ii^Efv|S^r YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Bought with the income ofthe ALFRED E. PERKINS FUND THE NAVAL HISTORY GREAT BRITAIN, THE NAVAL HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, FROM THE DECLARATION OF WAR BY FRANCE IN 1793, TO THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE IV. BY WILLIAM JAMES. A NEW EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS AND NOTES, AN ACCOUNT OF THE BURMESE WAR AND THE BATTLE OF NAVARINO, BY CAPTAIN CHAMIER, R.N. VERITE SANS PEUll. IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. V. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. Publtobci in ©rtimarp to S)ig ;Ptajestp. 1837. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND. CONTENTS. VOL. V. 1808. British and French fleets, 1 — State ofthe British navy, ibid.— -State ofthe French navy, 2 — Escape of the Rochefort squadron, 3 — Admiral Ganteaume in the Mediterranean, 4 — Lord Collingwqod and Admiral Ganteaume, 7 — Revolution in Spain, 9 — Capture of French ship in Cadiz, 10 — Peace between England and Spain, ibid. — Convention of Cintra, 11 — State of northern navies, ibid.— War between Russia and England, ibid. — Anglo-swedish and Russian fleets, 12 — Sir Samuel Hood and Admiral Haniekoff, 13 — Capture and destruction ofthe Sewolod, 16 — Sir James Saumarez off Rogers- wick, ibid. — Spanish patriots in Zealand, 17 — Rear-admiral Keats at Nyborg, ibid. — Light squadrons and single ships, 19 — Linnet and Courier, ibid. — r-Deconnerte and two French privateers, ibid. — Same and Dorade, ibid. — Boats of Meleager off San-Jago de Cuba, 20 — Boat of Confiance off the Tagus, ibid.- — Sappho and AdmiialrYawl, 2 1 — San-Fiorenze and Piemontaise, ibid. — Boats of Emerald at Vivero, 24 — Aigle with Italienne and Seine, 26 — Childers and Lougen, 28 — Seagull with Lougen and consorts, 30 — Stately and Nassau with Prindts-Christian-rFrederic, 31 — Boats of Daphne and Tartarus at Flodstrand, 32 — Boats of Falcon at Endelan, 33 — Swan and Danish gutter, ibid.-^Boats of the Tartar at North Bergen, 34— Vjrginie and Guelderland, 36— Boats of the Alceste and squadron off Rota, 37— Grass hopper and Spanish gun-boats, ibid. — Boats of Nymphe and Blossom in the Tagus, 38^Grasshopper and Rapid with Spanish gun-boats, 40^-Gore'e with Palinure and Pilade, 41^Superieure and same,ihid.-^Camation and Palinure, 42 — Boats of the Heureux at Mahaut, 44- — Remarks on the 4-gun schooners, 46 —British schooners and French privateers, ibid. — Redwing and Spanish gun boats, 47 — Wizard and Requin, 48 — Capture of Griffon, 51— Unite and Ronco, 52- — Capture of Nettune and Teulie\ ibid.^Arpphion and Baleine, 53 — Boats of Porcupine off Civita-Vecchia and Monte-Ghcello, 54 — Same at PJanosa, &c, 55-^Boats of Standard off Corfu, 56™.Seahorse and Badere- voL. v. b vi CONTENTS. Zaffer, SQ— Pitt and Semillante, 63-Cornwallis and S6™nf}e>™Z Dedargneuse and Semillante, 66-Terpsichore and Sem.llan te, j B^-^amel and Canonniere, 70-British convoys and Danish Bun-boats, 7^-UMt. ot Euryalus and consorts capture gun-boats, ibid.-The Danes capture Turbulent and Tigress gun-brigs, 75-Africa and Danish gun-boats, 76-Comet w th Sylphe and consorts^V-Recruit and Diligente, 78-Mar.a »"<* D^parte- ment-des-Landes, 80-Amethyst and Thetis, 81 -Destruction of the Cigne, 87— Boats of Kent and Wizard at Noli, ibid.-Lord Cochrane on coast ot Languedor, 89-B.itish at Fort Trinidad, 90-Colonial expeditions, West Indies, 91— Capture of Mariegalante, ibid.— Also of Desirade, 92— Unsuccessful attack upon St.-Martin, ibid. 1809. British and French fleets, 93— State of the British navy, ibid— Commodore Beresford and M. Willaumez, 95— Destruction of French vessels at Sable d'Olonne, 97— Lord Gambier at Basque roads, 99— Capture of Anholt,130— Expedition to the Scheldt, ibid.— Lord Collingwood and M. Ganteaume, 142 —Rear-admirals Martin and Baudin, ibid.— Lieutenant Tailourin the bay of Rosas, 145— Surrender of Zante, &c. 146— Light squadrons and single ships, ibid. — Onyx and Manly, ibid. — Capture of Iris and Heb6, 147 — Cleopatra and Topaze, 148 — Horatio and consorts with Junon, 150 — Boats of Amphiron at Melida, 153— Capture of the Var, 154— Proserpine with Penelope and Pauline, ibid.— Boats of Arethusa at Lequito, 156 — Amethyst and Niemen, 157— Capture of the d'Haupoult, 164— Intrepid with Furieuse and Felicifc*, 165— Capture of Felicite by Latona, 166 — Bonne-Citoyenne and Furieuse, ibid. — Goldfinch and Mouche, 169 — Boats of Spartan, Am- phion, &c. off Pizaro, ibid. — Boats of Spartan and Mercury at Cesenatico, 170 — Boats of Sconk off Cape Croiselte, and at Carri, 171— Topaze with Danae" and Flore, 172 — Boats of Topaze at Demata, 173 — Pomone and Lucien- Charles, ibid. — Cyane and C6res, 175 — Boats of Excellent and squadron at Duin, 176 — Boats of Amphion at , Cortelazzo, 177— Boats of Mercury at Rovigno and al Rotti, 178 — Same at Barletta, ibid. — Boats of Melpomene at Huilbo, 179 — Boats of Tartar on coast of Courland, ibid. — Melpomene and Danish gun-boats, ibid. — Boats of Bellerophon at Hango, 180 — Boats of Implacable off Porcola, ibid. — Captain Forrest and Russian gun-boats at Fredericksham, 182 — Boats of Lynx and Monkey off Dais head, ibid. — Diana and Zephyr, 183 — Boats of Hazard and Pelorus at Sainte-Marie, 184 ¦ — Boats of Thetis and consorts at the Hayes, 185 — Capture of Nisus, 186 — Also of Bearnais and Papillon, ibid. — Junon with Renommee and consorts, 187 — British Indiamen and French frigates, 193 — Destruction of a nest of pirates, 204 — Colonial expedtiions, Coast of Africa, ibid. — Capture of Senegal, 205 — West Indies, 206— Capture of Martinique, 209— South America, 210 — Capture of Cayenne, 212. 1810. British and French fleets, 214 — State of the British navy, ibid. — Sweden declares war, 215- — Death of Lord Collingwood, ibid. — Captain Eyre at St. Maura, (216— Captain Blackwood offToulon, 217— Captain Halliday off Toulon, 220 — Light squadrons and single ships, 221 —Cherokee and French luggers, ibid. — Scorpion and Oreste, ibid. — Boats of Freija at Mahaut, 323 — Thistle and Havik, 325 — Rainbow and Avon with Ner&de, 227 — Boats of Christian VII. &c. in Basque roads, 230 — Capture of Canon niere frigate, 231 — Horatio and Necessity, ibid. — Unicorn and Esperance ibid. — Tribune and four Danish brigs, 232 — Boats of Belvidera and Nemesis near Strudtland, ibid. — Queen-Charlotte and Indomptable, 233 Boats of Surveillante at the Morbitran, 234 — Also at the river Crache, ibid. — Boats of CONTENTS. vii Caledonia and squadron in Basque roads, 235 — Boats of Dreadnaught at Ustrant, 236 — Briseis and Sans-Souci, 237 — Calliope and Comtesse d'Ham- bourgj ibid. — Orestes and Loup-Garou, ibid. — Boats of Quebec in- the Vlie, 238 — Diana and Niobe with Amazone and Eliza, 239 — Phipps and Barbier- de-Seville, 241— Rosario and Mamelouck, 242 — Entreprenante and four French privateers, ibid. — Rinaldo and Mirandeur, 243 — Same with Vielle- Josephine and consorts, 244 — Boats of Success at Castiglione, 245 — Boats of Spartan and Success at Terreino, ibid. — Spartan with Ce>es and consorts, 247 — Boats of Alceste at Agaye, 250 — Boats of Amphion and Cerberus at Groa, 251 — Captain Hoste and Commodore Dubourdieu, 253 — Boats of Thames and consorts at Amanthe, 257 — Captain Hall at Barbate, 258 — Boats of Blossom offCape Sicie, ibid. — Captain Fane at Paramos, 25Q — Sylvia and armed prows, 260 — British Indiamen and French frigates, 262 — Captain Willoughby at Jacolet, 267 — Capture of Isle Bourbon, 272 — Capture of Isle de la Passe, 275— Captain Willoughby at Pointe du Diable, 277 — Same at Isle de la Passe, 279 — Captain Pym at Grand-Port, 233 — Boadicea with Venus and Manche, 296 — Africaine with Iphigenie and Astree, 300 — Ceylon and Venus, 307 — Colonial expeditions, West Indies, 313 — Capture of Guadaloupe,314 — Capture of St.-Martin, ibid.— East Indies, ibid. — Capture of Amboyna, 315 — Capture of Banda-Neira, 323 — Capture of the Isle of France, 326. 1811. British and French fleets, 327 — State of the British navy, ibid. — Sir Edward Pellew and M. Emeriau, 328 — Light squadrons and single ships, 332 — Destruction of Amazone, ibid. — Scylla and Canonnier, 333 — Diana and Semiramis in the Gironde, ibid. — Hawk and French convoy, 335 — Barbadoes and Goshawk with French gun-brigs, 336— Rinaldo and Redpole with Boulogne flotilla, 337 — Naiad and Boulogne flotilla, 338 — Capture of the Ville-de-Lyon, 339 — Boats of Quebec and consorts on coast of East- Friesland, 340 — Defence of Anholt, 342 — Brevdrageren with Langland and consorts, 345 — Manly with Loland and consort?, 347 — Loss ofthe St.-George, Defence, and Hero, 349 — Boats of Active and Cerberus at Pescaro and Ortona, 350 — Action off Lissa, 351— Destruction of Giraffe and Nourrice, 362 — Belle-Poule and Alceste at Parenza,' 363 — Alacrity and Abelle, 365— Guadaloupe with Factique and Goepe, 369— Boats of Unite at Port Hercule, 370 — Boats of same and Cephalus on Roman coast, 371 — Boats of Thamel and Cephalus at Porto del Infreschi, ibid. — Boats of Active at Ragosniza, ibid. — Boats of Pilot at Strongoli, 372— Boats of Imperieuse at Possitano, 373 — Boats of same and Thames at Palinuro, ibid. — Capture of the Coiceyre, 375 — Alceste and Active with Pauline and consorts, 376 — Boats of Sabine at Sabiona, 380. DIAGRAMS. Page Action of the Seahorse and Badere-Zaffer ....»• 61 „ Amethyst and TheHis 83 „ Amethyst and Niemen • 159 „ Spartan with Ceres and consorts, commencement of action 248 „ Its termination 249 Action off lissa. Grounding of Favorite 353 Retreat of Corona, Danae, &c. . 356 Capture of Bellone and escape of Flore after surrender . . . 354 NAVAL HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. Th e number of line-of-battle ships, in commission as cruisers at the date of the Abstract for the present year,* has attained an amount not previously equalled, nor subsequently exceeded. This abstract also exhibits, in its larger line total, the greatest number of line-of-battle ships to be found in the same compartment of any other abstract of the series ; and among the ships are 19 of that fine class, the N or middling sized 74, exclusive of 16 other ships of the same class, that remained unfinished of those which had been ordered in antecedent years. The number of national prizes, purchased into the service during the year 1807, will be found to be nearly double that of any other year within the limits of this work ; f and the casualty-column on the Decrease side displays a total, greater by a trifle than has appeared, or than, probably, will again appear. Of the 38 British vessels so lost, no fewer than 29 foundered at sea or were wrecked ; and, unhappily, a great proportion of their crews perished with them. The number of commissioned officers and masters, belonging to the British navy at the commencement ofthe year 1808, was, Admirals » • • • 48 Vice-admirals .... 55 Rear-admirals .... 58 }> superannuated 31 Post-captains .... . 700 j» „ 27 Commanders, or sloop-captains . 501 » superannuated 49 Lieutenants » • • • . 2912 Masters • • • • . 549 * See Appendix, Annual Abstract No. 16. •j- See Appendix, Nos. 1, 2, and 8. VOL. V. B 2 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1808. And the number of seamen and marines, voted for the service of the same year, was 130,000.* _ , , , A new era was commencing in the navy of France, buchnaa been Napoleon's exertions since the disastrous affair of Iratalgar, that the spring of this year saw him possessed of upwards ot 80 sail ofthe line, including 20 recently ordered to be laid down at Antwerp, Brest, Lorient, Toulon, and other ports. In Brest a squadron of eight sail of the line and four frigates was, m the course of the summer, got ready for sea, and only remained in port because unable to elude the vigilance of the Channel/fleet Under Admiral Lord Gambier, who, since March, had succeeded to the command of it. Early in the year, as will be presently more fully noticed, a French squadron of six sail of the line sailed from the road of Isle d'Aix, and large and powerful frigates were occasionally slipping out of other ports along the French Channel and Atlantic frontier. Of the minor parts of France, Cherbourg was fast rising into importance : the basin there constructing, and nearly finished, would, in a year or two, it was expected, be capable of holding a fleet, of line-of-haitle ships. It had long been a celebrated port for frigates, , and several very fine and powerful ones had sailed from, and wexe constructing within it. The five French sail of the line and one frigate, so long shut up in the harbour of Cadiz, met a peculiar fete ; a fate that was the opening scene of a most interesting era in the annals of freedom, and of which we shall presently give some account. The French Mediterranean ports were again becoming objects of enticement to British squadrons. Toulon, Venice, and even Spezzia, were in full activity. In the former port a ship of 120 guns, the Commerce-de-Paris, and another of 80, the Robuste, had recently been launched ; and a new 74, the Genois, had arrived there from Genoa. These, with the Boree and AnnibajL 74s already in the road, made five sail of the line. There were also three or four line-of-battle ships on the stocks, two of which, one a three-decker, were nearly ready for launching. At Genoa a 74, the Breslaw, was expected to be launched in the autumn, and one or two others were building at Venice; and, in the language of the Expose, Spezzia would soon be a second Toulon. To the five French sail of the line already at anchor in the last- named port, and which were under the command of Vice-admiral Ganteaume* five others were added in the course of the spring. "Whence these came we will proceed to relate j but how it hap pened that they escaped the numerous British cruisers scattered over the ocean, is not so easily to be explained. The British squadron, which, towards the end of the year 1807, was stationed off Rochefort to watch the motions of the French squadron at anchor in Aix road, was composed of seven * See Appendix, No. 4,. 1808. ESCAPE OF THE ROCHEFORT SQUADRON. 3 sail of the line under the command of Rear-admiral Sir Richard John Strachan in the Caesar. In order the better to enforce the blockade, Sir Richard anchored his ships in Basque roads. On the 29th of November, being short of provisions, the squadron weighed and stood to the offing, in the hope of falling in with some victuallers, which Sir Richard had appointed to meet him at the distance of 10 or 12 leagues south-west of Roche Bonne. Being driven by strong north-east gales rather beyond the ren dezvous, and some delay having occurred in the departure of the victuallers from England, the squadron did not get its wants supplied before the 12th of January ; nor was it until the 18th that the state of the weather would permit the Mediator to be cleared, and the provisions which she had brought out to be divided among the ships. In the interim some important occurrences had happened in the port, the entrance to which Sir Richard Strachan's squadron had thus been compelled to leave unguarded. On the 4th of January the French 74-gun ship Patriote, Captain Joseph-Hya- cinthe-Isidore Khrom, from Chesapeake bay, as recently as the 16th of December, had anchored in the road of Isle d'Aix ; and on the 17th of January, at 8 A. m., Rear-admiral Allemand, ob serving that only a frigate and a brig cruised off the port, took advantage of a moderate breeze at north-east by north, and put to sea with the 120 gun-ship Majestueux, 74 gun-ships Ajax (newly launched), Jemmappes, Lion, Magnanime, and Suffren, one frigate, and one brig-corvette. The British frigate off the port, which was the Phcenix, Captain Zachary Mudge, lay to about 20 minutes to watch the motions of the French ships ; when, finding that the latter were in chase of her, she signalled the 18-gun brig-sloop Raleigh, Captain Joseph Ore Masefield, to close, and made all sail west by north. At 11 a.m. the Phcenix lost sight of the French squadron, and at noon despatched the Raleigh to England with the intelligence. On the 19th, while in search of Sir Richard's squadron, the frigate fell in with the Attack gun-brig, Lieutenant Thomas Swain, and communicated to her the important in formation. On the 20th the Phcenix reconnoitred Isle d'Yeu, and discovered lying in the road one line-of-battle ship, partially rigged, and three brigs, two of which appeared ready for sea : she then steered for England, and on the 24th anchored in Cawsand bay. It was only on the day previous to the arrival of the Phcenix in England, that the Attack succeeded in finding Sir Richard Strachan ; who was then about 50 miles south-west of Chasseron lighthouse, striving his -utmost against a strong north-east wind to regain his station. Scarcely had the squadron made sail in the direction of Cape Finisterre ere the wind shifted to the westward, from which quarter it blew a tempest during several successive days. The loss of the Cassar's main b2 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1808. yard was, however, the principal damage sustained by the squadron ; and on the 29th Sir Richard took as a substitute the main yard of the Donegal, who being leaky^ and very short ot provisions, had been ordered to proceed to England. This left with the rear-admiral the Gun-ship 80 Cajsar . . f Spartiate . j Colossus . 74<{ Cumberland | Renown LSuperb t .. C Rear-ad. (b.) Sir R. John Strachan, Bart. K.B. \ Captain Charles Richardson. Sir Francis Laforey, Bart. „ James Nicoll Morris. „ Honourable Philip Wodehouse. „ Samuel Jackson. „ Thomas Alexander, acting. The squadron was unable to clear the bay until the 1st or 2d of February, when Sir Richard crowded sail towards the Straits Of Gibraltar, rightly judging that to have been the course steered by the French admiral. On the 4th the rear-admiral spoke Sir Richard King's squadronoffFerrol, consisting, with the Achille, of the 74s Audacious, Captain Thomas Le Marchant Gosselyn, and Theseus, Captain John Poer Beresford ; and on the 9th. spoke the fleet of Rear-admiral Purvis off Cadiz. On the 10th the squadron passed the rock of Gibraltar, and on the 21st, anchored in Palermo bay, there joining the Gun-ship 100 Royal Sovereign. { £^ J^S?"^ 98 Formidable .... „ Francis Fayerman. C Eagle ...... „ Charles Rowley. 74 1 Kent „ Thomas Rogers. ( Thunderer .... „ John Talbot. The bad weather, of which Sir Richard Strachan had to com plain in the bay of Biscay, had assailed with equal if not greater violence the squadron of M. Allemand. The latter, in conse quence, had been obliged to send back to Rochefort one of his ships, the Jemmappes, in a crippled state. With his remaining five sail of the line, the French admiral continued his voyage to the Mediterranean. Passing the Straits on the night of the 26th, unseen from the rock, or, it is believed, by any British cruiser, M. Ganteaume, on the 6th of February, anchored in the road of Toulon, having chased from before the port the 38- fun frigate Apollo, Captain Edward Fellowes, and destroyed, uring the 20 days' passage, one Portuguese and six English merchant vessels ; none of them, however, of any great value. On the 7th Admiral Ganteaume sailed out of the harbour with a fleet composed of 10 sail of the line, three frigates, two corvettes, and seven armed transports of 800 tons each, havino- on board troops, ordnance stores, and provisions. On the 23d the fleet arrived off the island of Corfu. The admiral imme diately sent detachments of his smaller vessels to Taranto 1808. ADMIRAL GANTEAUME IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. 5 Jacente, Brindisi, and other adjacent ports, to afford protection to the trade and bring the vessels to Corfu; where, in the mean time. Vice-admiral Ganteaume landed his troops, stores, and .provisions. While lying at Corfu, the fleet experienced very stormy weather; from which the Commerce-de-Paris suffered so much in her masts, that the vice-admiral shifted his flag to Magnanime, and leaving the former ship to be repaired, sailed on the 25th with his remaining nine sail of the line and frigates. He ran down to the latitude of Sicily ; thence through the dif ferent passages between Zante and the other Ionian islands, and on the 15th of March returned to Corfu. On the 23d, the day on which the French admiral arrived at Corfu, he was fallen in with by the British 22-gun ship Porcu pine, Captain the Honourable Henry Duncan, then on her way to join the 64-gun ship Standard, Captain Thomas Harvey, sta tioned off Corfu. Having, at the great risk of capture by one of the 74s, staid until he had clearly ascertained that the ships were enemies, Captain Duncan made sail to join Lord Colling wood at Syracuse. On the 24th at noon, the Porcupine fell in with the 38-gun frigate Active, Captain Richard Hussey Mou- bray ; who, knowing that the Standard had goHe to the admiral, took the Porcupine under his orders, and stood back to look after the French fleet. From the 26th of February to the 13th of March, amidst some severe gales of wind, the Active and Porcupine kept company with M. Ganteaume's fleet; and, for several successive days, the Porcupine alone performed this bold and perilous service. •On the 16th, the day after the admiral's return to Corfu, having rehoisted his flag on board the Commerce-de-Paris, M. Ganteaume again set sail with his whole fleet : he ran along the coast of Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia, watched, for a part of the time, by the 38-gun frigate Spartan, Captain Jahleel Brenton, and on the 3 0th of April reanchored in the road of Toulon. Since the 23d of February the Spartan, accompanied by the 40- gun frigate Lavinia, Captain John Hancock, had been detached to gain intelligence respecting the Rochefort squadron, by Vice- admiral Thornborough, just before the latter, with the 11 ships of the line in his company, weighed from Palermo, and made sail in search of Lord Collingwood. On the 3d of March, having received intelligence from a Maltese privateer of the sailing of the Toulon fleet, Captain Brenton joined Lord Collingwood off Maritimo. The vice-admiral imme diately sent the Lavinia for further intelligence, and stood with the fleet towards the bay of Naples ; whence his lordship de tached the Spartan to Palermo. On arriving at Palermo, the Spartan was ordered by Rear-admiral Martin, at anchor there with three sail of the line, to cruise between Cape Bon and Sardinia; "where," says Captain Edward Brenton, "on the 1st of April, she discovered the French fleet carrying a press of sail to get to the 6 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1808. westward. Captain (now Sir Jahleel) Brenton, placing his ship about two leagues on the weather beam of tbe French admiral, under an easy sail, watched his motions during the day; the enemy chased, but without gaining on him ; in the evening, having previously prepared his launch with a temporary deck, he hove to, and sent her under the command of Lieutenant Coffin with despatches to Trepani, then 130 miles distant. This officer narrowly escaped capture by the enemy's fleet, which, before he had got two miles from the ship, came close upon him ; he very judiciously lowered his sails and lay quiet until they had passed. He reached Trepani on the following evening, whence, despatching the launch agreeably to his orders to Malta, he'set off for Palermo, and gave the intelligence to Rear-admiral Martin. The launch reached Malta on the third day, and vessels were detached in every direction in search of the British fleet ; the enemy in the mean time continued in chase of the Spartan, dividing on opposite tacks, to take advantage of any change of wind, so frequent in the Mediterranean. Confident in the sailing qualities of his ship, the captain at night again placed himself on the weather beam of the French admiral, and at daylight made sail from him on the opposite tack, to increase the chance of falling in with the British fleet. The enemy tacked in chase : the Spartan was becalmed, whilst they were coming up with the breeze, and for a short time her capture appeared almost inevitable; but as she caught the breeze, she again took her position on the admiral's weather beam. This was the close of the third day; when a frigate was seen to run along the French line, and speak all the ships in succession : soon after the whole of them bore up, steering with the wind a-beam ; and the captain of the Spartan concluding that the French admiral had shaped bis course for the gut of Gibraltar, and had given up, the chase, steered the same way with a strong breeze at N. N. W. The night was excessively dark, and a most anxious look-out was kept^br the enemy : at half-past seven they were discovered on the lee quarter, close hauled, and very near: this was evidently a stratagem of Ganteaume's to get to windward of his enemy; but the manoeuvre failed. All hands were on deck, and at their stations ; the Spartan wore and crossed the enemy within gun shot, before they could take any advantage of their position ; the French squadron also wore in chase, and the next morning were hull down to leeward. The fourth day was passed in the same manner ; the Spartan keeping a constant and anxious look-out for the British fleet, while the enemy crowded every sail in pur suit of her ; in the evening a shift of wind brought them to windward, and the night being very squally and dark, Captain Brenton lost sight of them, &c."