BOOK VII.
1756 WE shall now relate the progress and operations of the armament sent for the recovery of the settlements in Bengal.
The fleet sailing on the 10th of October, met the currents setting so strongly from the north, that they were driven in the first twelve days after their departure, six degress of latitude to the south of Madrass; and by this time the northern monsoon, during which the wind blows from the N. w. had gathered strength. In this season the only way to get Bengal, is to steer across the bay to the shore of Tannasery and Arracan, along which the currents slacken,
and sometimes even tend to the northward; and milder weather than in the middle of the bay enables the vessel to gain the latitude of the sands at the eastern mouths of the Ganges; from whence tides help across to the road of Ballasore, and from hence assure the entrance into the river Hughley. Attempting this passage with much adverse weather, Admiral Watson, on the 10th of November, ordered the allowances of provisions and water to be retrenched. Two days after, the fire-ship, unable to stem the violence of the monsoon, bore away to Ceylon; and the Marlborough, one of the company's, sailing very heavily, was left on the 16th by the rest of the fleet, which arrived in the soundings off Point Palmeiras on the first of December. But the Cumberland and Salisbury not having kept the wind so well as the others, struck on the dangerous sand which extends several miles from that point out to sea: both, however, floated again; but the Cumberland bore away to Vizagapatam.