578 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



fain Inman, who tells you, that not- 

 withstanding the situation his ship 



was in, he ausv cred 



the signal in 



the ncgalive — evidently drawing the 

 distjiction which I do between the 

 necessity of lying by, and the being 

 in a condition to carry a press of" 

 sail. I'l^e court will also recoilccf, 

 that I was, at this time, in pobses- 

 sion of the state of the damages r;"- 

 ci'ivefl by the dirfercnt ships, and 

 was tiicret'orc in a condition to form 

 ipy own judgment of the collective 

 state of the squadron ; the ans\ver 

 to my signal expressed only the sen- 

 timents of the individuals as to their 

 oivn particular situation. 



1 he court will, 1 trust, give mc 

 crfcdit for every disposition to have 

 encouraged the well known zeal and 

 ardour of the Britisli oflicers and 

 seamen, and their readiness to meet 

 the enemy at all times and upon all 

 occasions, Avhich naturally accounts 

 for their indisposition to shelving 

 signals of disability in the presence 

 of the enemy ; but at the same time 

 they will feel, that I should have ill 

 discharged the duty entrusted to me 

 — the rank and station I hold, and 

 the character I bear in the service — 

 if to those feelings I had sacriliced 

 more important considerations, and 

 put improperly to hazard the S(iua- 

 dron I had under my command ; the 

 preservation of which was of so 

 much importance in the situation in 

 which the country then was. 



A question was put to captain In- 

 man, whether I had made a signal to 

 him to know the state of the enemy, 

 to which he answered in the nega- 

 tive, but it is to be recollected, that 

 captain Inman was not sent for the 

 purpose of reconnoitering the ene- 

 my, but merely to drive away a fri- 

 gate which had come too near our 

 squadron. 



With respect to the fact that cap- 

 tain Durham was called to prove, I 

 have to observe only, that, at the 

 time he made the signal- he speaks 

 of, i had formed the plan which I 

 meant to act upon — that night was 

 coming on — and that the enemy 

 were increasing their distance; the 

 clirociing him to keep the enemy in 

 sight M'ould only have had the etlect 

 of separatina nim from mc, and fur- 

 ther weaken, ng my force, which I 

 could by no means afi'ord to do. 



J give c:-.ptain Durham every 

 credit for his good intentions in 

 nuiking that signal, but he will for- 

 give me for obscjrving, that I was a 

 little surpris. d at its being made. — I 

 best knew my own intentions, and 

 had I thought it necessary for him 

 to have kept sight of the enemy I 

 should have made the signal for his 

 doing so. He is a little mistaken in 

 saving tliat he was ordered to rc- 

 roMiioitre the enemy's ileet on the 

 'iltli of July. The signal made to 

 him was iNo. 77 to bring to, and 

 not No. Jt) to reconnoitre — of 

 course this could be only a mistake. 

 In forming a judgment upon the 

 second branch of the question, viz. 

 (he prudence of renewing the en- 

 gagement, the court will forgive me, 

 if I again press upon their conside- 

 ration the very critical situation in 

 Avhich I was placed — the liazard I 

 must have run even if successful — 

 the certain ill consequences of a de- 

 feat. 



They will not forget that to 14 

 sail of the line, without any frigate, 

 the enemy had to oppose IS sail of 

 the line and 7 frigates, besides other 

 vessels. Against such a force I- 

 could not hope to succeed without 

 siistaining considerable damage ; I 

 had no friendly port near me, and 

 in that situation had the Ferrol and 



Rorhefort 



