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HISTORY OF THE IXDIAN NAVY. 143 '
' Revenge ' were called into requisition to keep between the
Admiral and the enemy, and observe the hitter's motions, while
the British fleet lay-toon the larboard tack, that the disabled shijjs
might repair damages. Some further manoeuvring took phice on
the following day, when the enemy declined a second encounter.
Admiral Pocock anchored about three leagues to the southward
of Negapatam Roads on the 12th, and, in the evening, sent the
' Revenge' to Madras with letters to the Governor and Council.
She returned in a few days, bringing a reply from the Governor,
dated "Fort St. George, Septeuiber 16, 1759," thanking the
Admiral and all his officers lor their devotion. In this engage-
ment both sides suffered considerably. The French were said
to have lost fifteen hundred men killed and wounded ; and the
English had one hundred and eighty-four in the former category,
including those who died of their wounds, and three hundred
and eight3'-five in the latter. One ship, the ' Newcastle,' lost
her captain and had one hundred and twelve men placed Itors de
combat, and the ' Tiger ' suffered still more severely, her casual-
ties being one hundred and sixty- eight men. Admiral Pocock,
having repaired damages at Madras, proceeded to sea again on
the 26th of September, in questof the enemy, whom lie found lying
at Pondicherry. The French, however, avoided an action, and
the Admiral returned to Madras, On the 17th of October he
again sailed, and, on the following day, was joined by lour ships-
of-the-line from England, under Admiral Cornish, and three
Indiamen, with troops on board, under Colonel EyreCoote. On
the 7th of April, 1760, the gallant Admiral sailed from Bombay,
for Portsmouth, and, soon after, placed his country under still
further obligations to him by the reduction of Havanna.
A succession of heavy blows was given to the French power
in India by the capture of Carical and other places, including
their great stronghold of Pondicherry, which was besieged by a
combined naval and military force under Colonel Coote and
Admiral Cornish, and, at length, capitulated on the 15th of
January, 1761, when General Lally and his garrison were made
])risoners of war. The Navy, including some of the Company's
ships, largely partici{)ated in this famous siege, and not oidy
blockaded the fort, but landed seamen frouj the fleet. During
the siege a terrible hurricane visited the coast and scattered the
blockading squadron under Admiral Stevens, vying, in the losses
it occasioned, with the destructive storm of the 2nd of October,
174(), in which the French fleet, then lying at Madras, lost three
ships-of-the-line, with twelve hundred men, and also the 'Advice
and ' Merujaid Company's ships, two of the enemy's prizes, while
'
twenty other vessels of different nationalities foundered at sea;
or as that equally terrible tempest of the 13th of April, 1741),
already mentioned, when the 'Naniur,' seventy-four guns, and
other vessels were lost, with all hands. In this storm of January,