1809	British and French Fleets	114

advanced squadron near the Boyart [Boyard] shoal, to weigh. Accordingly, at 2 h. 15 m. p.m., this frigate got under way, and, agreeably to a signal to that effect, stood for the Imp�rieuse ; but, the wind though fair being light, and the ebb-tide making, the Indefatigable proceeded very slowly, although carrying royal and topgallant studding-sails. Shortly after the Indefatigable had weighed, the remaining frigates and smaller vessels did the same, and stood after her ; and at about 2 h. 30 m. p.m., the Valiant and Revenge, by signal from the admiral, got also under way, and proceeded in the direction of the firing.

In the mean time the Imp�rieuse continued engaging the Calcutta ; and at 3 h. 20 m. p.m., on the near approach of the Indefatigable and other frigates, the crew of the Imp�rieuse cheered them. At that moment, finding that the Calcutta had ceased firing, and that the Frenchmen were abandoning her, Lord Cochrane sent a midshipman and boat's crew to take possession. At about 3 h. 30 m. p.m. the Indefatigable anchored on the inner or starboard quarter of the Imp�rieuse and, until hailed by Lord Cochrane and informed that the Calcutta had struck, directed her fire at the latter. The Indefatigable then turned her foremost guns upon the Varsovie; and the Aigle, Emerald, and Unicorn, presently took their stations ahead of the Indefatigable. Shortly afterwards the Valiant, Revenge, and Pallas, came up and anchored ; the last ahead of the other frigates, the Valiant close astern of the Indefatigable, and the Revenge about 600 or 800 yards to the north-east of the Imp�rieuse Thus anchored with springs, in the form of a crescent, around the grounded French ships, the British ships opened upon them a heavy and destructive fire. The fire upon the Calcutta rendered it requisite to withdraw the boat of the Imp�rieuse and Lord Cochrane sent others to inform the frigates that the French ship had surrendered.

Determined to show that his object in anchoring where he had was not to avoid close action, Captain Newcome [Newcombe], when he weighed, gallantly ran in between the Indefatigable and the wreck of the Jean-Bart. There dropping her anchor, the Beagle opened a heavy fire upon the grounded French ships. Finding, after a while, that his rudder was almost coming in contact with the wreck of the Jean-Bart, and that the Beagle was in considerable danger from the fire of the Indefatigable, Captain Newcome [Newcombe] got under way and made sail for the stern of the Aquilon. On arriving within pistol-shot of the French 74, the Beagle opened upon her a well-directed and destructive fire.

Having sustained the cannonade of the many ships opposed to them, without the means of using more than their stern-chase guns, the Varsovie and Aquilon, at 5 h. 30 m. p.m., made the token of submission by each showing a union jack in her mizen chains. At this moment the Theseus, having weighed from

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