Page:History of the French in India.djvu/543

 SENDS TROOPS AGAINST GUDALUR. 517 David, regarding the fortifications of Gudalur, and the chap. number of English troops on the coast of Koromandel. XIL To his surprise, de Leyrit conld give him precise 1758 answers to none of these questions ; nor could he even afford him any definite information as to the route to Gudalur, or the number of rivers to be crossed ; he could only offer guides. Lally, impatient for action, was not, however, deterred by this ignorant and appa- rent want of interest from following the policy, which, in his belief, ought to have been attempted eight months earlier, but sent off, that same evening, a detachment of 750 Europeans and some sipahis, under the command of the Count d'Estaing, to Gudalur, fol- lowing himself the next day. Whilst on his way to join, he learned to his mortification one of the first results of the slowness and unfitness for command of his naval colleague. Commodore Stevens, who had left England three months after d'Ache had left France, had, by pursuing a direct course, arrived at Madras five weeks before d'Ache had reached Pondichery. Uniting himself there to Admiral Pocock, who had returned from Bengal on February 24, the two squadrons had sailed from Madras on April 17 to intercept the French fleet, and had come up with it at noon on April 28 off INagapatan. The English fleet consisted of seven ships of war* ranging from fifty to sixty-six guns each. These ships, all belonging to the royal navy, had just been placed in the best condition possible for sea,f and were unencum- bered by troops. In this respect they had a consider- able advantage over the French squadron, which had Yarmouth 64 guns, Captain John Harrison Elizabeth 64 „ Kempenfelt, Cumberland 66 „ „ Brereton, Weymouth 60 „ „ Vincent, Tiger 60 „ Latham, Newcastle 50 „ Legge, Salisbury 50 „ Somerset, and two store ships. narrative.
 * These were : I