* • Upon his return to Toulon, as we have stated, on the 10th of * Brenton, vol. ir., p. 239. LORD COLLINGWOOD & ADMIRAL GANTEAUME. 7 April, M. Ganteaume found an accession to his force in two fine frigates, the Penelope and Themis, which had arrived since the 28th of the preceding month. These frigates had escaped from the road of Bordeaux on the 21st of January, cruised off Madeira. and the African coast until the middle of March, passed the Straits on the 17th, anchored at Ajaccio on the 23d, and sailed thence on the 26th for Toulon ; having captured or destroyed British vessels to the alleged value of six millions of francs, in cluding four or five straggling West-Indiamen from a home- waard-bound convoy under the protection of the British frigate Franchise. What the British admiral was about, to suffer a French fleet to traverse the Mediterranean in all directions, and to possess a whole month's command of the Adriatic, has been a question often asked. Our researches have enabled us to collect a few facts, that may throw some, although a very faint, light upon tiie subject. When the French fleet, on its way to Corfu, was rounding Cape Passaro, Lord Collingwood, with the following five sail of the line, was at anchor in the port of Syracuse : Can-ship os n 5 Vice-admiral (r.) Lord Collingwood. ° ucean- " \ Captain Richard Thomas. ^ Canrm « 5 Rear-admiral (b.) George Martin. 80 ¦S ( Captain Charles Ingh's. (Malta „ William Shield. _, f Repulse „ Hon. Arthur Kaye Legge. £ Montagu... , Robert Waller Otway. On the 24th of February, the day after M. Ganteaume had arrived at Corfu, the British admiral, with the Ocean, Canopus, Malta, and Montagu, sailed from Syracuse, bound to Palermo. On that very evening a line-of-battle ship was seen standing into Syracuse from the eastward. This was the Standard, from off Corfu, with the important intelligence that the French fleet was in that neighbourhood. Unfortunately the Standard could not see Lord Collingwood's squadron under the land ; and, still more unfortunately, his lordship could not be persuaded, that there was the least necessity for communicating with Captain Harvey. The Standard entered Syracuse in the dark, and was unable, owing to the state of the wind, to sail out again for two or three days. Immediately on the 64's arrival, Captain Legge, who, as we have seen, had been left in the port, sent an express to Cape Passaro, but the admiral had passed to the westward. ¦ On the 2d of March, when about 11 leagues to the north westward of the island of Maritimo, Lord Collingwood was joined by Vice-admiral Thornborough and Rear-admiral Sir Richard Strachan. This reinforcement augmented his lordship's force to 15 sail of the line and two or three frigates. On the next day the British fleet steered towards Palermo, still without any knowledge that the French Toulon fleet was even at sea, 8 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. I808' On the 6th, when off Cape St.-Vito, Lord Collingwood was joined by the Apollo, with the intelligence of M. Ganteaume s departure from Toulon a month back. The British fleet im mediately stood across to the bay of Naples ; where the Stand ard's intelligence at length reached Lord Collingwood;: who thereupon stood back to the southward ; but, instead of pro ceeding through the straits of Messina, his lordship sailed round the west end of Sicily. On the 21st Lord Collingwood arrived off the harbour of Syracuse, and such of the ships as were in want of water went jn and obtained it. On the next day, the 22d, the British fleet sailed towards the entrance of the Adriatic ; and on the 23d, having detached Rear-admiral Martin with three sail of the line to Palermo, Lord Collingwood was a few miles to the northward of Cape Spartivento, with 12, expecting every moment to meet Vice-admiral Ganteaume on his way from Corfu and Taranto.* On the 28th, by which time the British fleet had got within a few miles of Cape Rezzuto, information was received, that the French fleet, eight or nine days before, had quitted the Adriatic for the Mediterranean. The British ships immediately turned their heads to the westward, and on the 10th of April were abreast of the southern extremity of Sardinia. Between this island and Sicily Lord Collingwood cruised until the 28th ; when the 32-gun frigate Proserpine, Captain Charles Otter, joined with intelligence that M. Ganteaume was at anchor with his fleet in the road of Toulon. The British fleet then steered for that port, and on the 3d of May arrived off Cape Sicie. It was certainly a very extraordinary circumstance that these fleets should have so missed each other. On the 16th of March, when M. Ganteaume sailed from Corfu, Lord Colling wood was about a degree to the northward of the island of Pantalaria. From these points the two fleets continued to approach each other, until the British fleet, directing its course for Syracuse, entered the bight formed by the capes Passaro and Spartivento, while the French fleet stood over to the coast of Tripoli, and, passing wide of the island of Malta, made Cape Bon. The time subsequently spent by M. Ganteaume, in cruising off Sicily and the eastern coast of Sardinia, might yet have been taken advantage of, had the British admiral steered straight for Toulon ; but, six days after M. Ganteaume had anchored in that road, we find Lord Collingwood putting back from the longitude of Minorca, to seek him on the coast of Sicily : nor was it until 17 days afterwards that the British fleet arrived off Cape Sicie. Leaving Vice-admiral Thornborough with a sufficient force to * As appears by a general order respecting the mode of attack to be adopted; which. Lord Collingwood issued on that day; and, for a copy of ¦which, see Appendix, No. 5. 1808. REVOLUTION IN SPAIN. 9 blockade Toulon, Lord Collingwood sailed for Gibraltar and Cadiz, to contribute his aid to the cause of the Spanish patriots. It does not appear that M. Ganteaume, during the remainder of the year, did more than make a few demonstrations of sailing out, and yet the French naval force in the Mediterranean was rapidly augmenting. A three-decker, the Austerlitz, and an 80, the Donawerth, were launched at Toulon in the summer ; as in the course of the autumn, was the Breslaw 74 at Genoa, and one or two other 74s, either in that port or in Spezzia. The British squadron stationed at Palermo consisted, in the latter part of the year 1807, of the 98-gun ship Windsor- Castle, Captain Charles Boyles, and the 74-gun ships Eagle, Captain Charles Rowley, and Thunderer, Captain John Talbot, together with a few frigates and smaller vessels. The success of General Regnier in Lower Calabria obliged the British and Neapolitan troops, composing the garrison of Reggio, to abandon that fortress and retire upon Scylla. On the 30th of January, 1808, the 16-gun brig-sloop Delight, Captain Philip Cosby Handfield, one of the above squadron, while engaged in en deavouring to recapture four Sicilian gun-boats which General Regnier had a few days before taken, grounded under the bat teries of Reggio. Captain Handfield, a very promising young officer, whose name has before appeared in these pages, was killed ; and Captain Thomas Secombe, of the Glatton, who was serving on board the brig, was mortally wounded and taken prisoner. The Delight was, however, of no use to the enemy, having been burnt by the survivors of her crew. : On the 17th of February the little fortress of Scylla, the only remaining post possessed by the British in Lower Calabria, was evacuated by the commandant, Lieutenant-colonel Robertson; and the garrison, of whom not more than 200 were British troops, was safely withdrawn from the power of General Regnier by the able management of Captain Robert Waller Otway, of the 74-gun ship Montagu, and Captain George Trollope, of the 16-gun brig-sloop Electra, with the assistance of a few transports and men-of-war launches. The degrading situation, to which, at the commencement of the present year, Spain had been reduced by the arts of Na poleon, is an historical fact too notorious to require repetition. At length the Spanish character recovered its tone ; and, by her struggles to free herself from the yoke of her powerful neigh bour, Spain found a friend in every independent breast through out the civilized world. It was to England in particular that Spain looked for support, and that support England gave, in the most cordial, prompt, and efficacious manner. On the 4th of June the supreme junta of government at Seville, acting in the name of their imprisoned king, the miserable Ferdinand, issued a declaration of war against France. The French admiral in the port of Cadiz, as soon as the news of 10 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 180». this event reached him, removed his vessels, which, it will be recollected, were the Neptune of 80, Algesiras, Argonaute, Heros, and Pluton, of 74 guns, Cornelie frigate, and a brig- corvette, out of the range of tbe batteries at the town, and took op a defensive position in the channel leading to the Caraccas. At this time Rear-admiral Purvis, with a British fleet of 10 or 11 sail of the line, cruised oft' tbe harbour, and, from several previous communications with the Spanish authorities on shore, had been anticipating the glorious epoch that was now arrived. The British admiral of course offered to assist in bringing the French admiral to terms ; but the Spaniards, feeling themselves quite adequate to the task, preferred acting alone. On tbe 9th of June, at 3 p. m., a division of Spanish gun and mortar boats, and the batteries erected for the purpose on the isle of Leon and at Fort Louis, commenced hostilities against the French ships, and a mutual firing, without intermission, was kept up until night. On the following morning, the 10th, the cannonade recommenced, and was continued partially till 2 p. m., when the French flag-ship, the Heros, hoisted a flag of truce. Shortly afterwards Vice-admiral Rosily (who had, on the pre ceding day, modestly enough, proposed " to quit the bay," pro vided, as was well added, "the British would permit him") addressed a letter to General Morla, offering to disembark his guns and ammunition, but to retain his men, and not to hoist any colours. These terms were considered inadmissible, and the Spaniards prepared to renew the attack upon the French squa dron with an increase of force. On the 14th, at 7 A. m., an additional battery of 30 long 24-pounders being ready to act, and numerous gun and mortar vessels having taken their stations, the French ships struck their colours ; which, in the course of the forenoon, were replaced by those of Spain. Soon after this event the Spanish commissioners, of whom General Morla was one, embarked for England to treat with the British government. Their reception fully equalled their ex pectations ; and on the 4th of July the British government issued an order, directing that all hostilities between England and Spain should immediately cease. Those cruisers, hitherto so much dreaded along the coast of the latter, were hailed as deliverers; and never, surely, were the skill and enterprise of British seamen more zealously nor more successfully exerted, than in rooting out the French invaders from the sea-defences of a country, which they had entered but to enslave and despoil. Portugal, as a fellow-sufferer with Spain, soon followed the latter's example in making an effort to free herself from French thraldom ; and deputations from every part of the country, soliciting succours, were sent to Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, who, with a British squadron, cruised off the Tagus, to watch the motions of the Russian squadron at anchor within it. The call of Portugal upon her ancient ally was not made in vain. In 1808. WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 11 the early part of August a body of British troops, under Lieu tenant-general Sir Arthur Wellesley, landed on the coast ; on the 21st the celebrated battle of Vimeira was fought; on the 22d Lieutenant-general Sir Hew Dalrymple arrived, and took the command of the British forces ; and on the 30th was con cluded the famous convention of Cintra, so discreditable to the victorious party. By the seeond and third articles it was stipulated, that the French troops should not be considered as prisoners of war, and that, on their arrival in France, whither they were to be conveyed at the expense of the British government, they should be at liberty to serve again. With respect to the Russian squadron, consisting, as already stated, of nine sail of the line and one frigate,* a convention, concluded between Sir Charles Cotton and Vice-admiral Seniavin, placed the ships, as a deposit, in the hands of his Britannic Majesty, to be held until six months after the conclusion of peace between Russia and England ; and the Russian vice-admiral, his officers, seamen, and marines, without any condition or stipulation whatever, were to be conveyed to Russia at England's expense. The close alliance, cemented between France and Russia by the treaty of Tilsit, naturally suspended all friendly relations between the latter and Great Britain. If Russia, in the course of the three months that succeeded that treaty, made no public avowal of her sentiments, it was because the fleets and troops of England were then in the Baltic or in the inlets to it. No sooner had Admiral Gambier and General Lord Cathcart quitted the Sound, and the season become so far advanced as to prevent the British navy from operating in the Baltic, than Alexander spoke aloud the language of defiance. The emperor's declaration, which issued at St.-Petersburg on the 31st of October, was re ceived in London on the 3d of December, and replied to on the 18th by a counter-declaration, clearly, forcibly, and elegantly drawn up; a state-paper, indeed, that might serve all future cabinets for a model.f On the same day reprisals were ordered against Russian ships, vessels, and goods; but the time of the year prevented the immediate undertaking of any active measures. As the firm ally of England, Sweden necessarily became in volved in war with her two neighbours, Denmark and Russia. The first, happily for Sweden, having only two line-of-battle ships, a 74 and a 64, and some armed Indiamen, brigs of war, and gun-boats, was without a navy to molest her ; but the second possessed a fleet, already in ports of the Baltic, and of far greater strength than any that Gustavus could send to sea. for instance, the Russian Baltic fleet, according to the official * See vol. iv., pp. 315, 318. f See the New Annual Register for the year 1807, p. 298. 12 . ANGLO-SWEDISH AND RUSSIAN FLEETS. 1808. .report of the minister of marine, consisted, on the 9th of Novem ber, 1807, of 20 new ships of the line carrying 1588 guns, and 14 frigates and corvettes carrying 426 guns, besides brigs and smaller vessels. Among the line-of-battle ships were three or four three-deckers, and nearly the whole of the others were 74- gun ships. Several of the frigates, also, mounted 50 guns. The Swedish fleet consisted of 11 or 12 sail of the line and six or seven frigates ; not more than half the former in an effective state. The following account of the recommended, if not of the actual, gun-force of Swedish ships of war, is extracted from the ,work of the celebrated naval architect Chapman : Ships of the line. First deck Second deck Third deck Qr.deck and forecastle, Guns. Pdrs Guns. Pdrs. Guns.Pdrs. Guns. Pdrs. IGuns. Pdrs . 30 48* 30 42 30 42 28 36 26 36 32 36 32 30 32 24 30 24 28 24 30 24 32 18 • •• > ¦ ¦•• ¦•• ... •, ... 18 12 18 12 16 12 12 12 no 94 80 74 66 — - ~~ — "- — — ; Frigates. Main deck Qr.deck and forecastle.. Guns.Pdrs. 26 30 18 12 Guns. Pdrs. 26 24 14 8 Guns. Pdrs. 24 18 12 6 Guns.Pdrs. 24 12 8 ' 6, Guns. Pdrs. 22 12 ,6 4 44 40 36 32 28 Towards the middle or latter end of May the British naval force assembled in the Sound, Great Belt, and Baltic, and which was under the command of Vice-admiral Sir James Saumarez, consisted of the Gun-ship 100 Victory ' Centaur . .74. 64 SuperbImplacable Brunswick Mars . . Orion . . Goliath . Vanguard . ' Dictator . \ Africa Frigates, Africaine, Euryalus, gnn-bpigs, &c, C Vice-ad. (b.) Sir James Saumarez, Bart., K.B. . < Captain George Hope. d „ Peter Dumaresq. 5 Rear-ad. (w.) Sir Samuel Hood, K.B. ' { Captain William Henry Webley. C Rear-ad. (b.) Richard Goodwin Keates. ' I Captain Samuel Jackson. Thomas Byam Martin. Thomas Graves. William Lukin. Sir Arch. Collingwood Dickson. , Peter Puget. Thomas Baker. Donald Campbell. , John Barrett. Salsette, Tribune, and Tartar; besides sloop* * For the English caliber of the Swedish pounder see voL i., p. 41. 1808. SIR SAMUEL HOOD AND ADMIRAL HANICKOFF. 13 Upwards of 200 sail of transports, having onboard about 14000 troops under Sir John Moore for the assistance of the Swedes, had accompanied the fleet ; but owing to some misunderstanding between the King of Sweden and the general, relative to the particular service allotted to these troops, they were suffered to return to England without being employed or even debarked. Early in August the Russian fleet, consisting, besides the following nine sail of the line and three 50-gun ships, of eight frigates and ship-corvettes, two brig-corvettes, and two cutters, in all 24 sail, under the command of Vice-admiral Hanickoff, or Chanikow,* sailed from Cronstadt. Gun- ship Gun-ship {Eagle. Michael.North-Star. Sewolod. Gun-ship 74 St.-Anna. C Argus. 50 2 Hero. ( Rapid. 120 Blagodath. 118 Gabriel. _ . ( Amgatten. ( Boreas. On the 1 9th this fleet arrived in Hango bay, a port in Swedish Finland, then in the possession of the Russian army ; and on the same day the Russian admiral chased the Goliath. At this time the British admiral, with four sail of the line, was at anchor off the island of Langland. Two other British sail of the line were off Copenhagen, and the remaining four off the island of Nyborg, quite at the opposite extremity of the Baltic. The Swedish squadron, consisting of seven sail of the line and four frigates, was at anchor in Oro roads. On the 20th of August Rear-admiral Sir Samuel Hood, with the Centaur and Implacable, arrived and anchored in company with the Swedish fleet. On the same afternoon the Russians made their appearance off the road, and presently anchored out side. On the 21st, in the evening, the Russian fleet, numbering, as before, nine sail of the line, three 50-gun ships, eight frigates and ship-corvettes, two brigs, and two cutters, got under way and stood off and on the road. On the 22d four Swedish sail of the line came down from Jungfur sound, and joined their com panions in Oro road. Although the force of the Swedish ad miral was thus augmented to 1 1 sail of the line, five frigates, and one brig, yet upwards of a third of the crews were "ill in bed with the scurvy, of which many died daily. On the 23d, in the afternoon, the Russian fleet, making a very formidable appearance, stood close in to Oro road, with a fine west-south-west wind ; then tacked, and stood off. On the 25th, at 6 a. m., the Swedish fleet, accompanied by the Centaur and Implacable, got under way, with a fresh breeze at north-east, and made sail in pursuit ofthe Russian fleet ; which, at 9 a. m., to the number of 23 sail, was seen in the south-east, off Hango- * The first' is according to Sir Samuel Hood's letter in the London Gazette, the second according to a translation of the Russian admiral's letter in the;Moniteur. . 14; ANGLO-SWEDISH AND RUSSIAN FLEETS. 1808. Udd. At about noon, as had been previously arranged, the Swedish 70-gun ship Frederic-Adolph, with a great proportioa of the sick on board, parted company from the fleet, and -,-; steered for Carlscrona. This left with the Swedish admiral the Gun-ship 78 Gustav-IV.-Adolph 76 Uladislaffe . . . Adolph-Fredric . Aran . . . . , 74-^ Dristigheten . , Faderneslandet . , Gustav III. . ,. ^Manligheten . ,. fifi J Forsigtigheten . I. 0 I Tapperheten f Rear-ad. Nauckhoff. .