, 1782, the manoeuvre of breaking 

 the enemy's line, and separating some of his ships from the remainder, was for 

 the first time successfully put in practice. The following captures were made 

 by the British, viz. : — The admiral's ship, " Ville de Paris,'" 104, which was a 

 Bplendid present from the City of Paris to Louis XV. ; the " Glorieux,'' 74 ; 



Cizsar,'" 74 ; ''Hector,'' 64 ; " Caton," 64 ; ''Jason,'" 64 ; " Aijnable,'" 32 ; 

 and " Ceres,'' 18; besides one ship of 74 guns, sunk during the engagement. 

 The " Ccrsar," one of the best ships in the French fleet, took fire on the night 

 of the action, and, before the prisoners could be removed from her, blew up. 

 By this accident a lieutenant, the boatswain, and fifty Englishmen belonging 

 to the " Centaur," together with about four hundred Frenchmen, perished. 

 The remainder of the prizes were sent into Port Royal, Jamaica, to repair 

 'iamages, and on the 5th of May, 1782, Rodney wrote to the Admiralty 

 announcing their safe arrival in that harbour. 



On the 26th of July following, a fleet and convoy, amongst which were these 

 ships, left Port Royal for England, under the command of Admiral Graves in 

 the " Ramilies." They encountered several very heavy gales of wind, and on 

 the 1 6th of September, in lat. 42° 15', long. 48° 55', a storm set in which lasted 

 .several days. About three a.m. on the 17th, the wind, which had been blowing 

 from S.E., suddenly shifted, and a brief lull was succeeded by a most violent 

 squall, with furious rain from N.N. W., which is described as "exceeding in 

 degree everything of the kind that the oldest seaman in the fleet had ever seen, 

 or had any conception of. " The " Ramilies " went to the bottom soon after 

 four P.M. on the 21st. Most of her crew were saved. The "Centaur" 

 foundered on the night of the 23rd, in lat. 48° 32', long. 43"" 20'. Her captain, 



