Morant, and fourteen of them went to an anchor in Cow-Bay, fix or feven leagues to the windward of Port-Royal, and where if I had not removed the people from St. David's and St. Thomas's they had fecured them all from coming to us, or we from fending any fuccour unto them. Here a negro man presently came to them, as I am advifed, and told them captain Elliot was arrived fometime fince, and we had notice of their coming; the people were all called together from the out parts and Port-Royal fortified; nevertheless monfieur Ducafs would have come in, but many were against it, and monfieur Rollon, who commanded the Temerare of fifty-four guns, and was admiral, told monfieur Ducafs he would not venture the king's fhips into any harbour, where if they did not prevail there was no coming out again. Then they fell to landing their men, plundered, burnt, and deftroyed, all before them eastward, killed all the cattle of all forts, and all fowls; drove flocks of fheep into houses and then fired them, burnt the canes, pulled up the very herbs, and cut down the very fruit-trees. Some of the ftraggling people that were left behind they tortured, particularly Charles Barber; and James Newcastle they murdered in cold blood after a day's quarter: Some women they fuffered the negroes to violate, and dug fome out of their graves, fo that there were never more inhuman barbarities committed by any Turks or infidels in the world; and what they could not carry away, they totally deftroyed, and left that part of the country wholly devoured and deftroyed. There they were at their own liberty, for it was too far for us to fend fuch a force as could repel them; befides they had fecured the pafs at Cow-Bay, and also they watched but when we would divide our force, and then they would have been upon us in few hours with their fhips, and would have put the whole island in great danger, which I was refolved to defend if poffible. When they had cleared before them from Cow-Bay to Port-, Morant, which was about five and twenty miles, and whither fometime before they had removed all their fhips, they thought they fhould do the fame in all parts of the ifland without interruption; and therefore, during their stay at Port-Morant, they fent forty-five veffels to the North-fide, and at St. Mary's and St. George's burnt fome plantations; but, on the appearance of fome forces which we fent thither, they withdrew and returned to their fleet; alfo the Thurfday after they came firft to CowBay, the wind blowing very hard, and the admiral's fhip, monfieur Rollon, riding in deep water, his anchors came home, and he was driven off with another in his company, and could not get up to his fleet any more; but, for want of water, bore away to Blue-Field's-Bay, towards

the

the weft end of this ifland, where he landed about fixty men; but major Andrefs, who was left there with a few men to take care of thote parts, fell on them, where was a fmall encounter, in which we had one man killed and two wounded, and they loft fome; but, on the hearing the fmall arms, the admiral fired a thot over their heads, which was a sign to them; for on it they ran a-board in such a hafte that they left their meat they had killed, and fome cattle they had tied up to carry a-board, and their bread and falt, and failed away as foon as they could get up their anchors. The fleet having done all the mischief they could at PortMorant, and the country thereabouts, beat down all the walls of FortWilliam, burnt the carriages of the guns, and, leaving nothing they thought might be ufeful to mankind, on Monday, July the fixte nth, their whole fleet failed from thence, and on Tuesday morning the feventeenth fome of them came in fight of Port-Royal, and in the afternoon all the reft, and went to an anchor again in Cow-Bay; and, to amufe us, landed their men very faft, and made fires along the bay, which gave us cause to think they designed to try to force the pafs into St. Andrew's; for fear of which, I fent thither from St. Catherine's about a hundred men to reinforce them, but ftill doubted a trick, and fo it happened; for, as foon as it was dark, they took all their men a board again, and failed all but three of their biggest fhips, which ftill kept in Cow-Bay to amufe us, so that the eighteenth in the morning we faw feventeen of them from our lookouts in the country, and from Port-Koyal, ftanding to the weftward, and then I concluded their defign was to furprize Carlifle-Bay, in Vere, before we could fend to their affiftance, it being about thirty-fix miles from us in St. Catherine's; but I prefently fent two troops of horse, and part of the regiment of St. Catherine, and part of the regiment of Clarendon, which were in town, and part of the regiment of St. Elizabeth, which lay in the way at St. Dorothy's, to march; to mount what part of the foot they could get horfes for, and by evening they were all marched on their way. The horfes and they that were mounted got thither by night, and the reft marched fo hard that they got thither by ten the next morning.→ The enemy came all to an anchor in that bay, the eighteenth in the afternoon. There lay a fhip come from Guinea, which landed her negroes there, and could not for the hard breezes come up to Port-Royal; of this fhip captain Daniel was commander, who, feeing he could not fave her, fet her on fire, that the enemy might not have her, and with his men went on fhore into a breaft-work on the bay, where they did very good fervice, and where fix of his men were killed and more wounded.—

