La Forte was wrecked in the Red Sea about June 1801; but fortunately her crew were saved. Captain Hardyman
climate of Africa, whilst employed in exploring the river Congo, in Sept. 1816, was a volunteer on board the Sybille; and in a letter which he wrote on the occasion of la Forte’s capture, stated the force of the combatants, and their respective loss, as follows: British 44 guns, and 370 men; French 52 guns, and 420 men. The Sybille 5 killed and 17 wounded; la Forte 81 killed and 93 wounded. Lieutenant Hardyman, who succeeded to the command in consequence of his gallant commander being dangerously wounded, says, " The scene which presented itself on la Forte’s deck was shocking; the number she had killed cannot be accurately ascertained, as many had been thrown overboard during the action; but from every calculation I have been able to make, the number killed must be from 150 to 160 men, and 70 wounded; the first and second Captain, the first Lieutenant, with several other officers, are among the number killed. The Sybille had only 3 men killed and 19 wounded, 2 of whom afterwards died.”
The Sybille’s complement having been much reduced by deaths, and debilitated by severe illness contracted at Calcutta in the preceding year, a company of the Scotch brigade had been embarked by order of the Governor-General; a party of men belonging to the Fox frigate also joined her as volunteers at Madras, and, together with some military officers passengers, probably made up the number said by Captain Tuckey to have been in the action; but it should be remembered, that most of her old and valuable crew were in a weak state of convalescence. The prisoners landed at Calcutta were 340 in number, from which we conclude Captain Tuckey did not assign the French ship a weaker crew than she actually had on board at the commencement of the battle. Schomberg, whose errors are very numerous, gives her 700 men. The Sybille had long eighteens on her main-deck; la Forte mounted 24-pounders. Captain Cooke lingered under the painful effects of his wound till the 23d May, when he expired at Calcutta, beloved and respected by all who knew him. The following garrison-orders were given out by the Deputy-Governor, previous to the funeral, in which is a just panegyric to his character:
“Captain Cooke, of his Majesty’s ship the Sybille, after a painful and lingering illness, in the course of which the ardent hopes of the settlement were sanguinely fixed on his recovery, having expired this morning, in consequence of the wound he received in the action with the Freni-h national frigate la Forte; it is the painful duty of the Deputy-Governor to order the last tribute of military honors to be paid to the remains of that gallant officer, by whose premature death in the defence of the interests of the British nation in general, aud of the East India Company in particular, our gracious Sovereign has lost a zealous, brave, and active officer, whose intrepid and skilful conduct in a contest with a vessel of far superior force, has added another glorious triumph to the many obtained this war by the
