the fouth-eaft in chafe of fome of the convoy; he was foon chafed in turn, the Charon in company; the other two frigates were out of fight of Cork. About half paft feven we came up with her. It is fomething fingular, that the action on both fides began with mufque try; he hoifted English colours, and kept his fire: I determined to do the fame as we ranged within piftol-fhot, fome converfation paffed between us. In this mode we got fo forward on his bow, that neither his bow or our quarter guns would bear. Being certain what the fhip was, I then ordered the fmall arms on the poop to begin; fhe returned it, and hoifted her proper colours. It was fome

little time before I could regulate my fail, and place my fhip: they had determined to board us, and acted so to favour the dèfign. It was a daring, though unfuccefsful attempt. After an hour and ten minutes smart action, her rigging and fails cut to pieces, twenty-one men killed and thirty-five men wounded, fhe ftruck, and proved to be the Comte d'Artois, of 64 guns, upwards of 644 men, a private fhip of war, commanded by the Chevalier Clonard, a Lieutenant de Vaiffeaux, who is flightly wounded in the action. His brothers, the one a colonel, the other colonel en fecond, in the Irish legion of that name, are on board; likewife a Lieutenant Perry of the Monarch; and the people who were taken on board the Margaritta prize. The Bienfaifant had three killed, and twenty-two wounded; furniture cut of course; but the mafts and yards not materially injured. There was one man flightly

HE conduct and fuccefs of

TCaptain Edward Moor, commanding the Fame private ship of war, of Dublin, on a late occafion, will, I doubt not, be efteemed fufficiently remarkable for my troubling your lordship with the following particulars:

He failed from Mahon the zoth of laft month, and receiving advice foon after of the departure of five French veffels, all letters of marque, from Marfeilles, bound for the Weft-Indies, determined to go in queft of them. On the 25th he defcried five fail near the Spanish coaft, which correfponded with his intelligence; but as they were at a distance, and the day was far fpent, he judged it prudent not to make a fhew of purfuing them, that he might have a better chance to fucceed in getting betwixt them and the land at night, which he had the good fortune to effect. He found him[7] 2

Lolf

felf at day-light next morning off Cape de Gat, and about two leagues from the five fhips, that were together, and formed in a line to receive him. At half past fix, when he was within gun-fhot, they hoifted French colours, and difcharged their broad fides. Captain Moor bore down upon them, and though they continued their fire without interruption, referved his till he was within pistol-shot of the largeft, which ftruck after an engagement of three quarters of an hour. Without ftopping to fend any of his people on board, he proceeded to engage the fecond, and took her, after a fhort refiftance. He left an officer and feven men in this prize, with orders to look after the former, till he returned from pursuing the three remaining veffels, which he obferved were making fail to get away. He came up with and took two of them; the other escaped. The largest ship is called Les Deux Freres, pierced for twenty guns, mounting fourteen fix pounders, and fifty-five men, (fifteen of whom got off in a boat); the fecond, L'Univers, (the captain of which was killed) pierced for eighteen guns, carries twelve four pounders, and forty-one men, little inferior in fize to the Deux Freres; the third, the Zephyr, (formerly his majefty's loop) pierced for fourteen guns, mounting ten three pounders, and thirtytwo men; the fourth, the Nancy, a pink of two fix pounders, two two pounders, and eighteen men. They all got fafe into this bay on the 29th of last month, about ten o'clock at night.

Captain Moor's gallant behaviour has been taken great notice

of by the officers of this regency, and his humane and generous treatment of his prifoners been admired by every body; indeed fo much, that Monf. de la Valleé, French Conful General here, thought it incumbent on him to write a line to me to express his sense of it, in the ftrongest terms of encomium and gratitude.

The Fame mounts twenty guns, fix pounders, on one deck, and four upon her quarter deck, viz. two four pounders, and two three pounders, and 108 men.

Short Account of the Defolation made in feveral of the West India Iflands by the late Hurricanes.

the 3d of October laft, a moft dreadful convulfion of nature, almost overwhelmed the little fea-port town of Savannahla-Mer on the island of Jamaica, with the adjacent country. About one o'clock in the afternoon, the gale began from the S. E. and continued increafing with accumulated violence until four, when it veered to the fouth, and became a perfect tempest, which lafted in full force till near eight; it then abated. The fea, during the laft period, exhibited a molt awful fcene; the waves, fwelled to an amazing height, rushed with an impetuofity not to be defcribed on the land, and in a few minutes determined the fate of all the houfes on the bay. Thofe whofe ftrength, or prefence of mind, enabled them to feek their fafety in the Savannah, took refuge in the miferable remains of the habitations there, moft of which were

blowa

blown down, or fo much damaged by the ftorm, as to be hardly capable of affording a comfortable shelter to the wretched fufferers. In the Court-houfe, 40 perfons, whites, and of colour, fought an afylum, but miferably perifhed by the preffure of the roof and fides, which fell upon them. Numbers were faved in that part of the houfe of Mr. Finlayfon, that luckily withstood the violence of the tempeft,-himself, and another gentleman had left it, when the wind forced open the door, and carried away the whole lee fide of it, and fought their fafety under the wall of an old kitchen, but finding they must inevitably perish in that fituation, they returned to the house, determined to fubmit to their fate. About ten the waters began to abate, and at that time a smart fhock of an earthquake was felt. All the fmall veffels in the bay were driven on fhore, and dashed to pieces. The fhips Princess Royal, Capt. Ruthwin Henry, Richardfon; and Auftin-Hall, Auftin; were forced from their anchors, and carried fo far into the morafs that they will never be got off. The earthquake lifted the Princess Royal from her beam ends, righted her, and fixed her in a firm bed; this circumftance has been of great use to the furviving inhabitants, for whofe accommodation fhe now ferves as a houfe.

The morning ufhered in a fcene too fhocking for defcription. — Bodies of the dead and dying, fcattered about where the town ftood, prefented themfelves to the agonizing view of thofe whofe charity led them in queft of the remains of their unhappy fellow

creatures! The number who have perished is not yet precisely afcertained, but it is imagined 50 whites, and 150 perfons of colour, are loft.

Amongst them are numbered Doctor King, his wife, and four children, his partner, Mr. Nefbit, a carpenter, and 24 negroes, all in one houfe.-Dr. Lightfoot, and Mr. Antrobus, were found dead in the freets. In the whole parifh, it is faid, there are not five dwelling-houfes, and not one fet of works remaining; the plantain walks are all deftroyed; every cane piece levelled; feveral white people, and fome hundreds of negroes, killed.

In the adjoining parish of St. Elizabeth, although the face of the country wore a lefs horribleafpect than at Weftmoreland, much damage was done, and feveral lives loft.

Our accounts from Lucea, though not particular, are terrible. - The town, except two houfes, thofe of Meffrs. Campbell, and the adjoining tenement of Mr. Lyons, is levelled to the ground; many lives loft, and in the whole parish of Hanover but three houfes ftanding-not a tree, bush, or cane to be feen-univerfal defolation prevails! Of the perfons loft, we can only as yet name Meffrs. Aaron and Soiomon Dias Fernandes, two an. tient gentlemen of the Jewish nation, one aged 81, and the other 80, of refpectable and venerable characters. Three young ladies, Miffes Samuels, at Green Island. -The elegant houfe of John Campbell, Efq; at Salt-fpring; Kendall and Campbell-town; and that of Mr. Chambers, at Batchelor's-hall.-Capt. Darling, Mrs. [7] 3 Darling,