A letter to Lord Viscount Melville on the subject of his motions respecting troop-ships and upon the general state of the navy, with an appendix of official and authentic documents.

Date:
1810
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Lord Viscount Melville on the subject of his motions respecting troop-ships and upon the general state of the navy, with an appendix of official and authentic documents. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    sequently the combined naval forces of the three powers amounted then to one hundred and forty- one sail of the line. Notwithstanding this truly formidable com- bination, our fleets and squadrons, so far from shewing any dismay at the immense force opposed to them, vied with each other in' their efforts to subdue and to vanquish all their ene- mies; and, before the peace (if it may be so cal- led) of 1801-2,— France, Holland, and Spain, (besides the reductions before stated,) had, in cap- tures and casualties, sustained farther losses to the number of fifty-three sail of the line,— of which twenty-three (including two Maltese and one Venetian) were French,—nineteen Dutch, and eleven Spanish;—the three powers, there- fore, appear, during their hostility with this country, to have lost collectively eighty-nine sail of the line; in frigates* and in the inferior classes of ships and vessels of war, their losses were even, greater in proportion; — while, upon the other hand, they captured from Great Britain only fve ships of the line, (one a recapture,) one ship of 50 guns, and a few frigates; — one of the line and the 50 were re-taken, as were the frigates, except one; so that, when hostilities ceased, our ene- mies possessed only three British ships of the * France 81, of 32 and 40 guns. Spain 13, of ditto. Holland 18, of ditto.