An Amusing Rhyme In Connection With This Engagement Is Worth Recalling.
Supplies For Hawke's Fleet Did Not Come To Hand
For a considerable time
after they were due, and in consequence the victorious crews had to be
put on "short
Commons." Some wag - it is the way of the British sailor
to do his grumbling with a spice of humour - put the case thus: -
"Ere Hawke did bang
Monsieur Conflans,
You sent us beef and beer;
Now Monsieur's beat
We've nought to eat,
Since you have nought to fear."
An interesting coincidence must also be noted. Thirty-five years later,
only a few leagues from the place where Laperouse first learnt
what it meant to fight the British on the sea, another young officer
who was afterwards greatly concerned with Australasian exploration had
his introduction to naval warfare. It was in 1794 that Midshipman
Matthew Flinders, on the BELLEROPHON, Captain Pasley, played his
valiant little part in a great fleet action off Brest. Both of these
youths, whose longing was for exploration and discovery, and who are
remembered by mankind in that connection, were cradled on the sea
amidst the smoke and flame of battle, both in the same waters.
During the next twenty-five years Laperouse saw a considerable amount
of fighting in the East and West Indies, and in Canadian waters. He was
commander of the AMAZON, under D'Estaing, during a period when events
did not shape themselves very gloriously for British arms, not because
our admirals had lost their skill and nerve, or our seamen their grit
and courage, but because Governments at home muddled, squabbled,
starved the navy, misunderstood the problem, and generally made a mess
of things.
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