< Captain Lagerstrale. L „ Krusenstjerna. „ Grubb. ( Commodore Jagerfelt. ' ( Captain Count Wrangel. „ Jagerschold. „ Toruquist. Petterson. Nordenankar.Baron (|ederstrom. Flcerstroud, Frigates, Euridice 46, Chapman 44, Camilla and Bellona 42, and Janamas 34, and cutter-brig Dolphin. The Anglo-Swedish fleet now consisted of 12 sail of the line and five frigates, mounting 1156 guns; while the Russian fleet, of nine sail of the line, three 50s, and eight frigafes and corvettes (not reckoning the two brigs), mounted 1118- guns. Here was no great disparity, especially considering the ineffective state of the Swedish ships; but the Russian admiral not knowing this, or considering the two ships with British ensigns flying, and who soon became the most conspicuous objects, as a host in themselves, made all sail to get away. A windward chase was not the thing for wooden-bottomed ships ; nor, where so much nicety was required in trimming sails, for weak and inexpe rienced crews. Hence the Centaur and Implacable, by 8 p. m., were five miles to windward of the Swedes, notwithstanding the latter carried every stitch of canvass that their ships would bear. The night's chase increased that distance to nearly 10 miles:; and at 4 a. m. on the 26th the Implacable had advanced two miles to windward of the Centaur. This brought the former ship within four or five miles of the Russian fleet, then bearing from east-north-east to south-south-east, evidently much scat? tered, and still crowding sail to escape. At 4 h. 30 m. a. m. the- Implacable, then on the larboard tack, observed a Russian two- decker considerably to leeward of her fleet. At 5 h. 30 m. a. m. the latter, which was the 74-gun ship Sewolod, Captain Rudnew" or Roodneff, being on the starboard tack, passed the bow of the^ Implacable, who immediately tacked after her. At 6 h. 30 m. a. m. the Sewolod tacked. In about a quarter of an hour the two ships again crossed each other ; when the Russian 74 opened her fire, which was quickly returned by the Implacable. The latter again tacked; and at 7 h.20 ni. a.m., having overtaken the Sewolod and closed her within pistol-shot to leeward, the 1808. SIR SAMUEL HOOD AND ADMIRAL HANICKOFF. 15 Implacable commenced the action with the utmost vigour, and with such decided effect, that in less than half an hour the Sewo lod, whose colours had been shot away early in the combat ceased firing and hauled down her pendant. At this moment* observing that the Russian admiral, who with his fleet had bore up since the commencement of the close action, was within two miles ofthe Implacable, Sir Samuel threw out the signal of recall. The Implacable thereupon made sail to close the Centaur, then upwards of a mile and a half to leeward. This the Implacable effected at 8 a. m., and the two British 74s ran on in company, to join the Swedish fleet; the van-ship of which was nearly 10 miles to leeward when the Implacable compelled the Russian 74 to make the signal of surrender. The loss incurred by the Implacable in this short but smart engagement, consisted of six seamen and marines killed, one master's mate (Thomas Pickerwell), the captain's clerk (Nicholas Drew), and 24 seamen and marines wounded. The first lieu tenant of the Implacable, and of whom Captain Martin speaks in the highest terms, was Augustus Baldwin. The loss which the Sewolod sustained, as admitted by her captain, amounted to 48 officers, seamen, and marines killed, and 80 wounded; a sufficient proof that the guns of the Implacable had been both quickly fired and well directed. Admiral Hanickoff sent a frigate to tow the Sewolod, whose rigging' and sails were in a terribly shattered state, and then again hauled his wind. About this time, the Implacable having repaired the slight damage done to her rigging, the two British ships again made sail in chase, and soon obliged the Russian frigate to cast off her tow, and the Russian fleet a second time to bear up in support of their friend. It not, however, being the intention of the Russian admiral to bring on a general en gagement, he, at about 9 a. m., availed himself of a favourable change of wind to the north-east, and stood for the port of Rogerswick; leaving the Sewolod, who had grounded on a shoal not far from the entrance of the harbour, to take care of herself, although the Swedish fleet, exeept the Tapperheten and frigates, was still nearly three leagues to leeward. At about noon the Russian fleet came to an anchor in Rogers wick roads, and the Sewolod soon afterwards got afloat and rode at her anchors. The wind moderating in the afternoon, the Russian admiral sent out a division of boats to tow the disabled 74 into the road. The Centaur, followed by the Implacable, immediately bore up, to endeavour to cut off the ship before the boats could effect their object. By great activity and per severance on the part of her officers and crew, the Centaur, at 8 p. m., just as the Sewolod, towed by the Russian boats, was about to enter the port, ran her on board. The starboard fore rigging of the Centaur was caught, and partly carried away, by the Sewolod's bowsprit ; and the latter's starboard bow gradually- 16 ANGLO-SWEDISH AND RUSSIAN FLEETS. 1808. Swept along the Centaur's starboard side, the guns of which, as the Sewolod's bow successively pressed against the muzzles, dis charged their contents with destructive effect. As soon as the bowsprit, in its course astern, had reached the Centaur's mizen rigging, it was there lashed, by the joint exertions of Captain Webley, first Lieutenant Paul Lawless, and Mr. Edward Strode, the master, and under a very heavy fire from the Russian musketry, which wounded, among others, Lieutenant Lawless severely. The two ships being in six fathoms' water, Sir Samuel had hopes that he should have been able to tow off the Sewolod while lashed to her ; but the Sewolod had previously let go an anchor, which held her fast. Much valour was here displayed, on both sides, and each ship tried in vain to board the other. At 8 h. 30 m. p. m. the Implacable arrived up, and anchored at the distance of about 300 yards from her consort ; and in another 10 minutes, after affording a proof of courage and perseverance highly creditable to her officers and crew, the Sewolod hauled down her colours. The Centaur had three seamen and marines killed, her first lieutenant (already named), boatswain (Mr. Morton), and 25 sea men and marines wounded. The Sewolod, whose original com plement was 600 men, but to whom the Russian admiral had sent 100 sailors and soldiers to supply the place of those killed or wounded in her action with the Implacable, had 1 80 killed, wounded, or missing; in her action with the Centaur ; making the total loss of the Russian ship, in killed, wounded, and missing, 303, and the total killed and wounded of the two British ships 62. Both the Centaur and Sewolod took the ground soon after the latter's surrender. This being observed by the Russian admiral, two ships of his fleet were detached to attempt to recover the Sewolod and capture the Centaur ; but, owing to the prompt exertions of the Implacable, the Centaur was soon hove into deep water, and the Russian ships returned to their anchorage. No efforts on the part of the British being able to get the prize afloat, the Sewolod, in the course of the ensuing night, after the prisoners and the wounded had all been removed, was set fire to and destroyed. On the 30th, while still blockading the port of Rogerswick, the Anglo-Swedish fleet was joined by Vice-admiral Sir James Saumarez, with the Victory, Mars, Goliath, and Africa. In the mean time the Russian admiral, well aware of the enterprising character of the British, was employing himself in mooring his fleet and fortifying his position. The ships were secured by cables to the shore, and strong batteries were erected at Baltic- Port and at the island of East Raga, the latter of which com pletely commands the entrance to the harbour. An attempt to burn the Russian fleet was intended to be made; and the 18-gun ship-sloop Erebus and 14-gun cutter 1808. rear-admiral keats at nyborg. 17 Baltic (late Russian cutter Apith) were prepared as fire-ships by the British, and four fire-vessels were sent from Carlscrona by the Swedes. As a preliminary measure, the port was recon noitred, first by the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Salsette (late Pitt), Captain Walter Bathurst, and then by the Swedish 44^gun frigate Camilla, Captain Trolle. It was now discovered that an extensive boom had been run out from the front of the Russian ships, calculated, in all respects, to prevent the approach of fire-ships. The attempt to destroy the fleet by vessels of this description being, in consequence, deemed impracticable, the Erebus and Baltic fire-vessels were dismantled and restored to their former state, and the four Swedish fire-vessels were sent to Carlscrona. The advanced season of the year rendering the situation of the blockading fleet extremely critical, Sir James Saumarez and the Swedish admiral, early in October, retired from before the har bour of Rogerswick, leaving only a small reconnoitring force. Soon afterwards the Russian fleet also made sail, and reached Cronstadt in safety. Before taking our leave of the Baltic, we have to give some account of the successful operations of the British fleet in aiding a band of Spanish patriots found in this quarter. Desirous to assist Spain in every way that would be most beneficial to the cause of the patriots, England turned her attention to the Spa nish troops, which Napoleon, under the false pretence of securing Hanover, had drawn from their country, to the northern parts of Germany, and afterwards to the Danish islands in the Baltic. It was known that the troops were anxious to join their country men, and assist in overthrowing the tyrant to whom they owed their banishment. The Spaniards in Zealand no sooner learnt the atrocious aggression which their native land was suffering, than they instantly formed a circle round their colours, and swore on their knees to be faithful to their country. Men possessed of such feelings, and inspired with such a determination to act up to them, were well worthy of all the assistance which England, . with her immense naval means, could afford. It fortunately happened, where so much depended upon zeal and ardour in the cause, that the British commanding officer in the immediate vicinity of the Spanish troops was Rear-admiral Keats. Besides his own ship, the Superb, the rear-admiral had under his orders the Brunswick and Edgar of the same force, Captains Thomas Graves and James Macnamara, and five or six smaller vessels. According to a plan concerted between the rear-admiral and the Marquis de la Romana, the commander-in-chief of the Spa nish forces in Denmark, the latter, on the 9th of August, with nearly 6000 men, took possession of the fort and town of Nyborg, in the island of Funen. Immediately afterwards Rear-admiral Keats addressed a letter to the Danish governor, promising to abstain from any hostile or offensive act, so long as similar treat- vol. v. c 18 ANGLO-SWEDISH AND RUSSIAN FLEETS. 1808. ment was experienced by the Spaniards from the troops of Den mark and France ; but declaring that, if any opposition should be offered to the embarkation of the Spanish troops, measures would be taken, that might eventually lead to the destruction of the town of Nyborg. The Danish garrison prudently yielded to circumstances ; but a Danish man-of-war brig, the Fama, of 18 guns, and a cutter of 12, the Salorman, moored themselves across the harbour near the town, and rejected all remonstrances and offers of secu rity. The reduction of these vessels being absolutely necessary, and the Spanish general being unwilling to act hostilely against Denmark, such small vessels and boats as could be collected were put under the command of Captain Macnamara ; and the latter and his party attacked and captured both the brig and cutter, with the loss to the British of one lieutenant (Robert Harvey, of the Superb) killed and two seamen wounded, and to the Danes of seven killed and 13 wounded. It should be men tioned, that the Spanish troops, irritated at the opposition which their friends experienced in giving them aid, departed in some measure from the general's intention, and fired from the fort several shot at the Danish vessels before the latter struck. Expedition being now of the greatest consequence, and none of the ships of the line, from circumstances of weather, being able to be brought near, the rear-admiral shifted his flag to the Hound bomb-vessel, Captain Nicholas Lockyer, in the harbour. Fifty-seven sloops or doggers, found in the port, were fitted by the seamen of the squadron, under the direction of Captain Macnamara ; and in the course of the same night and of the following day, the 10th, a great part of the artillery, baggage, and stores belonging to the Spaniards was embarked, and re moved to the point of Slypsharn, four miles from Nyborg, where the army was to embark. Captains Jackson and Lockyer undertook the execution of this service ; and the troops, having embarked without an acci dent on the morning ofthe 11th, were soon under the protection of the British squadron at the anchorage off the island of Sproe. . In the course of the same day more than 1000 Spaniards joined the British ships by sea from Jutland ; and another 1000 were thrown into Langeland, to strengthen the fort held by the Spanish forces in that island. One of the Spanish regiments in Jutland was situated too remotely and critically to admit more, than a part of it to effect its escape ; and two regiments in the island of Zealand were unfortunately disarmed, after having fired on the French general and killed one of his aides-de-camp. The Spaniards embarked at Nyborg, and those that escaped to the squadron from Jutland, were landed at Langeland ; whence the whole, numbering about 10,000 men, were carried to England, and subsequently to Spain. For the zeal and ability he had displayed, in bringing to a happy termination the delicate and 1808. DECOUVERTE AND DORADE. 19 arduous service intrusted to him, Rear-admiral Keats, imme diately on his arrival in England, was created a knight of the Bath. LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. On the 16th of January, in the forenoon, Cape Barfleur bearing west by north six or seven leagues, the British gun-brig Linnet, Lieutenant John Tracey, mounting twelve 18-pounder carronades and two long sixes, with a crew of 60 men and boys, •saw,a French lugger in chase of an English merchant ship and brig. The Linnet immediately joined the ship and brig, intend ing to keep company with them until night should favour her •in closing the lugger. At 6 h. 30 m. p. m. the lugger, which was the Courier, of 18 guns and 60 men, belonging to Cherbourg, commenced a fire upon the ship, which the latter promptly re turned. At 7 p. m. the Courier attempted to haul off; but the Linnet, being now within musket-shot, prevented her. At '7-h. 10 m. p. m. a broadside of round and grape from the Xinnet, accompanied by a volley of musketry, carried away the Courier's main lug. The latter was now hailed to strike, but, instead of doing so, rehoisted her lug. A steady and well-directed fire was then commenced by the Linnet, and continued for an hour and a half; during which the Courier's lugs were knocked down 10 times, and as often rehoisted. At 8 h. 50 m., being in a. sinking state, the Courier hailed that she surrendered. The loss on the part of the latter amounted to her second captain killed and three men wounded; but the Linnet was fortunate enough to escape without any loss whatever. On the 7th of February, at 1 p. m., the British schooner De couverte, of eight 12-pounder carronades and 37 men and boys, Lieutenant Colin Campbell, when running down between Alta- vella and the main land of St.-Domingo, chased two French .•schooner-privateers and a ship their prize. One privateer made her escape to windward ; but after a running fight, the Decou verte drove the other and the ship on shore. The latter, which was the Matilda of Halifax, bound to Jamaica, Lieutenant Campbell directed the master of the Decouverte, John M'lntyre, with a detachment of small-arm men, to set fire to and destroy ; a service which, in spite of a very spirited opposition from the schooner and the shore, he fully executed. On the 9,th, while still cruising off St.-Domingo, the Decou verte discovered and chased a French armed schooner in Bottom less Cove. It was not until 3 p. m. that the Decouverte was enabled to bring her opponent, the Dorade, Captain Netley, .mounting one long 18-pounder on a pivot, and two long eights, with 72 men, to close action. In the second round, three of the Decouverte's carronades on theside engaged were dismounted, which gave the Dorade a great advantage over her. Notwith- c 2 20 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. standing this, and the immense superiority of the enemy in mus ketry, the Decouverte, in three quarters of an hour, compelled the Dorade to haul down her colours. This very gallant exploit on the part of Lieutenant Campbell, his officers and crew, was performed after a loss of five seamen wounded, three of them dangerously, and one mortally. Lieu tenant Campbell himself was also slightly wounded, but did not communicate the circumstance in his official letter. The omission was caused by a feeling highly honourable to Lieutenant Camp bell as a man : his wife was in England in a poor state of health, and he rightly judged, that uncertainty about the full extent of his wound might prey upon her feelings and protract her recovery. Of the privateer's 72 men, seven were found on her decks dead and three wounded ; and it was understood that about seven others had been thrown overboard during the progress of the action. On the 8th of February, in the evening, the British 18- pounder 36-gun frigate Meleager, Captain John Broughton, cruising off the port of San- Jago de Cuba, detached her barge, cutter and jollyboat, with 41 men, commanded by Lieutenants George Tupman and William Sainburn, and Lieutenant of ma rines James Denne, to capture a felucca-rigged privateer at anchor under the shore. The three boats gallantly boarded and captured without loss on either side, although the enemy was perfectly prepared, the French privateer Renard, armed with one long 6-pounder and a large proportion of muskets, and 47 men, 18 of whom jumped overboard and swam for the shore. On the 13th of February, in the evening, the British 20-gun ship, Confiance,* Captain James Lucas Yeo, being off the Tagus, sent her cutter and jollyboat, under the command of master's mate Robert Trist, with 14 men, to row guard at the mouth of the river, in consequence of a report, current at Lisbon, that the Russian squadron was about to put to sea. No sooner had Mr. Trist arrived at his station, than he perceived a French gun-vessel at an anchor under Fort San-Pedro, between the forts Belem and San-Julien : he instantly, in a most gallant manner, boarded, and after an ineffectual resistance on the part of the enemy carried, the French gun-vessel No. 1, commanded by Enseigne de vaisseau Gaudolphe, and mounting one long 24- pounder and two brass sixes, with 100 stand of arms, and 50 men • of whom three were killed and nine badly wounded : but the British, notwithstanding they had been hailed and fired at in their approach to the gun-vessel, did not lose a man. This truly gallant exploit, performed as it was in opposition to a force so superior, and almost under the guns of several heavy batteries deserved every praise that was bestowed upon it, and fully en- * Made a post-ship by her commander's promotion to post-rank on the 1 9th ctf December, 1807. See vol.iv., p. 138. 1808. SAN FIORENZO AND PIEMONTAISE. 2i titled Mr. Trist to the promotion which he in consequence obtained. On the 2d of March, in the morning, the British 18-gun brig- sloop Sappho, Captain George Langford, standing to the east ward from off Scarborough, discovered and chased an armed brig, that was steering a course as if with the intention to cut off several merchant vessels to leeward. At 1 h. 30m. p.m. the Danish brig of war Admiral- Yawl, Captain Jorgen Jorgenson, substituting Danish for English colours, which she had pre viously hoisted to deceive, discharged her broadside at the Sappho, in return for a shot fired over her by the latter. The Sappho immediately bore down, and brought her antagonist to close action, which was obstinately sustained for half an hour, when the Admiral- Yawl struck her colours. The Sappho's force was 16 carronades, 32-pounders, and two sixes, with a complement of 120 men and boys ; of whom she had two wounded. The Admiral- Yawl was singularly armed for a brig, her guns being mounted on two decks, On her first deck she had 12 carronades, 18-pounders, and on her second or principal deck, 16 long 6-pounders, total 28 guns; with a com plement of 83 men and boys, of whom the second officer and one seaman were killed. The wounded, if any, do not appear in the gazette-account. On the 4th of March, at 11 h. 30m. a.m., the British 18- Sounder 36-gun frigate San-Fiorenzo, Captain George Nicholas tardinge, sailed from Pointe de Galle, Ceylon, on her return to Bombay. On the 6th, at 7 a. m., latitude 7° 32' north, longitude 77° 58' east, the San-Fiorenzo passed, off Cape Comorin, the three East India Company's ships, Charlton, Captain George Wood, Metcalfe, Captain Matthew Isacke, and Devonshire, Captain James Murray, from Bombay bound to Columbo ; and shortly afterwards discovered on her starboard beam, in the north-east, the French 40 -gun frigate Piemontaise, Captain Epron, advancing to intercept the Indiamen. The San-Fiorenzo immediately hauled to the wind in-shore, under all sail, and the French frigate, finding herself pursued, changed her course and stood away. The Piemontaise had sailed from the Isle of France on the 30th of the preceding December. Her intended mode of attack upon the Indiamen is represented to have been, to board the first with 150 men, and then stand on and can nonade the two others until they surrendered. At 5 p. m., having previously made the private signal, the San-Fiorenzo hoisted her colours, but the French frigate paid no attention to either. Captain Hardinge now pressed forward in pursuit ; and at 1 1 h. 40 m, p. m., being still on the larboard tack, the San-Fiorenzo ranged alongside the Piemontaise and received her broadside. After a ten minutes' action fought within 200 yards, the Piemontaise made sail ahead out of the range of her opponent's shot. The San-Fiorenzo, whose loss; 22 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND- SINGLE SHIPS. 