The Statesman.
London, England, 1809-10-26 00:00:00

ILOCII BMWS'
iST RO YED

trof the Captains in the French nary,
commanded the ships destroyed by our fleet
Roads, hlla a S opp.ement of ties : sheep
4:ortitear of the lith instant. The foliow-
ing is the substance of this interesting and inspor.
tont document. The sentence has not yet been
transmitted to us.

It appears by the account of the loss of the
Tonnerre, given by her Captain, Mr. Clement de
la Rtniciere, that whilst endeavouring to avoid
our fire.ships, she was run on board of by the
French an of war the Ocean, and grounded on
the rocks. Repeated exertions were made to save
her, but the wind proving unfavourable, the boats
being fur a long time absent, and the water no
longer kept down by the pumps, one of which
had burst, although the masts had been cut away,
and the greatest part of her guns and water.emks
thrown overboard, she was at length de-erted by
hcr crew, after permission to that effect had been
granted by a signal of the Admiral, answering
their .ignal of distress: The Captain was the last
who left the ship. This statement was Tully cor.
rnborated by the written minutes of the journal
kept by the officers.

The account of the loss of the CaLIM: was
given by her Captain, Lafon, and his officers
jointly. It states, that whilst preparing to engage
a British frigate, they were surprised by the ex-
plosion of a catamaran, anti soon after, being
nearly surrioinded with 6re-ships, one of which
-their easiness stink, tfiry eat their cedes to avoid
the others, and about midnight grounded ; ,but
after lightening the vessel, succeeded the next
morning to get of with the tide. They wen
then attacked by two of our frigates and two
bomb-vesels. Notwithstanding their disadvan-
tageous position, and the paucity of their num-
bers, the whole crew consisting of only 9.30
men, they returned our fire, when, shoot three
o'clock, two other British ships joined in the at-
tack. At four, convinced of the impossibility of
saving the ship, they forsook it, haring only 12
men %sounded and none killed, and r.et it on fire,
when they repaired on board the Admiral, who
sent them to Ittichefort.

Tho loss of the frigate L'lndienne is thus me-
coueted for in the journal of her Captain, signed
by all her Officers. Having placed kis vessel at
a short distance from the boom, which protected
the Freuch line, she was suddenly covered with
fire by two explosions which took place at the
boom within the lapse of forty minutes, and dis-
covered to his view the approach of several brigs
and fire.ships, which burst through the boom,
and advanced kindling against the fleet. In or-
der to avoid them, he passed through the French
line, and after several astonishing escapes, grimed-
etl, and waited for the return of the tide. The
next day he was astonished at finding, that not a
Single French vessel had suffered by the effects of
the explosions and fire-ships. That day was
spent chiefly in vain efforts to get afloat, and wit-
nessing the destruction of the Ville d.: Varsorie'
the Calcutta, 4guilon, and T'onnere. Ott the
131 h he was attacked, as well as the Ocean and
Regulus, by six British gun.boets, a small frigate
and, two casters; but after an action of several
hours, that flotilla was obliged to retire. havingthrown the greater number of his guns, almost
all his powder, ammunition, and provisions, into
the sea, without being able to get completely
afloat, he was obliged to send to the Admiral
for ammunition and assistance, both of which
were not afforded him in an effectual manner.—
On the 14th he formed a battery on land, which
was served by pat tof his crew. At four o'c!ocl:
five British brigs, and a botnh-vessel, attacked
the Regulus and Foudroyant, and continued
bombarding them until seven in the evening, with.
out compelling them to alter their position. On
the 15th, he succeeded in getting the frigate per.
fectly afloat, and threw almost the whole of his
remaining cannon into the sea. In tho flienhig
he thought be descried the apprciaching catama-
rans, and total peeeautioni in consequence. On
the 16th the frigate sees driven aground by the
wind a second time. Her masts were on the
point of failing overboard; site was filling. fisst
with water, and,:ber sides began tp- gape, when
her Captain called a Coyncil of War, which de-
termined that "reel hope of *ialiole her being !Ist
it was necessary toil:tendon live ; she was set oni
fire,. and the crew landed near Fauns, from
whence they repaired to Rochefort.