The New Hampshire Gazette

An Account of Capt. Wright's last Engagement, and compleat Victory; written by himself.

LEGHORN, Aug. 2:

a very beautiful, large, rich, and strong City of Italy, in the Dukedom of Tuscany, a free Port, a safe commodious Harbour.

His Port had been environed by Privateers for 2 or 3 Weeks before I sailed in order to prey upon our Trade, and with an especial Design of intercepting me on my going out. There were three daily in sight, one whereof was a Xebeck of great Force, having about 280 Men on board, and 6 Carriage Guns, besides swivels and small Arms in abundance. In the Grey of the Morning we saw her under the Gorgona, making towards us; but there being little or no Wind, the slow Advance he made by the Help of her Oars, afforded me Time to put my Vessel in tolerable Order, which I was not suffered to do in this Port: the Tuscans, under Pretence of observing a strict Neutrality, having forbid my taking more than four Guns and 5 Men, esteeming that a reasonable Force for Defence; but as 4 other Vessels were to sail with me, I was not at a Loss for Means to furnish myself better than this Government intended, which yet we were incapable of doing satisfactorily, in so short a Time, we having put to Sea only the preceding Day. About 10 o'Clock we begun the Attack with her Bow Guns, which did us no great Damage: I delayed returning the Compliment until he came nigher, and then saluted her with our whole Broadside.

We were now from 2 to 200 Yards distant from each other, when our Adversary had the Displeasure of observing that we were of greater Force than he expected, having been taught to believe that we were as weak as was intended: for I was sensible he had not only daily Advices from hence, but also Supplies, of Men and Arms, to enable him to make us become an easy Prey. This Disappointment made him determine instantly to board us; for which Purpose he advanced with his Bow towards us, and did not fire again till he came within forty Yards, when he attacked us again with great Fury, pouring a terrible shower both from her great Guns and Musketry; the latter drove all my small armed Men from their Quarters: These were about 25 Foreigners, Sclavonians, who have the Repute of being brave Men. I plainly perceived my Dependence must be on my great Guns and Englishmen, who behaved themselves as such, by fearlessly loading and firing with Lion-like Fury. In this Disposition with her Stern to my Broadside: unable to advance against the fierce Fire we made, we had the satisfaction of raking her with upwards of twenty great shot and cartridge, doing horrid Execution amongst them; fifteen or twenty dropped from their Prow, part of which was carried away, and Numbers they heaved overboard, to clear their Decks. This fierce Fire held for about a Quarter of an Hour, each side exerting all the Skill and Courage in our Powers; for Life, and what is still more, Honour depended, on that Hour's Industry, as you will learn by and by. Our Adversary at length perceiving the Advantage we had of him in that Situation, and therefore not being able to execute his Design, pulled a head in order to rake us fore and aft in her Turn.

They had indeed all the Advantage they could wish from the Assistance of their Oars, it being calm and the Sea perfectly smooth; wherefore, for a Time, we could not bring our Guns to bear; so that for some Minutes we were obliged to sustain the utmost Efforts of the Enemy, without being able to annoy them in return: she was then so nigh, that her Rigging fell foul of our Gib-boom; and, to the best of my Judgment we received four Discharges of her Artillery, and upwards of a hundred Muskets. However, as I had provided myself with a few Oars, we at length bro't our Starboard Guns to bear again, and taking her on the Larboard Quarter, our double-headed shot found their Way out of her Starboard Bow, carrying great Part of her Upper Works, Heads, Legs, and Arms along with them: In short, the Slaughter was so great, that he made all the Haste he could away, and left us a complete Victory. We gave her Chase for about three Quarters of an Hour; but as there was, I say, no Wind, and she still having 25 Oars left (for we destroyed 15 out of 40 he carried) I found it impossible to come up with her; and above all, I was fearful of going too far from my little Fleet that came under my Convoy, there being two other Privateers in sight bearing down upon them; but seeing us tack, they tacked off, and I brought them all safe back to Leghorn. They were the Succes, Capt. Coggrave, of Dublin, richly laden; the John and James, Capt. Murphy, for Chester and Liverpool; the Nancy, Capt. Forster, for Cadiz; and the Industry, Capt. Ross, for Gibraltar. These poor Gentlemen had waited some Time, in Hopes of the Appearance of a Ship of War to conduct them out of Danger; but despairing of seeing any, they therefore willingly embraced the Opportunity of going out with me. To return to the Xebeck, we hear she is in a neighbouring Port; and, by the rough Usage we gave her, is unable to go more to Sea: They own that we killed 18; including the Captain, the Lieutenant, and the Lieutenant of Marines, and that there were 60 or
70 wounded; great slaughter, you will say, in so short a time as from 30 to 40 minutes, which was all we took to do our work in; but we went about it seriously and soberly, for I suffered not a man to drink any thing besides water until we had done. I lost my master, cook, and two more, and nine dangerously wounded. I: experienced very particular providence towards myself, having part of my hat carried away; and surely we have great reason to be ever thankful to the Almighty, that so few of us fell in so furious a conflict; for I believe I may without vanity say, it was one of the fiercest that ever was fought. The French captain behaved with great resolution, whilst he survived, as I could see plainly by his encouraging his men fore and aft: His name was Guerin and I am told he was the person who behaved himself so gallantly in a Martinico ship, which he commanded in February last, against the Experiment, one of our twenty gun ships. This was the man purposely pitched upon to subdue me, who've had the happiness in the late war to make the French somewhat apprehensive at present. Indeed the encouragement the French king had given to any of his subjects that should take me dead or alive, was no small inducement to excite his courage; for besides the honour of knighthood and a pension of 3000 livres per annum, he was also to have had the command of a ship of war; and further, the merchants of Marseilles, had promised him a gratuity of double the value of my vessel; to which purpose a writing had been posted publicly on their exchange. This was bidding a great price for the poor Liverpool man. The damage done to the hull of my vessel was small, but my sails and rigging were ill treated; for in the fore sail only we received upwards of 170 shot, great and small. - Great were the expectations of the French on seeing me attacked; and equally great was their mortification on seeing the xebec fly. On the other hand, those of our own nation, and likewise the Jews who are settled here and warmly attached to the interest of our nation, expressed their joy by every token of triumph; for as the engagement happened at noon day, within a few leagues of this port, we had the whole city spectators, and therefore it was a kind of pitched battle between us. Thus, dear Sir, I have had the happiness to do some little service to my country, and I hope credit to the commission our good king has been pleased to honour me with. What more I can do I will.