The New Hampshire Gazette Newspaper, December 31, 1756, Page 1

X B iyt s e R PR R e it R S - £ «{ » Friday, Decemb. 31 1746. 7 " Neaw Hamp/bire GRS ST T TR LR B § 77\ ith the Fre)/befi Advices B U et of Capr. Wright's /;:’ar__: Engag,,,,m:, and By compleat Victory 5 avritien by him/elf. 3 LEGHORN, aug. 2. [ a wery beawtiful, large, vich, and firong City of Tealy, fr the - Dukedom of Tufcany, a free Port, a fafe commodious Hurbexr) © g~ur=H1S Porthad been environed by Privateers for 5 or l fix Weeksbefore I {al.d in order to prey upon our ‘T'rade, and with an efpecial Defign of interceptiag , - me on my going oat. There were three daily in . Tiht, one whereof was a Xebeck of great Force, having a- bout 280 Men on board, .and 16 Carriage Guns, behides fwivels and fmall Arms in abundance. ln the Grey of the Morning we faw her under the Gorgona, making towards us ; but there being little orno Wind, the flow Advance fhe made by the Help of heér Oars, afforded me Time to put my Veflel in tolerable Order, which I was not {uffered to "do inthis Port ; the Tufcans, under Pretence of obferving 2 firiék Neutrality, having forbid my taking more than four Guns and 25 Men, eflceming that a realonab'e Force for Defence ; 'but as 4 other Veflels were to {ail with me, [ was not at al.ofs forMeans to furnifh myfelf better than thisGe- vernment intended, which yet we were incapable of doing fatisfallorily, in fo fhort a Time, we having put to fea only the preceding Day. About 12z 0'Clock we begtn the At- tack with her Bow Guus, which did us nogreat Damage: - I.delayed returning the Compliment antil {lie came nigher, and then {aluted her with our whole Broadfide. We were + new from 2 to 3eo Yards diftant from each other, when our Adverfary had the Difpleafure of obferving that we were of greater Force than"he expefled, having been taught to ~believe that we were as weak as was intended ; for | was ' {enfible he had not only daily Advjeesfrom hence, but alfo - fupplies, of Men and Arms, to enabie him to make us be~ come an eafy Prey. This Difappointment ‘made him de- « termine inftantly to board us ; for whichPurpofe he advanc- ed 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 2 terrible frower both from her great 4 Guns and Mutketry ; the later drove all my fmall armed Men from their Quarters : Thefe were about 2; Foreiga- ers, Sclavonians, who have the Repute of being brave an. 1 plainly perceived my Dependance maft be on my < gfeat Guns and Englifhmen, who behaved themfelves as {uch, by « fearlefly loading and firing with Lyon like Faty.. In this * - ‘Dipaficion, with her flern to my Broadfide, unable to ad- « Vvence againft the fierce Fire we magge. we had the {atisfac-- . tio of rakirgterveith upwards of twenty “great (hot and ~ - Foreign and Domeftick. patridge, doing horrid Execution amongft them ; fificen 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 fide exerting all th: fkill and Courage in our Powers ; for Life, and what is ftill more, Honour depended on that Hour's Indattry, asyou wil learn by and by. Our Adverfary at leagth perceiving the Advantage wehad of him in thai fizuation, and therefore not being able to exe- cute his Defign, pulled a head in order to rake us fore and aft 1o her Turn. 0w i They had indeed all the Advantage they could wifh from the Aflitance of their Oars, it being calm and the lea per- fetly fmooth ; wherefore, fora Time, We could not bring our Guns to bear ; {o that for fome Minutes we were ob- liged to fuftain che utmoft Efforts of the Enemy, without eing able 10 annoy them in retura : the was then fo nigh, that her Rigging fell foul of our Gib-boom ; and, to the beft of my Judgment we received four Difcharges of her Artillery, and upwards of a hundred Mufkets. However, as1 bad provided myfelf with a few Oars, we at length bro’t our flarboard Guns to bear again, and taking her on the Larboard Quarter, our double-headed fhot found their Way out of her ftarboard Bow, carrying great Part of her Upper Works, Heads, Legs. aud Arms along with them : In fhort, the flaughter was fo great, that fhe made all the Hafte fhe could away, and left us a complete Vitory, We gave her Chafe for about three Quarters of an Hour ; but as there was, I fay, no Wind, and fhe Rill having 25 Oars left (for we deftroyed 15 out of 40 fhe carried) I found it impoffible to qgme up with her ; and above all, I was fea ful of going too far from my listle Fleet that came under my Convoy, there being two other Privateers in fight bearing down upon them ; but feeing us tack, they flocd off, and’ I brought them a'l {afe back to Leghorn. They were the Succefs, Capt. Cofgrave, for Dublin, richly laden ; the John and James, Capt. Murphy, for Chefter and Livérpool ; the Nancy, Capt Forfter, for Cadiz ; and the Induftry, Capt. Rofs, for Gibraltar. Thefe poor Gentlemen had waited fome Time, in Flopes of the Appearance of a fhip of War to condu® them out of Danger ; but defpairing of . feeing any, they therefore willingly embraced the Oppor- tunity of going out with me. To return to the Xebeck, we hear fhe is ina neizhbouring Port ; and, by the rough - Ufaggf we gavesticr, i+ unable 10 g0 more to™fea : They owathat we kilfed 8 3 ing.uding the Captain, the Licutenant, and the Lieutenant of Marines, and that there were 6o or X Nums., 13 GAZETTE, WEERSBSIRISIS IR 3 e i R K‘S