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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 141
of fort.y-fonr guns, and arrived off Fort St. David on the 29th
of April, when he engaged M. d'Ache's fleet, consisting of eleven
ships, carrying one hundred and sixty-two more guns, and seven-
teen hundred more men. An action ensued in which the French
were defeated and bore up for Pondicherry. In this battle our
casualties were twenty-nine killed and eighty-nine woinided,
while the French were said to have lost six hundred killed
alone.
Admiral Pocock was not altogether satisfied with the conduct
of some of his officers during this action, and he broke the captains
of the ' Weymouth' and 'Newcastle.' Having repaired damages
at Madras, which once again belonged to the English, and re-
inforced his fleet with one hundred and twenty convalescent men
from hospital, and eighty-four Lascars, Adujiral Pocock sailed on
the 10th of May, but returned without encountering the enemy.
He again sailed with the same ships on the 25th of July, and,
on the 3rd of August, encountered M. d'Ache. After a hot action,
which lasted two hours, the French Admiral made sail and was
pursued until after dark, when he succeeded in escaping into
Pondicherry. The British loss was thirty-one killed and one
hundred and sixteen wounded, including Commodore Stevens
and Captain Martin of the ' Cumberland,' and that of the French,
two hundred and fifty-one killed and six hundred and two
w^ounded, including among the latter, the Admiral and his flag-
captain.
The French fleet proceeded to Mauritius, where they were
joined by two sevent3'-four's, and one sixty-four gun ship.
During this year, the French, under the famous M. Lally, reduced
Cuddalore and Fort St. David, and destroyed the fortifications,
as they had done at Madras in 1746, but thehonour of our arms
was retrieved before the close of the year, by a victory achieved
by Colonel Forde on the 7tli of December, and still more by the
successful defence of ]\Iadras by Colonels Lawrence and Dra])er,
between the 12th of December, 1758, and tlie Nth of February,
1759, when the ' Queensborough' frigate, commanded by Captain
Kerapenfeldt— the same gallant officer who met so tragic an end
on board the ' Royal George ' at Spithead—and the Company's
frigate 'Bombay,' disembarked a timely reinforcement of six
hundred men of the 79th Regiment. Thus ended this famous
siege, which had been extended over sixty-seven days, tlie
batteries having been open forty-six.
On the 17th of August, 1759, Admiral Pocock sailed from
Bombay for the Coromandel coast, to which ^L Ache soon after
proceeded with a greatly su})erior fleet. The British Admiral
stationed his ships in such a manner as to protect the tradi' and
intercept the enemy. He kept his station ott" Ceylon until the
3rd of August, when he proceeded ofl' Pondicherry, and thenee
to Trincomalee for water. Admiral Pocock detached the small