Star.
London, England, 1809-05-24 00:00:00

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PALitOtTIV, MAY 2I ."
Arrived this day the ship Brurisivicici Captain

,
ADMILALTY OFFICE; j.ttif
Copt of a Letter from Rear Admiral the Honourable Sir Aler-
under Cochrane. K. B. Commander in Chief of his I,'
-

; tvhipti and yesseis at the Leewiril lslaritis, to the Honourable
GEORGE SIMPSON, from Londime bound to Quebec 4 Mairilt)k
Pas-
the brig Betsy, Captain &nettle from London for .. Pole, dated on beard the Neptune, off the Mona
_Sir—Having in my letter (No.
North America, in ballast; to loud tienbets-s-put in by sage the I -,111 of April.
7th instant, infm•meal the Lords Commissioners of the
contrary wind—the former ship is leaky ; and the brig 637); dated the
Admiralty of the arrangements that had been made
Clerement, from Gibraltar to 6uernseyein 22 days. beiween Lieutenant General Beckwith and me for
PLYMOUTH, MAY 22.
the reduction of the Saints, and, if possible, to secure
Came in the Eiperiment, Captein SWAIN, from
the French squadron of three
Lisbon, with salt ; . Speculant, (Dane) ANDERSON,ships of the line and
two f. igates, then at anchor there, which it is ascer-
t.ained were sent to this country expressly for the re-
from Lisbon, detained there by Admiral BERKELEY ; lief of Martinique ; I have now the honour to ac-
Expedition, ANDERSON, from Lisbon, with salt : the quaint you, for their Lordships' information, with
above vessels sailed under convoy of the Frecierickstien our subsequent proceedlngs, which have been atten-
frigate, in company about 50 sail, the 2d instant.— ded with the capture of le d'•Hautpoult, a fine new
Also came in the Success, of Jersey, Captain Leletl- ship, of 74 guns, of the largest class.
U The of Major aljsothr Geinralat.
DEY, from t. Michael's, for Jersey, with fruit; she Maitland,
troops, under
nd,aTrived.atdete o
iecm
'Saints on
the
was captured the 23d ult. by the Mouche French pri- and were landed the following day with little loss ; •
vateer, of 18 guns and 114 men, in Lit 40. 50. N. the direction of all naval operations connected with
long. 17. 17. W. and sent into Vigo, supposing it to the army having been left entirely with Captain
Beaver of the Acasta, who conducted that service
be in possession of the French, and was there taken with '
all the correctness 'and Celerity which 1 expec-
pe.siession of the 11th inst. by the Venus and Lively tel of him.
frigates, and sailed from thence the 12th instant ; On the afternoon of the same day two howitzers
Martha, Captain CAD:, from Gibraltar, for Plymouth, and mortars began to play upon the enemy's ships ;
andl received information that one of the line had
with wine ; London, of 98 guns, Captain WESTROPP, weighed one of her anchors, but that the others did
from Rio Janeiro, with the following vessels
convoy from thence, viz. Fingal, Captain DUNNING; ' I must here call their Lordships' attention to the
Clarkson, Captain STEPIIENSoN ; and Jane, Captain situation of the Saints, which have three passages the
Score ; all laden with coffee, bides, tallow, &c. for enemy could escape through, and these being situated
in different directions made it particularly difficult to
4ondon ; they sailed the sth of March last. It is guard by five ships of the line, so as to bring an equal
reported that Sir SIDNEY Smiles is now en his way force to meet the enemy et either points
home. Also came in the Active French lugger, from , At halfpast nine in the evening the concerted sig-
Guadeloupe, hound to Bourdeaux, with coffee, cots nal was made for the enemy's ships having put to
ton, and sugar, captured off Rochefort by the Shan. • sea ; but the signals were for their having gone both
to windward and to leeward of the islands, which was
non, el 36 guns, last Tuesday ; she s tiled 36 days literally i
• the case, as I am informed the two frigates
sirtce.This morning arrived the Goldfinch, 18 guns,l proceeded oneandthe three line of battle ships
way,
from a cruize, with damages ; last Thursday, on the the other.
coast of Spain, she discovered, and after a chace ofi The Neptune being at the time off the south west
15 honrsi came up with a large French corvette, with passage, made sail to join the Pompee, stationed un-
• der the west end, which ship I found had closed with,
i which she had an action of five hours, during which 1 in '' three ships, and chace of apparently standing to
the Goldfinch had three men killed, and the Second ! the west-south-west, but from their appearance in the
Lieutenant and eight of the crew wounded, and her dark, I did not suppose them to he of the line.
sails and rigging very much cut np ;it is said that the At this time I was particOlarly at
,e loss how to
• act,for if those ships should be the enemy's small men
French ship escaped by superior sailing.--Came in a :
of war, and the line of battle ships reported to be
French ketch, name unknown, laden with timber 1
preparing for sea, should remain behind, the with-
captured by the Aigle, of 36 guns.—By the Active '. drawing of the squadron.from the Saints would have
lugger, it appears that the French squadron, consist- been fatal to the troops landecrthe preceding day.
ing of three sail of the line and four frigates, hadlThe night whethery dark, and it was not possible to
• determine the whole of the making off
