Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/302

296 of Fort St. David, where the English frigates, Triton and Bridgewater, chanced to be at anchor. It was soon perceived that the strangers were French; and two or three of the ships being to the north of the road, whilst the rest were advancing from the south, precluded the escape of the frigates, as the wind blew from the offing. The captains therefore, prudently resolved to run their ships ashore, in order to preserve the men, which they effected without losing any. The French squadron was commanded by the Count D'Aché. After some change in the ships which were first appointed, he sailed from Brest on the 6th of march of the preceding year, with the Zodiac of 74 guns, the Belliqueux of 70, the Superbe of 64, belonging to the navy of France, and a 50 gun ship, with a frigate belonging to the East-India Company. On board of these ships was embarked the regiment of Lally, consisting of 1080 men, 50 of the royal artillery, a great number of officers of distinction, and the count de Lally, Colonel of the regiment of his name, lieutenant general in the French army, and now appointed Governor-general with the most extensive powers over all the French possessions and establishments in India. The ships had scarcely got clear of the land, when a squall of wind carried away the main-top-gallant and the mizen-top-mast of the Belliqueux, on which she made the signal of distress, and was obliged to anchor near the shore in bad ground. The Zodiac immediately tacked, and worked close-hauled to assist her, and the squall continuing, carried away the main and fore top-mast of this ship likewise. These accidents induced Mr. D'Aché to return immediately into the port of Brest, as affording the speediest means of repairing the damages. In the short interval between the final orders for the departure of the squadron, and the advices of its return into Brest, the French ministry at Versailles had received such sinister accounts of the French affairs in Canada, that they changed the destination of the ships Belliqueux and Superbe, and appointed them to America; and ordered Mr. D'Aché to remain at Brest, until joined by other ships of equal force; which, however, the navy of France, in this time of distress, was not able to spare from its other necessities. But the French East India Company had several ships, built expressly to serve