The Sun.
London, England, 1801-12-23 00:00:00

NAVAL NEWS.

z LONDON GAZETTE, Dec. 22, 13t;.

.eldmiralty-Offce, December 22, lgot.

Cipy of a Letter from the Right lionourable. Lord
Keith, K. B. Commander in Chief of His Ma-
jesty's Ships and ressils rn 11.7,4. Mediterranean, ,to
Evan Acepeal,- Esi: dated' Sea, the 14th e?f,
September,• 1801. - -*4
. •
SIR, I

IT is wit 4 /great concern:that I acquaint you, for
the information Ofih-ir Lordships, of the capure
,`• •
of Ffis' IVlajesty's Ship the .Swiftsure, by Gan..
theaure's Squadron,
.An his return to France, after
his unsucoessful, attempt to debark Troops' on the
Coast of Egypt; I inelose a Copy of Captain Ha
lowell's Communication of that unfortunate even
and have the Honour to be, S 4, &c. tic:

KEITH.
On board L'lndivisible, in Toulon
1..0RD Road, z4.th July,
IT is with infinite concern. T,lpve to inform yott
Lordship, of the capture of His Majesty's late Ship
Swiltsure, by a Squadron of French*Shi?i under the
command of Rear-Admiral Gantheautte.
Having separated from my Convoy, consisting of
Cartels and light Transports, on the tad, ultimo,
I vi,4s mak-in the best of my way to ,Malta, when
on thettriorn;ng of the 24th, at half past three, the
wind at N.W. Cape berne bearing S.W, distant
IlbOut seven leagues,- we discovered Five Sail to
leeward of us, nearly hull-down

--!
As Lieutenant Sheppard, of the Pigmy Cutter,
had .informed me on the t§th that an Enemy's
Stfulacfkrii—had quitted Durassp on the 7th, where
they hid attempted 'to land their Troops, con-
cluded.the. Ships in sight were those of Which he
had.:given- me .intelligence, and, made all the sail
posible to-get from them : • at- sun-rise my suspi-
cionswere realized; we clearly distinguished four
of them to be of the Line,' the other a large Frigate,
and- their6ignalAags Stion.painted them .Our to be
Enemies. fit half past five, two of the Line: of
Battle 'Ships...taCked„ by signal, And stood on till
they fetched into our wake, while the other two
And the Frigate' stood upon the- same tack with us.
At eight o'clock, the two Ships and Frigate having
fore-reached considerably on-us, tacked and stood
towards us until they got on our lee quarter, when
they tacked'again.: :From their. great superiority
of sailing, they closed with us so fast as 'to be
nearly within gun-shot by two:P.M. ; and as the
Ships astern were coming up veryfasr, I determined
on bearing doWn and -engaging the two Ships and
Frigate to leeward, hoping to-disable one-df flier.]
before the Whole Squadron could be brOught into
AEtion, and:thereby effea oui- escape by getting
leeward of them : at three o'clock,'-. I bore up arid
steered to pass 'astern of.the sternmost Ship, all our
steering-sails. set on .the starboard-side, when the
Enemy tacko. and stood 'toward us: at hall past
three the Indivisible, of ED guhs, 'bearing Rear!.
Admiral .GantheauMe's Flag, and the Dix Abut, of
74 guns, being in c10,..e order, .and within half gun-
Shot of us, opened their fire, which was instantly
answered, and a warm- Atction ensued, Their- great
superiority in point of. sailing gave them evernicl.
vantage of position, and baflled.alCAu'ailtrniots to
get to leeward of them. At.thirty-seven-minutes
past four, the Jean Bart and Constitution, Of 74
guns, being within gunshot, and closing upon our
'starboard-quarter verrfast, the Indivisible almost
'oh 1.16-aid of us on our larboard-bow, and the Dix
'Rout .on our larboard-quarter, • out fore-yard and
fore-topsail-yard shot 'away, all' our running and
"pia of ow,standing rigging cut to pieces, the:fore:.
,mast, mizen-mast, ancLmain-yard badly wounded,
our .deck lumbered with, the Wreck and sails, all
hopes-of making our escape cr falling in with any
sirceour being cut off, and only one of the Enemy's
Ships appartiritly. mitch-damaged, I thought farther
resistance, in our crippled state, would be'exposing
the lives of valuable Men without any advantage to
their Country_ resulting from it, with pain, there-
fore, I ordered Majesty's Colours lb be struck,
after an Atlionmf one hour and seven minutes.

Most sincerely, myLord, do I-lament our having
been oppoSed to so-,Vety
,superior a Force,' as from
the steady ancl.gallnt" COnduti of the Officers and
Men I had the honour to command on this occasion,

and with whom I had been acing nearly four years
on various services, .1 have not a doubt. of what
would have been the issue of a Contest on more
'equal- term-s.. Our loss iris been principally in masts,
yards,' sails, and rigging; having only two Alen
killed, Lieurenarit Davis; and seven men wc-"unded
(two of whom are since dead of their Wounds);.:tlr
Enemy's imtention being ,to disable us in our rigg-
ing, in which they succeeded too well. At the
commencement ,of this une"gnal Contest,- we were
eighty-six men short of complement,.and had fifty-
nine sick, those who returned froth the Army'be-
fore Alexandria having introduced a bad feyer into
the Ship.
Four hundred men were put on board the
sure on the evening of 'her capture, Many :pf' the
prisoners 'removed, • and the Ship in so crippled a
state as to render it necessary to take' her in tow
the next day, Carpenters and Seamen horn all the
Ships were sent on.board to r,epair lier damages, and
Soldiers to complete her number to nven hundred ;
and with all their exertions, and the advantage of
smooth water, it was Six days before they wete able
to make sail.. •

On the 4th of July, between Latnpidosa and Pan-
•lalaria, they fell in with•and captured the Mohawk
Letter of Marque, from Bristol to Malta, :laden
with various artidres of merchandize ; on the lid
they anchored in this Road, in general, very sick-
ly, without having lantled any part of their Troops
on. the Coast of Egypt or Barbary, although they
attempted debarkation at .Derne,.,on the 2:3C1 ult.
but fOtTi the hostile appearance and reception of the
Jatlyes, they did,,-opt persevere, and returned to
their Ships withouhdanding a single person. ,
I feel it a duty litme tu'Admiral Gantheauiie to
mention to your Lordship the handsome manner in
which we have all been treated by the Officers of
his Squadron, and by him in particular, the strictest
orders' have been issued to preserye, the property of
every individual, and he has. done ;very, thing in ,