The Sun.
London, England, 1806-02-21 00:00:00

Sailed the Diana, BAKER ; and Prpvidence,

This afternoon Earl ST. VINCENT arrived at' this
place from London, to hoist his Flag on board the
Hibernia, waiting at this 'Port to receive the Flag of
his Lordship.. . .

DEAL, FEB, 20.--Sailed the Explosion Bomb for
Sheerness ; and many Transports-, which arrived
yesterday from the Elbe and Weller, to disembark
their Troops at Ramsgate.

Remain in the Downs the rest of the Ships as per

fast.

HARWICH, FEB. 207•--The Lark Packet, Capt.
arrived,this, morning from Cuxhaven with the
Ha.mburgh and Bremen Mails. General CLINTON
and uite came Passengers. The Pegasus Frigate;
Capt. PENGELLY,' arrived yesterday from Cuxhaven
with sick. Soldiers; It is not yet determined whether
they are to be landed at this place, /or proceed for
thy, Downs, where they were originally intended.
King George, Capt. SAUNDERS, remains with
the ,Hamburgh and Bremen Mails on board; toge-
ther With the Beaufoy, Capt. Noßßis, with a Mail
for Gotenburgh.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM AN OFFICER ONBOARD

ONE OF ThE OUTWARD-BOUND EAST INDIA FLEET,
UNDRII CONVOY OF ADMIRAL TROUBRIDGE.-
- DATED AUG. 26, 1805.
" I have the pleasure'of informing you of the ar-
rival of the Fleet at Madras, on the 2.3dinst. On the
6th inst. at te.o minutes past 4, p. m. in lat. 20. tg.
S. and long. 7 t. 41. E. blowing fresh at S. E. with
frequent heavy squalls .of and rain, we saw-
three large Ships Nbout three and a half or four miles
to windward ,of us, bearing' down, in a squall, under
a heavy press of sail. When the weather-cleared
up-a,littler-wo-ilistint:Ny saw that one of them was
a large line,of-battle Ship, with a Frigate of 44 guns,
and a pooped Ship, whici`a :appeared to us to be an
English. Indiaman. They must have seen us, and
ascertained what we were, long before we 'saw them,
as they were edging down towards u 3, with great
confidence.' The Blenheim- math-.: the signal that the
\ strange Ships, looked suspicious, and ordtted our
'legit to colletrA round. the Commodore. When the
strange Ships, were passing us, about mile to wind-
ward, they made 'several signals to each ether, which
' ihstantlyconvincedus they were Enemies. The Blen-
heim, on seeing this, made signals to our Fleet to form
close line of battle, and prepare' for action, as the
strangers were Enemies. They still continued bearing
down, and whenever they got into the wake of our
Fleet, astern, they instantly hauled their wind after
us,. We were then going under easy sail, closing up
and forming the line of battle, and at the same time
pr6paring, with all possible speed, for a6tion. The
Enemy being under a great press of sail, was coming
up fast with our two rear Ships, the Cumberland and
Preston. Both, however, were pretty close up a-
stern, and, a little to leeward of the Blenheim, Ad-
miral TROUBRIDGE seeing that the situation of those
Ships would greatly embarrass him when the Ene-
my came up, being close to leeward of the Bien-
: ham, and the- Enemy coming to leeward of them,
made the signals to both those Ships, either to make
sail, and get on a-head, or else to back their top-
, sails, and drop suddenly astern, that they .1-night
not get in -.between the Blenheim and the Enemy,
who, by this time were got within half cannon
shot. of them ; .'unfortunately, however, no no-
! tice whateVer was taken of- the Admiral's signals,
owing,
.nO, doubt, to all hands being aelively'em-
ployed, • warria with zeal and anxiety to be per-.
fecily prepared to return the Enemy's fire with spi-
rit and vigour ; which' they did the instant the
Enemy got within range of their 'guns ; the situa-
tion, however, in which the Preston particularly was,
is much, to be regretted, being close to leeward of
the Blenheim, which I understand prevented our
Admiral from putting up his helm, and' running
across, the Marengo's bow, and raking her, and then
to haul his wind to leeward of the Enemy : this
mancetivre would have enabled the Blenheim to
open tier lower-deck ports, which, by being to
windward, were wider water, consequently rendered
useless. Had Admiral Taoußainun been able tq
have e)*tited this plan, the engo and Frigate
would have been completely hemmed in between
two fires, the Indiarrien forming a strong linq of
bathe to wind Ward, .and.•(4e Blenheim to leeward
of' them, Which in all probability would have
proved 'destructive to the Enemy : as soon as the
Erierhy 'were able to get their guns to hear on our
rear ships, they-commenced a very.bri& fire with
round and grave sh6t, which handsonmir iv-
,

