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| 1808 | San Fiorenzo and Piémontaise | 23 |
20 minutes of it close, and during which she had all her rigging and sails cut to pieces, her three masts and bowsprit badly wounded, and a great proportion of her numerous crew placed hors de combat, the French frigate hauled down her colours ; some of her people, at the same time, waving their hats for a boat to be sent to them.
The loss sustained by the San-Fiorenzo in the third day's action, although numerically less than that on the second day, was more serious, as it included among the killed her truly gallant captain : * the remaining killed of that day consisted of four seamen and marines, and the wounded, of one lieutenant (Henry George Moysey, severely) and seven seamen and marines. This made the total British loss, on the three days, 13 killed and 25 wounded. The Piémontaise, besides her regular crew of 366 Frenchmen, had 200 Lascars (prisoners taken out of some captured Indiamen), to work the sails. Out of these 566 in crew and supernumeraries, the French frigate lost 48 officers, seamen, marines, and Lascars killed, and 112 wounded.
The force of the San-Fiorenzo, in guns and men, has already appeared. † In her armament there was no alteration ; but, it respect to crew, the ship was so greatly deficient, owing to the sickness of some men and the absence of others in prizes, as to muster no more than 186 men and boys; a circumstance which, singular enough, the British official account has omitted to notice.
The force of the Piémontaise has also been fully stated at a former page ; ‡ but, instead of 46 guns, as there particularized, Lieutenant Dawson, in his letter, says : " She (the Piémontaise mounts fifty guns, long 18-pounders on the main deck, and 36-pound carronades on her quarterdeck " No other of the few accounts that have been published is more precise; and yet, according to the navy-office draught of the Piémontaise the ship could mount 24 carriage guns only of a side, 14 on the main deck, seven on the quarterdeck, and three on the forecastle. Her two maindeck bow-ports, if filled, would make 50 guns in all, but even this would add nothing to her broadside-force. Under these circumstances, and particularly as it is a French ship whose force is to be stated, we shall consider the Piémontaise in her action with the San-Fiorenzo, to have mounted the same guns as she did a year and nine months before, in her action with the Warren-Hastings.
We cannot pay a higher compliment to the victorious party in this case, than to rank the action of the San-Fiorenzo and Piémontaise with that of the Phoenix and Didon. § The odds in each action, except in point of crew, were nearly the same. The Piémontaise was certainly not so manfully fought as the Didon.
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