merci
j'ai omis de mentionner mes sources
Charnock, Clowes, Richmond y font allusion (recopie mutuelle...)
mais la citation la plus "complete" provient de Beatson
Robert Beatson, Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain, vol. I, p. 288.
"The Jersey of sixty guns, (one of Commodore Osborn'es fleet) commanded by Captain Charles Hardy, fell in with, near the Straits' mouth, the St. Esprit, a French ship of war of seventy-four guns. The Jersey engaged her from half an hour past six in the evening, till nine, when the St. Esprit bore away, and returned to Cadiz to refit, having lost her fore-mast and bowsprit, and having twenty men killed in the action. She had five merchant ships under her convoy; but these, on the commencement of the action, put back to Cadiz."
=> le 74 St Esprit escortait 5 marchands dans le detroit de gibraltar quand il tomba sur le Jersey (cpt Hardy / escadre Osborne)
combat severe de 18h30 a 21h, St Esprit perd Beaupres et Artimon et 20 tues et decroche sur Cadix, le convoi est sauf, refugie dans Cadix
?? date incertaine vers le 25-26 juillet 1745
?? aucune info sur caps suivis, vent, etat de la mer ...
c'est l'absence de source francaise qui me fait penser que le saint esprit etait peut etre en service prive, prete par le roi