1808*. owing to the high firing of the Piemontaise, amounted to only three seamen slightly wounded, made sail in chase, and by day light on the 7th had so gained upon the French frigate, that the latter, seeing a renewal of the engagement was unavoidable,, hoisted her colours and wore, in order to bring her broadside ta bear. At 6 h. 20 m. a. m., being within half a mile of the San- Fiorenzo, who had also wore, the Piemontaise fired her broad side, and the action recommenced, the two frigates gradually closing to a quarter of a mile. The fire was constant and well- directed on both sides, until 8 h. 5 m. a. m., when that of the French frigate visibly slackened. At 8h. 15 m., having dis charged her whole broadside, the Piemontaise ceased firing, and made sail before the wind, leaving the San-Fiorenzo with her maintopsail yard shot through,* main royal -mast shot away, both main topmast-stays, the spring-stay, and the greater part of the standing and running rigging and sails, cut to pieces, and therefore not in a condition for an immediate chase. Under these- circumstances, the fire of the British frigate could only continue while her retreating opponent remained within gun-shot. The- San-Fiorenzo's loss, by the morning's action, amounted' to eight; seamen and marines killed and 14 wounded. The remainder of the day was occupied by the San-Fiorenzo in repairing her* damages, and in a vain pursuit of the Piemontaise, who crowded sail to the eastward, and at 9 p. m. disappeared. At midnight the French frigate again showed herself, bearing- east, and at daylight on the 8th was about four leagues distant. At 9 a. m., being perfectly refitted, the San-Fiorenzo bore up under all sail. At noon the Piemontaise hoisted a Dutch jack,,. but at 2 h. 15 m. p.m. changed it to an English ensign. The San-Fiorenzo was now fast approaching ; nor did the Piemon taise avoid the British frigate until the latter hauled athwart her stern, in order to gain the weathergage and bring on a close action. To frustrate this manoeuvre, the French frigate, who- now appeared.with her proper colours, hauled up also, and made all sail. Perceiving, however, that the superior sailing of the San-Fiorenzo rendered a battle unavoidable, the. Piemontaise tacked ; and at 4 p. M.-f- the two frigates, when passing each other, on opposite tacks, at the distance of not more than 80 yards, reopened their fire. In the second broadside from the French frigate a grape-shot killed Captain Hardinge ; whereupon the command of the San- Fiorenzo devolved upon Lieutenant William Dawson. As soon as she had got abaft her opponent's beam, the Piemontaise wore ; and at 5 h. 49 m. p. m., after a well-fought action, one hour and * So says Lieutenant Dawson's official letter, but the log says, : " fore-top- sail-yard snot in two." f According to the San-Fiorenzo's log ; but the Gazette says " three." 1808. SAN-FIORENZO AND PIEMONTAISE. 23* 20 minutes of it close, and during which she had all her rigging and sails cut to pieces, her three masts and bowsprit badly wounded, and a great proportion of her numerous crew placed Jiors de combat, the French frigate hauled down her colours ; some of her people, at the same time, waving their hats for a boat to be sent to them. The loss sustained by the San-Fiorenzo in the third day's action, although numerically less than that on the second day, was more serious, as it included among the killed her truly gallant captain :* the remaining killed of that day consisted of four seamen and marines, and the wounded, of one lieutenant (Henry George Moysey, severely) and seven seamen and marines. This made the total British loss, on the three days, 13 killed and 25 wounded. The Piemontaise, besides her regular crew of 366 Frenchmen, had 200 Lascars (prisoners taken out of some captured Indiamen), to work the sails. Out of these 566 in crew and supernumeraries, the French frigate lost 48 officers, seamen, marines, and Lascars killed, and 112 wounded. The force of the San-Fiorenzo, in guns and men, has already appeared.^ In her armament there was no alteration ; but, in respect to crew, the ship was so greatly deficient, owing to the sickness of some men and the absence of others in prizes, as to muster no more than 186 men and boys ; a circumstance which, singular enough, the British official account has omitted to notice. The force of the Piemontaise has also been fully stated at a former page ; % but, instead of 46 guns, as there particularized, • Lieutenant Dawson, in his letter, says : " She (the Piemontaise) mounts fifty guns, long 18-pounders on the main deck, and 36- pound carronades on her quarterdeck." No other of the few accounts that have been published is more precise; and yet, according to the navy-office draught of the Piemontaise, the ship could mount 24 carriage guns only of a side, 14 on the main deck, seven on the quarterdeck, and three on the fore castle. Her two maindeck bow-ports, if filled, would make 50- guns in all, but even this would add nothing to her broadside- force. Under these circumstances, and particularly as it is a French ship whose force is to be stated, we shall consider the Piemontaise, in her action with the San-Fiorenzo, to have mounted the same guns as she did a year and nine months before, in her action with the Warren-Hastings. We cannot pay a higher compliment to the victorious party in this case, than to rank the action of the San-Fiorenzo and Pie montaise with that of the Phcenix and Didon.^ The odds in each action, except in point of crew, were nearly the same. The Piemontaise was certainly not so manfully fought as the Didon. * See vol. iii., p. 262, + See vol. iv., p. 123. X See vol, iv., p. 240. §¦ Ibid., p. 164. 24 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. The former began to run from the first ; and it was that constant avoidance of her opponent, which protracted the contest to the third day. The actual engagement, however, did not, as it, appears, last altogether more than four hours and five minutes ; ten minutes on the first day, two hours and five minutes on the second, and one hour and 50 minutes on the third. The action,, on the part of the British frigate, was conducted with as much . skill as gallantry ; but neither skill nor gallantry would have availed, had the San-Fiorenzo not excelled her antagonist in a third quality, swiftness of sailing. Soon after daylight on the morning of the 9th the three masts, of the Piemontaise fell over her side. In this state she was taken in tow by' the San-Fiorenzo; and on the 13th the two • frigates cast anchor in the road of Columbo, island of Ceylon, where, by order of tlie governor, Lieutenant-general Maitland, the highest military honours were paid to the remains ofthe San- Fiorenzo's late youthful captain. Her present commanding officer received, we believe, the customary promotion, but did not long survive the reward of his gallantry. The Piemontaise was afterwards purchased for the British navy, and classed among the large 38s. Aware of the latitude allowed to a "Biographical Memoir" in the " Naval Chronicle," we should not feel disposed to find fault with its editor for stating, even in the high-flown, and not always intelligible, language of the Reverend James Stanier Clarke, one of the co-authors ofthe " Life of Nelson," that "a superannuated frigate of thirty-eight guns," had captured a French frigate armed with "fifty long 18-pounders ;"* but our duty compels us to reprobate the introduction of so gross a false-. hood into a solemn memorial presented to the king in council. A document of this kind, presented by Mr. George Hardinge, uncle to the deceased captain, praying for an augmentation to the armorial bearings ofthe family, contains the following state ment : " Your memorialist represents to your majesty, that your ship, the St. Fiorenzo, carried thirty-eight guns, and mustered 186 men, including officers ; that la Piedmontaise carried fifty guns, long 18-pounders, and had on board 566 men." It is not added, that 200 of these were Lascars and prisoners. Had this-. memorial met the fate of thousands of others, no harm would have been done ; but, unfortunately for the cause of truth, in the next London Gazette appears an order, in which the king him-. self is made to declare, that his frigate carried " only thirty- eight guns." On the 13th of March, at 5 p.m., the British 18-pounder 36- gun frigate Emerald, Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, being off the harbour of Vivero, in Spain, discovered lying there a large French armed schooner, and immediately stood in with the * Naval Chronicle, vol. xx., p. 385. 1808. BOATS OF EMERALD AT VIVERO. 25 view of attempting her capture or destruction. At 5 h. 30 m. p.m. the first fort on the right, mounting eight 24-pounders, opened upon the ship ; and as soon as the frigate got within range, another fort, situated about a mile further in on the left, and mounting five 24-pounders, also commenced firing. Finding it impossible to place the ship so as to act against both batteries at once, Captain Maitland detached a party of seamen and marines, under first Lieutenant Charles Bertram, assisted by Lieutenants of marines Giles Meech and John Husband, and master's mates Matthew Mildridge and Edward Saurin, to storm the outer fort, while the frigate stood in as near as the depth of water would admit, and opened her fire upon the inner one. Lieutenant Bertram having, without much difficulty, driven the Spaniards out of the right-hand fort and spiked the guns, Lieutenant William Smith, the third lieutenant, with another party of men, proceeded to do the same to the left-hand fort. On landing about a mile from the fort, Lieutenant Smith was op posed by a party of soldiers, most of whom, with their leader, are represented to have fallen, and the remainder to have retreated. These the British followed ; but, owing to the nature of the ground, the darkness of the night, and a temporary cessation of firing by the battery, missed their way to it and returned. Mean while midshipman Daniel Baird had been sent with a party to take possession of the schooner ; which, to avoid being captured, had run herself on shore upon the rocks. This party was joined by that under Lieutenant Bertram, and the united detachments were presently met by the principal part of the schooner's crew. After an exchange of musketry, the pike and bayonet of the British put the French to flight, and occasioned several of them to be left dead on the road. Lieutenant Bertram now advanced towards the schooner, which was the Apropos, of eight 12-pounder carronades and a complement of 70 men, from the Isle of France with despatches ; but, as the vessel had gone on shore at high water, no efforts on the part of the British, although persevered in until a party of soldiers opened a galling fire upon them, could get her afloat. Notwithstanding the attack thus made upon them, Lieutenant Bertram and his men managed to set the Apropos on fire ; and at 1 A. m. on the 14th the vessel exploded. This enterprise was attended, unfortunately, with a serious loss to the British. Nine of the Emerald's seamen and marines were killed ; and Lieu tenant Bertram (severely), the two lieutenants of marines, one of the master's mates (Mildridge), and 11 seamen and marines were wounded. For the gallantry he had displayed, Lieutenant Bertram was immediately promoted to the rank of commander. In the month of March the port of Lorient, in which were three or four ships of the line ready for sea or fitting, and the neighbouring port of Concarneau, in which lay Jerome Buona parte's late ship, the Veteran, were watched by the two 74-gun 26 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808.. ships Impetueux, Captain John Lawford, and Saturn>. Captap Thomas Boys, the 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Aigle, Captain; George Wolfe, 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Narcissus, Captain Charles Malcolm, and two or three smaller vessels. On the; 22d of the month this squadron lay at an anchor in an excellent harbour formed by the Glenan islands, receiving provisions- out of some transports which had lately arrived there from? Plymouth. At about 3 h. 45 m. p. m. the 4-gun schooner Cuckoo, Lieu tenant Silas Hiscutt Paddon, being about midway between the island of Groix and the Glenans, made the signal for an enemy in the south-east. The Aigle, from whose main top the enemy was also visible, got under way and made sail in chase, followed by the Impetueux and Narcissus ; but the Saturn was directed by telegraph to remain at anchor and watch the Veteran ia* Concarneau. The strange vessels were the two 40-gun frigates Italienne and Seine, standing close hauled on the larboard tack, with the wind from the north-north-west, and bound to Lorient. At about 7 h. 3.0 m. p. m., while passing the Cuckoo, Captain Wolfe directed Lieutenant Paddon to acquaint the commodore, then about two miles astern, that he should run between Groix and the main, in order, if possible, to cut off the two frigates, who were then closing with the island. For this purpose the Aigle made all sail, with the wind on her larboard beam, and, on entering the passage, was fired at by the batteries on both sides. At 8 h. 30» m. p. m. the Aigle got within half gun-shot of the sternmost of the two French frigates, both of which had just then rounded the north-west point of the island. After receiving a fire from the Aigle's starboard guns, this frigate bore up, and anchored under the protection of the batteries on the north-east side of Groix, near Pointe de Billery. The Aigle immediately stood after the other French frigate, then standing directly in for Lorient. At a few minutes past 9 p. m., in a very dark night, Captain Wolfe got within 50 yards of this frigate to windward ; and, afterburning a blue light to show her own and the enemy's situation to the Impetueux then coming up astern, the Aigle opened her starboard broadside. This the French frigate, who had now the dock-yard's boats on board, and was standing right into the harbour, returned. As the Aigle was already in four fathoms' water, and, by continuing, longer on this course, would soon be in Port-Louis road, Captain Wolfe resolved to board his enemy, and bore up for the purpose.. Seeing the Aigle's intention, and being determined to defeat it, the French captain bore round up before the wind. By that manoeuvre the. French frigate brought the Aigle astern with the latter's jib-boom abreast of her larboard mizen rigging ; thus adroitly avoiding a mode of attack, which experience had shown* was generally successful. 1808. THE AIGLE AND FRENCH FRIGATE. 27 As the two contending frigates were now crossing ahead of the Impetueux, Captain Wolfe burnt a second blue light, in the hope that, upon seeing the position of the French frigate, the Impetueux would run on board : an operation that, with the way then upon the 74, would have cut the frigate to the water's edge, and ensured her capture. Being now, however, very near the island, with a dark night to add to the difficulties of the navi gation, the Impetueux, instead of doing so, wore round on the starboard tack, fired her larboard guns, and then, wearing again,. followed the Aigle through the p'assage. The French frigate, shortly afterwards, as the only means of escaping from her per severing antagonist, ran with all sail set upon Pointe des Chats, on the isle of Groix, under very high and formidable batteries. The Aigle and Impetueux shortly afterwards anchored to the south-west of the island, and were presently joined by the Sa turn; who, as well as the Narcissus and Cuckoo, had also passed through between Groix and the main. In this her gallant action with the French frigates and bat teries, the Aigle was a considerable sufferer, having had three guns split and dismounted, a bower-anchor cut in two, and her mainmast and bowsprit irreparably injured. Her loss amounted to Captain Wolfe (severely in the left arm and hip), one Lieu tenant (John Lamb), and 20 seamen and marines wounded ; seven of them so badly that they were invalided as unservice able. On the next day, the 23d, at daylight, the Impetueux and squadron 'weighed and stood into the passage, and discovered the French frigate on Pointe des Chats, with her yards and top masts struck, and her mizenmast cut or carried away, heeling very much. Several shells were thrown at the British ships from the batteries, but none struck them. In the course of the forenoon the people on board the Aigle saw seven coffins landed from the frigate, and carried to a church that stood on the top of a neighbouring hill : a tolerable proof that the shot of the Aigle had done some execution. By the aid of two large> vessels and sundry smaller ones from the dock-yard at Lorient, this French frigate was at length got afloat and towed into Lorient. The other frigate, also, on the morning of the 29th, taking advantage of a shift of wind to the westward, slipped her cable, and in 20- minutes was safe at anchor in the same port. Although it is not in our power to state positively which of these two frigates it was- that got on shore, we believe it to have been the Seine, as that frigate did not again go to sea, except as an armee en flute, or store-ship. * Notwithstanding the fate of the " sloop of war" Lily* vessels- of that denomination, inferior in force to a gun-brig, were still suffered to remain in the British navy. One of the " cruisers" of this class was the Childers, a brig of 202 tons, built as, * See vol. iii.. v. 271. 28 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. long ago as the year 1778 ;. a vessel so unseaworthy as to have been obliged, on more than one occasion, to throw overboard her guns, 4-pounders, in order to save the lives of her crew. The brig at length became so crazy, that 18-pounder carronades were found too heavy for her, and she was fitted with fourteen 12t pounders. In this state, and manned with a crew, nominally, of 86, but really of 65 men and boys, including only one lieutenant (there not being accommodation for more), the Childers, Captain William Henry Dillon, in the month of January of the present year, lay in Leith roads, waiting to give her " protection" to the trade proceeding to Gottenburg. But the merchants, the instant they knew the force and qualifications of the Childers, objected to place their property under her care; supposing, very naturally, that so small and ill armed a vessel was incapable of beating off the privateers that infested the northern waters. Ludicrous as the application would have appeared, the merchants, had they wished for a vessel of nearly double the force of the one they had rejected, might have requested the board of admiralty to appoint, instead ofthe " sloop of war" Childers, the "gun-brig" Insolent, then cruising on the Downs' station. What vessel the merchants at last obtained we know not ; but the Childers pro ceeded by herself to the Baltic, to effect as much, in the way of annoying the enemy, as her small powers would admit. On the 14th of March, at 4 p. m., as the Childers was stand ing towards the coast of Norway, with a fresh breeze from the eastward, a sail was discovered in-shore, and immediately chased. The stranger hauled in among the rocks, out of sight, for the purpose of taking shelter in the small port of Midbe. Imme diately a number of boats came out, with the apparent intention of removing the vessel's cargo. To prevent this, Captain Dillon despatched the cutter, well armed, under the command of Wil liam Wilson, the master, accompanied by master's mate Thomas Edward Knight, also the jollyboat, with Robert Nicholl the gunner, and Augustus William Henry Le Neve the purser a volunteer. The near approach of these two boats was the signal for the shore boats to disperse; and, although , opposed by the inhabitants with musketry, as well as with stones hurled from the top of the precipice under which the vessel lay, the British boarded and carried her. She proved to be a Danish galliot, partly laden with oil and fish. Scarcely had the Childers descried the galliot, thus taken by her boats, coming out from among the rocks, than she also ob served a large brig, evidently a vessel of force, sail out of Hitteroe. The latter soon bore down towards the Childers, with the appa rent design of fighting her and rescuing the prize. At about 6 p. m. the stranger, which was the Danish brig-corvette Lougen, mounting 18 long 18-pounders, and two long 6-pounders through the stern-ports, with a crew of 160 men and boys, commanded by Captain Wulff, got upon the weather beam of the Childers, at about eun-shot distance. 1808. CHILDERS AND LOUGEN. 29 Being aware that the convoy, of which the Childers was to have been the escort, would very soon approach, Captain Dillon felt it incumbent upon him, notwithstanding the evident supe riority of the Danish brig, to strive his utmost to drive her into port. By way of defiance, therefore, the Childers fired a shot over the Lougen; who immediately hauled close to the wind, and stood in-shore. As soon as she had secured her prize and hoisted in her boats, the Childers followed the Danish brig ; and, when the two vessels were within half a mile of the shore, they ex changed broadsides, on opposite tacks, at about half gun-shot distance. Soon after the Childers had discharged her broadside, the Dane was discovered to be on fire forward ; and, had the Childers been near enough to profit by the confusion evidently caused by the accident, the contest might have been brought to a speedy termination. The Lougen now kept so near to the Norwegian shore, that she became hid from the view of the Childers, and could not at any rate be weathered by her. It was only, indeed, by the flash ofthe Lougen's guns, that Captain Dillon knew in what direc tion to fire his own. In this manner the engagement lasted for three hours; during which the heavy metal and well-directed fire of the Dane did the Childers considerable damage. Many of the Danish 18-pounders struck the British vessel between wind and water ; while the shot of /the Childers, being discharged from 12-pounder carronades, frequently fell short ; a circum stance which must have greatly reanimated her opponent. Despairing of accomplishing any thing while the wary Dane hugged the land so closely, the Childers stood out under easy sail, in the hope of enticing the Lougen to sea ; where a close, and therefore a more equal, combat could not so well be avoided by the latter. At length the Lougen ventured from the land, and at 11 p. m. was three miles distant from it. The Childers now set her courses, and tacked, with the intention of weathering her antagonist; but the wind pre sently headed her and defeated the attempt. As the only alternative, the Childers passed close under the lee of the Lougen, and poured into her a broadside of round and grape; receiving in return many destructive shot, several of which en tered between wind and water. The Lougen immediately tacked, and made sail to regain the shore ; and the Childers, having her lower masts and bowsprit badly wounded, five feet water in the hold, her magazine afloat, and the water gaining on the pumps, was not in a state to renew the action. Of her crew of 56 men and boys, the Childers had her captain's clerk (Joseph Roberts) and one seaman' killed, and her com mander (severely in both legs and in his left arm), two midship men (John Batten and Charles Parker), three seamen, two marines, and one boy wounded. The Lougen, from declining to continue the engagement, must have suffered some loss ; but its amount we are unable to state. 