Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

100 NOTABLE MEN OF WALES. fleet under Comte d'Orvilliers, on 27th July, 1778. Mr. Foley continued in the America till October, 1779, when he was appointed to the Prince George, ninety-eight guns, Rear- Admiral Digby's flag-ship, on the Channel station. On board this ship was Prince William Henry, afterwards King William IV., who had joined her as a midshipman on 15th June previously. The Prince George was attached to the Channel fleet under the orders of Sir Charles Hardy, and cruised in the Bay of Biscay until the latter end of the same year, when she accompanied Sir George Eodney to the relief of Gibraltar, the garrison of which place had long been subjected to the priva¬ tions attendant on a close blockade. On the passage to that garrison on January 8th, 1780, the British force captured a Spanish sixty-four gun ship, five frigates, and several sail of transports. To Lieutenant Foley was given the charge of one of the prizes, the San Beurto, of twenty-eight guns, to take to England. He arrived at Plymouth, and was ordered round to the Thames. On this passage, on 12th April, off Beachy Head, he fell in with the Ranger, brig of war, and the Three Sisters? armed ship, with a convoy, which were being attacked by two French frigates. Lieutenant Foley instantly joined in the fight, and the result of their united efforts was that the enemy's ships, after a conflict of several hours' duration, sheered off, much damaged in their sails and rigging. After delivering his prize to the agent, Lieutenant Foley rejoined the Prince George at Portsmouth, and was employed in the Channel fleet until the end of the year, when he was again sent to Gibraltar, then again besieged, and subsequently rejoined the Channel fleet until the month of June, 1780, when Admiral Digby was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the North American station. In November the Prince George was attached to the fleet under the orders of Sir Samuel (afterwards Lord) Hood, and sailed to the West Indies. She took part in the three actions fought by him with a superior French force under Comte de Grasse, for the protection of the Island of St. Kitt's. The Prince George also took a distinguished part in the actions of the 9th and 12th April, 1782, between the British force under the command of Sir George (afterwards Lord) Rodney, and the French fleet under Comte de Grasse. She had nine men killed, and twenty-four wounded. Lieutenant Foley was in a few months afterwards made a Commander into the Britannia, guardship at Sandy Hook, at the mouth of the New York River, from December, 1782, to March, 1783. He continued in her, cruising on the coast of North America and Canada, between New York and Quebec, until November, 1784 ; and in January, 1785, arrived at Spithead, where he remained until March. Commander Foley had the Race Horse from December, 1787y to September, 1790, cruising on the N.E. coast of England, and