The Sun.
London, England, 1806-11-25 00:00:00

MINFTRY: OF THE, MARINE./

L ri-TER cA rj-Ani LOURAYNE, COMMA':!iD
t. ill S.. MAJEbTY'S VRIGATE LA CANONNIERE, TO

THE 'MINISTER OF THE Ti, ,11INE.
- - At Sea, 27th May, 1806, On board his
• majesty's Frigate La Cationniere.

3.4O;N:SEIGNEVR-4 have the' honour. to inform
your Excellency, that on' the :Ist of April ha, in

South latitude SO. 46. East longitude 26. :34. I de,-
scribed,' at half past six in the morning, a fleet of 1?
Sail„ which, by their height and yard, I judged to
be at least English East-India Company's Ships.
The wind was Easterly. I was steering South-South
West. This Fleet remained to Windward of me,
and I took the-nearest to recognize ;her. soon per-
ceived that one of these Ships;
.much larger than
the others, parted front the Fleet, tin bear doWn
upon me. At half past nine o'clock, shwhad left ,it
Iwo leagues and a half behind, when she made me
reconnoitering signals? which I was • unable •to
answer. She then bore down, to cut -my course,
and at thiS'moment, pereeiVing her to be a Ship of
the Line, •I hauled my wind on the starboard tack,
with intention to get to windward of her. Scarcely
l•
had I trimmed my sails, when our look-out descried
land a-head, and to windward of me, at the distance
of six leagues. J. was consequently obliged .0 bear
away for the open sea ; but the Enemy's Ship had
the advantage of being a better sailer than La Canon_
niere, and at 40 minutes' after three o'clock she
wps within less than cannon-shot in my wake. We
hoisted our colours, and fired our Chase guns, With;
out much effe&, untirfou,r o'clock, when the Ship
had gained so far upon .me, that I thought there
was no other step to be taken than ,to present her
my broadside, however inferior I might be. .1 im-
mediately edged to wind, and to preserve the adVari`-
tage of it, the )enemy followed my .manoeuvre. "At
ten minutes past four o'clock? being at the distance
of about
.200 tois,es, I
,discharged my whole broad 7
side into her, which she answered. with her whole
broadside, edging, with all her sails set, within half
musket-shot of me.' At this distance I perceived
that I had to do with a 74-gun Ship, which, from
• the briskness of her guns and musketry, I judged to
be very well manned. Happily .her fire was_ill-di-
reEted, whereas every • shot fired by La Canonniere
seemed to tell.; which inspire&my crew with the
Most, lively entlntsiasln. By. ten Minutes- arte-t five
o'clock the Enemy's fore and-stay sails,.andforetop
sail were fallen, his Mainstay and the' head of
foretopmast cut, his mainsail disabled, and his main-
mast ready to fall. , As La Ca;lonniere was-much
less damaged,' she:began from that moment tcf gain
upon the Ship ; the latter, perceiving this, bore down
• •• ,
before the wind upon me. I availed myself of
this moment to get to windward of her, .which it
was impossible to do without giving, her the ad-
.....
vantage of firing •a 6road4ide within point-blank
shot- into yny-quarter: 'The enemy, after this ma-
neeuVre endeavoured' to get .to windward ; but
beilig hardly able to manceuvre, he conld, not come
near me. We fought for half an hoer longer, by
which, tithe we were out'of cannon-Shot

4?

During the engagernent, Which had slackened bur
course according as we became disabled in our rig=
ging, the Enemy's Fleet had rallied round the Ship
of the Tuine—a Ship somewhat larger than the rest,
placing,heriella-head of then, Made a chew of at=
tacking. me. -She fired some .broadsides at such a
distance, that I did,* think proper to answer them.
I set myself without losing a moment to' repairing.
my damage ;. the Ship of the Line did the same,
still endeavouring with her Fleet to comenp with
mei. I had got to windward, and in the course of
the 'night lost sight of them. The most. consi-
derable damage sustained by La,Canonniere, wes a
ball which penetrated 16 inches into her Main-mast,
and cut the heart of it ; the fore,yard cut, together
With the mizen-mast ; anchor of 4000 pciunds, one
of 1800, and a 32-pormdcarronade, broken,
by the.
ball ; between fifteen and twenty bills in the Fri-
gate's side. I had but seven men killed and twenty-,
five wounded. My First "Lieutenant, Dusufssou;
is descrying of the highest praise for the manner he
seconded me : the Enseign PRE NET being grievous-
ly,.wounded, quitted his post only to get Ms blood
stopped; and got himself direly carried ba& to it
the Midshipman, DorLorEs;didthe same. The
Enseigners GEtFitoy; BELET, and the Midship-
man FEEDERIZ{ BERNAR;), are deserving of being
particularly mentioned. -here. Ibeg,your
:Excellen-
cy to ."IA. kind enough to inform his 'Majesty,
that it is impossible to have a crew more corn-
pletely-brrve tharrt-h-at- of the Frimte Canonniere.
I am above all .satisc4 with the gunners, who fired
with an exaanes, and quickness which does them
the ii best honour. #,Vtar repaitilicr my damage as
well as it was-;•possible- to doout-at sea, I judged
necessar-y'io-pVii 'into- the Cape OrGoOd Hope.' The
slight breezes I met
.with did .not allow me to PT-
rive there bore the '3oth: --I:auChoredin Simon's
Bay, where I found all the Forts and Ships wear-
ing Dutch colours. After, dropping .an 'anchor near .
.Penguin Island, I sent my loug:•boat ashore with-an
Officer; bat scarcely was he arrived there. When, all
-the Batteries and Ships hoisted English colours, and
'fir'ed bombs and-hail's ai 14 V ithoiliitge insia tatty
of amy cablo, ppdgoi Mider ,AT:eiri-li,3fith every pos-
sible speed amidst all this. cannonade, never
ceased-till I was out of,reach. No ball stritek in ;;
some bombs burst above my -masts without doing;
The slackness of the

-aily important.

wind Itspt me two days' within sight of the Cape ;
I availed myself of the calm', and of the meeiing
the neutriLl'N'';eisel; to have the honour of addressing
to you tlas:iiport... "MOst of my wounded are pet -
fealy recOVering; Aid; my crew is in the highest
spirits.--I am,:with tespea, &c.

