Captain Gore was subsequently sent, with a squadron of frigates under his command, to observe the enemies’ movements; and while thus employed he deterred five Spanish line-of-battle ships and two frigates from entering the port of their ally through the Passage du Raz. The Triton afterwards accompanied Sir John B. Warren in pursuit of this Spanish squadron, the commander of which had very wisely returned to Ferrol, where his ships were lying dismantled when the British arrived in sight of them.
After Sir John B. Warren’s return to the Channel fleet, Captain Gore continued cruising in the vicinity of Ferrol, where he had the good fortune to assist at the capture of the Santa Brigida, Spanish treasure ship, an event thus described by the senior officer present on that occasion.
“Naiad, off Cape Finisterre, Oct. 19, 1799.
“My Lord,– I have great pleasure in being able to acquaint you, that the ships named in the margin,
[1] which your lordship has done me the honour to put under my orders, captured yesterday morning the Spanish frigate Santa Brigida, of 36 guns, and having on board 300 men, commanded by Don Antonio Pillou. This frigate, my Lord, in company with another called the Thetis, left Vera Cruz on the 21st August last, and I had the good fortune to fall in with them both, on the evening of the 16th instant, in lat. 44° 1' N. long. 12° 35' W. the Naiad then a single ship, and to which I immediately gave chase. Before midnight, I discovered them to be vessels belonging to the enemy, and was joined by the Ethalion; when the day broke, I was also joined by the Alcmene, and the Triton was discovered far astern: still, owing to the superior sailing of the latter ship, after a chase which lasted 32 hours, I set myself down as indebted for a most valuable capture. The two frigates, at 7 A.M., perceiving themselves not in a state to withstand our united force, took different routes, upon which I made the Ethalion’s signals to pass the sternmost ship of the enemy, as she at that time took the lead in point of sailing, and stand for and engage the headmost frigate; which was obeyed with such alacrity by Captain Young, that I make no doubt but she has experienced a similar fate to her companion
[2]; but as the Santa Brigida made a determinate push on the southern course, a separation of course took place. The latter frigate of the enemy having rounded Cape Finisterre on the morning of the 18th, her commander shoved so very close to the rocks of Monte Lora, that the Triton, then first in pursuit. Captain Gore, being regardless of every
