[97] His tactics were to get to windward of his opponents, notwithstanding the advantage that gave their gunnery at first, whilst waiting to leeward for the attack; but the British crews were not given to flinching under fire, and when once Boscawen got within half musket-shot of the enemy he 'hammered away into his antagonists' hulls, and it was soon all over with them.' [98] The French Admiral's ship, the _Ocean_, carried 80 guns; besides her, the fleet comprised five ships of 74 guns, three of 64 guns, two of 50 guns, one of 26 guns, and two of 24 guns. Admiral Ekins could never sufficiently admire Admiral Boscawen's action in shifting his flag to the _Newark, during_ the fight with De la Clue, observing that we have had but one example since Boscawen's time of this being done; viz., by Commodore Nelson on 14th February. Ekins gives a capital account of this engagement, by a midshipman who was present. [99] There is a local tradition that the Admiral caused the tower of this church to be lowered, lest it should serve as a landmark to the enemy! [100] Luttrell (v. 594) says that (Sept., 1705) John Evelyn, Esq., was married to Mrs. Boscawen, niece to the Lord Treasurer (? Godolphin). _DAVY_, THE MAN OF SCIENCE. [Illustration: (beginning of chapter vignette.)] _DAVY_, THE MAN OF SCIENCE. 'Igne constricto, vita secura.' _Davy's Motto._ The pretty little homestead--or as it is called in Cornwall, the 'town-place'--of Varfel, (or Barfell as it was sometimes spelt) in Ludgvan, lies on a southern slope, about two and a half miles N.E. of Penzance, and is a somewhat less distance from St. Michael's Mount, a view of which, as well as of the famous Mount's Bay and of the Lizard district, it commands. Varfel seems to have belonged from an early period to the Davy family, some of whose monuments in Ludgvan Church are nearly 300 years old. Either here, on the 'paternal acres,' or in the town of Penzance, on 17th December, 1778, at 5 a.m., was born to 'Carver' Robert Davy (so called from his proficiency in his trade as a wood-carver and gilder) and his wife Grace Millett, their eldest son,[101] who was destined to emerge from this remote and obscure corner of England, and become President of the Royal Society--a man of science so distinguished that Brande, in his celebrated 'History of Chemistry,' spoke of Davy's death as nothing less than 'a serious national calamity.' The district of Penwith, with its wild furze-clad granite moors, its rugged cliffs, and emerald bays, proved 'Fit nurse for a poetic child;'