Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/734

710 cherry; but only seven in all the crews perished, who were knocked overboard by the shock of striking aground.

The Duke of Aquitain, the Sunderland, and the Duke storeship, unfortunately preserved all their masts through both the storms, until they were driven back to the necessity of anchoring; and in bringing up with them standing, all the three either broached to, or overset, and went to the bottom. Eleven hundred Europeans perished in these ships; only seven, and seven lascars, were saved out of the crews, who were picked up the next day, floating on pieces of wreck.

The difference of the element prevented the destruction from being equal at land; but the ravage in proportion was not less. All the tents and temporary caserns of the camp on the Red-hill, and its out-posts, were blown to pieces. The ammunition abroad for immediate service was ruined. Nothing remained undamaged that was not under the shelter of masonary, either at the redoubts of the bound-hedge, in the buildings at Oulgarrey, or in the fort of Villenore, where the main stock of gun-powder was deposited. The soldiers, unable to carry off their muskets, and resist the storm, had left them to the ground, and were driven to seek shelter for their own persons wheresoever it was to be found. Many of the black attendants of the camp, from the natural feebleness of their constitution, perished by the inclemency of the hour. The sea had every where broken over the beach, and overflowed the country as far as the bound-hedge: and all the batteries and redoubts which the army had raised were intirely ruined. But these detriments might be repaired. The great anxiety remained for the other ships of the squadron, whose fortune was not yet known. The town of Pondicherry beheld the storm and its effects as a deliverance sent from heaven. The sun rose clear, and shewed the havock spread around. It was proposed by some to march out immediately, and attack the English army; but this operation was impracticable; because no artillery could move through the inundation nor could the troops carry their own ammunition dry; otherwise three hundred men, properly armed, would not, for