The Sun.
London, England, 1812-07-10 00:00:00

THIRD DAY.

ahovesmentlorted heads, that the whole. ma 'appear
in a connected chain before. you, ' 1 .shall after-
wards take the liberty of Making a few observa-
tions-on such parts of tbeetecotnpanying the or-
der fotethis investigation, ias .vsell as the evidence
elready' gone through, as 'Appear contradictory and
irreconcilable ; and shall endeavour to prove the
whole•of statement, by the conCarring testi-
mony of. witnesses; who ought to be.the best qua-
litied to observe, from their situations on board
the Pompee, her several movements; and relative
positions,-at different-periods withthe enemy ;_ as
well as the bearings- and distance. of the two
-'stratasee ships'scen before sun-set of the
.10th .9f
March, as well -as dive ships subsequently seen
in the night, and reported.. to me onethe morning
of the 11th. ist> At one P.M.-of the 10th March-,
while walking on the quarter deck, . and, tbe ship
steering S. by W. the man at theentastehead rep
ported two sail to
,windward, pointing about two
points before- the,larboard beam., ..the Wind, then
about E. They were soon ascertained:by the sige
nal-man at the mast-boad -to be. two line of `battle
ships, -and-soon afterwards; two sail more of
the line, and two frigates, were -discovered to
windward of them. The watch- ssra. immedis
ately ;turned up, the sails trimmed, and the
trorapee kept close to the wind, on, the larboard
tack, with a, top gallant -breeze, and clear '. wea7
they. About two, P.M. ,the' top-gallant sails,
and .part of the-top-sails of the four line-of-battle
ships, were visible from the deck, and were then
judged to be French, • lietween two and three,
P. M. a frigate,. which had -been seen two hours
before, to the S. from the mast-head, was visible
from the Ponipee's deck, :which proved to be the
Diana ; whose Captain communicated to me by
signal,,thatthe ships in view-were L'Olient squa-
dron, consisting of four sail of the line and two
frigates, avlitchshad sailed from that portals nine
the-preceding morning. :In. pursuance•of my sig-
nal, Capt. Ferris, of the Diana, came on board at.
four, P.M. to whore Lgave instrasesioestoendeae
your to get to the N. and E. of the rsnemy's
,sqinse
dton, • and' acquaint.all- Bei tish :ships he might fall
in with, that the enemy -were-at sea ; also -to (ha-
patch the first-vessel of-war he. might fall with:,
to Plymouth, or the first poste
.and to. send the.
second -vessel he might-fah in with: 0K Brest, to
acquaint the squadron thereof the-enemy's situa-
tion ; and 'I 'further intimated to. -Cantata Fereis,
that while he stood to the N.-that I-should stand
to the S.-its order that .one or the other et:: us insiss
beable-to gain the wind of ;the enemy e lilts soon-
after the Diana tacked, and stood to , the N. on:'
the starboard tack, the enemy made more saile,
and hauled, more to the "&. on which the Peesnee
was also tacked; and stood to the N. on the stases
board-tacksthat -she might not increaee her d",stanete
toe -far ,from them; -the enemy's couroes-fteifig..,
then visible froM the deck, and:. we neared:the*
enemy's ships
..before sun-set, they, apparently,
standing N.W. and W. About a quartee.p_aste.
five, two -strange-sail were repoetedto -me ems our
weather- beam, and to windward of the enemy's,
ships, apparently standing- for then]. eekt six, th e
foot of the strange-ship's royals, ordf ro royals
set,' the foot of their top:gallant sails- were justs
visible ‘from • the -poop ; and. from one tops :we
:could i only observe about nane half Cf :their tope.:
sails; and that they had studding sails set.. •The
enemy's ships were at. sunset hetweeu eight -and
nine miles distant from the Pompeee.whicle I esti-,
Mate from their,-poops being seen from ours,
_and
they bore N.-by E. the .Pompee then laYing pp N.
by W. wind N. E. by and the, Diana -about
two miles_ on our lee bow, At: this time I
observed, the enemy's leading ship •wearing round
too, the larboard tack, . and setting• her la.Siscsard
fore top mast. , studding sail, e— The. Pompee
was tacked before the' close .of - day, • and we.,
stood close-hauled to the S E. and by- E. on the,
larboard-tack, with a view to prevent the enemy
:closing with us too boon, :as well as to shewethe
two strange .ships, to. windward, On the event of
their being. friends) -how we intended - standing
after, dark,--that they- might -be enabled 'to join
without being embarrassed by the energy-in this
movement.. The necessary-orders were -.given to
get as additional number of shot up-for-the guns,
and an- additional proportion .of powder. filled,
• and, the sllip in-every-respect prepared for action.
It was a.-pitch dark night and :no possibility of
keeping. • sight of the • enemy's e ships:-
.at, much
greater distal-me, than musket shot, where no lights.
were shewn. About half past eseven, the, race-
:of.th e flashes :of. 'guns was.repoeted to !be seen-
to the horizSien. AboUtAhise a- socket -was-
throWn up, in the.lN-. quartere: in the direction
in which the. Diana weeselast'seen, were:
repotted to be visible;. at !intervals °O.f., more or leo
than half an hour, nearly in ,the direction in-
which.the enemy -was- last seen, during the ,whole-•
of the first watch, until sevensbellsewhen "directed.
the bearings of the last light seen to' be-taken by
compass; which was N,. by From- the fatigue-
occasioned by. being constantly .on deck, iwith-; the
exception of an hour to dinner, from morning of
' that day; tmntil witlrimm niew initiates of*tidniglat,
when it fell little witflethe ship then Only, goings
a-little moreethan, alnot, -and the-men -at their
quarters, I went,into: my cabin-and lay down. on
•la couch with my clothes, on, hayingepreviousiy:
given to the officer of the watch the .steictest or-.
dees 'sweep the horizron with' he-right glass,-
particularly in that quarter where; the enemy7ss
--lights-were last seen; -that the. hest possible look;
out should. be kept, 'and to itsformjnee of the
'alteration, and that eversetrian should be.
kept at:his quarters, asi had reason to. bale that
- the lights seen at-different intervals were toose. of-
ttlie eenany,eand thatthey .appeared'to nte,eo_near,
and if7a- good. -look out ewas -Met kept, they
would alongside.ot' us before the S them -;.
but there :.was little -wind,. ditd rt:a.: think
thesr.:Could besup-us'befote dayslight e-butfifithe
'breeze freshened; I. • was to be; immediately,
acquainted. A 'little after one _bell, the .:Isieu
tenant :of the watch; ,who -had. just r elieved. the
deck, informed.'me that -there. were two large ships
lriot lei us to: 'ivind-ward; VS;blO43. he believed to be,
the• enemy_ linstantly got upon decky, apd with.
the night glass.perts ised two large ships abont a
'musket shot from -us,- before the weather beam;
and on some 'person saying- that there were:two
more- a-stern of-theme visible. with the...staked-eye,