The Sun.
London, England, 1811-10-14 00:00:00

i;,l-,
Ifif
,

i ~,
~#
~Fii
,~tk

T
,
k

I 11
t 11

}

those who supposed they saw them, thought they
orJeced the Cdarinde to take in her sails.
" Hot, hest, we could no longer guide the ship 3
seccottiy, was so close to the ftenommile, that, if
she ti pulled out a little, she would have masked
my fire for a long time : I therefore 'did not think
this; was the signal. M. Etoptebert then sent me
a midshipman, in a'boat, to tell me to put down a
boat, and get myself towed. This was more:rea.
son ble, and I had already, done a yawl had
been towing me for some minutes. The enemy,
equally VVitil us becalmed, committed the fault of
not making use of their boats, which, proved to
their disadvautage,,as the frigate nearest mine present-
ed her stern to us More than a quarter of an hour,,
during which time I kept firing into her. A second
frigate was in the same situation with respect to the
itenommde, and it was with diffiCulty that these twa
vessels were agairt able to present their broadsides
to, us. If we had 'fortunately
.been nearer, they
were inevitablylost, far never was, tire more dread-
lul. They were severely.
.handled, that i 3. beyond a

doubt.. •
" In regard to the Nercide, profiting b), the re-
mains of the breeze at the cornmencettwet of the
adtion, %he had,come up with and closely. engaged
the frigate which led, and apparently with advan-
tage ; but there was `not much damage dune on

either side.
!" At sh in the evening
„a !rifting breeie sprung
up ; the calm had sent us to a distance front Cal I.
Maresquier. I received a verbal message tu take
post behindahe Commodore,
,who, fought from both
sides, which I obeyed. The tire thus continued
till eight at night, when the enemy's ceased; and,
assisted by a light breeze, he got to a distame 'troth
us. We I,,ilowed ; when the fire coMmenced, and
lasted tilt halt.-past ten at- night, at which time we•
tacked, to place ourselves in a line,with the Ner4d,e,
which appeared .datnaged. The; Perrononee. put out
her lights, and hailed us to conceal ours. ',We ap-
proa.f.hed Captain Maresquier, to whom I commu-
nicated similar orders.' 1 thought 1 .perceiviAl his
main-top-mast, sails, &c. were damaged. We
tacked twice to support the Nereide, which no
longer had the 'wind. The enemy, on his part,
seemed to rally. .
Itelight wind now blew from all points, and We
found ourselves engaged by the enemy, who all at
once opened his fire, nearer than we expected.
Taking. advantage of a momentary change in the
wind, I sailed towards our fligate, for the purpose
of diseppging and supporting her. I did not again
h;e9 the Areide. I. believed her also to be amid the
ftre, and perhaps she was there. . , ,
" We arrived at twenty Minutes after eleven in
the midst of the contending vettlels,, from :which we
were nor, more than two musket-shots distance, at
the commencement of the aaion. Then, although
very sear, each oilier, within half pistol-shot, at
Most, the fire ceased on both' sides,. in fear
,of the
It-iehtful mistakes whiph might .occur .in a dark
At this.moment a ship in the groupe shewed
'time Bengal lights in those parts of the Tessel front
wl:ich the signals were to be made, agreed upon he-
tween'; he Itewmonje mid the squadron, for night-
ete.agernents. I instantly replied by-shewing my limn-
'ber, and mainruvre.d to approach • that frigate. The
Ansel to tFd not anwer.
“. Without doubt, the retrains of the smelie, the
Variety of the wind,,,joined to the obscurity of the
night, were the cause of my new Uncertainty; I
found myStlf in the middle of four ships, within
pivot. 'shot of tvi 0 of them ; and the lienornmLie
was still.hidden fican us. I again made the night-
bigual with Bengal lights. - •
" I perceived, -tn teturn, only such English lights
as enabled We to comprehend that 1, was not with
my friends. The frigate nearest me fired two can•
nons, which 1 did not answer... • ;
, " I sought,. the lienommje and Nereide, but could
neither bysigteihrorothet wise discover theirsitoation.
I have tdreeidy said that a Ingate made hignalS I did
not understand;- the three other vessels, which stir-
rounded tt a answered them. Our trigaies, then,
were: ao lonor near us, for they strewed no tights.
Flow, without wind, cupid they get to a &stance?
"They must have had a breeze which I did not ex-
. perience l and this
,breeze must have driven them,
in spite of themselves, far, front me : for both :01
these Captains would willingly, have, sacrificed their
lives for the power of saving inc.
" I ,was nearly inclosed, and without sails ; which
gave the enenit an'opvortuaity of molesting me
with their how-chasers.. In. the hope of discovering
our frigates' situation, I stood' m towards the land,
, which we were close. opon.