30 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 18Qj8. After bearing up to join her prize, the Childers lay to all night on the starboard tack,, to stop eight shot-holes between wind and water. This done, and being in too shattered a state to keep the sea, the Childers put back to Leith. In the mean time the merchant vessels from that port, having had the Lougen driven out of their track, and that by the very vessel whose services their owners had despised, passed in safety to their des tination. The gallantry of the Childers in this affair, obtained for her officers and crew the thanks of the admiralty, and for Captain Dillon himself the grand desideratum of a commander, post- rank. Of his first and only lieutenant, Thomas Edmunds, Cap tain Dillon speaks in the highest terms. What honours fell to the share of Captain Wulff, for his conduct on the occasion, depended very much, no doubt, upon the story he told when he got safe into port. On the 19th of June, at 2 p. m., the Nase of Norway bearing west-north-west seven or eight leagues, the British 16-gun brig- .-sloop Seagull (fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two sixes), Captain Robert Cathcart, discovered in-shore, running to the eastward, with a fresh breeze at west-south-west, the same Danish ,20-gun brig Lougen, of whom mention has just been made. The Seagull crowded sail in chase ; and at 4 h. 30 m. p. m., having arrived within gun-shot, hoisted her colours. The Lougen •did the same, and, knowing that a long range suited her best, immediately opened a fire from her starboard guns. It now falling nearly calm, the Seagull was obliged to use her sweeps, in order, by getting between her antagonist and the shore, to pre vent the latter from entering Christiansand harbour, off the mouth of which she lay ; and more particularly, that the former might gain, a position near enough for her carronades to produce ¦effect. At 5. p. m. the British brig got within musket-shot of the Dane and commenced the action, but soon had most of her sweeps, and the greater part of her rigging, shot away by the Lougen's fire. After the engagement had continued in this way for 20 minutes, six Danish gun-boats, each armed with two long 24-pounders, and manned with from 60 to 70 men, and which until now had been concealed behind the rocks, pulled towards the Seagull. They soon swept up, and, taking a position on each quarter, raked the Seagull at every shot ; while the Lougen was doing the same on the British brig's larboard bow. By 6 h. 30 m. p. m. fiveout of seven of the Seagull's carronades on the lar board side were dismounted. Every effort'was now used tojget the brig round ; but, as her sweeps were all destroyed, and her rigging and sails, even had there been a breeze" to use them, cut to pieces, that object could not he effected. After sustaining the heavy fire of her numerous antagonists until 7 h. 30 m. p. m., at which time she had five feet water in the hold, the Seagull struck her colours. 1808. STATELY AND NASSAU WITH PRINDTS-CHRIST.-FRED. 31 "Out of her 94 men and boys, the Seagull lost her second lieutenant (Abraham Harcourt White),. master (Andrew Martin), three seamen, and three marines killed, her captain (severely), first lieutenant (Villiers T. Hatton, dangerously), boatswain" o 36 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. roads, with the body of her late gallant and much lamented captain on board. On the 19th of May, at 4 p. m., in latitude 46° north, longi tude 14° west, the British 38-gun frigate Virginie, Captain Edward Brace, standing on the starboard tack with tbe wind at north-east, saw and chased a sail in the north-north-west. At 4 h. 30 m. p. m. the strange sail, which was the Dutch frigate Guelderland, already named as the object of the Tartar's search, bore away. At 7 h. 40 m. p. m. the Virginie, coming up fast, fired a gun to leeward : on which the Guelderland fired one to windward, and hoisted French colours. At 9 h. 45 m. p. M., the Virginie hailed the Guelderland ; who, shifting her colours, replied that she was a Dutch ship of war. Being now called upon to strike, and refusing, the Guelder land was fired into by the Virginie, and an action forthwith commenced. During its continuance the Dutch frigate wore three times, and, in attempting to do so the fourth time, fell on board her opponent ; but the night was so dark, and the swell so great, that the British could not act as on such occasions they are wont. After an hour and a half's contest, in which she had her bowsprit and all three masts shot away by the board, and sustained a very heavy loss in killed and wounded, the Guelderland struck her colours to the Virginie ; whose principal damage was that caused by the former's running foul of her. The Guelderland, soon after she had struck, caught fire, but, " through the firm discipline of the enemy," says Captain Brace, "the fire was extinguished" before the Virginie's boats could get on board to rescue the prisoners. The Virginie came out of the action with so trifling a loss as one man killed and two men wounded ; while that of the Guel derland, whose crew numbered 253, exclusive of 23 passengers, amounted to 25 officers and men killed, and 50, includino- her commander, severely wounded. Against such a superiority as existed in this action, to delay surrendering until the ship was wholly dismasted, and three tenths of her crew killed or disabled, showed that there was no want of bravery in the Dutch frigate. There appears, however, to have been one exception among the persons on board ¦ and that, shame to say, the captain himself. On the 28th of November, 1810, Colonel de mer Pool, late captain of the Guelderland frigate, was tried by a court-martial at Amsterdam for having, during that ship's action with the Virginie, quitted his quarters after receiving two slight wounds, one in the face the other in the hand. By the sentence that followed, he was dismissed the service, declared perjured and infamous and banished for life.* In the art of gunnery, the Dutchmen appear to have been mi- * Moniteur, December 14, 1810* CWT SIR JAMKS ALKXANUKRilORDO.N, K. P"MG-RA"VF.ll B"? "W7 G-KJilTU/vTCfj . Pjc'bajrfl Bi?Dtley; 1837. 1808. BOATS OF THE ALCESTE, &C, OFF ROTA. 37 serably deficient. Many a 10-gun privateer, in a running fight, has inflicted a greater loss upon a British frigate, than the Virginie sustained in her one hour and a half's conflict with the Guelder land. On the other hand, great credit is due to the Virginie's officers and crew for the skill they exhibited ; especially when it is considered, that the 18-pounders of the Virginie, on ac count of her age and weakness, were of a shorter and lighter description than those usually established upon frigates of her class. The British captain, in his official letter, calls the defence of his opponent a gallant one, and adds : " If any credit is due to this transaction, I entreat you to bestow it on the officers and men." Here is another instance of that liberal feeling which is ever the characteristic of the truly brave. Captain Brace's re commendation of his officers produced its effect1, Lieutenant John Davis, first of the ship, being made a commander, and master's mate Nathaniel Norton, who had passed for one, a lieutenant. Dutch ships of war are seldom any great acquisition to the British navy ; but the Guelderland served, for a few years, as a cruising 12-pounder 36. On the 4th of April, while the. British 38-gun frigate Alceste, Captain Murray Maxwell, 28-gun frigate Mercury, Captain James Alexander Gordon, and T8-gun brig-sloop Grasshopper (16 carronades, 3 2-pounders, and two long sixes), Captain Thomas Searle, lay at anchor about three miles to the north-west of the lighthouse of San-Sebastian, near Cadiz, a large convoy, under the protection of about 20 gun-boats and a numerous train of flying artillery on the beach, was observed coming down close along-shore from the northward. At 3 p. m., the Spanish convoy being then abreast of the town of Rota, the Alceste and squa dron weighed, with the wind at west-south-west, and stood in for the body of the enemy's vessels. At 4 p. m., the shot and shells from the gun-boats and batte ries passing over them, the British ships opened their fire. The Alceste and Mercury devoted their principal attention to the gun boats; while the Grasshopper, drawing much less water, sta tioned herself upon the shoal to the southward of the town, and so close to the batteries, that by the grape from her carronades she drove the Spaniards from their guns, and at the same time kept in check a division of gun-boats, which had come out from Cadiz to assist those engaged by the two frigates. Captain Maxwell in his official letter, alluding to this gallant conduct on the part of Captain Searle, says : " It was a general cry in both ships, ' Only look how nobly the brig behaves.' " The situation of the Alceste and Mercury was also rather critical, they having, in the state of the wind, to tack every fifteen minutes close to the end of the shoal. In the heat of the action the first Lieutenant of the Alceste, Allen Stewart, volunteered to board the convoy with the boats. US LIGHT SQUADKONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808-1 Accordingly the boats of the Alceste pushed off, under Lieu tenant Stewart, accompanied by Lieutenant Philip Pipom, Lienp- tenant of Marines Richard Hawkey, master's mates James Arscott and Thomas Day, midshipmen J. Stevens Parker, James Adair, Charles Croker, Abraham M'Caul, and Thomas Henry M'Lean; and the boats of the Mercury, under Lieutenant Watkin Owen Pell,* accompanied by Lieutenant Robert James Gordon, Lieutenant of Marines James Whylock,. master's mates Charles Du Cane and Maurice Keating Comyn, quickly followed. Dashing in among the convoy, the two divisions of boats, led by Lieutenant Stewart, soon boarded and brought out seven tartans^ from under the very muzzles of the enemy's guns, and from under the protection of the barges and pinnaces of the Franco-Spanish squadron of seven sail of the line ; which barges and pinnaces had also by that time effected their j unction with the gun-boats. Exclusive of the seven tartans captured, two- of the gun-boats were destroyed, and several compelled to run on shore, by the fire from the two British frigates and brig, which did not entirely cease until 6 h. 30 m. p. m. All this was effected with so slight a loss to the British, as one man mortally and two slightly wounded on board the Grasshopper. The damages of the latter, however, were extremely severe, as well in hull, as in masts, rigging, and sails. With the exception of an anchor shot away from the Mercury, the damages of the two frigates were confined to then- sails and rigging, and that not to any material extent. In the month of April, while the British 12-pounder 36-gun frigate Nymphe, Captain Conway Shipley, and 18-gun ship- sloop Blossom, Captain George Pigot, were cruising off the port of Lisbon, information was received, that a large brig-corvette, the Garrota, of 20 guns and. 150 men, late belonging to the Por tuguese navy, but since fitted out by the French, was lying at anchor in a bight above Belem castle, waiting for an opportunity to escape to sea. Having rowed up the Tagus at night in his gig, and reconnoitred the position of the brig, Captain Shipley resolved to attempt cutting her out. For this purpose the boats of both ships were detached, and upon a principle highly honour able to him, were placed by Captain Shipley under the command of Captain Pigot ; the former merely accompanying the expedi tion to point out the situation of the vessel. Owing to some cause with which we are unacquainted, the boats returned with out effecting their object, or even, we believe, getting within gun-shot of the French brig. A second attempt ended much in the same way. Captain Shipley now resolved to head the boats himself; and accordingly, on the 23d, at 9 p. rj., eight boats, containing about * In mentioning the wound of this officer when a midshipman of the Loire in February 1800 (see vol. iii., p. SI), we should have stated that he lost his left leg, and was them under 12 years of age. 1808. BOATS OF NYMPHE AND BLOSSOM IN THE TAGUS. 39 150 officers and men, quitted the Nymphe^ in two divisions, for the Tagus. The larboard division consisted of the Nymphe's gig, Captain Shipley, her large cutter, Lieutenant Richard Standish Haly, launch, Lieutenant Thomas Hodgskins, and yawl, master's mate Michael Raven. The starboard division consisted of the Blossom's gig, Captain George Pigot, her large cutter, Lieu tenant John Undrell, launch, Lieutenant William Cecil, and the Nymphe's small cutter, master's mate Thomas Hill. The orders were, for the boats to keep in tow of each other until they were discovered by the brig: then to cast off, and pull alongside as fast as possible ; the larboard division to board on the larboard, and the starboard division on the opposite, side of the enemy's vessel. As, in the event of success, the Garotta in coming out might not be able, on account of the darkness, to avoid the shoals off the entrance of the river, Mr, Henry Andrews, the master of the Nymphe, with the jollyboat, was directed to station himself on the northern extremity of the South Cachop ; and, upon seeing the brig approach, he was to hoist a light by way of beacon. The British boats entered the Tagus in the order prescribed, and, ascending with the tide, got near enough, by the time it became slack water, to see the vessels in the harbour. Wishing to have a good tide to carry out his prize, Captain Shipley waited until he saw the vessels swing with the ebb. Unfortu nately for the success of the enterprise, there was a fresh in the river, and the tide in consequence, when the ebb had fairly made, ran at the rate of seven knots an hour. Notwithstanding this unexpected difficulty, the boats got tolerably close to the enemy's vessel before they were discovered. Upon being hailed by the Garotta (the French captain saying in good English, " My good fellows, you had better keep off, you will all be killed if you come on board"), who lay within pistol-shot of the guns of Belem castle, and had for her additional protection a floating battery carrying long 24-pounders, the boats ofthe two divisions cast themselves off and severally made towards her. The gig soon darted out of sight of the other boats, and at about 2 h. 30 m. a. m. on the 23d, boarded the French brig on the larboard bow. Captain Shipley, having sprung into the Garotta's fore-rigging, was in the act of cutting away the board ing-netting, when he received a musket-ball in his forehead and fell dead into the water. The next in command of the gig was Mr. Charles Shipley, the late captain's brother, but not attached to the Nymphe, nor even, we have heard * belonging to the naval profession. His fraternal affection overcoming every other consideration, Mr. Shipley ordered the gig's crew to shove off from the enemy's vessel, and endeavour to pick up their captain. As she dropped from the brig's side, the gig fell foul of the oars of the large eutter, just as the latter was about to lay herself * He is now the Reverend. Charles Shipley. 4(5 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. alongside. The large cutter, thus impeded, drifted upon the launch; and all three boats then fell foul of a large calking stage moored astern of the brig, which the French crew instantly cut adrift. Disengaging the cutter as quickly as possible, Lieutenant Haty again directed his course towards the Garotta ; but such was now the rapidity of the tide, that the men, with all their efforts, could not stem it. Having had one seaman killed, and one midshipman (William Moriarty) and a corporal of marines wounded, and seeing no prospect of being supported by the starboard division of the boats under Captain Pigot, which, as well as the yawl belonging to the larboard division, had seem ingly been unable to pull up against the tide, Lieutenant Haly abandoned the enterprise, and returned on board the Nymphe. At 4 a. m. the boats of each division reached their ship without any additional loss. The body of Captain Shipley was after wards washed on shore, with his sword hanging to his hand, and afforded a clear proof that, had he fallen into the boat instead of into the water, he could not have survived his wound. Yet a contemporary represents this gallant young officer to have been " drowned."* Captain Pigot, fortunately for him, was appointed by Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, the commander-in-chief on the coast of Portugal, to be the late Captain Shipley's successor on board the Nymphe ; and on the 17 th of the ensuing September, he was confirmed in his post-rank. On the 23d of April, in the morning, the Grasshopper, still commanded by Captain Searle, and now accompanied by the 14-gun brig Rapid, Lieutenant HenryBaugh, cruising off Faro, on the south coast of Portugal, fell in with and chased two Spa nish vessels, valuably laden from South America, under the pro tection of four gun-boats. In a short time the chased vessels all anchored among the shoals, and under the cover of a battery close in with Faro. The Grasshopper and Rapid immediately anchored within range of grape-shot ; and, after a very severe action of two hours and a half, compelled the people on shore to desert their guns, two of the gun-boats to surrender, and the remaining two to run themselves on shore. The two Spanish vessels, the cargo of each of which was valued at 30,000^. sterling, were immediately taken possession of. The service, thus gallantly performed, was not executed wholly without loss, the Grasshopper having one seaman killed, her captain slightly, and three seamen severely wounded, and the Rapid three seamen also wounded severely. Both brigs like wise suffered much in their hulls, masts, sails, and rigging. The loss ofthe enemy was very great in the two captured gun-boats, amounting to 40 in killed and wounded. Captain Searle, in his official letter, speaks very highly of his * Brenton, vol. v., p. 462. 1808. GOREE WITH PALINURE AND PILADE. 41 first lieutenant, William Cutfield; also of his master, Henry Bell, and purser, Thomas Bastin ; the first for having taken the brig into so dangerous a navigation, and the last for having, in the absence of the second lieutenant, commanded the after-guns. Mr. Bastin had, it appears, on a former occasion, been severely wounded, and is described as a very deserving officer. On the 22d of April, at 6 a. m., as the British ship-sloop Goree, of 18 long sixes and eight 12-pounder carronades, with 120 men and boys, Captain Joseph Spear, was lying at an anchor in Grande-Bourg bay, island of Marie-Galante, the two French 16-gun brig - corvettes Palinure, Capitaine de fregate Pierre- Frangois Jance, and Pilade, Lieutenant de vaisseau Jean-Marie Cocherel, each mounting fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two sixes, with 110 men and boys, then on their way from Martinique to Guadaloupe, made their appearance in the south east. Having ascertained that they were enemy's vessels, and hoisted a signal to that effect to the brig-sloop Superieure, of twelve 18-pounder carronades and two long twelves, Captain Andrew Hodge, at an anchor a few miles off in the north-west, the Goree, at 9 a. m., slipped and made sail in chase, with a moderate breeze at east-south-east. Confident in their strength, 'the two brigs waited for the Goree, and at 10 a. m. the action commenced within pistol-shot. At the end of an hour's cannonade, observing the approach of the Superieure, and of another vessel or two, the Palinure and Pilade bqre up and made all sail ; leaving the Goree with her main yard, and fore and main topsail yards, shot away in the slings, all her masts and topmasts badly wounded, and the ship in other respects so disabled that she could not follow them. Owing, however, to the high firing of her two opponents, the Goree's loss amounted to only one man killed and four wounded. Each French brig had four men killed ; the Pilade six, and the Palinure 15, including her captain, wounded : total, eight killed and 2 1 wounded. With no other sail to set than her foresail and driver, the Goree now hauled her wind for Marie-Galante, and in about half an hour regained the anchorage she had quitted. By noon the Superieure, who had weighed at 10 h. 15 m. A. m., got within three miles of the two French brigs, then in the west^south-west, steering for the Saintes. At about half past noon a running fight commenced between the Pilade and Supe rieure, and continued until 3 h. 30 m. p. m., when the latter, being close to the forts at the Saintes, shortened sail and hauled to the wind on the larboard tack ; having sustained no loss, and no greater damage than one carronade disabled, and the axle of one of her 12-pounders broken. At 6 p. m. the Palinure and Pilade anchored in the Saintes ; and, in justice to those brigs, it must be stated, that, when the Superieure gave up the chase, the 12- pounder 32-gun frigate Circe, Captain Hugh Pigot, and 18-gun 42 LIGHT SQUADRONS, AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. brig-sloop Wolverine, Captain Francis Augustus Collier, were within a very few miles of them. On the 3d of October the British 18-gun brig-sloop ¦ Carnation {sixteen 32-pounder carronades and two sixes), Captain Charles Mars Gregory, cruising about 60 leagues to the northward and eastward of Martinique, fell in with the Palinure, still commanded by Captain Jance, and then cruising alone. An action ensued ; and, at the end of an hour and a half's cannonade, the Palinure, who was to windward, being greatly disabled in her rigging, fell on board the Carnation. In common cases this would have been the moment for the British vessel to terminate the contest in her favour, but the Carnation was not so fortunate: her gallant commander was dead, and all her principal officers and several of her crew had been either killed or badly wounded ; so that the boatswain, William Triplet, was now the commanding officer on deck. Finding that the British were not, as usual, ready to rush on board their vessel, the French took confidence, and became themselves the assailants. The boatswain advanced boldly to repulse the boarders ; but, of the 45 or 50 men then on deck (several, exclusive of the wounded, were on duty below, perhaps about 20), not more than eight or 10 came to his support. The remainder, headed by the sergeant of marines, John Chapman, deserted their quarters and fled below. The consequence was, that the Carnation became a prize to the Palinure, and that too by boarding. The British brig, out of a crew of 117 men and boys, had her commander, purser (Morgan Thomas), and eight men killed,, and her two lieutenants (Samuel Bartlett Deecker and James Fitz*- maurice, severely), master (Anthony Metherell, mortally) and 27 officers, petty-officers, seamen, and marines wounded, no fewer than 15 of them mortally. What loss was sustained by the Palinure, whose crew on this occasion certainly did not exceed 100 men, has not transpired. The captain, as it appears, was suffering with the yellow fever ; and the active part in the con duct of the engagement had, in consequence, devolved upon Enseigne de vaisseau Simon-Auguste Huguet, who is represented to have greatly distinguished himself. According to the French accounts, Captain Jance, in less than an hour after his victory; died on board the Carnation, of which, as the preferable vessel, he fed taken the command. Both brigs, in the course of the day succeeding the action, arrived at the harbour of Marin, Martinique. On the 20th of October the British 74-gun sbip Pompee, Captain George Cockburn, being within two days' sail of Bar- bad oes, came up with and eaptured the French brig-corvette Pilade, with a crew of 109 men on board, and still commanded by Lieutenant Cocherel, eight days from Martinique on a cruise. 