Naval battles of the world : $b Great and decisive contests on the sea ... with an account of the Japan-China war and the recent battle of the Yalu; the growth, power, and management of our new Navy.Shippen, Edward
History
Naval battles of the world : $b Great and decisive contests on the sea ... with an account of the Japan-China war and the recent battle of the Yalu; the growth, power, and management of our new Navy.
Shippen, Edward
Naval battles; Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895; United States. Navy
At 3 A.M. the formidable and unremitting fire of the Tonnant shot away
the main and mizzen masts of the Majestic; and shortly after, the
Tonnant herself had all three masts shot away, close to the deck. The
wreck of the masts falling over her battery caused her to cease firing,
but, for all that, she did not strike. Indeed, by veering cable, she
had dropped to leeward of her second position, and there lay, like a
lion at bay.
The Heureux and Mercure having, as stated, withdrawn from the line,
left room for the Tonnant to take a position ahead of the Guillaume
Tell and the two ships in her rear. This she did; and then a second
interval of silence occurred in this awful battle.
Just as day broke, about four o’clock, the fire opened again, between
the Tonnant, Guillaume Tell, Généreux and Timoléon, on the French side,
and the Alexander and the Majestic on the other. This firing soon
brought down the Theseus and Goliath.
Soon after these ships arrived, the French frigate Artémise fired
a broadside at the Theseus, and then struck her colors. A boat was
dispatched from the English ship, to take possession; but the frigate
was discovered to be on fire, and soon after blew up. In the meantime
the four French line-of-battle ships, and the two frigates inside of
them, kept dropping to leeward, so as, presently, to be almost out of
gunshot of the English vessels that had anchored to attack them.
At about six o’clock in the morning the Goliath and Theseus got under
way, and, accompanied by the Alexander and Leander, stood towards the
French Mercure and Heureux. These, on quitting the line, had first
anchored within it, and then had run on shore on the southerly side
of the bay. These two ships, after interchanging a few distant shots,
struck their colors.
About an hour before noon the Généreux and Guillaume Tell, with the
frigates Justice and Diane, got under way, and made sail to the
northeast, the absence to leeward of the three English ships which were
in a condition to carry sail giving them an opportunity to get clear.
The Timoléon, being too far to leeward to fetch clear, ran herself on
shore, losing her fore-mast by the shock. The four other French ships
now hauled close, on the port tack, and the Zealous, the only other
English ship in a condition to make sail, stood after them. After
some distant firing, the four French ships stretched on, and escaped.
In this affair the Zealous had one man killed, who had already been
wounded on the day before.
And now to sum up. Of the thirteen French ships-of-the-line, one
had been totally destroyed, with nearly all on board; eight had
surrendered, and two had got clear. Of the two remaining, one, the
Timoléon, was on shore, with her colors flying; the other, the
indomitable Tonnant, having had her second cable cut by the fire of the
Alexander, was lying about two miles away, a mere wreck, but with her
colors flying on the stump of her main-mast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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