HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [297 



ment, together with the unhealthiness of the climate, found him- 

 self no longer able to continue on this station, and therefore, to 

 the great grief of General Prescot, was obliged to give up his 

 command to Admiral Caldwell, and embarking his seamen, under 

 Lieutenaut James, from Fort Matilda, sailed for St. Pierre, when 

 every thing being arranged between the several commanders, Sir 

 Charles Grey and his suite embarked once more with Sir John 

 Jervis on board the Boyne. On November 27th, they sailed for 

 England, and after a tedious voyage (being for near a month tossed 

 about in the Channel by contrary winds) arrived at Spithead, 

 January 21st, 1795. 



In February 1797, he fought the famous battle off Cape St. Vin- 

 cent, for which he was rewarded with a Peerage. The New An- 

 nual Register gives the following account of this glorious victory : 

 "The British fleet, or to speak more correctly, the British 

 squadron, under the command of Admiral Sir John Jervis, amount- 

 ed to no more than fifteen sail of the line, four frigates, a sloop of 

 war, and a cutter. Of these six were three-deckers, eight were of 

 74 guns, and one of 64. The Spanish fleet consisted of twenty- 

 seven sail of the line, one of which was a four-decker, and carried 

 136 guns, six were three-deckers of 112 guns each, two of 84 

 guns, and eighteen of 74. The Spanish Admiral, Don Josef de 

 Cordova, had sailed from Carthagena on the 4th of February, and 

 passed Gibraltar on the following day ; having left in that bay 

 three line-of-battle ships, supposed to be laden with military stores 

 for the Spanish troops before that garrison. On the night of the 

 llth, this fleet had been discovered by the Minerva frigate, which 

 carried the broad pennant of Commodore Nelson, then on his way 

 from the Mediterranean to join Admiral Jervis. Captain Foote, of 

 the Nigre, also kept company with them for some days previous to 

 the 13th, and that night they approached so near the British fleet, 

 that their signal guns were distinctly heard. The signals were, 

 therefore, made that night for the British fleet to prepare for bat- 

 tle, and at day-break on the 14th they were in complete order. 

 The morning was dark and hazy, but about half-past six the Cullo- 

 den made the signal for five sail in the south-west quarter; at 

 eight o'clock the squadron was ordered to form in close order, and 

 in a few minutes after, the signal was repeated to prepare for bat- 

 tle. At a little after ten, the Minerva made the signal for twenty 

 sail in the south-west quarter; and in about half-an-hour after, 

 the enemy's fleet were visible to all the British squadron. The 



