pe Corse. He had, however, the misfortune to learn, by the return
of the brig, the same night, that the Berwick had, two days before, been
captured by the enemy's fleet.

Though the French ships were seen daily by the advanced frigates, the
two squadrons did not get sight of each other till the 12th, when the
enemy was discovered to windward.

Next morning, observing them still in that direction, without any
apparent intention of coming down, the signal was made for a general
chace. The weather being squally, and blowing very fresh, the Ca-Ira of
eighty guns, formerly the Couronne, was discovered to be without it's
topmasts; which afforded Captain Freemantle, of the Inconstant frigate,
who was far advanced in the chace, an opportunity of shewing a good
proof of British enterprise, by attacking, raking, and harassing that
ship, till the coming up of Captain Nelson, in the Agamemnon, by whom it
was soon so completely cut up, as to be incapable of getting away: his
brave fellows, all the time, who appear to have been miraculously
preserved, working the ship about the enemy's stern and quarters, with
as much exactness as if going into Spithead. Though the Ca-Ira had
thirteen hundred men on board, and Captain Nelson only three hundred at
quarters, including himself--for this is his own account and mode of
reckoning--he had, after an action of two hours, in which a hundred and
ten of the enemy were killed and wounded, not one of his Agamemnons
slain, and no more than seven wounded. The Sans Culotte, however, of a
hundred and twenty guns, at length coming up, and the British heavy
ships being still distant, Admiral Hotham called him off; making the
signal for the squadron to form on the larboard line of bearing, in
which order they remained during the night.

In the morning of the 14th, the Ca-Ira was discovered in tow of the
Censeur of seventy-four guns, so far separated from their own squadron
as to afford a probable chance of cutting them off. The opportunity was
not lost; and, all sail being made to effect that purpose, the enemy
were reduced to the alternative of abandoning those ships, or coming to
battle. Our advanced ships were so closely supported in their attack on
the Ca-Ira and Censeur, that they were effectually cut off from any
assistance; and the conflict ended by the enemy's yielding them up:
satisfied, after all their boasts, by firing on the British line, as
they passed with a light air of wind, and evident