Torbay, where they arrived the 23rd; and four days after their arrival there, Sir George Rooke left the fleet to the command of John Lord Berkeley, who was appointed Admiral of the Fleet. He presently ordered the fleet to sail; the 24th got out of the Channel; and in Broad Sound 1 one of the ships took a privateer. The 1st of July they were off Ushant. The next day they bore away for Belle Isle in the Bay of Biscay, and two days after came to an anchor in that road; upon which all the ships' boats manned and armed, were sent on shore upon Houat, one of the isles called Cardinals, and burnt and destroyed all the houses, cattle, and whatever they could find there. The next day they did the like to Hovais and Hoëdic, two other of those islands adjacent, having made a terrible havoc of many hundred houses and cattle, besides destroying about twenty sail of small vessels. Sailing from thence the day following, they arrived again at Torbay the 22nd of August; from thence they came to Spithead the 31st; and the 20th of September arrived in the Downs. Here the Admiral left the fleet. The next day Captain Leake took under his command the ships designed for Chatham and the River of Thames. The 23rd he came to the Nore, and the 18th of October arrived at Blackstakes.

By this time, both sides being pretty well tired of the war, the preparations for the next campaign went on but slowly. However, it being necessary to keep the sword drawn till matters were fully concluded, a fleet was assembled

1 The 'Passage de l'Iroise' or main approach to the Goulet of Brest; known to sixteenth-century English mariners as 'The Trade,' or 'The Trade of St. Matthew'; see Rymer's Foedera, orig. edit., iv, 836.

PEACE OF RYSWICK

67

in the spring under the command of Sir George Rooke. The latter end of April Captain Leake joined the fleet in the Downs, from whence they sailed the 6th of May, and four days afterwards arrived at Spithead. There they were joined by ten sail of Dutch men-of-war; upon which a council of war was held, and the ships were found to be in want both of provisions and men. Notwithstanding this, they received orders for proceeding to sea, which they did the 23rd to the number of 33 sail (English and Dutch) and 8 fireships. The 25th they were joined by Admiral Mitchell, with his squadron, which made them 44 sail of the line. They arrived off Ushant the 28th, at which time they discovered there were in Brest but 10 ships ready for sea; whereupon they cruised in the mouth of the Channel, till, provisions growing short, they returned to Torbay, the place of rendez-vous, and from thence arrived at Spithead the 28th of August. Soon after, the war being concluded by the ratification of the Peace of Ryswick the 20th of September 1697, Captain Leake received orders to go to Chatham to lay up his ship. He arrived there the 10th of October, and the 5th of December his ship was paid off. So that from his first command of the Firedrake in 1688 to this time, making upwards of nine years, he had not been one day out of commission.

CHAPTER VII

His proceedings after the Peace of Ryswick to the commencement of the War with France, anno 1702. He is appointed First Captain to the Lord High Admiral. Concluding with the state of the Navy during King William's reign. We have now brought Captain Leake to the WE conclusion of King William's War, which he finished with as much reputation to himself, and honour to his country, as anyone had done in the station of a private captain. Though he was now out of commission, he was not wholly unprovided for. His Majesty some time before had taken into consideration the hardships that the officers of the Navy would be exposed to in a time of peace, if they had not improved their fortunes by some lucky hit during the war, especially the senior officers, who, having spent their strength in the service of their country, well deserved to be supported at the public charge. Besides, he had found by experience a great scarcity of officers the beginning of the war for want of some provision in time of peace. Majesty therefore in Council, the 22nd of February 1693-4, established an allowance of half-pay to the Captains and some other officers of the Navy, to commence from the 1st of January 1693-4, whereby every Captain was entitled

His

to half the pay of the biggest ship he had commanded for one year, or in a general engagement. Captain Leake, therefore, by his command of the Ossory, was entitled to the half-pay of a Second Rate. This was the state of the half-pay at the Peace of Ryswick; but by a second establishment in the year 1700, the method was altered, and the half-pay made perpetual. From the 1st of July the fifty senior Captains, who had served in the preceding war, were to be supported on shore; and in like manner the fifty senior Captains always for the time to come, to be ready upon any occasion, whereof the first twenty were to receive ten shillings a day, and the rest eight shillings a day. This alteration was in favour of the twenty senior officers, by giving them the half-pay of First Rates, though some of them were not otherwise entitled to the half-pay of Second Rates: but still more advantageous to the succeeding seniors, who, war or peace, employed or unemployed, were to receive the same.1

Leaving military affairs for a while, we must now consider some transactions that happened at home in his absence. In July 1696, while Captain Leake was employed with the Grand Fleet in the Soundings, his father died in the 68th year of his age, at Woolwich, where he was buried. Captain Leake was his only surviving son, besides whom, he had a daughter Elizabeth, whom he made whole and sole executrix of his Will, leaving to his son only one moiety of his books and instruments; the other moiety to his daughter's son, by which it appears, his resentment for the ill

1 Cp. N.R.S., vol. xv, Appendix E.

success of his cushee-piece continued to the last; though Captain Leake ever continued a most dutiful and affectionate son.

Upon the old man's death, Captain Leake's wife and friends, to whom he was as dear in private life, as valuable to all in his public station, without his consent or knowledge, from an earnest desire of having him at home, had procured for him his father's place of Master-Gunner of England and Storekeeper at Woolwich, by means of the following letter from Admiral Russell to the Lord Romney, Master-General of the Ordnance.

MY LORD, I am desired by Captain Leake to recommend him to your Lordship's favour, to succeed his father, lately dead, who was Master-Gunner of England. He has been for many years his First Mate; he is a man that I can answer for his knowledge in the art of gunnery, courage and fidelity; at present he is captain of the Ossory, a very honest and good man; thus far I can answer for on my own knowledge; and a man that will be very diligent in his office. I must now ask your pardon for the trouble I have given you; but would not refuse a friend, to recommend him to your favour; I promise myself he will not fare the worse, since it comes from,

My Lord

Your Lordship's
Most faithful,

CHIPPENHAM, July 28, 1696.

And Humble Servant,
E. RUSSELL.

This letter shows Admiral Russell's opinion of Captain Leake, as well as his friendship for him; but though he was pleased to find he had so good a friend, yet the thing itself was not at all agreeable, and therefore he was surprised, when he returned into harbour, to find himself