élord,' ' my lord '; don't you know I am called
' Black Dick ' in the fleet?"

Just as the Charlotte was closing with the
Montague, Lord Howe, who was himself
conning the ship, called out to Bowen to starboard
the helm; to which Bowen remarked, that if
they did so she would be on board the next
ship, the Jacobin: to this his lordship replied,
sharply, " What is that to you, sir?" Bowen,
a little nettled, said, in an under tone, " D—n
me if I care, if you don't; I'll go near enough
to singe some of our whiskers."

It was, they say, a sight to remember, to
see the old admiral sweeping down on the
French line, brushing on the one side the
ensign of the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Villaret
Joyeuse, and grazing, on the other hand, with
the jib-boom of the Charlotte, the mizen-shrouds
of the Jacobin. She would certainly have
either sunk or captured the Montague had not
her fore-topmast been shot away. Just as
the French admiral's fire had ceased, our
main-topmast fell over the side, which gave
the Moutagne the opportunity of making off to
leeward, without the possibility of the
Charlotte's following her. The Frenchman's hull
was completely damaged; the tremendous
broadside poured into her stern as the Charlotte
was passing through the line, made a hole
large enough, as one of the sailors said, to row
the admiral's barge through.

The Defence, Marlborough, Royal George,
Queen, and Brunswick were the only English
ships that broke the enemy's line in the admiral's
grand manner, and engaging the French to
leeward. The Gibraltar blundered, and the Cæsar's
main-topsail was backed at the very moment
the signal for close engagement was abroad.
Our ships were old, and many of them bad
sailers. The French rear-guard, dreading our
charge, closed upon their van in such a
compact mass that the captains dared not strike on it;
only the admiral and five captains let their ships
"make their own way." Some mistook the
directions, our signal system being still in its
infancy. Others presumed on the conditional
order to engage either to windward or
leeward, according to circumstances.

Captain G. Berkeley fought the Marlborough
like a hero. He engaged the Impétueux for a hot
twenty minutes, shot tearing through sails and
rigging, crashing through bulwarks and
bulkheads, and ripping deck planks, spars, and
balustrades. The Impétueux,soon having enough of it,
paid round off, and dropped with her bowsprit
over the Marlborough's quarter, where she lay
exposed to a heavy raking fire, that drove every
one from the Frenchman's decks. The sailors
of the Marlborough were cool, obedient, brave
and frolicsome as boys. Some of the men leaped
on board the Frenchman, but were called back.

As one of the sailors was going to leap over,
a comrade called after him to take a cutlass.
This he refused, saying " he should find one
there;" and, on being called back, actually
returned with two of the enemy's cutlasses in
his hands.

Presently the Frenchman's masts, one after
the other, crashed over her side, and Captain
Berkeley was wounded.

Lieutenant Monckton now commanded. In
his despatch he says:

"At this time we were laying along the
Impétueux, within pistol-shot; and, finding that she
did not return a gun, and perceiving she was
on fire, I ordered our ship to cease firing at
her, and suffered them quietly to extinguish
the flames, which I could easily have prevented
with our musketry. While clearing away the
wreck, the rear of the enemy's fleet was coming
up, and perceiving that they must range close
to us, and being determined never to see the
British flag struck, I ordered the men to lie
down at their quarters to receive their fire, and
to return it afterwards if possible; but, being
dismasted, she rolled so deep that our lower-
deck ports could not be opened. The event
was as I expected; the enemy's rear passed
us to leeward very close, and we fairly ran the
gauntlet of every ship which could get a gun
to bear, but luckily without giving us any shot
between wind and water, or killing any men,
except two who imprudently disobeyed their
officers and got up at their quarters. Two of
their ships, which had tacked, now came to
windward of us, and gave us their fire, upon
which one of their hulks hoisted a national
flag, but upon our firing some guns at her she
hauled it down again; and a three-decker,
having tacked also, stood towards us, with a
full intention, I believe, to sink us if possible:
the Royal George, however, who I suppose had
tacked after her, came up, and, engaging her
very closely, carried away her main and mizen
masts, and saved the Marlborough from the
intended close attack. I then made the signal
for assistance on a boat's mast; but this was
almost instantly shot away. At five the Aquilou
took us in tow, and soon after we joined the fleet."

During the rough time that the Marlborough
went through after her fierce duel with the
Impétueux, her deadly grapple with the French
admiral, and her being battered by half the
French fleet, the men on one occasion seeing
the captain down, the second Lieutenant, Sir
Michael Seymour, with his arm shot off, and
the old ship riddled and shattered with the
unceasing fire, began to grumble, and there was
a mutter about surrender; but Lieutenant
Monckton, overhearing it, swore that she
should never surrender, and that he would nail
her colours to the stump of the mast. At this
moment a cock, having by the wreck been
liberated from his broken coop, suddenly
perched himself on the stump of the mainmast,
clapped his wings, and crowed aloud; in an
instant three hearty cheers rang throughout the
ship's company, and there was no more talk of
surrender. On the arrival of the ship at
Plymouth, the gallant and prophetic cock, that had
saved the ship, was given by Captain Berkeley
to Lord George Lennox, the governor of the
town. The cock lived to a good old age, and,
while the Marlborough remained at Plymouth,