After the fall of Louisbourg, Sir Charles Hardy was despatched to the mouth of the St. Lawrence with a body of troops, commanded by Wolfe, to destroy some French ports and intercept the squadron of Duchaffault, who, it was calculated, would endeavour to get away before the winter. The destruction was effected, but the ships escaped. Boscawen returned home with the bulk of the fleet, leaving Rear-Admiral Durell to winter in Halifax, and resume the blockade of Quebec in spring. The victorious British fleet and the French squadron were making their way home in the stormy autumn weather by the same route. On the 27th October, when Boscawen’s ships were much scattered by gales and he had only four liners—one being the captured _Bienfaisant_—and some frigates with him, he fell in with Duchaffault, seventy miles to the west of Ushant. The French squadron consisted of four of the line and one 56-gun ship belonging to the American company. It had just captured the =Carnarvon=, East Indiaman. The stormy weather prevented a close action, which was fortunate for the Frenchman, for two of his liners were only armed _en flûte_. Duchaffault’s vessels scattered after some confused firing. He himself got to the Basque Roads, the =Carnarvon= was retaken, and the other vessels, with one exception, reached home. The unlucky ship which did not was the _Belliqueux_, 74, commanded by Captain Martel, who seemingly became confused between the bad weather and the British fleet. He lost his course completely, came up on the wrong side of the Land’s End, and was embayed in the Bristol Channel. While at anchor under Lundy, he was sighted by the =Antelope=, 50, Captain Thomas Saumarez. According to our account the _Belliqueux_ surrendered, and was a valuable prize, for she was found to be full of fine furs. The French will have it that she was unfairly taken, her captain having appealed to the humanity of our officer on the ground of the distressed state of his ship, and having also cited cases in which English vessels had been helped at French ports in war. The incredible tale is still told to illustrate the “disloyalty” of the English. It goes much further to prove how much the French warships were used as transports and traders, partly by the Government, but also by their own officers, who made up for bad and irregular pay by what they called _la pacotille_, _i.e._ commercial ventures. If Captain Martel did, as his countrymen say, propose to go into Bristol and throw himself on the “loyalty” of the English for relief, it is also highly probable that he meant to get money for his furs from the Bristol merchants.