COMBINED FRENCH & SPANISH FLEETS THREATEN THE COUNTRY

The following account is taken from the writings of Henry Boase (1763-1827).
In 1782 he went on horseback to Plymouth on business. Plymouth had hardly yet recovered from the panic occasioned by the combined fleets of France and Spain, which had menaced its destruction three years before, in the month of August 1779.
"Of that alarm I have still a vivid recollection, caused probably by the violence of the original impression, when the enemy with apparently an overwhelming force was in sight. Early one beautiful morning the alarm was given that the grand fleet of England, chased by the combined fleets of France and Spain was off the Western Coast. Everybody ran to the hills, from which could be seen at once the British fleet, under Sir Charles Hardy, 38 ships of the line and a very few frigates, crowding sail to the eastward, and leisurely pursued by the combined fleet under Count D'Orvilliers, composed of about 70 ships of the line, with a cloud of frigates and smaller vessels. The day was nearly calm, with now and then a little breeze to the northward, so that for the long space of a summer's day the Mount's Bay exhibited the uncommon scene, first, of more than 100 ships of the line assembled, and secondly, of the British Channel fleet flying before the enemy. With the close of the day we lost sight of the fleet off the Lizard, and the second day after, the enemy paraded triumphantly before Plymouth, whence he drew off on the third night, alarmed by a threatening storm with heavy thunder from the south-east. I was told at Plymouth that a single ship might have silenced all the batteries, so wretchedly unprepared were they to sustain any attack."
Henry's grandson, George Clement Boase, made the following comment regarding his grandfather's observations:
"The impression that the British fleet was flying before the enemy seems to have been quite erroneous. The British fleet was not present, and the spectators only saw the combined fleets of France and Spain."