sailed from the Saintes two days before she left Gua. I were of the line or not, although we crossed so near
daloupe, and that Admiral CocimaNes squadron was ' the sternmost, that her shot struck the Neptune, and
in chace, and within a very short distance of them. - killed one man and wounded four. When daylight
A large French privateer came in this afternoon, i approached they were clearly discovered, and every
endeavour used to come up with them, the Pompee
prizetotheßLACKJOKE lugger, which cut her out from ' being the only line of battle ship in company, and the
under the battery, in a small port on the French coast.lfrigates not joining until the following day. Some
Also came in a French gailiot, laden with timber, ships were seen from the mast head, to whom I sent
prize to l'Ateeß, Capt. Woere. A Spanish logger to signify, by a sloop of war, the course we were .
likewise came in this afternoon, but there has yet stee
Thering. •
.. •
supetiority of the enemy's sailing left little
been no communication from her. . chance for the Neptune getting up, unless some of
PORTSMOUTH, MAY 23. the ships were disabled, and Wally accident had hap-
The Court Martial on Admiral Ile:lvey having pened to the Ponipee's masts, they must inevitably
closed this day at iwoletlic Admiral, who is dismissed have all escaped ; I therefore directed Capt. Fahie
the service, left this place about three o'clock. The to enc'eavour to cripple the sternmost ship, without
. bringing on the collected fire of the three, then in line
DaomEnAfte and HINDOsTAN Sailed yesterday for New . abreast. In this attempt he was most gallantly sup-
South Wales. Arrived his Majesty's ship MERMAID ported by Captain Napier, of his Majesty's sloop Re-
from the Downs. A large fleet of transports is lirtney cruit, who kept close up, although fired at from all
expected from Lis!eon ; several of them are come in. their tern chase guns, and did every thing that was
Wind S. E. possible to be done to cut away the enemy's masts
DEAL., MAY ea. and rigging, and continued on this service during the
whole chace, which lasted until this morning at half.
with the .- - past three, when le d'Hautpoult was brought to ac-
end Plernix non by the Pompee and Castor, as will more fully
'yip tin- appear by Captain Fahie's letter,. here inclosed:
'he I should not render justice to that excellent officer
was Ito withhold the praise due to him for his unre-
mined attention during so long and arduous a pur-
suit, and his taking such advantages of the enemy's
situation as they occasionally occurred.
I have much to regret in the loss of those that
have fallen and suffered on the occasion, a list of
whom is inclosed.
As the other two ships of the enemy separated on•
the morning of the 17th, at two o'clock, their route
cannot be well ascertained, I suppose they made sail
• to the southward., and will pass through the Som-
brero Passage. They had outsailed this ship so much
as to be at too great a distance to be observed when
they parted, we, of course, followed the Pompee's
lights.
I am now waiting until the Pompee and the prize
ar- refitted, to proceed to the windward; and I have
detached the York and Captain, with two frigates and
a sloop of war, to the northward, to try to intercept
the enemy's two ships that have escaped. e
Until their Lordships' pleasure is known, I have
commissioned the prize, and appointed Captain Na-
pier to the command of her, as a reward for his spi-
rited conduct during the chase. Ilan the honour
ned) ALEX. COCHRANE.
to be, &c. (Sig
His Majesty's ship Pontine, April 17, 1509, Cape Rozo,
Porto Rico, N. E. by N. seven or eight leagues.
1 Sir—Having, in obedience to your orders commu- •
nicaeed to me by telegraph at five P. M. on the 14th
instant, proceeded under the Lower Saint for, the pur-
pose of watching the enemy's motions should they
attempt to escape from thence to the Northward, I
observed soon after nine o'clock the signal from the
small ships and brigs more in shore, under the orders
of Captain Cameron, of his Majesty's sloop the Ha-
zard, that the enemy had put to sea, those signals
were repeated to you ; and at 40 minutes after nine
o'clock, the Lower Sainebearing East, about a mile
and a half, I distinctly saw three large ships coming
down under all-sail,and followed closly by the Hazard
and severalothersof the inshore squadron,with a signal
for their being the enemy. At ten o'clock I closed
up with the sternmost ship, and endeavoured to stop
her, by the discharge of two broadsides ; .but being
under a press of sail, and a strong breeze, steering
away W.S.W. she succeeded in crossing us, without
returning our fire. At this moment the Neptune was
seen in the S. W. standing towards us with all sail ;
Vora ever.

Arrived the G;;AMPUS, of 50 guns, with the Surat
Castle, Wexford, Preston, Ann, Diana, and Phoenix
East India ships, from India, and a retaken ship un-
der French colours ; also the Rose whaler, from the
South Seas—the squadron under the command of
of Slr J. S. YORK was, all well 9th May, in lat. 45, 10,
N. 17, W. ; arrived the VierOrttous, 74 guns,
from a cruize off Flushing,—Sailed the KANGAROO
sloop, on
,a cruize off Ostend ; FOLKSTONE lugger,
with convoy for Portsmouth ; CRACKER gun-brig, on
a cruise; DESPERATE gun-brig for the Nore ; INFLEx-
tBLE, 64 guns, for Portsmouth.—Wind N.E.

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