Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/718

694 anchors; but all, excepting one of 30 guns, were stopped by the ooze of the bay from driving on the rocks which fraize the shore; on which all the smaller craft were stranded and wrecked. The ruin was greater on the land. All the vegetation of provisions above the surface was destroyed. The cattle and fowls were washed away by the torrents, or perished by the inclemency, and of the magazines of grain, which are all built of wood, some were overthrown, and the rest opened by the wind to the rain. Three months were employed in repairing the damages of the marine and shore. In this interval, some few provisions were brought by some trading vessels of the Colony from Madagascar, and the surplus of the island of Bourbon. On the 26th of May it was determined to send four ships of war, as fast as they could be equipped, in order to subsist at Foul-point in Madagascar. On the 8th of June, arrived a vessel from France, apprising, that an armament was fitting out in England to attack the two islands of Mauritius and Bourbon; in consequence of which, the French government had sent the regiment of Cambray, of 700 men, to reinforce them; and the squadron, if at Mauritius, was ordered to continue there; and, if gone to the coast, to be immediately recalled. These orders determined Mr. D'Aché to remain with the greatest part of his ships for the defence of the island, but to send away those before allotted to Madagascar; which, to save the consumption of victuals, were not to return to the isle of France until the 20th of August: if at this time they received no directions how to act, the council of war might proceed to the execution of any service, of which the condition of the ships might be deemed capable: meaning to intimate, that they might, if they chose it, go to the coast of Coromandel. The Centaur sailed for Madagascar on the 16th of June, but the other three not in less than a month after, by which time the regiment of Cambray was arrived in several of the Company's ships from France. The news of the storm was brought to Pondicherry by the Hermione and Baleine in July, but by detaining the sailors for a while on board, the report was keqt secret, until others properly fabricated and given out, persuaded the colony, and the enemy at their