William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and the growth and division of the British Empire, 1708-1778; . th of Ireland on February, 1760, where he landedsix hundred men and took a few prisoners. Onsailing from the port his ships were sighted by threeEnglish frigates and after a gallant fight, same storm in October, 1759, which had madeThurots escape possible, compelled Hawke to returnto Torbay for shelter. With a heavy gale blowingfrom the west it was impossible for the French tosail, but immediately the gale lessened the Frenchadmiral Conflans put to sea. His fleet consisted oftwenty-on
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and the growth and division of the British Empire, 1708-1778; . th of Ireland on February, 1760, where he landedsix hundred men and took a few prisoners. Onsailing from the port his ships were sighted by threeEnglish frigates and after a gallant fight, same storm in October, 1759, which had madeThurots escape possible, compelled Hawke to returnto Torbay for shelter. With a heavy gale blowingfrom the west it was impossible for the French tosail, but immediately the gale lessened the Frenchadmiral Conflans put to sea. His fleet consisted oftwenty-one ships of the line, the English of twenty-three. Hawke sailed from Torbay the day Conflansleft Brest, and directed his course to Quiberon Baywhere he expected the French fleet to rendezvous;a strong easterly gale drove him far to the west, butthe wind veered round and on November 20th hisadvanced frigates discovered the French fleet bear-ing north between Belle Isle and the main land. Afierce sea, a treacherous coast, the reefs and shallowsof the bay, made pursuit of the French dangerous,. Sir Ei>Tr.^ Ha^>^T5^b Admiral of the White. 1761] Pitts War Ministry. 153 and they endeavoured to escape by keeping dangerous was the coast even in fine weatherthat pursuit in the midst of storm seemed impos-sible, and it is said that so Httle did the French be-lieve that Hawke would dare to follow them thatthey mistook the van of the English fleet for pilotships, and could not crowd sail for flight until it wastoo late. The pilot informed Hawke that he couldnot obey his order to lay him alongside of the Frenchadmiral without danger of running on a have done your duty in pointing out thedanger, replied the Admiral, now obey my com-mand and lay me alongside of the Soleil RoyatJSeveral of the French ships fought with great gal-lantry, but the result of the fight was never indoubt. This battle was the Trafalgar of the war;the French navy was for practical purposes de-
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectpittwil, bookyear1901
