sail of the line, and on the 20th of April he discovered
seventeen or eighteen sail of large merchantmen and transports, under
convoy of two French ships of the line and a frigate. Barrington gave
chase, and in the course of two days the two ships of the line, ten
large transports, and a schooner were captured. The victors found on
board the prizes a. great quantity of ordnance and ammunition, anchors
and masts for ships, and other materials needed by the French in the
East Indies, besides eleven chests of Dutch silver, and about 1400
troops. After this successful cruise, Barrington returned to port in
consequence of boisterous weather, and Admiral Kempenfelt, with nine
sail of the line, took the station which he had quitted. In the mean
time the British suffered a reverse, for de Guichen having formed a
junction with the Spanish fleet at Cadiz, captured eighteen sail of
British merchantmen and transports, bound to Canada and Newfoundland.
Great apprehensions were entertained for the Jamaica fleet, but Lord
Howe, with a squadron of twelve sail, effectually covered them, and the
combined squadrons, being unable to effect a junction with the Dutch,
and finding that no advantage could be derived from remaining in the
Channel, retired from the British coasts. Lord Howe, indeed, terrified
the Dutch into a relinquishment of their designs on the trade of
Great Britain to the Baltic, and the whole scheme of the enemy proved
abortive. Storms, however, in part accomplished what the enemy failed
to perform. In various latitudes the summer and autumn of this year were
remarkable for storms and hurricanes, and a terrible catastrophe befell
a fleet under Admiral Graves, which sailed, with the great prizes taken
by Rodney and Hood, to convoy the great fleet of West-Indiamen. All
these ships, except the "Ardent," foundered at sea, as well as two
line-of-battle ships, and a great number of merchantmen; three thousand
lives were lost. This calamity was aggravated by the loss of the Royal
George at Portsmouth, which was the finest ship in our navy. The
Royal George was inclined on her side to undergo a slight species of
careening, without the delay of going into dock, and on the 29th of
August a sudden squall of wind threw her on her side, and the gun-ports
being open she instantly filled and went to the bottom. Admiral
Kempenfelt was writing in his cabin at the moment, and he, together with
nearly one thousand men, women, and children, wer