brigs, six first-class gun-vessels, brig-rigged, 10 of the second class (two or three brigs, the remainder luggers), and eight armed pinnaces (luggers and schooners), total 26, or rather, according to the logs of the several British ships, 34 sail.

At this time the British 22-gun ship Champion, Captain Robert Howe Bromley, gun-brigs Clinker and Cracker, Lieutenants Nesbit Glen, and William Henry Douglas, and the Francis hired armed cutter, lay at anchor at the distance of little more than a league north-north-east from the jettees of the harbour. The British vessels were soon under way to attack the flotilla ; and at 7 a.m., the Champion commenced action with the two corvettes, and some of the heaviest of the gun-vessels. The latter presently run on shore under the batteries of Seuneville, and the remainder of the flotilla hugged the coast so closely, that the British vessels, in order to use their carronades with effect, were compelled to approach within range of the batteries. The consequence was, that they were soon cut up in their hulls, masts, and rigging ; but in spite of all the obstacles they had to contend with, the Champion and the two brigs, particularly the Cracker, compelled the French captain, at about 10 h. 30 in. a.m. to shelter himself under the batteries of St.-Valery en Caux.

What with the heavy long guns on board the flotilla, and those mounted on the shore, the British vessels were considerable sufferers. The Champion had all three masts, particularly her foremast, wounded, her rigging and sails much cut, and several large shot-holes in her hull, very low down. The Cracker received a large shot through her foremast, which left it in a tottering state, and had her shrouds and stays cut to pieces. The Clinker also received some damage and coming out of action, had three feet water in the hold. It appears, however, that the Champion was the only vessel that sustained any loss : she had two seamen killed, her boatswain (severely) and two seamen wounded. The French admit that several of their vessels were much damaged, and that they lost four men killed and 22 wounded, 11 of them dangerously. As soon as it was known that the Champion and her companions had stood away towards the Downs to refit, M. Hamelin, leaving his wounded men and the most damaged of his vessels, set sail with the remainder, and reached Boulogne without further interruption.

The French, as usual, when they came to fight this battle over again on paper, made it redound greatly to their advantage. They dignified the Champion and the two gun-brigs by calling them, " une frégate et deux corvettes ; " and Captain Hamelin is represented to have considered the squadron as " la même croisière ennemie qu'il avait déjà combattue, " although the latter consisted of two ships and a brig, and one of those ships double the size and force of the Champion. As in most of the other accounts, no allusion is made to the land-batteries, or to the difficulties that the British must have experienced in navigating

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