Nothing of consequence had been lately achieved by the naval force of England. When the conspiracy was first discovered, sir George Rooke had received orders to return from Cadiz, and he arrived in the latter end of April. While he took his place at the board of admiralty, lord Berkeley succeeded to the command of the fleet, and in the month of June set sail towards Ushant in order to insult the coast of France. He pillaged and burned the villages on the islands Grouais, Houat, and Hey die; made prize of about twenty vessels; bombarded St. Martin’s on the isle of EhÉ, and the town of Olonne, which was set on fire in fifteen different places with the shells and carcasses. Though these appear to have been enterprises of small import, they certainly kept the whole coast of France in perpetual alarm. The ministry of that kingdom were so much afraid of invasion, that between Brest and Goulet they ordered above one hundred batteries to be erected, and above sixty thousand men were continually in arms for the defence of the maritime places. In the month of May rear-admiral Benbow sailed with a small squadron in order to block up Du Bart in the harbour of Dunkirk; but that famous adventurer found means to escape in a fog, and steering to the eastward attacked the Dutch fleet in the Baltic under a convoy of five frigates. These last he took, together with half the number of the trading ships; but falling in with the outward bound fleet convoyed by thirteen ships of the line, he was obliged to burn four of the frigates, turn the fifth adrift, and part with all his prizes except fifteen, which he carried into Dunkirk.