1808. CARNATION AND PALINURE. 4a On the 31st, at daylight, the 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Circe, Captain Hugh Pigot, cruising off the harbour of Fort-Royal), Martinique, observed a brig under jury-masts coming before the wind. The instant the frigate made sail, the brig, which was the Palinure on her way from Marin into the harbour of Fort- Royal, hauled close round the Diamond rock. It being nearly calm, the brig was enabled, with her sweeps and a boat, to get under the protection of a battery on Pointe Salomon, before the Circe could get near her. As soon as the frigate arrived within gun-shot, an action ensued; and in 10 or 15 minutes the Pali nure hauled down her colours, with the loss, out of her 79 men on board when the action commenced, of seven killed and eight wounded. The Circe herself,, from the fire of the battery, which was too much above her to be fired at with effect, lost one man killed and one wounded. On board- the Palinure were found nine of the surviving seamen late belonging to the Carnation ; which brig had either put back to Marin after sailing, or had been left there by the Palinure. On the 6th of November the late master of the Carnation, one of the officers recaptured in the Palinure, died on board the 98- gun ship Neptune, in Carlisle bay, Barbadoes, of, we believe, the wounds he had received in the action; but a contemporary states, that he died of the yellow fever.*" On the 1st of February a court-martial was held at Carlisle bay upon a badly wounded quartermaster and a captain of the mast late belonging to the Carnation, and they were honourably acquitted. On the 28th, at Forfe-Royal bay, Martinique, where, as we shall see pre sently, the British commander-in-chief, Rear-admiral Sir Alex ander Cochrane, then was, the remainder of the surviving officers and crew, having been recaptured at the surrender of the island, were put upon their trial ; and the two lieutenants, the surgeon, the two master's mates, the three midshipmen, the gallant boat swain, and a few seamen and marines, were honourably acquitted. Others that were on duty or wounded below, including among the former the gunner and his two mates, were also acquitted of all blame. In justice to the memory of the officers who were killed in the action, or died of their wounds, the following declaration was made by the court : " That the conduct of Captain Gregory, from the commencement of the action to the period of his being killed, was most exemplary. And it also appears, that Mr. Anthony Metherell, late master of the Carnation, Mr. Morgan Thomas, the late purser, Mr. Thomas Griffiths, the late carpenter, and all those of her crew who were killed during the action, did perform their respective duties as became them." Of the remainder of the late Carnation's crew present to take their trial, 32 seamen and marines were found guilty of gross cowardice, and * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 269. 44 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. sentenced to 14 years' transportation to Botany bay, except one man, the sergeant of marines, John Chapman : he was condemned to be hanged ; and hanged he was, on the day after his trial, at the fore yard-arm of the 44-gun ship Ulysses, at anchor in Fort-Royal bay. Being aware that our chief historical contemporary com manded a sloop of war in the West Indies at the period of this disgraceful affair of the Carnation ; and that, at the date of the court-martial, if not sitting as one of the members, he was at, or very near to, the spot where it was held, we naturally turned to his book, for a full account of the circumstances, under which the sister-brig of the Amaranthe had been lost. We find it stated, that a long chase, and a three hours' run ning fight, at the end of which the Carnation had fired away all her filled powder, preceded the close action ; but here comes the statement that surprises and puzzles us : " The master of the Carnation ran from his quarters, as did the sergeant of marines." "The vessel was sacrificed to the cowardice of the master and the sergeant of marines," " The facts above stated came out in evidence before the court."* How this could have been the case, and such a sentence have been pronounced as that of which a faithful transcript has been given in the pre ceding page, is beyond our comprehension. All we can say is, that, as Captain Brenton calls the Carnation's first lieutenant " Dicker," instead of Deecker, and acknowledges that he has " unfortunately forgotten the name of the second," his memory may have been equally treacherous respecting the conduct, and he actually appears not to know the name of the unfortunate master, whose memory he has so aspersed. On the 28th of November, as the British 16-gun brig-sloop Heureux, Captain William Coombe, was cruising off the north side of the island of Guadaloupe, information was received that seven vessels, some laden and ready for sea, lay in the harbour of Mahaut at the bottom ofthe bay of that name. Thinking it practicable to cut out these vessels, Captain Coombe resolved to head his boats in the attack. He had a pilot to carry the boats in, and a guide to conduct the storming parties to the two batteries, which mounted, one of them one, and the otlier two, long 24-pounders. In the dusk of the evening three boats pushed off from the brig ; and, after rowing for about six hours, lay upon their oars to await the setting of the moon. At 4 A. m. on the 29th they dashed on; and, after a few minutes of desperate fighting, Captain Coombe, in the barge with 19 men, boarded and carried a schooner of two guns, and a crew of 39 seamen and soldiers. In the mean while Lieutenant Daniel Lawrence, assisted by Mr. Robert Daly, the purser, with the remainder of the party, * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 269. .1808. REMARKS ON THE 4-GUN SCHOONERS. 45 amounting to about 44 officers and men, had landed and spiked the two 24-pounders upon the nearest battery. Having accom plished this, Lieutenant Lawrence and his party boarded a brig ; but, before either the schooner or the brig could be got off, the shore was lined with musketry, and three field-pieces were brought to bear upon the two captured vessels. In their way out, these unfortunately grounded, and thus became fixed objects for the enemy's fire, which was presently increased by the remaining 24-pounder. Finding it impossible to get the vessels afloat, and daylight appearing, Captain Coombe was in the act of giving orders to abandon them, when a 24-pound shot struck him on the left side, and he instantly expired, exclaiming, " I die contented ; I die for my country !" Lieutenant Lawrence, who was wounded by a musket-ball in the arm, succeeded, by about 6 a.m., with out any additional loss of consequence, in getting all three of the boats beyond the reach of shot. We formerly submitted some remarks upon the ineligibility of a class of British cruisers, which it was thought advisable to build at Bermuda of the pencil cedar; vessels that were to measure from 75 to 78 tons, and mount four 12-pounder car ronades, with a crew of 20 men and boys.* These king's schooners, 12 in number, and named Ballahou, Baracouta, Capelin, Grouper, Haddock, Herring, Kingfish, Mackarel, Pilchard, Pike, Snapper, and Whiting, were all launched and at sea in the course of the year 1804. A foreboding, perhaps, that their terms of service would be short, and the British navy, in consequence, suffer a reduction in its strength, caused 18 more of these cock-boats to be constructed ; and they were all, before the end of the year 1806, launched, armed, manned, officered, and sent to " take, burn, and destroy" the vessels of war and merchantmen of the enemy. Of these 18 "men-of-war" schooners, six only were built at Bermuda, and, like the others, were named after the piscatory tribe : Bream, Chubb, Cuttle, Mullet, Porgay, and Tang. The remaining 12 were built in English dock-yards, and received the names of birds : Crane, , Cuckoo, Jackdaw, Landrail, Magpie, Pigeon, Quail, Rook, Sealark, Wagtail, Wigeon, and Woodcock. When the flimsy and diminutive frames, four or five in a slip, of these tom-tit cruisers came to be viewed amidst the substan tial and towering structures standing near them, many a sailor's joke, (and a sailor's joke is proverbially a good one) was cracked at the projector. This opened the eyes of the surveyors of the navy, and a slight enlargement, of the class took place. Hence came the Adonis, Alphea, Barbara, Laura, Cassandra, Sylvia, and, half a. dozen of the like pretty names; schooners (some # See vol. iii. Appendix, note i to Abstract No. 13. 46 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. rigged as cutters) of 111 tons each, pierced to mount, but too small conveniently to carry, ten 18-pounder carronades, with a crew of 50 men and boys. In the course ofthe year 1808, the schooner class received a more decided improvement, in the construction tof the Bramble, Holly, Juniper, Misletoe, Sham rock, and Thistle, of 150 tons each, with the same guns and complement as the last. A case or two, which we have now to relate, will show the propriety of our remarks^as to the unfitness of any of the first or 4-gun class of these schooners, to traverse the ocean unat tended by a consort to defend her from the attacks of an enemy, or, should a gale come on, and the accompanying vessel not be quite large enough to hoist her in, to take out the crew and let the worthless hull go to the bottom. Some time in the month of January, 1807, the Jackdaw, Lieutenant Nathaniel Brice, cruising off the Cape de Verd islands, was fallen in with, and captured by, " a Spanish row-boat." In the following month the prize was recaptured by the 32-gun frigate Minerva, Captain George Ralph Collier; and Lieutenant Brice, on his return to England, was tried by a court-martial and dismissed the service. He was, however, shortly afterwards reinstated in his rank. In fact, there was many a row-boat privateer, that was a full match for the Jackdaw ; and 18 or 20 smart hands in a frigate's launch, armed with her 18-pounder carronade, would have felt themselves quite equal to the task of capturing her. Steel has made the affair appear worse than it was, by giving the Jackdaw 10 guns instead of four. In April, the Pike, Lieutenant John Ottley, cruising off Altavella, was fallen in with and captured by the French privateer Marat, of four times her force. Shortly afterwards the 18-gun brig-sloop Moselle; Captain Alexander Gordon, recaptured the Pike, and restored her to the British navy. A similar fate attended the Kingfish, whereby her valuable services were only lost for a time. On the 18th of August, 1808, the Rook, one of the 4-gun schooners, commanded by Lieutenant James Lawrence, being off the mole of Cape St.-Nicholas, on her way from Port-Royal, Jamaica, to England with despatches, was fallen in with and attacked by two French schooner privateers, one of 12, the other of 10 guns. After an action of one hour and a half, during which the lieutenant was killed, the next officer, master's mate Thomas Seaward, mortally wounded, and 13 out of the re maining 18 men of the crew killed or mortally wounded, the privateersmen made a prize of the Rook. This very gallant action more than redeemed the fate of the Jackdaw. Three other schooners of this class were captured by privateers, but in later years. In short, the whole 30 vessels composing this class, except three sold out of the service, came to an untimely end j 1808. BRITISH SCHOONERS AND FRENCH PRIVATEERS. 47 some, as already mentioned, by falling into the hands of the enemy, and the remainder by foundering in the deep or perishing ontheTOcks. Some of the smaller 10-gun class also became the trophies of French privateers ; one case is all we shall relate. On the 17th of September, 1807, the Barbara, Lieutenant Edward A. D'Arcey, after a well-contested action of half an hour, was boarded and taken by the French privateer General-Ernouf, Captain Grassin, and carried into Guadaloupe. On the 17th of July, 1808, in the Gulf of Florida, the Barbara, then named Peraty, was recaptured by the 38-gun frigate Guerriere, Captain Alexander Skene. The privateer had sailed from Charleston about a week before, and, when fallen in with, was in the track of the Jamaica homeward-bound fleet; " of which," says Captain Skene, "she had obtained most correet information, as to their strength, number, and situation, from the master of an American brig, who had himself claimed and received the protection of that eonvoy, which he betrayed to the enemy in 24 hours after parting company." On the 7th of May, at daylight, Cape Trafalgar bearing west- north-west distant about six miles, the British 18-gun brig-sloop Redwing, of 16 carronades, 32-pounders, and two long sixes, Captain Thomas Ussher, discovered a Spanish convoy of seven armed and 12 merchant vessels, coming down alongshore. The wind being very light and variable, the Redwing was not able to close with the enemy until 7 a.m.; when, the two parties being within point-blank shot of each other, the Spanish gun-vessels, seven in number, handed their sails, formed a close line, and swept towards the Redwing, indicating an intention to board. That the Spaniards had good reason to hope for success, will be seen when the force of their vessels is described. The Diligente and Boreas mounted each two long 24 and two long 8 pounders, with a crew of 60 men ; gun-boats, No. 3, two long 24 and one long 36 pounder and 35 men ; No. 6, one 24 and 40 men, and No. 107, two 6-pounders and 35 men ; a mistico four 6-pounders and 20 men ; and a felucca four long 3-pounders and 20 men ; total 22 guns and 271 men. Nowise daunted, notwithstanding, the Redwing endeavoured also to close, in order to decide the business quickly, and, if possible, secure the merchantmen. As soon as her opponents had advanced within musket-shot, the brig opened upon them a quick and well-directed fire, her guns evidently doing great execution. At 9 a. m. the gun-boats, completely panic-struck and beaten, pushed into the surf, sacri ficing their wounded. To save these, if possible, Captain Ussher despatched one of his boats ; but the Redwing's men, notwith standing all their exertions, were unable to reseue a single Spaniard. Seeing the fate of their protectors, two of whom only remained afloat, the merchant vessels attempted to dis perse. 48 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. Four of the latter were sunk by the Redwing's shot, seven, with the 4-gun mistico, were captured, and the remaining one, with gun-boat No. 107 and the felucca, effected their escape, the Redwing being in too crippled a state to pursue them. The brig, indeed, had received two 24-pound shot through her fore mast, one through the mainmast, and one through the gam moning of the bowsprit, which last shot had likewise cut asunder the knee of the head. Notwithstanding that her damages were so serious, the Redwing had only one seaman hurt on board. In her boats, however, she had one seaman killed, and her master (John Davis) slightly, purser (Robert L. Horniman), and the same seaman who had been wounded- slightly on board, severely, wounded. Considering that, among the 22 guns of , the Redwing's seven opponents, there were one long 36, and seven long 24 pounders, that the number of men on board of them almost .trebled the' number in the brig, who had only 98 men and boys on board,. and that the weather was in every respect favourable for gun boat operations, the defeat and destruction of this Spanish flotilla afforded an additional proof of the prowess of British seamen, and of how much may be accomplished by gallantry and perseverance. On the 10th of May, at 1 p. m., the British brig-sloop Wizard, mounting fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two sixes, with 95 men and boys, Captain Abel Ferris, being in lati tude 40° 30' north, and longitude 6s 34' east, standing to the north-east, with a fresh breeze at west, descried and chased a brig in the east-north-east, steering to the southward under all sail. This vessel was the French brig-corvette Requin, mount ing also fourteen 24-pounder (French) carronades, with two sixes, and a crew of 110 men and boys, Capitaine de fregate Claude-Rene' Berard. In size, also, the two brigs nearly agreed, the Wizard measuring 283, and the Requin 332 tons. The pur suit continued throughout the day and night ; the Wizard shifting her provisions aft, and using every other means to get her trim and improve her sailing, and her crew passing the night at their quarters. On the 11th, at 4 A. m., the wind being light, the Wizard was at her sweeps ; and the Requin, trusting to her sails alone, was about two miles distant in the south-south-east. At 7 h. 45 m. a.m. the Requin fired her stern-chasers, and hoisted French colours ; and at 8 h. 10 m. a. m. the Wizard, bringing up a fresh breeze from west-north-west, fired her bow guns at the former^ and hoisted British colours. At 9 a. m. the Requin brought to, with studding sails set, and fired her broadside : on which the Wizard, who was nearing fast, ran close under her opponent's stern, and, having raked the Requin with guns double-shotted, hove to under her lee quarter. In this position the two brigs fought, at close quarters, from 9 a.m. to 10 h. 30 m. a.m. ; and 1808; WIZARD AND REQUIN. $Q yet, as was a little extraordinary, no spar of either came down. The Requin then filled and made sail, followed by the Wizard ; who, being to leeward, had the wind taken out of her sails by the former, and, in consequence, dropped astern ; but the British brig still maintained a running fight with her antagonist as long as her guns would reach. In this smart encounter the Wizard had her lower masts and main yard badly wounded, and her boats, booms, rigging, and sails much cut, and had also one man killed and five wounded. The loss on the part of the Requin must have been much more severe, as the Wizard's guns were directed chiefly at her op ponent's hull ; while those ofthe French brig were pointed high, as if to disable the rigging of her antagonist. At 6 p. m., by which time the Wizard had fished her lower masts and main yard, repaired the principal part of her rigging, and was again in chase nnder every sail she could spread, the island of Toro bore east by south half-south distant 12 leagues, and the Requin south-east half-east distant a mile and a quarter. At 9 p. m., the breeze having nearly died away, the sweeps of the Wizard were again resorted to, and were unceasingly plied until 11 p.m.; when, a moderate breeze springing up from the westward, the sails again performed their office, to the great relief of the fatigued but not disheartened crew, whose hammocks, during the whole of a second night, remained lashed in the nettings. On the 12th, at 5 a.m., the Requin altered her course from south-east by south to south ; and at 6 h. 15 m. a. m. the Wizard got near enough to fire her lee guns, but the former soon in creased her distance. At 7 a.m. the Requin was out of gun shot, and at 8 a. m. one mile ahead ; the Wizard still sweeping with all her strength, and who, to quicken her progress in the light air that was blowing, knocked away the stanchions from under the beams of her deck and started the wedges of her masts. Notwithstanding all this, the Requin, with her sails alone, increased her distance, at noon, to a. mile and a half, and at 4 p. m. to two miles and a half. The Wizard now ran her sweeps across the deck, and got her bow guns amidships, but still could do no more than keep way with her opponent. At 9 h. 30 m. p. m., a light breeze springing up from west by north, the Wizard trimmed sails, and, being near the land, bent the small bower cable, and got a hawser ready for a spring. This done, midnight left the two brigs still two miles and a half apart, the Requin bearing from the Wizard south by west, and the African coast right ahead, distant about seven miles ; and again there was no sleep for the British crew. On the 13th, at 0 h. 30 m. a. m., the Requin tacked ; and the Wizard, on getting abreast of the latter's lee beam, and nearly within gun-shot, did the same, under all sail. At 5 a. m., the weather becoming foggy, the two vessels lost sight of each other; but at 6 a.m. the Wizard was again cheered with the VOL. V. E 50 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. sight of her enemy, about two miles off right ahead, and ap parently going a point free. At noon, after an interval of fog, the weather got more clear, and the Requin was seen bearing east by north, distant three miles and a half, and at 4 p. m. south by east three miles. At 8 p. m. the return of thick weather again concealed the two vessels from each other; but at 10 h, 20 m. p.m. the rising of the moon discovered the Requin in the south, three and a half miles off. The Wizard was once more at her sweeps, and at 1 1 p. m. fired a gun, to excite the attention •of any British cruisers that might be off Cape Bon. This she repeated two or three times. At midnight the wind freshened up, and enabled the sailors again to suspend their labours at the sweeps, but still not a hammock could be moved below. On the 14th, at 4 a. m., Cape Carthage bore west-south-west four miles, and the Requin was right ahead distant about two miles and a half, steering for the bay of Tunis. At 5 a. m. the French brig anchored close under Fort Goleta in Tunis bay ; where, as it was a neutral port, the Requin lay as safe as if in the harbour of Toulon. The Wizard now did all she was em powered to do : she ran under the stern of the fugitive, tacked, and hove to ; and, besides reading " Le Requin " upon her stern, observed that the French brig was much cut up by shot about the hull and lower rigging. At 6 a. m. the Wizard filled and made sail out of the bay ; and very soon the hammocks were piped down, and her truly gallant crew enjoyed that rest which, during four successive nights, had unavoidably been denied to them. In this extraordinary chase, the two vessels ran 369 miles in 88 hours, making an average of rather more than four knots per hour ; which was as fast as the light and variable state of the wind, during the greater part of the time, would admit. They had run 109 miles when the Requin brought to to engage ; and engage she did, till she was beaten, fairly beaten, by a brig a trifle inferior, but say equal, to herself in force. The usual ex cuse of being charged with despatches cannot seemingly apply to this case ; or why did Captain Berard at length become the assailant ? The truth is, the Requin would have captured the Wizard if she could, but found herself unequal to the task : nay, more, the French brig found that her own surrender must ensue, if she did not make use of the only available quality in which she excelled, quickness of sailing. This property carried with it, as we have seen, another advantage : the French crew were under no necessity, at every fall of the breeze, to tug at the sweeps ; nor were they, night by night, kept from their natural rest. In a pursuit before a light wind, where every inch of canvass is out, and where the chased is only a short distance ahead, the chaser is obliged to be always on the alert, that she may be ready to shorten sail the instant her enemy begins to take in : whereas the chased knows np such alarms ; a head wind is 1808. BACCHANTE AND GRIFFON. 