object evidently was to disable her rigging. In this they so completely succeeded, that the French were obliged to keep the Calcutta in tow two days, before they could refit her sufficiently to enable her to carry sail. This delay, combined with the course which Captain Woodriff had led the squadron in pursuit of him, enabled the Illustrious and her valuable fleet to pass unmolested into the Channel.

It is almost superfluous to state, that the sentence of the court-martial, subsequently assembled to try the officers and crew of the Calcutta for the loss of their ship, contained an honourable acquittal of all on board of her, as well as a high encomium upon Captain Woodriff for the skill and bravery he had displayed. The circumstances under which the Calcutta was captured do, indeed, reflect very great credit upon her officers and crew. Captain Woodriff's judgment was as conspicuous as his gallantry ; and both united saved all his convoy from capture, except one slug of a vessel, which endangered the others, and occasioned, beyond a doubt, the loss of the Calcutta herself.

The Rochefort squadron proceeded straight to Teneriffe, to repair the damages of the Calcutta and Magnanime, and to take on board a supply of water and provisions. On the 17th it again sailed, and although sought for in every sea, continued cruising until the 23d of December. On that day M. Allemand, with his prize the Calcutta, and about 1200 prisoners, the crews of the latter, and of the Ranger sloop, Dove hired cutter, and 43 merchant vessels, which he had destroyed during his 161 days' cruise, anchored in safety in the road of the Isle of Aix.

Having hitherto paid particular attention to M. Linois and his squadron, we shall continue, as far as our limited means will permit to trace him through the remainder of his long sojourn in a distant, but to him not unlucrative, quarter of the world. We left the French admiral at rather an inglorious moment ; just as the Marengo and her two attendant frigates had been foiled in a combined attack upon the 50-gun ship Centurion, in Vizagapatam road. * After this, the squadron and merchant prize (thus making it not quite a bootless enterprise) quitted the Coromandel coast, and steered straight for the Isle of France.  Bringing in with him a rich prize which he captured on the passage, M. Linois, on the 1st of November, arrived at Port-Louis, and found lying there the Belle-Poule, in company also with a prize of some value. One or more of the Centurion's shot having struck the 74's hull under water, and the ship in other respects, wanting repair, the Marengo was here hove down.

On the 22d of May, 1805, after a stay of nearly six months, during which she had undergone a thorough refit, the Marengo sailed on her third cruise, accompanied by the Belle-Poule only

*  See vol. iii., p 280

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