The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg, Va., 1776-07-12 00:00:00, page 6

ter in running away. The Sphynx ent nwey her
boltsprit; the S ren got off. The Actaeon, by the
asststance of : riendly English seaman, remained
fast; burnt, and blown up by her own peOplc.
[Whilst she was on fire, capt. Milligan, one of
our mer'me officers, lnd a party of men, boarded
her, brosiu ht off her colours, the ship'e hell, and
as many sai land storesu three boat: could contzin .]
n-The Thunder bomb lay ata considerable distance,
throwing (helle at the sort; and, by overcherging,
hnd shatteredlthe bed; and dameged the ship so
much al to render it necessary for her to go into
dock before [he cnn nct again.---'she Friendship, :
hired armed vesiel of 26 guns, of'various sizes, co
vered the bomb, as did the Syren, which also sired
very brilkly et the sort.---The whole fleet badly
manned, end sickly, particularly the Syren'e crew ;
at two thirds short allowance of provision end water,
and no fresh meat since their arrival, ]une the tst.
Lord William Campbell had been very anxious
for the attack, and proposed taking all the sorts
with only the Syren and Solebay.——-Lord Cornwal
lie hat the chief command us the land forces; he
and general Cl'lnton are both ashore with the troop
at Lon lfland. His losship had so-e time 3 0
urged u' Peter Perkersito attack on the sea sich,
otherwtse he would march up, attack, and take
the fort, and complain of sir Peter's tardiness.
The commodore replied, " lord Comwallis mi ht
" march his trooln where he Pleascd, but the eet
" required fair Wind; the si that happened, he
" would proceed against the fort." The general
at that time believed we had no troops out of gar—
rison, but he wusoon better informed, being since
repulsed, and drove back with loss. He remained
Gum"! LEE, end m prtwc Fricmk {SOUTK CABOLlNA!
n' 0 2 2 \l
quiet, and left the commodore to enjoy the glory
!
of being defeated alone. siss
The negro pilot Sampson, who is exceeding];
caressed, was on board the commodore, and put
down with the doctor out of hurm's way.
When the fleet sailed from lrcland, the number
of troops was about 4000', but ll transports had
been separated from the rest, and have not been
since heard os.----Somc of the descrters, who had
seen all the land forces, snid the amount Was lrom
1300 to zooo at most.
_ Between 9 and to o'clock, the Actzon, the com
modore, and other ships, began to lien] away.
They made no piping, nor waited to heave up
their anchors, but flipped their cnbles. The com
modore hal only one nnchor and cable lest.
About : o'clock on Friday, when the sort was
waiting for a supply of powder, some of the men
of war's men', miltakin the unavuithhle filence for
surrender, cried out, T e Tankie: had :]uncfighting,
Others replied, By God we are glad of it, ]br we
never had such a drubbing in our live:. IVe had been
told the Tankt'c: would not fland two fires, but we
never saw better fellow:- All the common men in
the fleet spoke loudly in praise of the garrilon,—
brave fine fellow;! '
The seamen in general :rc desiroul of getting
on shore to join che Amcricaus. One MffNeztl, l.
deserter from col . Gad sdcn's regiment, hld inform
ed the commodore, that before he lest sort john
son he had spiked up it" the eannon, and that the
fort might be easily taken.
A report in the fleet, that no quarter. would be
given to the Americam, and that 50001. had been
osscrcd for general Let.