The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-08-02 00:00:00

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troops en boa-d than was at first supposed, and has
sailed for Egypt.
• lotellig• nee is received from the Black Sea, that
another turps of Russian troops is assembling at Se-
bastopol, destined for the lonian islands, and that a
consideral,le number of Iransports are preparing to
convey them thither.

this port Aorning imps Malta. This dispatches
rohich she brought were imorediately.sent lay_express
'ttiMajor Millet, the British Agent at Rosetta, who,
on receipt.thereof,l-bitted Rosetta, and. fixed his ha-
bitation here. The-brig sailed again this day.

• DEFEAT OF THE COMBINED FLEET.!
. •
(TURTHIIIt ►A KTICULARS)
/14TRACT 01 A LITTER Iloal An oryscra OML
ioasatis OAS Cif ?H$ resoaras tat eta tosser
camas's VLSI?.
•" the Itcl July. about 11 e. in. the DVl'4,lB.ft
am of eboleekewatehips. maae • signal for It fleet
Is:. W. directly to windward of our fleet ; Shortly
after the signal for their being the enemy's fleet, and
that tbey consisted of ships of the line, and frigates,
to me number of SO. At this time we were to.
•44irinclward of the Defiance, and four or five leagues
en windward of our fleet. About half past 12
4, as. we could plainly count from our deck from
11$ Is/(1 sail, apparently lying to. The Dejiaiiee
T., ginkag wiwisaf-isiamo-shot, returned to our.
•"'ar,initt, who wiper then forming in line of battle
aiwatibeertwo we werreenWdembly within gun-shot of
ilipepseney's advanced squadron, which then tacked
and stecnito windward of their fleet, then formed
bilis*. We hen up to leeward of their advanced ,
ship. and passed within half gun-shot of their whole
Which was formed in a masterly style, and
toasistid of 17 sail of, the line, and 3 line of battle
ships to windward, for the proteaion of their
rear. They hid likewise 7 large frigates, 2 brigs,
and every valuable galleon, which one of their fri-
gates had in tow; the frigates were likewise to
!windward (with the 3 ships of the lifte) of their stern-
most ship. Our fleet was At this time about six miles
• in leeward, tin the starboard tack, under a press of
fail, the enemy at the same time tinder easy sail—a
thick fog intervening, prevented the two fleets from
*wing each other. Seeing the galleon in tow by the
...frigate, and observing they were the sternmost ship
of the enemy's line, we tacked with the intent of
attempting to cut her off. This sudden manoeuvre
w the enemy's frigate into alarm, and she
lately commenced firing signal guns in
quick succession, which caused the 3 line of battle
ships, stationed to cover their rear, to edge down
rAI her. proessairso. Our attempt being thus-frus-
trated, we Were compelled to edge down to one
fleet. The fog at this time cleared a little, and we
perceived that our fleet had tacked tot the enemy,
and the Admiral had given the signal to attack their
centre. As we were edging away, we observed the
steno! the enemy had wore for the proteftion of the
galleon likewise, and when we observed their lead-
ing ship (three quarters p ast four), were in a very
critical s'tuation On passing, they hoisted Spanish
colours, and we received the whole fire of their three
leading ships, upwards of 120 pieces of heavy ar-
tillery, discharged in one moment on our frigate,
whilst we could only return 20. Tt.us the action
commenced : our leading ship, the Hero, 74, tacked
immediately the enemy opened their fire on us, and
commenced a heavy cannonading on them in return.
It continued with unremitting fury fur three hours
and a halt, when we saw (on the clearing of the fog
at Intervals) the French line to windward, arid two
ships disabled, although we could not at the time
distinguish whether they belonged to the enemy or
At half past eight the firing ceased on both
sides; the Admiral hoisted his distinguishing lights,
as did the rest of the svadron, when we cook plain-
ly observe our flea to be in tolerable order, con-
siderink the extreme fugginess of the weather, and
had apparently suffered but little, although the firing
on both sides was extremely heavy. We being
just to leeward of the Ada:ital. were ordered
into the rear to take possession of the two prizes,
attending oo which duty has been our constant em-
ployment ever since. About nine, the Admiral
made the signal to bring to on the starboard tack,
which was complied with hy the whole line. The
MO Spanish ships that have surrendered had 603
men killed and wounded ; their lower masts shot
away by the board, so that they were rendered to-
tally unmanageable, and gave us immense trouble
in towing them. Had the weather been clear, I
have no hesitation in saying, they would have been
completely defeated—but the fog prevented our
ships getting near moogh (they not being discerni-
ble, but at intervals), and the French being to
windward, were too wise to come nearer to us. On
the 214 h, the stied shifted to the Eastward, which
brought our fleet to windward of the enemy. At
.thin time, we were so far to leeward with our prizes,
that we could not see the enemy, though our fleet
could. Sir Robert Calder attacked 20 sail of the
line, with 14 only--one being sent in Chace in the
jamming, and Sid not return till the fine-

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