BOURAYNE.

. MAILS.
ARRlVED—r,Leew4rd Island, I Dublin. DUE-4 Marti.
burgh;' 4 Gottenburgh, a Waterford.

• PRICE OT ''COCKS
THIS DAY AT TWELVE O'CLOCK.
Consols - 6t* Red. Alin. - tiofi Omnium - 4

THE SUN.

QUIS DICF.P.S FALSUM AUDMAT ?

L-0 ND 011;

TTJESDAS NOVEMBER 25, IBQq.

By tie Leeward Island. Mail, which arrived this
day, we have received the following intelligence :
" ANTIGUA; OCT.-23.—,The Mary, Mail Boat,
with the Letters , for Great Britain from Tobago,
Trinidad, Grenada, and St. Vincent's, is. captured
and carried into Guadalo4pe. The Mails were sunk.
We have a report of ,artival of the Prince Ernest
• .
Packet at Barbadoes, from England, but it it wants
cOn4r4ciatjon the Diana, from Africa, is reported
to be taken and carried into Guadaloupe,.”

Tiia four Harriurgli Mails still remain due, but
the French and Dutch Papers which arrived yester
day have in a great degree anticipated their contents..
The arrival. of alose Mails will, we.have no doubt,
expose the exaggerations and inacciiracies which.
mark-the French Bulletins; but of the truth of the
general substance of the intelligence which they
bring, we fear there is no room to doubt. The
more we consider the events of this short and dis-.
astreus Campaign, , the more we are at a loss to ac-
coMit.for them. That an army of 150,000 men, in
the highest state of discipline, commanded by most
experienCed and able Generals, should not only he
totally defeated,' but absolutely annihilated, in the
short space. of three weeks, and that too not in
a hostile Country, far frem its resources, but in
,
its own Territories, is 9n event unprecedented
in modern history. It. may be said that after
the unfortunate battle of Auerstadt, the Prussia
Army was broken into small divisions, • that the
Enemy pursued them with so mucli rapidity that
they never had an opportunity , either Of 'forming a
jundion, or of efi-eaing their retreat; and that there-
fore the Enemy had an opportunity of beating theta
in detail. But if this observation be admitted a 3 ap-
plicable to the Army, low are we IO account for The
surreucle'r of so .rPapy fortresses of great strength,
with numerous garrisonS, and amply supplied with'
stores ? We do not mean to insinuate that because
we cannot account for these events upon ordinary
principles; therefore they must be ascribed tit.
treachery. Tliese disasters may have preceedect
from causes of which we have no knowledge.—The
French themselves appear to be astonished at The
rapidity and extent ut their successes, particularly:
the capture of ,Stettin.; for 'after announcing the
surrender of that most important place, the 23d
Bulletin says; that it can only be accounted
for by. the utter dismay which the destruction,
of the great Prussian Army has produced on 69
Oder, and overall the territory on the right bank of
• •
that river." But if die Garrisons of Stettin apd Cus-
trin were so dismayed that They could not be pre-
vailed
.upon to defend those places against the
French, by did they not make use of the means
of retreat which. they had in their power ? Stettin.
and Custrin are troth upon the Oder, and, con-
sequently the Garrisons might with ease have e&
feded their retreat , on the rig. it Bank ; and yet we,
are told, that at .Stettin 6000 'fine Troops, and a
number of-Generals, and, at Custrin, 4000 men
were made Prisoners of War. Panic prevents men
from fighting, but ,it very seldom has the effeCt of
.preventing them from. retreating
The Hamburgh Mails may, when they arrive,
give us some information upon these subjeds,,which,
ai'present, seem.wlasally inexplicable.

Our Readers will find in our preceding columns
some Interesting details respecting MIRANDA, froth,
which there is every reason to presume that, with
the assistance of a British Force, he will be ultimate-
ly successful, •

Yelt erday morning His MAJESTY, Princesses Au-
,dusTA, ,SOllll A, adAMELIA, attended by General
EITZROYI-1Co)OileIS TAYLOR and DESBROW, Count
MONSTEII, the, Hon. Mr. BLTLKELEY and Lady,
took an airing in Windsor Great Park to Cumber-
land- •Lodge;- and !returned at half-past twelve. , •
• Lord ST. HELEN'S has been upon a visit to Their
MAJESTIES for theSe few days past.

. .
On Sundq: Ilis'MAJEsry, accompanied byTrin.,
CpiSe. AUGUSTA, MARY; and SOPHIA, attended by
ithiLKELEy, attended Divine Service, at .St.
Gtr 's .Cbapel, and herd a Sermon by Do&or
LEGGt, from
.the 12th chartg of tile 2d. book of
Chronigres, and 14th verse. '