w good words for the sailors, as a man
speaks up for a dog, but all the credit of the fighting, and the
surrender, and all that business goes to the soldiers. The sooner we sail
away from here, and do some fighting nearer home, where there are no
soldiers, and where the sailors get their due, the better pleased I shall
be."

"Well, Dimchurch, I hope our turn out here is nearly finished. We may have
to take part in a few more attacks on French possessions, but as soon as
that work is over I have great hopes that we shall get sailing orders for
home again."

Indeed, late in August a fast cruiser arrived with orders that the _Jason_
was at once to return to Brest and join the Channel fleet. To the great
delight of everyone the wind continued favourable throughout the whole
voyage, and after an exceptionally speedy passage they joined Admiral
Bridport, who was cruising off Ushant on the look-out for the French fleet
that was preparing for the invasion of Ireland.

The French fleet, under Admiral Morard-de-Galles, got under weigh from
Brest on 26th December, 1796. It consisted of seventeen ships of the line,
thirteen frigates, six corvettes, seven transports, and a powder-ship,
forty-four sail in all, conveying eight thousand troops under the command
of Generals Grouchy, Borin, and Humbert. Misfortune, however, dogged the
fleet from the very commencement, for the _Seduisant_, a seventy-four-gun
battle-ship, got on shore shortly after leaving Brest, and out of thirteen
hundred seamen and soldiers on board six hundred and eighty were drowned.

They were noticed by Vice-admiral Colpoys' fleet, who sent off two
frigates to warn Lord Bridport, and after chasing the French for some
distance himself, sailed for Falmouth to report the setting out of the
expedition.

Admiral Bouvet, with thirty-two sail, managed to reach the mouth of Bantry
Bay, but the weather was so tempestuous that he was unable to land his
troops. After struggling for some days against this boisterous weather,
the fleet scattered, and the majority of the ships returned to Brest. The
rest reached the coast of Ireland, but not finding the main portion of
their fleet there, they returned to France.

The failure of the expedition was as complete as was that of the Spanish
Armada, and was due greatly to the same cause. Out of the forty-four ships
that sailed from Brest only thirty-one managed to return to France. The
British frigates, by the vigilance they displ