51 all she dreads, and that only until she has trimmed her sails to meet it. This points out another advantage, and no slight one either, which the Requin possessed over the Wizard. It must have been peculiarly annoying to the tars on board the Wizard, to see a vessel, that had "cost them so many hours of toil and anxiety, so many sleepless nights and tantalizing prospects of reward, moored close to the muzzles of their guns, and yet not be allowed to spring on board of, nor even to snap a trigger at her. So it was ; and tlie Wizard had no alternative but to leave the French captain to enjoy, with the possession of his fine brig, his reflections upon the degrading circumstances under which he had preserved her. The Wizard was obliged to put into Malta, to get herself new lower masts and a new main yard. In 15 days she was again at sea, keeping, no doubt, a sharp look-out for her old antagonist; but the latter fell to the share of another British vessel of war, the 22-gun ship Volage, Captain Philip L. J. Rosenhagen, who captured her on the 28th of July, to the northward of the island of Corsica, after a nine hours' chase. It was confirmed, that the Requin was the brig that had been engaged by the Wizard ; but the particulars of her loss were not communicated. Vice-admiral Lord Collingwood, to evince his opinion of the conduct of Captain Ferris in the arduous and persevering chase and gallant defeat of the Requin, appointed him, on the first vacancy, to the command of the 100-gun ship Royal-Sovereign ; but, Captain Ferris's commission as post not being dated until two years afterwards, we may conjecture that the board of ad miralty did not sanction the promotion, with which the Mediter ranean commander - in - chief had thought fit to reward the Wizard's commander. On the 11th of May, in the forenoon, the British 20-gun ship Bacchante (18 carronades, 32-pounders, and two nines), Captain Samuel Hood Inglefield, cruising off Cape Antonio, island of Cuba, chased, and at 3 p. m. brought to action, the French brig-corvette Griffon, of 14 carronades, 24-pounders, and two sixes, Lieutenant Jacques Gautier. After sustaining and return ing the heavy fire of her superior antagonist for 32 minutes, and persisting in her endeavours to escape until she was within 200 yards of the breakers off the Cape, the Griffon hauled down her colours. The Bacchante had no man hurt on board ; and the Griffon, out of a crew of 105 men and boys, only five men wounded. The brig was afterwards added to the British navy under the same name. The crowd of canvass, under which, owing to the lightness of the breeze, this action was fought by the Bacchante, is somewhat remarkable. She carried sky-sails with the wind abeam, and, above the main sky-sail, a lateen "moon-raker," which hoisted 14 feet above the mast-head. It was the inven- e2 52 LIGHT, SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808.' tion, we believe, of Captain Dacres, Captain Inglefield's prede cessor in the command ofthe Bacchante. On the 2d of May, at daybreak, the British 18-pounder 36- gun frigate Unite, Captain Patrick Campbell, cruising off Cape Promontoro in the Gulf of Venice, came up with and captured the Italian brig-corvette Ronco, mounting 16 brass carronades, represented as " 32-pounders," but, we suppose, French 36- pounders, with a crew of 100 men. No loss was sustained on either side, although the brig fired several broadsides at the frigate, and cut her sails and rigging a good deal. Scarcely had the Ronco hauled down her colours, when an Italian frigate and schooner were observed in the north or windward quarter. The Unite immediately made sail in chase ; but, owing to the lightness of the wind, the ship and schooner escaped into Pola, before Captain Campbell could get within two gun-shots of either. On the 31st, at about 5 p. m., having just weighed from under the island of Lusin, where she had been sheltering herself from a heavy north-east gale, the Unite discovered, close under Premuda, three brigs on the starboard tack with the wind at east. The frigate proceeded in chase, and presently made out the vessels to be three brigs of war. On observing the Unite, the three brigs, two of which were the Italian corvettes, Nettuno and Teulie, of the same force as the Ronco, and the third a smaller vessel than either, wore, and steered with the apparent intention of gaining the channel of Zara ; out of which port, it seems, they had been despatched the day before, upon the very feasible enterprise of capturing the British frigate, on [a sup position that she was too weakly manned to make an effective resistance. As the night was likely to be clear, and the wind was mode rate, Captain Campbell, although the navigation was extremely' intricate and unknown to any person on board, determined to follow the three brigs, trusting to the lead and a good look-out. In this way the Unite kept sight of the vessels, until 11 h. 30 m. p. m., when they disappeared. By carrying a press of sail, the Unite, at a few minutes past 3 a. m. on the 1st of June, regained a sight of two of the brigs, distant about two miles on her lee beam. The helm was immediately put up ; but the sails were hardly trimmed when the third brig was observed on the starboard tack, upon the frigate's larboard and weather bow. The Unit6 immediately hauled to the wind, and, passing the brig within musket-shot to leeward, gave her the larboard broadside with such effect, thatshehauled down her colours without firinga gun. While the boats were proceeding to secure this brig, the Unite crowded sail after the remaining two, who were making off through one of the passages in the hope to get to sea. The wind fallings and the brigs, making use of their sweeps,, it was not until 7 , 1808. THE AMPHION AND BALEINE. 63 A. m. that the Unite got within gun-shot of the sternmost; who, after receiving a few of the frigate's broadsides, fired her broad side, struck her colours, and ran on shore. The wind continuing to decrease, and the remaining brig having got among a cluster of small islands, the Unite shortened sail to attend to the two that had struck. Of these, the Nettuno, out of a crew of 115 men and boys, had seven men killed, two drowned, and 13 wounded ; and the Teulie, out of a similar crew to her consort's, five killed and 16 wounded. The frigate had not a man hurt. These two brigs, as well as the one captured four weeks before, were transferred to the British navy; the Ronco, of 334 tons, under the name of Tuscan, the Nettuno, of 344 tons, under that of Cretan, and the Teulie, 333 tons, under that of Roman. On the 12th of May, at 9 h. 50 m. a. m., the British 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Amphion, Captain William Hoste, being on her way from the British fleet off Toulon to the island of Majorca, discovered a frigate lying at anchor in the bay of Rosas, and immediately tacked and stood towards her. This was the Bsileine, a French frigate-built ship of about 800 tons, constructed pur posely as an armed storeship, and mounting from 26 to 30 guns, with a crew of about 150 men. There were four or five of these ships attached to the Toulon fleet. The Baleine was last from Majorca, and had, we believe, accompanied Vice-admiral Gan teaume in his voyage to and from the Adriatic. At 10 h. 10 m. a. m. the Baleine hoisted French colours, and at 10 h. 30 m., having a spring on her cable, commenced firing at the Amphion; as did also a battery of 16 long 24-pounders to the left of the town of Rosas, a battery of several heavy guns named Fort Bouton, and a low battery of eight 24-pounders at the starboard entrance of the bay. This fire the Amphion returned on different tacks, while working up. At 11 a. m., finding the fire of the British frigate, as she closed, getting too warm, the Baleine slipped her cables, and, with her fore and mizen topsails, staysails, and jib set, ran on shore, close under the protection of Fort Bouton and the battery on the right. At 11 h. 30 m. A. m. the Amphion shortened sail, and anchored with two springs in seven fathoms, and in-shore of the spot on which the Baleine had been riding. Having veered to a whole cable, the Amphion commenced a smart fire, within point-blank shot, upon the ship, fort, and batteries. This fire they all re turned; and presently cut away the Amphion's jibstay. At about 30 minutes past noon the latter's starboard quarter ham mocks and main topmast staysail caught fire by the enemy's hot shot ; and at 1 p. m. a small explosion took place in the marine arm-chest, but fortunately injured no one. At lh. 30m. the Baleine herself caught fire abaft, and a part of her men began leaping overboard and swimming to the rocks. Believing . that the crew were abandoning her, Captain Hoste despatched Mr. William Bennett, the first lieutenant, in the jollyboat, to strike. 54 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. the ship's colours ; but, no sooner had the lieutenant arrived near the frigate's stern, than the French crew opened upon the boat a heavy fire of round, grape, and musketry. The Amphion instantly threw out the signal of recall, and the jollyboat put back. Regardless of the shower of shot pouring around him, Lieutenant Bennett stood up in the stern-sheets ; and he and his few hands gave the French three hearty cheers. At 2 h. 20 m. p.m., finding that nothing further could be done, and the wind beginning to fall, whereby she might have a difficulty in getting: beyond the reach of the batteries, the Amphion cut her cables and springs and made sail out of the bay. In this spirited little affair, the Amphion received no material damage, and had only one man killed and a few wounded. The loss on board, or the eventual fate, of the French ship, we have no means of showing. Her loss must, however, have been serious, to induce her to take the step she did ; and that the Baleine had run herself on shore with some effect is clear, because, at 5 p. m., she struck yards and topmasts, and on the third day after the action lay fast aground. It is a little singular that the Amphion had been sent by Lord Collingwood to endea vour to capture this very ship at her anchorage at Majorca; but, under an idea that she was a French frigate of the largest class, Captain Hoste had been directed to take under his orders the 28-gun frigate Hind, Captain Francis William Fane, sup posed to be cruising off the Spanish coast. On the 23d of June, while the British 22-gun ship Porcupine, Captain the Honourable Henry Duncan, was cruising off Civita- Vecchia, a vessel under French colours came out of the port, and endeavoured, by crossing the Porcupine, to get to the westward; but, failing in the attempt, and finding no means of escape left, the vessel ran herself on shore under two towers mounting two guns each. Captain Duncan immediately detached the boats of the Porcupine under Lieutenant George Price, who effectually destroyed the vessel, without sustaining any loss, although under a very heavy fire. On the 9th of July, at daybreak, as the Porcupine lay becalmed off Monte-Circello on the coast of Romania, two French gun-boats, with a merchant vessel under convoy, were observed going alongshore to the westward. The boats of the Porcupine, under the orders of Lieutenant Price, assisted by second Lieutenant Francis Smith, Lieutenant of marines James Renwick, midshipmen Barry John Featherstone, Charles Adam, and John O'Brien Butler, and captain's 'clerk George Anderson, were immediately despatched in pursuit of the gun- vessels. After a pull of eight hours in a hot sun, Lieutenant Price and his party drove the merchant vessel on shore, and compelled the two gun-boats, each of which was armed with one long 24-pounder and 30 men, to take shelter under the batteries of Port-Dango. At this moment, three suspicious vessels being 1808. THE PORCUPINE'S BOATS. 55 seen coming down from the westward before a fresh breeze, the Porcupine recalled her boats, in order to go in chase ; but the former, before they could be cut off, succeeded in getting into the harbour along with the gun-boats. On the morning of the 10th, observing that a large polacre- ship, one of the three vessels which had last entered, lay further out than the others, Captain Duncan resolved to attempt cutting her out. Accordingly, as soon as it was dark, the Porcupine's boats, commanded as before, pulled towards the harbour ; and although the polacre mounted six long 6-pounders,, with a crew of between 20 and 30 men, and, expecting to be attacked, had moored herself to a beach lined with French sol diers, and lay within pistol-shot of two batteries and a tower, and three gun-boats, Lieutenant Price and his men boarded and carried her. The next difficulty was to bring the vessel out. Here, although in consequence of baffling winds it was an hour and 20 minutes before the prize got beyond the range of grape, the British also succeeded. In this very gallant exploit, the Porcupine had none of her men killed ; but she had eight wounded, including (severely on the head and right leg) Lieute nant Price, also Mr. Butler, midshipman. For his good behaviour in this, and in several similar attacks by the Porcupine's boats, lieutenant Price was promoted to the rank of commander. On the 21st the Porcupine drove on shore near Monte-Cir- cello a French polacre ship, which was afterwards completely destroyed by the boats under the command of Lieutenant Francis Smith ; and that without any loss, although the boats were under the fire of a tower, mounting two guns, within pistol- shot of the grounded vessel. On the 8th of August the Porcupine chased another polacre ship into a harbour of the island of Planosa, near Elba, which was defended by a tower and a battery. In the evening Captain Duncan sent the Porcupine's two cutters and jollyboat, under the orders of Lieutenant Francis Smith, accompanied by Lieute nant of marines James Renwick, master's mates Henry Parry and Edward Barry, midshipman George Dawkins Lane, and captain's clerk George Anderson, to endeavour to bring out or destroy the vessel. The boats went into the harbour with muffled oars, and boarded the vessel without loss or difficulty. The ship was now found to be moored within 30 yards of a battery mounting six or eight guns, which immediately opened upon the boats a heavy fire of round and grape. To this was soon added the musketry of several French soldiers drawn up on the beach, and a fire from one of the polacre's guns which had been landed for her defence. In the face of all this, the British brought out the vessel, which proved to be the Concepcion, mounting four guns, from Genoa bound to the island of Cyprus with bale goods. This gallant exploit was not accomplished without loss : one , 56 LIGHT. SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. seaman was killed, another seaman and the lieutenant of marines mortally wounded, the latter with three musket-balls, and seven men wounded, some of them also mortally. If we have not to add that, for this act of gallantry, as well as for his general zeal and ability in the service, Lieutenant Smith received the cus tomary promotion, it is, we have reason to think, because Cap tain Duncan's letter on the subjct to Vice-admiral Lord Colling wood miscarried, and the duplicate, sent some time afterwards, did not reach his lordship at all, in consequence of his death. On the 26th of June, at daylight, the British 64-gun ship Standard, Captain Thomas Harvey, cruising off the island of Corfu, discovered and chased an Italian gun-vessel and a French despatch-boat. At 9 a. m., the wind failing, Captain Harvey sent the pinnace, with Lieutenant Richard Cull, and the eight-oared cutter, with Captain Edward Nicolls, of the marines) in chase. After rowing two hours, in very hot weather, the British approached the gun-vessel, and received from her a fire of musketry ; which the boats returned with their swivels, and on drawing near, with their musketry. As the two boats were advancing on each quarter the gun-vessel pulled short round and fired her long 4-pounder at the cutter, which happened to be the leading boat. Heedless of this, Captain Nicolls, dashed at, boarded, and carried, the Italian gun-boat Volpe, commanded by Enseigne de vaisseau Micheli Mangin, and mounting one long 4-pounder, with 20 men, well armed. > The pinnace immediately pushed on in chase ofthe despatch- boat, which was the Leger, having a well-armed crew of 14 men. The Standard's yawl, which had been previously sent to cut off this vessel, soon obliged her to run on shore. The French crew, on landing, formed on the rocks, and endeavoured to prevent the yawl's approach, but Lieutenant John Alexander succeeded in getting possession of the vessel, and, assisted by the two other boats, towed her off, under a smart fire of musketry from the shore. This little affair was effected without the slightest casualty on the part of the British, and without any known loss on that of the enemy. When the news reached England of the failure of Sir John Duckworth's expedition to the Dardanells, the new ministry sent out an embassy under Sir Arthur Paget, to endeavour to restore peace, in concert with a Russian plenipotentiary, the celebrated Corsican chief, Pozzi de Borgo. To give weight to the negotiation, Vice-admiral Lord Collingwood, with a strong squadron, attended the ambassadors as far as the island of Tenedos ; where his lordship anchored, in company with the Russian fleet under Vice-admiral Seniavin. Learning, while here, that the Turkish fleet was outside the Dardanells, Lord .Collingwood weighed and stood across to the island of Imbros, as a better station, with the prevailing winds, for getting at his ¦enemy; but, since the moment he had heard of the British 1808. . SEAHORSE IN THE ARCHIPELAGO. 