Into

Into this breaft-work were gotten two hundred and fifty men, befides blacks, being thofe of the feveral regiments they got down first, and colonel Sutton of Clarendon, was the chief officer, and had been the builder of this work; but it was ill made, and worfe contrived; on the fouth was the fea, on the weft a large river, on the north a village of houses, and on the eaft they had left a wood ftanding, and made no provitions for the men, either meat or drink, or horfe meat. Thurfday the nineteenth, fome hours before day, the French in all their flect made figns for landing, by throwing up in every veffel fmall balls of wild-fire, and by day light had by eftimation landed about fourteen or fifteen hundred, but avoided the breaft-work, and landed about a mile and a half to the caftward of it, where were fmall guards to watch them, who fired on them as they approached the fhore, and retreated about nine or ten in the morning, they having very good guards come down the wood on the caft fide, and fell very hotly on the breaft-work, where a great fire was made, and the French officers forcing on their men, ours gave way and fled to the weftward, where many got over the river and were faved, others bogged and drowned; many of the officers and most of the men fought bravely, and killed many of the enemies before they were forced to retreat. Colonel Claybourn, of the regiment of St. Elizabeth's, and his captain-lieutenant Vaffel, were killed dead; lieutenant-colonel Smart of the regiment of Clarendon, lieutenant Dawkins and others killed; and captain Dawkins. and captain Fisher, and many others taken prifoners, and about four of their colours loft, and all their horfes, which were tied thereabouts. Juft as the French forced the breaft-work, three or four companies of the regiment of St. Catherine, and one of St. Elizabeth, and fome horfe, came in after a march of about thirty miles that night, weary, lame, and hungry, yet fell on bravely, on the right of the enemy, and charged them fo warmly that they could not follow our men that took a way over the river, elfe they had all been cut off. Here both officers and men behaved themselves with that gallantry, that they made the enemy retire, and ours then being very much fatigued, did the like to recruit themselves. Here captain Rakeftead and fome others were wounded, and fome killed on our fide; and many of the French, who, as foon as the rencounter was over, fell, according to their wonted barbarity, to burn and deftroy all they came near, and made no other advance towards our forces, nor we towards them, but in feveral fkirmithing parties, till Sunday the twenty-fecond; then they marched upwards, and came to a brick houfe of one Mr. Hubbard's, who had gotten about five and twenty men into it, well provided with arms, ammunition, water, and conveniencies;

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conveniencies; on this houfe they fell fmartly, but they from within ap plied themfelves fo to their defence, that they killed many and wounded more, and of thefe feveral of their confiderable officers. Major hearing their difpute, made with fome horse and foot to their affiftance,' and came in time enough to help to beat them off, and plunder the dead; but here we lost fome men; allo our fcouts and fpies brought news this evening that the enemy were providing great guns against the next day, and then refolved to batter and attack the house. In this time fome of the chief of our officers, not being fo brifk, nor managing with fuch conduct, as the cafe required, the commiffioned officers at a council of war unanimously chofe major Richard Lloyd, major to myfelf, of the regiment of horfe, to direct and command all the force there, which then was about feven hundred, and fent an exprefs to me to confirm it, which I did for the better management of the whole. The next day, being Monday the twenty-third,major Lloyd put about fifty men into Mr. Hubbard's house and laid the reft of the forces in an excellent ambufcade, expecting the enemy to come on as they had reported; which, had they done, few had returned alive; but they, being privateers, and finding to many of their men killed and wounded, and amongst them feveral of their best officers, and finding they could make no advance on the country, that night fired all the mall town of Carlifle, topped up the great guns, did what mifchief they could, left the prifoners they had taken there, and went all aboard their thips. At their firft coming, they boasted much that they would fire and deftroy all the country before them till they came to St. Catherine's, then plunder and burn that, then cut off the water from Port-Royal, and flarve that, and fo fecure the whole country to themfelves; but withal took care, by fome rogues, to tell our people who would fubmit to the king of France, or declare themfelves tor king James, thould have all they had preferved to them, but few believed them; and they, having met with no refufal in St. Thomas's and St. David's, believed they fhould march as freely in other parts of the country, and meet with no confiderable oppofition. On Tuefday their whole fleet failed, and for fear they fhould fall into Old-Harbour, which is between St. Catherine's and Carlifle, and land there, and thereby cut our forces that were at Vere from joining thofe here, and fo have fallen on this town and endangered the whole, I had given order before to major Lloyd that, it he 1.w them remove, and fail to windward, he thould immediately march the forces to St. Dorothy's, leaving only a guard at Carlifle-Bay, which he did accordingly; and, to prevent their defign in this place, when I fent

the

the forces that were here away to Carlisle, I called from Port-Royal and St. Andrew's, which were then fafe, when the enemy's fleet were to leeward, about four hundred and fifty men, befides blacks, fo that we had a good ftrength here, had they put that trick on us; befides there is an open plain country fix miles to the weftward of this town, through which they muft have paffed, and then the horfe would have done us good fervice, which they could not do in that inclofed country of Vere, which is all hedged, and we had alfo five very good field-pieces well mounted, and all things in order, to that I doubt not we fhould have given them fuch a reception as they woul not be well 'pleafed with; but they made all hafte homewards, and had favourable weather to do it. Monfieur Ducafs and two or three fhips made the beft of their way, and ftayed not any where, but about feventeen fail went into Port-Morant to wood and water, which they did with all the fpeed they could. On Saturday the twenty-eighth in the evening, they put afhore moft of the prifoners they had taken whilft they were about the country, and that night failed all homewards, as we guefs, fince we have heard nothing of them from that time.

I cannot yet procure a certain account of the loffes of either fide; but, according to the best conjecture we can yet make, we have had on our fide about fixty killed and wounded fince they came first to the country, and, as we can gather from our prifoners come from them, they have had killed and wounded above three hundred and fifty men, befides many died with fickness in their fhips, fo that when they come home and confult their lifts, it is fuppofed feven hundred will be found wanting, from their first setting out. It appears by what I have known fince, that Mr. Hubbard's houfe was garrifoned the first time by order of major Lloyd, and an officer put in to command them; that we have had on our fide killed and wounded about a hundred men of all forts, Chriftians, Jews, and negroes, and that fifty fugar works have been deftroyed, befides many plantations in St. Thomas's, St. David's, and St. Mary's, and above a hundred burnt befides, in the parishes of Vere and St. George's, befides all other spoils, and about a thousand three hundred negroes, as we can yet compute, carried off, so that the value is very great, and cannot yet be computed.