CHAPTER III

Captain Leake's proceedings in the year 1689, the battle of Bantry Bay, and the Relief of Londonderry.

KING JAMES having abdicated the kingdom, and the Prince and Princess of Orange having been declared King and Queen by the Convention of Lords and Commons, February 13, 1688-9, the next step to be taken was to put King William into a condition to oppose all attempts to restore King James; for the King of France, making the cause of King James the cause of religion and the common cause of kings, resolved to use his whole power to restore him. For this end, before affairs could be settled in England, he dispatched King James from Brest, with a considerable number of French troops, to land in Ireland, and secure that kingdom; and this had the more probability of success by reason of the number of Papists there, who would join him out of a principle of religion. Intelligence of this being laid before the Parliament, preparations were made with great diligence to equip a squadron to prevent the French from executing their design; and Admiral Herbert was appointed to command it. But long before he sailed, King James landed at Kinsale; wherefore, getting together in haste

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what ships he could, of which the Firedrake, Captain Leake, was one, he made for the coast of Ireland, in hopes, at least, to intercept the convoy in their return; ordering the rest of the ships to follow him to the rendez-vous, which was the coast of Ireland, or ten leagues west of Scilly.

Arriving before Cork the 17th of April, they heard that King James had landed two months before, and that the convoy was returned to Brest for a further supply. Upon this intelligence they proceeded off Brest and into the Soundings in quest of them; but, not meeting them, they returned to the Irish coast, and on the 29th discovered the French fleet off of Kinsale. They followed them all the next day, and in the evening saw them standing into Bantry Bay, consisting of 28 men-of-war, from 60 to 70 guns and upwards, and 5 fireships, commanded by Monsieur Châteaurenault, and a fleet of transports, which had landed 5000 men. The English fleet lay by all night off the bay; and the next morning by daybreak, being the 1st of May, they stood towards the French, having but 18 ships of the line, viz. 8 Third Rates, and 10 Fourth Rates, the Dartmouth frigate of 40 guns, and the Firedrake fireship. The French, encouraged by their superiority, presently got under sail and bore down upon the English, but would not engage so close as Admiral Herbert endeavoured to do. However, they maintained a distant fight till five in the afternoon, when they tacked and stood further into the bay. The English, being most of them disabled from further action, could not follow them; but the Admiral con

1 Memoirs relating to the Lord Torrington, p. 37.

tinued some time after before the bay; and then repaired to the rendez-vous to meet the rest of his squadron, having acquired honour enough to have maintained a fight so long against an enemy double his force, and this with the loss only of one captain, one lieutenant, and about ninety-four seamen killed, and two hundred and fifty wounded: (amongst the latter of whom was Mr. Martin, afterwards Sir John Leake's brother-in-law and Captain, who had his thigh broke by a cannon-ball, being then a Midshipman on board Captain Shovell). King William was so sensible of it, that when he received the news of this sea-fight, he is reported to have said that such an action was necessary in the beginning of a war, but it would be rash in the course of it. Indeed it was esteemed so signal, that, when the fleet returned to Spithead, King William himself went to Portsmouth, and distributed honours and rewards to every officer and seaman that had been in the battle; Captain John Ashby of the Defiance and Captain Clowdisley Shovell of the Edgar were knighted, and the Admiral was created Earl of Torrington.1

In this engagement, Captain Leake, though in a fireship only, had the reputation of doing very signal service; for by means of the cushee

1 For the battle of Bantry Bay see Memoirs relating to the Lord Torrington, pp. 36-8, and Life of Stephen Martin, pp. 7-10. Père Hoste in his Evolutions Navales, p. 54, quotes the success of Châteaurenault as illustrating the advantage of the leeward berth; and it is not improbable that here for the first time the French adopted their characteristic tactics, firing at long range with intent to dismast, and then retiring before the wind. The English critics of the affray agree that Torrington (with the smaller fleet) tried in vain to close with his opponents; but they assume that his disability arose from the fact that the French were unassailably drawn up to windward.

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piece he set one of the French ships on fire during the battle, commanded by the Chevalier Coëtlogen, whereby part of her was blown up, and she narrowly missed being wholly consumed. Father Daniel1, speaking of this engagement says, it was by a cannon-ball, not knowing what it was, nothing of that nature having been used before; but it wholly disabled her from further service; and several other ships received damage by the same means. The Admiral was very sensible of the service Captain Leake had performed, and two days after the battle gave him a commission to command the Dartmouth frigate.

The battle of Bantry Bay was the first opportunity Captain Leake had to try his father's cushee-piece; and it seems to have answered so well, as to have done honour to the inventor. But whether he thought it too desperate and destructive to be brought into use, or hating it for his brother's sake, who lost his life by it, it is certain he did not recommend it; and I do not find it was ever used afterwards.2

During these naval transactions, King James's party in Ireland having secured the most important places, and disarmed, plundered, and imprisoned the Protestants in the south of Ireland, they retired to their brethren in Ulster, who had declared for King William and Queen Mary, and seized the towns of Kilmore, Coleraine, Enniskillen, and Londonderry, and even made a show of opposing King James's forces; but being defeated, the loss of Coleraine and Kilmore

1 Histoire de la milice française.

• On the contrary, the bomb-ketch from this time became a feature in every British fleet. Only the name 'Cusheepiece' disappeared; cp. below, pp. 64, 147, 154, 159, &c.; &c.

soon followed; and on the 20th April, Londonderry, their capital, was invested by an army of 30,000 men.

The Protestant city of Londonderry (so called from the Londoners who built and planted it) is situate in the north of Ireland at the bottom of Lough Foyle, upon a small navigable river, which discharges itself into the Lough, about three miles from the city, and fifteen from the sea; the mouth of the river being defended by a fort, called Culmore Castle. As soon as it was invested, they had a general pardon offered them, if they would surrender, and even a Carte Blanche, signed by King James, to insert their own terms. But they rejected both; which brave proceeding so enraged the French general, Monsieur Rosen, that he drove 7000 Protestants under the city walls, in order to starve them, where they must have famished, had not the garrison erected a gallows, and threatened to hang all the prisoners they had taken during the siege.

Though the Duke of Berwick saw that his utmost efforts could not put a stop to the advantages of the besieged, yet he hoped the army might still reduce the place if he could hinder any succour from entering it. For this purpose, as the besieged could only be relieved from the river, he lined both sides of it with 2000 musketeers, and contrived in the narrow part, a little above Culmore Castle, where the ships which were to come to their relief must pass, a Stoccado, being a boom 2 of timber, joined by iron chains, and strengthened by a cable

Life of the Duke of Berwick (from the French) (London. 8vo. 1738), passim.

'Bomb,' author's spelling.