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A N N U A L 11 E G I S T E il, l SOS. 



Robert Caldcr,M ho had nieritorious- 

 ly served his country, for more than 

 40 years, and vvlio, it was nnieni- 

 bered, was caj)(ain to carl St. Vin- 

 cent, on the proud day which gave 

 his lordsh'p his title. 



The desultory attempts which 

 took place during the summer, to 

 impede the assenihiage of the ene- 

 my's flotilla at Boulogne, or to de- 

 stroy them in ihat harbour, al- 

 though frequent, wercatfcndod with 

 too Jittle success to merit particular 

 mention, were thiy not, on every 

 occasion, conducted with the ut- 

 most skill and gallantry by the naval 

 officers critrusted with the service. 

 The shallowness of the waJer, and 

 the strong deTences of the harbour, 

 prevented any thing serious from 

 being achieved ; little good resulted 

 from the attempts, save that the 

 Biitish sailors were l»ept inconstant 

 ac(ion, and accustomed to contemn 

 a force, with which they were hour- 

 ly becoming niore familiar. > 



It became now certainly known, 

 that the combined squadrons, after 

 the encounter off cape Finistcrre, 

 having reached the port of Ferrol 

 in safety, hr.d there received a 

 very considerable augmentation of 

 Strength, and were seen on the 13th 

 of August at sea, to the number of 

 27 sail of the line, and 8 vessels of 

 ■war of a lower order ; Avhich event 

 was speedily followed up by news 

 arriving of its having entered Cadiz, 

 on the 21st of the same month, the 

 small force under ad'iiiral Colling- 

 wood, in that s'aiion. not olfcring it 

 any opposition, whirh'it would have 

 been equally rash and ineifectual to 

 haveatfenipfed:and, indeed, it seems 

 to have been the result of the ut- 

 most prudence and judgment, which 

 enabled that officer to maintain 

 his footing there until reinforced 

 froni E"giand, 



it is littk to b'.' doubted, but that 



the French emperor severely felt 

 the mortificadon aiisi.ig out of tha 

 complete failure of the vast arma- 

 ment he had sent out to the West 

 Indies, its shameful flight home be- 

 fore the small squadron of lord 

 Nelson, and the event of the action 

 with sir Robert Calder, each and all 

 of themdirgraccfiil in themselves, and 

 totally subversive of his boasted 

 project, of striking a fatal blow to the 

 colonies and commerce ot Great 

 Britain. Great resources, however, 

 yet remained to him : the accession 

 of ships of the line which admiral 

 Villencuve had received at Ferrol, 

 together with those which he found 

 at Cadiz, amounted in the w hole to 

 a very formidable force, and with 

 which much might still be done. It 

 was also essential to the views of Bo- 

 naparte, as war was now inevitable on 

 the continent, to have as large an 

 armament on foot as possible, in 

 order to divert the attention of the 

 English, to whatever quarter it 

 might be directed, and to act in the 

 Mediterranean, as circumstances 

 might require. Fortunately this 

 design could not immediately be put 

 in execution; the disabled state of 

 the ships engaged with Sir Robert 

 Calder was such as to require some 

 time for their re-equipment in port, 

 nor could they be got ready for sea, 

 till the British fleet, in that quarter, 

 became again respectable. It is in 

 this" fact that we see the real and 

 essential service the fleet under ad- 

 miral Calder was of to their country 

 in the encounter with the enemy off 

 Cape Finisterre. Had the latter 

 not sulfered so severely on tiiat day, 

 the consequences might have been 

 deeply felt by the British nation. 



As the designs of the enemy were 

 become sufficiently manifest, and 

 that they were known to be in a 

 stale of the most active refitment at 

 Cadiz, scarcely had lord Nelson ar- 

 rived 



