Having returned from this duty (the wished-for rencounter, as it appears, not having taken place); Captain Brenton continues, “The Speedy was ordered to proceed to Oran, in order to bring down some prizes, which had been taken in there to wait for a convoy to Gibraltar. The wind, during March and April, blew almost a continued heavy gale from the westward. I made various attempts to get down to Gibraltar with my convoy, but without success, bearing up again for Oran. “On one occasion, having been joined by the Espoir sloop of sixteen guns, I had got as far as Cape de Gatte, and observing a very suspicious looking brig come out from under the land, I made the signal for the Espoir to chase. Both vessels made all the sail they could carry; and towards evening a very heavy squall coming on with thick weather, the chase and the chaser were both lost sight of. Towards evening the latter came down, not having been able to keep sight of the stranger, and apprehensive of losing the convoy. A heavy gale came on from the westward in the course of the night; and on the following evening, as there was no appearance of its abating, I made the signal to bear up for Oran, where we arrived on the next day; but the gale continuing, no boat was sent on shore. On the second day after we anchored in Oran, some seamen in blue jackets were seen coming over the hills; and as no boats from any of the convoy had reached the shore, I was anxious to know from whence these seamen could have come, concluding some wreck had taken place upon the coast. By great exertion a boat was got on shore, and soon returned with the captain and five seamen of the brig which had been chased off Cape de Gatte, by the Espoir; and which, as I have mentioned, was lost sight of in the squall. The fact is, that in that squall the unfortunate brig was upset; and as she went down, the captain, boatswain, and five men jumped into the boat, and cutting the lashings, were left on the surface as the vessel sank. There was neither oar nor rudder in the boat, but providentially the rudder of the boat was found, amidst other things washed out of the vessel, and a couple of oars. On the following morning, in the height of the gale, the weather being clear, they distinctly saw the convoy, and endeavoured to make signals to them, but without effect, from the sea running so high. When the convoy bore up in the evening for Oran, the captain, finding it impossible, from the direction of the wind, to approach the Spanish shore, kept before the sea, spreading shirts upon the oars for sails, and endeavoured to find shelter in some of the bays of the coast of Africa. Providentially they reached a little cove with a sandy beach, just to the westward of Oran; and having caught a hawk’s bill turtle as they approached the shore, by devouring it raw, they acquired sufficient strength to land in a heavy surf, and to beach their boat. The boatswain, who was a strong powerful man, sank under