The Sun.
London, England, 1806-01-07 00:00:00

--centre-42 13 answered 16 general-12'2a Royal
Sovereign at the head of the hirboarddivision, broke
the .eriemy's'line astern of a Spanish three-decker,
and engaged her to leeward, being .followed by the
Mars, - and Tonuant, who engaged their
respedive opponent S•--4225 opened our tire on the t
enemy-.-12 28 Yiaory at the head of the starboard
division,-opened her fire on the enemy—i23o,en7
gaging both sides passing .through the. enemy
astern of a Spanish two-decker (El MOnarca)-12
35 fen on board the French two deck ship L'Aigle,
Whilst hauling tO the Wind our fore-yard locking
with her main' One, kept up a brisk fire, both on
her, on 'our starboard bow, and a-Spanish two decker
Monarca) 'on the '.starboak ds :bow, at the same
time receiving ;and returning the-fire with a Spanish
two-decker (Bahama) on' the larboard 'quarter,:and;
receiving _the fire.of a Spanish two-decker (San Juan
Neponiuceno) 'athwart our stern; and a French two-
decker (14 SwiftsUre) on the larboard quarter, the
a6tion soon- after becalue 'generale-- At 1 the:Main
and niizeti top-masts fell over the starboard. side,
main top-sail -and top-gallant-sail caught fire.;--4 5
the. Master, and 1 11 the Captain, fell ; still foul of
L'Aigle, and keeping up a brisk fire from the main
and lower decks; :quarter-7-deek, poop, and forecastle.
being neatly cleared by the' enemy's musketry,
' chieflyfrom troops on board. L'Aigle--o 20 the jib
. boom was shot aWay.----1 40 L'Aigle drops astern,
under a raking fire from us as she fell off, our ship
at this time quiteunmanageable froM braces, bow-,
linea,: Sic. shot away-1 45 .L'Aigle was eno-aged- by
the Defiance—a 5 she- truck the smoket clear-'
ing up saw several of the enemy's ships had struck ;
fired ;several shot at El Monarca, our first, opponent,
when she struck. --,-3 sent an Officer and party of •
men to take possession of her-3 6 the ship being
ungovernable,.and in danger of falling on board the .
Tormant; Temeraire, and prizes, made 318,t0 Sirius,
out boats, and sent them -a-head to tow; towed and -
. swept the ship clear of them, received prisoners from
our, prizes-3, 5 answered .101 —4 a 0 opened our
fire on five French shipsonaking off to windward,
the sternmost of which -.was cut off, and struck to
the Minotaur-4 •7 the firing ceased, thirteen sail, of
the enemy's ships making-off-tO leeward,four of their
line to windward---5 20 answered 99 general-5 30
took possession of El Bahama, Spanish 74.—Sunset,
one of .the prizes sunk, another blew up." Thus ,
far our log, b. t, it will not be amiss to mention that
' whilst engaged with, the five ships in this situation, -
L'Aigle 'twice attempted to board us, and hove sere-
' ral grenades into our lower'deck, which burst and ,
wounded :several of our people most dreadfully, she
likewise set fire to our fore-chains ; our fire was so
hot that We soon drove ~them from the 'lower deck;
after which- our people took the qubins, out and ele-
vated the guns so as' to tear her decks and sides to
pieces -; -when she got cleaFof 'us, she did not return
a single shot ; -whilst We raked her her starboard
quarter was_eoti rely 'beaten in, aiid, as we afterwards
learnt 400 men hors de combat, .so that she was an
easy conquest for the Defiance; a fresh 'ship ; we
were Well matched, she being the best mantled ship
in the CoMbined, and we in'the British Fleet. Un-
fortunately .situated as. we were, I have no doubt she
would live • struck had we. been able to follow and
engage her for a quarter of an hour longer ; -but-had
We been ,fairly alongside of
_her half an hour would
hare deckled the contest, fur I must say I was asto-
nished at the coolness and undaunted bravery,dis-..
played by our gallant and veteran crevi, when sur-
rounded by five enenay's'.shipS, and fora length of
time unassisted byany of our's. Our loss, as might
be expected, was considerable,•and fell chiefly on our
prime seamen, who-were foremost in distinguishing
themselves; 28, including the Captain, Master, and
a Midshipman, were killed outright, and 127, in-
eluding -the Captain of Marines; who had eight balls
in his body, and his right arm shot off before he
quitted the deck,: "Boatswain, and five Midshipmen,
were badly wounded, and about'forty more slightly,
so -as,not to be 'incapable
,of duty, nineteen.of the
wounded had died before we-left Gibraltar. I con-,
cider myself as very fortunate in having escaped un-
hurt.as our class sufferedso severely. Our Second
,Lieutenant, myself, and eight men, formed the par-
ty that took possession of the Monarca. We re-
-rnained till-the morning without further iisistance,'
or we should most probably have saved -her though
shehad suffered much morethau ourselves ; we kept
possession of her, however, for more ,than four
days, in the most dreadful weather, when havino-
rolled away all her masts; and being in danger Of im-.
mediately sinking ,or running on shore, we were
fortunately saved by the Leviathan, :with all but
about 15,0 prisoners .who. were afraid to get into the
boats: J assure you I ,felt.not the least fear of death
during.the aCtion, which I attribute. to the full eon-.
fkdence;.of vi&ory which I saw all around me ; but
ice theoprize,. when I. was in danger of, and had time
to ;relied upon the appproach -of death-, either frotn'
the rising -of the :Spaniards upon so • sniall a nuniber
, as Net: w•cre composed of, , or what latterly appeared'
inevitable,, !from .the vielence.of the: storm, I was'
-most ger ta.in ly..afra4l, and at of e time when: the ,ship
Made throe:-feet- Wller in 'ten. minues, when our peo
ple-_were,almost ttl-1•.1-,,eying, drunk upon the .deck,'
CoMpl-etoly worn out wit4i4a-
Itigiie, Wonidno longer Wei* at the'du4 ehhin -ptmip
;lett '-servi6.!ab le, • when: I -saw - the fear of
'death so sfrorigly,depie'ted on th 6. couiutenancc~s of
almost all arotindme, I wrapped myself up in an'
.--tinion;.ja-ck;•and raid tlON.vo,upon the 'deck for a Short
4imequietly Waiting theapproach of death e the
nOfe‘rdf idOii.---afterl 'again roosed me after great
the-, Offcers; Who -jollied together for
th:e-i-AutuarpreServation. of their lives; We got the
'Ship-before the wind, determined to rein 'ner on
'Shore ; this was at Midnight; but at- day-light in the
mOrnitii,-;;;.the-weathee.being More modetate, and
"h it again gained upowthe Water, we-hauled our
,Wind; I)',:iceiVing a three-decker (El Ilayo) diiinaSt-•
NVi tli'Sixinisb,tolours up, -close to leeward of
'n4; the-Leviathan, the first BritiSh-: Ship we had
,!-keii:for "lite last thirty'hoUrs, seeing this bore down;
'and firing a shot a.--head of us, the Rayo struck
oil( returnitig'a gnu." - "

. .
few days since a boy. between-. three and four
eah! of agc, of the wirtie.of Parker, Was iktprudently
starred. t.•)-stray into a wit:l(l7ll4W, at Cockerhana
he went upon the platform, when he was struck. with
one of the sails on his head, with such violence, that
he died in a short time after.