Boscawen, the Namur “came very near three or four of
them where we were warmly engaged on both sides for
about three-quarters of an hour. We then shot ahead
and about half past four engaged the Sérieux [the French
flagship].” The English victory of 3 May 1747 was a se-
vere blow to the French; for his part in this battle, Anson
was raised to first lord of the Admiralty and to the peer-
age as Baron Anson.
Boscawen, shot in the shoulder during the fight,
was promoted to rear admiral and placed in command
of a fleet sent to India. He was warned before arriving
there that the French had constructed defenses at Pon-
dicherry. Due to faulty intelligence, his initial attack
in August 1748 suffered numerous casualties, and the
onset of bad weather forced him to withdraw. Although
a peace treaty had been negotiated between Britain and
France before the battle, Boscawen received orders to re-
main on station until the peace terms were implemented
and he formally accepted control of Madras from the
French. On 12 April 1749, while waiting for further
word, a hurricane hit the area, sinking the Namur with
all hands on board. Boscawen, who was onshore with
some of his aides at the time, survived the disaster. He
sailed back to England on another ship, arriving in April
1750, and was named a commissioner of the Admiralty
on 22 June 1751. In February 1755 he was promoted to
the rank of vice admiral.
In 1755, relations between Britain and France once
again declined, and Boscawen, among other military
figures, prepared again for war (the Seven Years’ War,
1756–63). He was given charge of a secret mission to
intercept a French fleet sent to reinforce French forces
in Canada against the British. Commanding the war-
ship Torbay, Boscawen sailed under the command of
Lord hoWe (later Baron Howe of Langar). The three
French ships were sighted, and Howe demanded that
they surrender. The Torbay came up beside them, and
when the French resisted, Boscawen ordered that they
be fired upon. After a two-hour battle, one of the ships
escaped, but two were captured, including the Alcide.
Remarkably, Boscawen had captured the captain of this
ship, Hocquart, following the battle at Cape Finisterre
in 1747, and Hocquart had been commander of the
Medée when Boscawen had captured that ship in 1744;
so he was now taken by the British admiral for the third
time.
Given command of the 74-gun warship Invin-
cible, Boscawen joined Sir Edward haWke’s fleet off
Ushant. For a period of time, there were no battles, and
Boscawen illustrated the mood in a letter home to his
wife: “We are at this minute practising firing, it being
calm and many of the fellows hit the mark, note no-
body is firing at them.” In late July 1756, Boscawen was
given command of the 100-gun warship Royal George.
Two years later, in February 1758, he was made an ad-
miral of the blue and given command of the fleet sent to
Canada to capture the city of Louisbourg preparatory to
taking Quebec from the French. The trip took 11 weeks
due to bad weather, and the fleet arrived at the end of
May 1758. Finding the harbor blocked by the French
ships, Boscawen ordered a landing south of Louisbourg
at Gabarus Bay. In coordination with the British army,
including the commanders James Wolfe and Jeffrey
amherst, the entire French force was assaulted. This
synchronized attack led to a swift reduction in French
resistance, which by the end of June was near collapse.
Consequently, the destruction of the French ships at
Louisbourg ultimately ended the struggle. Wolfe and
Amherst wanted to move on Quebec, but Boscawen
resisted, calling attention to diminishing supplies and
inclement weather due to the lateness of the year. His in-
fluence was such that Wolfe and Amherst relented, and
the attack on Quebec was put off until 1759. Returning
to England, Boscawen stumbled upon a French ship at-
tempting to flee from the Canadian battlefront, but in a
quick action he captured the prize.
In April 1759, Boscawen sailed from England with
a new mission. Once again aboard the Namur, he was
sent to the Mediterranean, where he took command
of the fleet off Toulon to stop attempts by the French
to coordinate an invasion of England. When he sailed
into Gibraltar to pick up supplies, the French, under
Admiral de la Clue, attempted to break out of Toulon.
Boscawen followed, and the British fleet encountered
the French near Lagos, Portugal, on 17 August 1759.
When his flagship was hit, Boscawen transferred the flag
to the Newark. De la Clue tried to escape into Lagos
Bay, but two of his four remaining ships were set afire,
with de la Clue’s ship, the Ocean, running ashore. After
this signal victory, destroying and dispersing the French
fleet, Boscawen brought his squadron back, anchoring
at Spithead on 1 September 1759. His heroism at Lagos
earned him promotion to general of marines.
Returning home, Boscawen resumed his seat in
Parliament, which he had held since 1742. Although
he was a military hero, his involvement in the election boScAwen, eDwARD