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KERGUELEN’S VOYAGE TO THE NORTH. Bor
efcort a fleet of fourteen merchant veffels to Havre, went on board a frigate of twenty-
eight guns, and with M. Forbin under his orders of iixteen guns, they met with two
Englith fhips of forty-eight and forty-two guns, and fought them fuficiently long
to give time to the convoy to purfue its courfe ; but, both wounded, one hundred and
forty men difabled, and their veflels complete wrecks, they were taken. ‘The lofs of
the Englith veffels was fo great, that the command of their veflels devolved to a boat-
fwain’s mate, all the officers being killed in the engagement. The two French captains
efcaped from prifon fome time afterwards. ‘The firit fitted out a veffel and made many
prizes. Heentirely deftroyed the fifhery of the Dutch, and made a defcent in England
near Newcattle, with feven frigates, burnt there two hundred houfes, and carried back
booty to Dunkirk of the value of fifty thoufand livres. Some days after he failed again
with three frigates, cruifed in the North, where he took a Dutch fleet, efcorted by three
veflels of war, fought the latter, took one, and put the other two to flight, after having
greatly damaged them. He came back to Dunkirk with the whole fleet, laden with
wheat, barley, iron, pitch, Xc.
France having purchafed a large quantity of wheat in the north in 1694, M. Bart
was ordered to go and convoy the fleet, confifting of a hundred and odd fail of veffels.
This fleet failed under efcort of three Swedifh and Danifh fhips, and was taken near the
‘Texel on the twenty-eighth of June, by the commodore Hidde Vries, commanding a
fquadron of eight fhips of war; but the twenty-ninth of June, M. Bart falling in with it,
attacked the Dutch with fo much bravery, that in lefs than half an hour the commodore
was taken, commanding a veflel of fifty-eight guns, another of fifty, and a third of thirty-
fix were captured, as well as the five others much fhattered, which betook themfelves to
flight and efcaped. He retook the whole fleet ; he conducted to Dunkirk the three veflels
and thirty of the merchantmen, the reft made for their deftination in different ports of
France. The commodore died of his wounds fhortly after his arrival. This fervice
rendered to France at a time of extraordinary fcarcity of wheat corn, engaged his
majefty to ennoble M. Bart, who had been honoured with the crofs of St. Louis, fome
’ time before for other exploits. .
The eleventh of Auguft 1695, the enemy with one hundred and fourteen fail under
the orders of Admiral Barclay, attempted to bombard the town, they fent in feveral
fire-fhips loaded with combuftibles for burning the forts and jettys; but they were
driven back by the well fuftained fire of the forts, and by the vigilance of M. Derlingue,
who commanded in the harbour, and went out with feveral boats to grapple the fire-
fhips, launched againft the forts and jettys, and condu& them to ftations where they
might burn out, without doing any injury. M. Bart commanded at Fort Efperance,
M. de St. Claire at Chateau Verd. The enemy threw more than one thouland two
hundred -bombs, and a number of carcafles between eight o’clock in the morning and
feven in the evening without doing any damage: ten bombs fell in the Rifban, they
killed an officer there; another bomb which fell in Fort Verd, did no more than dig its
grave; one of the enemy’s frigates having grounded on a bank at low water, M.
Derlingue went with his boats to it, and made prifoners of its crew, in fpite of the
firing of the enemy. This expedition was expenfive to the enemy without profit.
‘Lhe preceding year they made a fimilar attemp;. ’
In 1696, M. Bart failed from Dunkirk, and took a Dutch fleet in the north, of one
hundred and fix fail; fixty-one of which he ranfomed, after carrying by boarding five
_ veflels of war, which convoyed the fleet. He was made Chef d’Efcadre in 1697 ; and
failed the fifth of September, with fix veffels and a frigate to tranfport the Prince de
Conti to Poland, notwithftanding an enemy’s fquadron fuperior in number, which
VOL. I. 5K could
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