Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/339

Book IX. were by this time beaten out of the line, and at eight minutes after two, the Zodiaque, as soon as disengaged, bore away, as in fifteen minutes more did the other five ships not yet gone, all crowding all the sail they could carry, and even cutting their boats adrift, to make more way. Mr. Pococke then threw out the signal for a general chace; but in less than ten minutes all the enemy's ships were got out of certain shot; and at six o'clock their hindmost were five miles from the foremost of the English ships, which then ceased the chace, and after getting together again hauled the wind, and at eight anchored off Karical, about three miles from the shore. Mr. D'Aché steered for Pondicherry. Notwithstanding the irregularity and short continuance of this fight, the French suffered as much in it as in the former engagement, although they had then 1200 more men on board; for their killed and wounded amounted to few less than 600, of whom 33 were killed, and 151 dangerously wounded in the Zodiaque alone. In the whole of the English squadron only 31 were killed, and 166 wounded; both squadrons suffered in proportion to the manner in which the enemy fought; the French lost in men and slaughter, and all the English ships were so much damaged in their rigging, that, if a fresh wind had arisen during the engagement, several of their masts must have gone by the board, for want of the shrouds, stays, and other securities, which the enemy's shot and langrain had cut away. Both Mr. Pococke and D'Aché were wounded by splinters, and Commodore Stevens received a musket-ball, which lodged in his shoulder, and was seen to be shot with aim by a French officer.

Three days after the engagement, a snow called the Rubys, from the island of Mauritius, anchored in the road of Negapatam, of which, as soon as Mr. Pococke received information, he detached one of the ships of his squadron, whose boats cut the snow out of the road, within gun-shot of the Dutch flag, and the font did not fire to protect her, but afterwards remonstrated against the offence. A few days after a Dutch ship of 500 tons from Batavia, with 30,000 pounds in dollars on board, anchored in the road of Pondicherry, which Mr. D'Aché immediately seized as reprisal for the supposed