• , It now was impossible for me to do Otherwise
ithout running into the enemy's division, which
would have directed all its force against the rinde.
The enemy would then have CM me oil. I was
ignorant of. the position of our frigates.. Where
were they ? What winds had they experienced
I was constrained to proceed along 'the coast,
which ignited the adoption of the measures I siC-
cessinlly took; and in proportion as I gof my sails
hoi,ted, I found myself-the less harassed by the
enemy. Two of their frigates, whose' bowsprits
neatly touched the Clorinde3 stern, cannonaded me.
Ito two remaining hips dropped so'far astern that
• I could not any longer distinguish their lights. The
two whit!) pot sued me did nut cease making signals.
At a (palter pact Your o'clock-, I perceived the
enemy for rho last time. In the With, one inaikwas
one drowned, and six badly wounded.
sun-use we perceived nothing; and I had
time to reflect Upon My 'situation, and that of the
Ari6ate.s from which I was separated. Mita': was
.., sufficiently melancholy ; addition to the damage
in the combat, I had Z 5 men skit, tram
it stoilll.pex, the scurvy, and lever:, Isrly stock of
i,rovisionS was touch reduced, and two of my masts
rave Me constant uneasiness.
The Soyehelles isles soot it4theleast dangerous
spot 1 Could repair to, where I hoped that theother
French frigates might likewise rendezvous. But in
night of the 21i,t, fnur ships were seen Co wind-
' ward of us, onoof them visibly, smaller than the
• others. This was doubtless tl3( Eng fi lish quadron;
althree o'clock they were no longer visible. From
this concludod, that the IN'Teldt; had bad time to
repair the little damage- which she bad Sustained;
sad that our two frigates, no longer seeing the eno.
my or Myself, had either got off without opposition,
or bid entered Tamatave, a cbuisc uld
not folloW,
,because; the English sqUadron was on
say routo to that piaci.
•

" t therekee steered for the Soycbelles, and an-.
chored under the little isle St.. Anne. A fishing-boat.
informal Me, that. there was only -one Englishman
on Ore isle; he was a Lieutenant Of Marines. I
made him prisoner, in order to be exchanged for M. ,
Karadec, taken at the Isle of France! , T ,
“ On the 7th of June I left the Seychelles, on ,
.my retuin to, France. On the 26th I reached the
Isle of Diego Garcia, the bay of which is in lat, 7
degrees 18 minutes; and long. 70 degrees 13 mi-
notes. There 1 found, to my surprise, that some '
inhabitantreof the Isle of France had formed an esta-
blishment, where cocoa oil;. and tortoise-shell,,weie
the only kind of speculation in which they eeuld,,,
engage. Certainly, their gains can be only a, slight-
recompense for the frightful misery to which these
unfortunate people are condemned, by the verYta-
lure of the :soil which they inhabit. It is so dry,
that there is .hardly the depth of an inch of vegeta-
ble soil to be found on the whole surtaee of the
island. Reduced. to cocoas, some fowls,• and tor-
toises, the unfortunates who inhabit Diego. Garcia
Must renounce the habits el ether livieg beings.
“ J purchased about thirty milled, which atforded
sonterelief to my crew, and particularly to the sick.
We also krill in a gteat number of cocoas, a' little
,wood, and some excellent water.. I §ailetl,on the
2Sih of June L.and, on the Ist of August, I ttOu-bled the Cape of Good Hope. The winds forct!d-rue
to near the western coast of the African Continent.
On the 23d of August, in 4 &glees Of south lati-
tude, I captttred a Yorteguese brig, from w Welt I
took eleven days iprovisiens, and let her go. On
the .4th of September I took an. English packet; I'
found in: her abbot twenty sacks of b scuims, and
some salt provisions. , Her mail was thrown into
the sop, when she first saw uq. , The want of wa-
ier prevented me twin destroying this vessel, which
had about thirty men on board, and would have
thereby suffered a,great deal, and added too `much
to our Consumption. I gave her a eartel.Orexchange,
of which I have brought a copy ;.and released her,
. after making her throw, overboard her twelve can.
non, Several Am6ican ships,' which I met on the
1
2eth ,of August, the 5111,.,i3th, and ifith of Sep!.
[ember, made some slight addition to our pro..

visions.
" On the lBth,l,fell in with the,Ehgli,h sloop
Mary, bound to the Newfoundland fishery. This
ship was in ballast. . 1 contented myself with giving
her a cartel of exchange, and sent her to Madeira..
'l, On the t'.4th of September, at six in the .moin-
ing, being only 10/leagues from the Saintes,l,fell
in.:With an Euglish'ship of war, which had the aid
vantage over me of having seen the land the evening
before, and which manceuvted to cut the off from
the Passage du ,11q. . I was not .disconcerted ; but
snuck right into 111.-2 Raz, amidst the most copious
rain, and a very thick tog.
"'The enemy struck into the.passageat.the sane
time with mo, keeping me within musket-shot. It
bicw, very ; the ship of war,wai in full sail;
_though he gained upon. are, I was prudent, enough
to take in mine a little, and I had soon the pleasure
,o 1 seeing his main-top and mizen-masts distnasted,
,at the momeor When he. cannonaded Me severely,
and was at least Within pistol-shot. The enemy,
obliged to haul off; molested, me no longer, and,at
five o'clock I camel() anchor in Brest 'lL:lth,,
" Sti..mr Crtica„ Capitaine de Frigate,'
" Brest tioet6, Oil hoard the Chhincre,
Sept. 24, 'Sit."

MADRID, SEPT. 27.-;---His Majesty the Emperor
at, the French has tibmitialed, OAMbt'IS Of the
Legion of ,Honour, Don" Francisco 'reran, Royal
Commissary in EStramadura ; Ddn Cessar Gonzalez,
Colonel of Artillery; and .D.n F. de, Hore, Com-
mandant of a 'Battalion of Artillery, for the set.,
vices whiCh they rendered during ti:e siege of Ba-
deijoz.