turned. The Enemy, however, having much Mere
way through the water, Soon: .passed them,_ and
drew' up oppdiite to th 6 Elenheini, which pro-
bably they had' mistaken for an Indianian, until
she
.cemmenced
.firing,
_which, Was smartly kept
up t;iir both sides ;* nor -had *-iwir then a doubt
buet: that we 'should 'soon' have the -pleasure 'of
• 'seeing .the contest happily endedAn favour of the
Blenheim.; however,-instead ofthisrvveha.d the mer....-
tification of seeing the' Mar-01g° edging off a few
points to leeward, and the Blenheim follewing her:;
the former; however,' having much more sail set,
went considerably faster through the water, conse-
quently soon got out of the rangeof the I#enheitn.'s
gunk a-bead, and, as she advanced alOng our line
t
Indianian each Indiaan a „ a
broadside in passing, and
second when she had timeovhich was instantly re-
turned with great alacrity and precision. By this
time it wa3 pretty dark ; and, indeed, in a few mi-
nutes afterwards,.we could only see where the Erie.:
my were by. the flashing of their guns through a
thick misty fog and rain. Whenever the Marengo
and the
_Frigate .had.. get about, a couple of miles
a-head us, they hauled‘ibeir Wind, and joined the
ship, which we-snppos.ed to' be an Indiaman and a
prize,' as she kept out of. thee -aetiou, and- about a
wile to windward of our fleet., At seven o'clock
the night cleared up, and being moon-light, except
when a siftiall eame-en, We could- see the Enemy
very. ..ciearly. with our glasses all night. 'At day.- •
:light, on the 7th, saw the illgreve and the Frigate
about 4 dr s miles to windward, they living sent off
the Prize in-the Course of the night. The Blenheim
made the signal to our Fleet. to go. a-head, and form
the line of battle ; the gpemphad her fore-top-sail
yard down on deck, probably it had been wounded,
or carried away in the action, 'and they were either
repairing, or getting another 'up; however, when.;.
ever they had got it up again, both Ships, instantly
:made sail, and bore down on us ; when they got
within three miles of us, they hauled their wind, and
stood on, apparently steering the same course with
us. At one p. m. the Enemy, seeing that we were
drawing a little a-head of them, although we. were
only jogging on under an easy sail, to enable them,
if they pleased, to conic up with -us, set 'more
sail, and edged down towards us ; but on 'seeing
that we were perfe&ly prepared to receive them,
they 'mulled their wind again, and kept edging off by-
degrees to windward, until eight p. rn. when we
saw them wear round, and stand back to the south-
ward. A. passenger on board the. Blenlleisn,.. _and. a
soldier on board the Ganges Indiaman, were the only
people killed. The ships have not sustained any ma-
terial injury. :The Cumberland received a shot or two
in her masts,, and the Dqrsetshire, one in her hull.
Considering the very short time the Indiamen had
to prepare for atuion, it ,was really gratifying:to see
that ,every ship in the line was ready to give her
broadside the instant the enemy got within range of
her guns. As nearly as I can guess, it was an hour
from our first seeing the Enemy, until the qdion
commenced, which lasted about 45 mientes,"