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Though the Belleisle was very leaky, and had lost her boltsprit, mizen-mast, and main-yard, in all probability the victory would not have been so easily obtained, had not the gallant Thurot fallen during the action. The victor had not even the consolation to perform the last offices to his brave enemy; for his body was thrown into the sea by his own people in the hurry of the engagement.
The destitute condition of the orphan at length moved the compassion of some of his relatives of the Thurot family, who adopted him and brought him up under their own name. He was intended for the law, and studied for some years; but he had Irish blood coursing through his veins, and, under the expectation of obtaining a fortune with a wife, he fell in love and married.
Monsieur Thurot had three ships, the crews of which burnt two ships belonging to King George, and a house belonging to his friend the King of Argyll pray don't mistake; by his friend, I mean King George's, not Thurot's friend. When they had finished this campaign, they sailed to Carrickfergus, a poorish town, situate in the heart of the Protestant cantons.
Beattie, a week or two later, wrote: 'Johnson grows in grace as he grows in years. See ante, iii. 65. Wilkes was by this time City Chamberlain. See ante, ii. 201, for Beattie's Essay on Truth. Thurot, in the winter of 1759-60, with a small squadron made descents on some of the Hebrides and on the north-eastern coast of Ireland. In a sea fight off Ireland he was killed and his ships were taken.
"Who is the officer who boarded us, and what is the name of your ship?" asked Captain Tracy, after expressing his thanks to the surgeon for his attention. "He is Captain Thurot, and his ship is the Coquille, the most celebrated privateer out of Dunkirk," was the answer. "It is positively an honour to be captured by him let that be your consolation, my dear sir."
"Ay, you have probably passed some pleasant nights, with your eyes open, among them, yourself, Master Pilot," said Manual; "they may thank the Frenchman, Thurot, in the old business of '56, and our own daredevil, the bloody Scotchman, as the causes of their quarters being so often beaten up.
"The good ship seems to know her danger, and is slipping along famously," he observed to Owen. "We shall be up to Waterford Quay before nightfall, I hope; we have still a good part of the flood, and when Captain Thurot finds that there is no chance of taking us, he'll give up the chase." "He'll not do so till the last moment, captain," observed Lieutenant Vinoy.
"Had I seen Monsieur Thurot, I should have recognised him at once, for I marked him well when he came on board the Ouzel Galley; and I suspect, too, I should have detected his first lieutenant, in spite of his disguise," he exclaimed. "I wonder you did not find out that he was our mate Carnegan."
But Charles would not hear of leaving with Thurot and his tiny squadron, which committed some petty larcenies on the coast of the West Highlands. The Prince was now warned against Clancarty of the one eye, who was bragging, and lying, and showing his letters in the taverns of Dunkirk. The old feud of Scotch and Irish Jacobites went merrily on.
Flat-bottomed boats and transports to be used in this expedition, were prepared in different ports on the coast of France: and a small squadron was equipped at Dunkirk, under the command of an enterprising adventurer called Thurot, who had, in the course of the preceding year, signalized his courage and conduct in a large privateer called the Belleisle, which had scoured the North Seas, taken a number of ships, and at one time maintained an obstinate battle against two English frigates, which were obliged to desist, after having received considerable damage.
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