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That the reader may understand the incidents more readily, we will give the opposing lines in the precise form in which they lay, viz. Plantagenet le Foudroyant Warspite le Téméraire Blenheim le Dugay Trouin Thunderer l'Ajax Achilles le Conquereur.
When the fog rose the Portuguese were dismayed to see their foes inside. Gaspar da Costa, the admiral of their fleet, was known as an able commander, but he was old and in feeble health, and such a panic now assailed him that he ran his ships in haste ashore and set fire to them, leaving to his foes the undisputed command of the harbor. Admiral Trouin had won the first move in the game.
Trouin had left Bahia to be visited and plundered on his return, but when he came near it the weather was so stormy that he was obliged to abandon this part of his plan. The storms followed the fleet on its way across the seas, and rose to such a height that two of his ships went to the bottom, carrying down twelve hundred men.
Yet with all these losses, so much wealth was brought home that the speculators in spoil made a profit of ninety-two per cent. on their investment. The French had won in large measure revenge and plunder, while Trouin had gained his meed of fame. It was now Portugal’s time for vengeance, and it was visited principally on the worthless governor to whose cowardice the disaster was due.
At present they were discouraged by the battle of Almanza, the miscarriage of the expedition against Toulon, the loss of sir Cloudesley Shovel, and the fate of four ships of the line, destroyed or taken by a squadron under the command of messieurs Forbin and Du Guai Trouin, two of the most enterprising sea-officers in the French service.
The powerful fleet made its way safely over the sea, and reached the vicinity of the northern Brazilian port of Bahia on August 27. Trouin had some thought of beginning his work here, but his water-supply was getting low and he felt obliged to hasten on. On the 11th of September he found himself off the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, with the city and its environing hills in full view.
The person in whose behalf the admiral thus interposed, was one Fortunatus Wright, a native of Liverpool; who, though a stranger to a sea life, had in the last war equipped a privateer, and distinguished himself in such a manner by his uncommon vigilance and valour, that, if he had been indulged with a command suitable to his genius, he would have deserved as honourable a place in the annals of the navy, as that which the French have bostowed upon their boasted Guai Trouin, Du Bart, and Thurot.
Among the great men of modern times he gave the first place to Gustavus Adolphus, and the next to Turenne and the great Conde, to Turenne in honour of his military talent, and to Conde to prove that there was nothing fearful in the recollection of a Bourbon. The remembrance of the glorious days of the French navy was revived by the statue of Duguai Trouin.
Among the great men of modern times he gave the first place to Gustavus Adolphus, and the next to Turenne and the great Conde, to Turenne in honour of his military talent, and to Conde to prove that there was nothing fearful in the recollection of a Bourbon. The remembrance of the glorious days of the French navy was revived by the statue of Duguai Trouin.
In this war as in the preceding, French privateersmen made great inroads on British commerce, and some of these privateering operations were conducted on a grand scale. For example, Du Guay Trouin took a squadron of six ships of the line and two frigates, together with 2000 troops, across the Atlantic and attacked Rio Janeiro.
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