Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/169

Rh with them in pursuit of the enemy. The French frigates were not inclined to risk another engagement with three fresh vessels. The rigging of the Iphigénie had been so cut up as to render her difficult of management. She had also fired away nearly all her ammunition. Captain Bonnet of the Astrée preferred then the abandonment of his prize to an encounter which could scarcely be successful. Taking then, the Iphigénie in tow, he abandoned the Africaine, — which was helpless, — to her former masters, and returned to Port Louis, capturing on his way a 16-gun cruiser belonging to the East India Company.

Commodore Rowley and his prize then reached the anchorage at St. Paul. The blockade of Bourbon was at the same time resumed by the French frigate Vénus 44, and the sloop Victor. Whilst engaged in this blockade, these vessels sighted the British 32-gun frigate Ceylon, having on board General Abercromby, on his way from Madras to Bourbon, to assume the command of the troops destined to act against the Isle of France. They at once set out in pursuit. The Vénus, being a better sailer, soon caught up and engaged the British frigate. After a close contest of three-quarters of an hour, in which the Vénus lost her mizen-mast, and the Ceylon was rendered almost unmanageable, the Vénus assumed a position to leeward, and continued firing only at intervals until the Victor should come up. This