HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



141 



noon, commodore Dance, not wish- action were nobly remunerated ; 

 ing to wait au attack, and fearful and, to crown the YY-hole, the gal. 



that his rear might be cut off, exe- 

 cuted a bold and gallant manoeuvre, 

 •which decided the fate of the day. 

 He made the signal to tack and 

 bear down on the French line, and 

 engage them in succession. This 

 order being correctly performed, 

 the company's lleet bore down upon 

 the enemy, under a press of sail, 

 admiral Linois then closed his line, 

 s and opened his fire upon the head- 

 most of the English ships, which 

 ■was not returned by them till a nearer 

 approach, but before the three lead- 

 ing ships of the latter could get well 

 into adtion, the enemy's squadron 

 hauled their wind, and stood away 

 to the eastward under all the sail 

 they could set. At two the commo- 

 dore made the signal for a general 

 chase, and pursued his dastardly an- 

 tagonists for two hours. Thus did 

 the intrepid valour of a handful of 

 British merchant ships, and the gal- 

 lantry and presence of mind of cap- 

 tain JJance, of the East India com- 

 pany's service, bring to aftion and 

 put to flight, a French admiral, com- 

 manding ships of war superior in 

 force and in men, to the indelible 

 disgrace of the French navy, and the 

 immortal honour ofthe British name. 

 Nor should it be forgotten that the 

 property, so rescued from the insa- 

 tiate gripe of France, was estimated 

 at a million and a half Stirling! On 

 the arrival of commodore Dance in 

 England with his (lect, rewards were 

 distributed with an unsparing hand, 

 by the East India company, to the 

 various commanders and their brave 

 crews ; the M'ounded and the repre- 

 seytatives of the few killed in the 



Jant captain (now sir Xathaniel) 

 Dance, received the honour of 

 knighthood at his majesty's hands.* 



Towards the latter end of the year 

 a great proportion of the enemy's 

 flotilla having assembled in safety 

 and in considerable force at Bom. 

 logne, the alarm of invasion univer- 

 sally prevailed. It was at this pe- 

 riod, that a project for its destruc- 

 tion was set on foot, of the succcs* 

 of which the greatest hopes were en- 

 tertained, as it was well known, 

 that Mr. Pitt and the first lord of the 

 admiralty had given it their entire 

 approbation, and that the partizans of 

 the government anticipated a result, 

 Avhich should at once confound the 

 designs of France, and establish ths 

 superiority of the present naval ad- 

 ministration over their predecessors 

 in office. 



This plan, which some wretched 

 projector had influence enough to 

 induce lord Melville to countenance, 

 was one, which, to every experienc- 

 ed naval oflicer, appeared open to 

 the severest animadversion. It was 

 princi])ally to be carried into effect 

 through the medium of copper ves- 

 sels, of an oblong form, containing 

 a quantity of combustibles, and so 

 constructed as to explode in a given 

 time, by means of clock work. — 

 These vessels were to be towed and 

 fastened under the bottoms of the 

 enemy's gun -boats, by a small raft, 

 rowed by one man, who being 

 seated up to the chin in water, might 

 possibly escape det'eftion in a dark, 

 night. P'ire ships of different con- 

 struction were also to be employed 

 in this jirojefted attack. The most 



* For Commodore Dance's narrative of this transaction, vide " Appendix," 

 p. 551, and for furtlier panic ular>, " Chronicle," p. 409. 



a6live 



