Jacques François Grout de SAINT-GEORGES (1704-1763) naval officer. Autograph manuscript, [Battle of Cape Finisterre, 1747]; 3pages in-fol. The battle of Cape Finisterre in 1747 as told by an eyewitness. Account of the naval battle of Cape Finisterre, northwest of Spain, which took place on May 14, 1747, between the French squadron commanded by Jacques Pierre de Taffanel de La Jonquière and the British fleet under the command of Admiral George Anson, during the War of the Austrian Succession. Jacques François Grout de Saint-Georges (1704-1763) commanded the Invincible, a 74-gun vessel with a crew of 711: "On May 14th at half past seven in the morning, when I was 25 leagues north of the Cape of Finistere, several sails were sighted from the top of the masts on the windward side, which was then blowing from the northeast. At half past nine, seventeen of these sails were clearly visible, and at half past ten we were able to judge that there were 14 of them, and that these vessels were forcing their sails straight towards us"... At 10 a.m., La Jonquière gave the order to prepare for battle and head west-southwest. At noon, he ordered a frigate to sail southwest with the merchant ships he was escorting; at the same time, he signaled the warships to line up. At the time, L'Invincible was the aft mate of the flagship, Le Sérieux, mounted by La Jonquière. Fighting began at 3pm: "After putting the Apollon under my starboard gun, I began the fight by attacking the [British] vanguard, where the Centurion, Namur and Yarmouth were, from below, and to prevent them from gaining our head, which was the only way to save the fleet by stopping the enemy"... L'Invincible fired on these three ships and smashed their masts, but she herself was heavily damaged, as were the other ships in the squadron. The situation then became confusing: "The ships mingled in such a way that the smoke and fire barely made it possible to recognize the flags, which caused some ships to fire on their own"... The Invincible continued to defend herself, and managed to repel the Namur. Attacked at the same time by several ships, she was unable to continue the fight: "It was impossible for me to board any of them or steer them for lack of sails. Being alone on the afterguard, with no hope of help, 6 feet of water in the hold [...] and the mainmast falling onto the forecastle, the good of the State no longer required me to do anything other than save the men, I had the admiral bring me in, having fired more than 2,000 cannon shots and 10,000 rifle shots for nearly 4 hours, according to the gunners' count. The surgeon counted that we lost one hundred and thirty-five men killed or dead of their wounds after the fight, and 80 who remain wounded"... The other ships also surrendered and their crews were taken prisoner: "Gentlemen, the English captains treated us with all possible decency and politeness, especially Mr. Admiral Anson. The English are too honorable a people to make a trophy [of] a victory won with forces 4 times superior". The following is a list of the French (9) and English (17) ships that fought: names of vessels, crewmen, number of cannons, caliber of cannon. Valuable testimony from a sailor who took part in this famous battle.