57 admiral's arrival offTenedos, the Turkish admiral had moved his fleet to an anchorage in the Dardanells above the first castles. : The intelligence of the peace of Tilsit sent the Russian admiral down the Mediterranean, and put an end to the mission of Pozzi de Borgo. After some preliminary conferences, Sir Arthur Paget, went up alone to Constantinople, in the 38-gun frigate Thetis, Captain William Henry Gage. Either intimidated or cajoled by the French emperor, the Sublime Porte would come to no terms ; and on or about the 19th of October, the Thetis, with the ambassador on board, quitted the Dardanells. Towards the end of the year, upon an understanding between the Porte and Lord Collingwood, that no Turkish men of war were to cruise in the iEgean sea, and no tribute to be exacted from the inhabitants of the Greek islands, the British admiral quitted the Archipelago; and, early in the year 1808, detached the 38-gun frigate Seahorse, Captain John Stewart, to cruise there, with particular directions to see that the compact entered into ,with the Porte in favour of the Greeks was strictly complied with. It appears that a band of Epirots, who had been taken into the pay and service of Russia, upon being disbanded, at the peace of Tilsit and thrown upon their former masters the Turks, had taken possession of Dromo and Saraguino, two small islands situated at the mouth of the gulf of Salonica ; whence, with large boats, they laid the coast, as far as the Dardanells, under contribution, and made prize of all vessels going to Constantinople. The tribute from these countries, being paid principally in corn, was thus intercepted ; and the Turks, having no force outside of the Dardanells sufficient to crush this nest pf pirates, made application to Captain Stewart to know whether he would interfere with any squadron sent for that purpose. Being aware what would be the next object of the Turkish commander after he had put down the pirates, Captain Stewart replied, that he should repel by force any ships attempting, in violation of the treaty, to come out of the Dardanells. . The Porte, however, having received intelligence that no other British ship than the Seahorse was cruising in the Archipelago, despatched a squadron, composed of two frigates, two corvettes, two mortar-vessels, and some xebecs, upon the service in view. In the latter end of June this squadron anchored off the island of JDromo, made a landing, and surrounded the town ofthe pirates situated upon a peak. But the freebooters, in the mean time, -had despatched a fast-sailing boat to the island of Sira near Tino, where the Seahorse lay at anchor. The intelligence reached Captain Stewart on the; 1st of July; and he instantly got under way, and began working up against a north-north-east wind. Nothing of, consequence occurred until the 5th, at noon ; when the Seahorse spoke a Greek ship, 58, LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. from Gritchery to Malta, the master of which ship confirmed the accounts previously received of a Turkish squadron being in that neighbourhood. Profiting by a light air, which had just sprung up from the south-east, Captain Stewart dismissed the Greek ship and made all sail to the north-west. At 4 p. m., the weather becoming squally from the north-east with rain, the Seahorse was obliged to reduce her canvass to treble-reefed topsails. At 5 h. 45 m. p. m., by which time the weather had cleared up, two ships and a galley were descried between the islands of Scopolo and Dromo, standing to the southward, with the wind, owing to the mountainous nature of those islands, more to the northward than it blew with the Seahorse. The discovery was very soon made, that the two ships were Turkish men of war. Before we proceed further in the narrative, we will give an account of the force of the parties now approaching each other with, on one side at least, determined hostility. The Seahorse, upon her main deck, mounted the 28 long 18-pounders of her class, with 12 carronades, 32-pounders, upon her quarterdeck, and upon her forecastle two long brass Spanish 18-pounders, which she had taken on board at Messina in lieu of four long nines ; total 42 guns. The net complement of the Seahorse was 281 men and boys ; but, having several men absent in prizes, she had at this time on board only 251. The ship measured 998 tons. The Badere-Zaffer, Captain Scandril Kichuc-Ali, mounted upon the main deck 30 brass guns, of three different calibers : on each side, at the centre or broadest part of the ship, was a French 36-pounder; the two next guns on each side of that gun were French 24-pounders, and the remaining 10 upon the broadside, French 18-pounders. On the quarterdeck, including two stern-chasers, the Turkish frigate had 14 long French 12- pounders, and on the forecastle, including two bow-chasers, six guns of the same caliber, all brass ; mailing in the whole 52 guns. Her crew, including some supernumeraries received from the galley, amounted to 543 men ; and, as a proof that she was well able to carry the armament established upon her, the Badere- Zaffer measured nearly 1300 tons. The Alis-Fezan, Captain Duragardi-Ali, mounted 24 long brass French 12-pounders on the main deck, and two mortars in the centre' of the ship, with a crew, partly taken out of the galley (which had been ordered back to a port of safety), of 230 men. In point of size, the Alis-Fezan was about 730 tons. As single-decked ships and Turkish men of war, the Badere- Zaffer and Alis-Fezan excited no alarm on board the British frigate; and, with colours hoisted, the Seahorse continued standing to the eastward to interrupt them in their course to the southward. Either because the Turkish commodore was confident in his strength, or that he had no suspicion of an 1808. SEAHORSE AND BADERE-ZAFFER. 59> attack, the two ships did not in the slightest degree deviate from the course they were steering. At 9 h. 30 m. p. m., the Seahorse having arrived abreast and to windward of the Badere-Zaffer, the weathermost of the two ships, Captain Stewart, by means of the pilot, a native of Gibraltar, who had formerly been a captive in the hands of the Turks, and had afterwards served as a slave on board the Sultan- Selim, hailed the Turkish commodore, and ordered him to sur render to the British frigate. This Captain Scandril flatly re fused, and into the hull of the Badere-Zaffer went a whole double-shotted broadside of the Seahorse. Nor was the Turkish frigate slow in returning the fire. In this way, with the wind a light breeze about two points abaft the starboard beam, the two frigates went off engaging ; the Badere-Zaffer gradually edging away to close her consort, who was about a gun-shot distant a little before her larboard beam. See the diagram at p. 61. As soon as she had run far enough to leeward for the Alis- Fezan to join her in the cannonade, the Badere-Zaffer put her helm hard a-port, with the intention of laying the British frigate on board ; but tlie Seahorse, whose comparatively small crew such a mode of contest would never have suited, suddenly hauled close to the wind (see diagram, pos. 1), and left the Turkish frigate with her sails all aback and in great confusion. In a minute or two the Seahorse tacked, and, bearing up, stood again for the Badere-Zaffer ; who, in the mean while, had wore and was running nearly before the wind. At 10 p.m., just as the Seahorse was about to close the Badere-Zaffer upon her larboard quarter, the Alis-Fezan inter posed. Taking the wind out of her main and mizen topsails, the Seahorse sheared towards this new antagonist ; and, pouring in her starboard broadside, at the distance of not more than 200 yards, made a dreadful havoc on board. After a continuance of the fire until 10 h. 15 m. p. m., there was a great explosion on board the Alis-Fezan near the fore hatchway, and the people on board the Seahorse expected every moment that their opponent would blow up. That, fortunately, did not happen ; but the Turks on board this vessel had had fighting enough; and, putting her helm a-starboard, the Alis-Fezan luffed under the stern of the Seahorse, and stood away in the direction of the island of Pelagnisi. In consequence of the smoke and the at tention due to her more formidable antagonist, the Seahorse did not again see, or trouble herself any more about, the Alis-Fezan ; which ship, however, it may here be stated, got back to Con stantinople, but in a very shattered state. Not long after the abandonment of the action by the Alis- Fezan, or at about 10 h. 35 m. p. m., the Seahorse, favoured by a freshening of the breeze, overtook, and, furling her topgallant- sails, renewed the engagement with, the Badere-Zaffer; who received the starboard broadside of the Seahorse, and returned 60 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. the fire from her larboard guns, both ships going before the wind. At 11 p. m. the Turks made a second attempt to get on board the British frigate; but the latter was too vigilant, as well as too expert, to be caught. Shooting ahead, the Seahorse passed clear, the Badere-Zaffer's jib-boom and bowsprit carrying away the former's gaff-vangs and starboard mizen topgallant back-stays. At this moment the bowsprit and forecastle of the Badere-Zaffer were crowded with men ; but a discharge of grape from the stern-chase guns of the Seahorse, as the latter ranged ahead, killed or disabled the greater part of them. Crossing over, the Seahorse recommenced the action with her larboard guns. About this time the Badere-Zaffer lost her mizen topmast. The two frigates continued engaging, broadside to broadside, until the Badere-Zaffer became com pletely silenced. The Seahorse now repeatedly hailed, to know if she would surrender, but no answer was returned. The Seahorse then passed under the stern of the Badere-Zaffer (see diagram, pos. 2), whose fore and main topmasts had by this time fallen, and again hailed. In reply to which, as the Seahorse ranged up on her larboard quarter, the Badere-Zaffer fired a few of her aftermost guns. The British frigate instantly discharged her starboard broadside. It was now 1 h. 15 m. a.m. on the 6th ; and Captain Stewart, finding that his shattered antagonist would neither answer nor fire, very prudently, and very hu manely too, hauled off;, and, after standing on a little further, brought to on the starboard tack to wait for daylight. The Badere-Zaffer soon afterwards did the same. See pos. 3. ¦ The British crew now took some rest ; and at daylight the Seahorse filled and made sail towards the Turkish frigate, then about a mile distant, steering before the wind under her .shreds of courses. The Seahorse soon came up with the Badere-Zaffer, and, hauling athwart the latter's stern (see pos. 4), poured in her broadside. At this time, regardless of the scene of horror and destruction around him, Captain Scandril was sitting in a chair on the awning, or wooden roof, erected across the quarterdeck over the wheel, giving his orders, and exhorting his officers and men to continue their resistance ; observing that if they sub mitted to the infidels, they would all be put to death. Among the surviving officers, however, there were some prudent men, who saw that all further resistance was useless, and who had a knowledge of the English character. Two or three of these seized the person of their stubborn and obdurate chief, and, holding down his hands, made signs of submission; while others, just as the stern-chasers were about to be discharged a second time, hauled down the Turkish colours from the stump ofthe mizenmast. The following diagram will illustrate the various manoeuvres of the parties, in this long and sanguinary battle. 1808." SEAHORSE AND BADERE-ZAFFER. 61 ^s/L.ion: \p:m. f * *«-- Sf^Q. \ ai.uk' v?2^v^- -., Belh\ ' •-. .--'-'V' .••-"W3:~ y-^iron.3sm. % ..-¦"" %•) - P' 94, 7-0 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND- SINGLE SHIPS. 1808k ; Although, from the damages she had received in her action With the Terpischore, the Semillarofse, after her return to Port- Louis in April, was unable to put to sea as a cruiser, there still remained upon the Isle of France station two French national ships. One was the 40-gun frigate Canonniere, Captain Cesar- Joseph Bourayne, of whom mention has already been made; the other, the ship-corvette Jena, of 18 long 6-pounders and 150 men, commanded by Lieutenant Nicolas Morice. This vessel had sailed from Europe as a privateer, but had since been pur chased by Governor Decaen to be employed as a national corvette. Sometime in the month of August, 1808, the Canonniere joined the Semillante in the harbour of Port-Louis ; and on the 5th or 6th of September the British 22-gun ship Laurel, Captain John Charles Woollcombe, arrived off the Isle of France from the Cape; whence she had been despatched by Vice-admiral Bertie, the new commander-in-chief on that station, with pro visions for two ship-sloops expected to be cruising upon the Isle Of France station. Not -finding these sloops, nor any other British cruiser, off Port-Louis, Captain Woollcombe conceived it to be his duty, till relieved as he soon expected to be, to watch the motions of the Semillante, then supposed to be the only French frigate in the harbour. In a day or two after her arrival off the island, the Laurel recaptured a Portuguese ship, bound last from the rendezvous of French prizes in St.-Paul's bay to Port-Louis. On board this ship, as passengers from Bourbon, were some ladies be longing to the Isle of France. The gallantry of Captain Woollcombe induced him to despatch one of his boats with a flag of truce to Governor Decaen, requesting the general to send out a vessel to bring on shore the ladies and their baggage. In the middle of the night the second captain of the Canonniere, as he afterwards proved to be, came on board the Laurel in a flag of truce ; and, having to remain until seven or eight in the morning before the baggage could all be embarked, monsieur made himself thoroughly acquainted with the Laurel's force in guns and men. On the 12th, in the afternoon, the Laurel chased a ship almost under the batteries to the north-east of Port-Louis harbour, and, discovering the vessel to be a cartel, was about to wear off the shore with a light breeze from the east-south-east, when a sail was discovered on the lee bow steering nearly the same course as the Laurel. The latter consequently stood on, but, from the position of the stranger, could only make out that she was a ship. A difference of opinion prevailed as to her force ; some of the officers taking her for a prize Indiaman, others for the Semillante, frigate. In a little while the strange ship hove 1808. . LAUREL AND CANONNIERE. 71 in stays ; and her pursuers saw at once that she was a large French frigate with a commodore's broad pendant. This was, as may be conjectured, the Canonniere herself. Upon the return to Port-Louis of the flag of truce with the ladies on board, the French officer made such a representation of the Laurel's insignificant force, that Governor Decaen resolved to send out the Canonniere to endeavour to bring her in. In order, too, that the contest might be quickly decided, and tlie least possible damage done to the prize, whose services as a French cruiser were so much in request, a party of at least 70 soldiers from the garrison, with a captain to command them, were added to the 340 or 350 officers and seamen com posing the crew of the Canonniere. Armed, as has elsewhere appeared, with 48 guns,* manned, as we have just shown, with full 420 men, and, as a proof that she had no other object in view than the capture of the Laurel, supplied with only a few days' provisions, the Canonniere put to sea from Port- Louis. The force of the Laurel was precisely that of her sister- ship, the Comus ;f 22 long 9-pounders on the main deck, with six carronades, 18-pounders, and two long sixes on the quarterdeck and forecastle. But, of her complement of 175 men and boys, having quitted the Cape short-handed and since manned a prize, the Laurel had only 144 on board, and a few of these were sick. In point of relative size, one ship was 526, the other 1 102 tons. Notwithstanding all this, the Laurel stood on to meet the Canonniere ; and, as the two vessels approached each other on opposite tacks, Captain Woollcombe called out to the master, "Lay me as close to her as you can." It was now about 6h. 30m. p.m.; and, just as the Laurel, edging away on the larboard tack for the Canonniere's starboard bow, was about to discharge her foremost starboard maindeck gun, the Canonniere wore. "Either from the lightness of the wind, or, as was con sidered to be the case on board the Laurel, from the misma nagement of her crew, the French frigate came so slowly round, that the former was enabled to pour into her stern a deliberate, and, as acknowledged, a destructive fire. At length the Canon niere came to on the larboard tack, and discharged her broad side. So well, however, did the master obey the directions given him by Captain Woollcombe as to running close to his antagonist, that, after that first broadside, nearly all the Canon niere's shot flew over the heads of the British crew. In this way, the wind gradually sinking by the cannonade to nearly a calm, did the two vessels engage, until a few minutes before 8 p.m.; when, having had her rigging of every sort completely destroyed, the slings of her main yard and her gaff shot away, * See vol. iv., p. 285. t Ibid., P- 287- 72 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. and her mizenmast left tottering, the Laurel hauled down her colours. Out of her 144, or, adding a passenger, Lieutenant Henry Lynne, who shared the danger of the quarterdeck with Captain Woollcombe, 145 men and boys, the Laurel, as with every attempt at explanation must still appear extraordinary, sustained the comparatively slight loss of nine wounded : her master (James Douglas), six seamen, and two marines. Three of the seamen lost each a leg, and one, a boatswain's mate, died after amputation, but entirely through his own fault. The incon siderate man swallowed a large quantity of raw spirits : the consequent enlargement of the vessels about the stump burst the bandages, and he bled to death. The loss on board the Canonniere, as acknowledged by Captain Bourayne, amounted to five men killed and 19 wounded; but it is believed that the French captain's report referred to his proper crew only, and that the captain of the detachment of troops had also to report to General Decaen a loss of some serious amount. Indeed the British officers afterwards under stood, that the killed and mortally wounded alone in the Canonniere exceeded 20. Among the damages received by the French frigate, was considerable injury to her stern-frame and quarters, and so many shot in her mizenmast that her crew had to fish it to prevent its falling. As soon as Captain Woollcombe, Lieutenant Lynne, and the Laurel's first lieutenant, William Ingle Woodman, were brought on board the Canonniere, Captain Bourayne, an experienced seaman of the old French school, and a brave officer, returned them their swords, with a suitable compliment to their gallantry. On a subsequent day, when these officers and others of the late Laurel's crew got back to the Cape of Good Hope, the sentence of a court-martial most honourably acquitted them of the loss of their ship ; and the president, Captain Josias Rowley, passed a very handsome encomium upon Captain Woollcombe, for his brave and able defence of the Laurel against an enemy's ship,' that was acknowledged to be more than doubly superior to her. ¦ Until the statement of a contemporary met our eyes, we could almost have sworn, that every officer in the French, as well as in the English, naval service would have praised the defence of the Laurel, and have concurred in the opinion, that no efforts of Captain Woollcombe, even could they have been more skilfully directed than they were, would have enabled him to succeed against such a ship as the Canonniere. Of all things, too, the individual, who, in dissenting from that opinion, argues against physical impossibility, is the brother of the gallant officer that once commanded the Canonniere ; and who, we are sure, would have gladly encountered, in the Minerve, as was then the frigate's name, two French ships armed and manned like the Laurel. Indeed there was not an 18-gun brig in the British 1808. MODESTE AND JENA. 73 navy, that with her 32-pounder carronades, would not have considered herself a match for her. After narrating, in his usual brief manner (including an omission of the date), the action between the Laurel and Canonniere, our contemporary proceeds thus : " The character of Captain Woolcomb received no blemish from this misfortune, a court-martial having honour ably acquitted him : in his mode of fighting he appears to have adhered to the old English maxim, of firing at the tier guns. In a case of this sort, where the opponent, was of so much greater force, perhaps it would have been better to have directed the whole fire at the mainmast-head ; that fallen, the ship might have become an easy prey to the Laurel."* As the absurdity of this statement is so glaring, as to deprive it of any noxious effect upon the memory of Captain Wooll combe (for, as was the case with Lieutenant Edwards of the Boston, Captain Barker of the Tribune, Captain Brown of the Asia, and Mr. Metherell, the master of the Carnation, he also was dead when his conduct was impugned), we shall quit the subject with remarking, how unfortunate it was, that Captain Edward Pelham Brenton himself did not command the Laurel when she fell in with the Canonniere. On the 8th of October, in the evening, the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Modeste, Captain the Honourable George Elliot, cruising off Sandshead, bay of Bengal, after a nine hours' chase, and a running fight of nearly one hour, captured the French corvette Jena, still commanded by Lieutenant Morice.f The corvette, when she struck, was a complete wreck in her sails and rigging, and had cut away her stern boat and booms, and thrown three of her remaining boats overboard ; but suffered no loss. The Modeste was not so fortunate, having had her master, Mr. William Donovan, represented as a very valuable and gallant officer, killed, and one seaman wounded. The Jena was afterwards added to the British navy, in lieu, and under the name of the ship-sloop Victor, which it had been found necessary to break up ; and whose 18 guns ( 16 carronades, 32-pounders, and two sixes) and crew were placed on board the former. As the new Victor was neither so large nor so fine a vessel as the old Victor, and the latter was a similar vessel, except in point of rig, to the British 18-gun brig-sloop, it is probable that the statement in Captain Elliot's letter, that the Jena was " pierced for 24 guns," is a mistake. Unimportant as this error may appear, the facility with which Mr. Steel could change "pierced for" into "mounting," or "of," contributed, we verily believe, when this corvette again got into the hands of the French, to dignify her with the appellation of " frigate." On the 11th of June, in the evening, the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Euryalus, Captain the Honourable George * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 273. t See p. 70. 74 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, and 18-gun brig-sloop Cruiser, Captain George Charles Mackenzie, being in the Great Belt, discovered off the entrance of the river Naskon several vessels at anchor very close to the shore. Captain Dundas immediately despatched four boats from the frigate and brig,, under the orders of Lieutenant Michael Head, assisted by midshipmen Francis Wemyss, James William Otto Ricketts, Bernard Yeo man, Jacob Richards, Philip Gaymore, Richard Mcffat, and Edward Loveday, to endeavour to destroy them. Lieutenant Head and his party, in a very gallant manner, boarded and carried a large Danish gun-vessel, mounting two- long 18-pounders, with a crew of 64 men, and moored within half pistol-shot of a. battery of three long 18-pounders, and of a body of troops that lined the beach. Besides bringing off the gun-boat, the British set fire to and destroyed two large vessels fitted for the reception of troops ; and the whole service was executed with so slight a loss to the British as one man slightly wounded. On the part of the Danes, however, the loss was serious, amounting to seven men killed and 12 wounded. Although, since the last affair at Copenhagen, the Danes had lost all, or nearly all, of their line-of-battle ships and frigates, they possessed some very stout brigs of war, and an immense number of well-armed gun-boats. In the calms that frequently prevailed in the Danish waters, the latter were particularly de structive to the British cruisers and convoys. The convoys were generally under the protection of one or more gun-brigs, a description of vessel, from their light carronade-armament, pe culiarly exposed to successful attacks by the long 18, 24, and in some cases 36, pounders of the gun-boats. On the 4th of June, during a calm in the Great Belt, the Tickler gun-brig, com manded by Lieutenant John W. Skinner, was attacked by four Danish gun-boats, and, after a conflict of four hours, in which, she had her commander and 14 men killed and 22 wounded, out of a complement of 50 men and boys, was obliged to surrender. For the loss of their vessel under such imperative circum stances, the surviving officers and crew obtained an honourable acquittal. On the 9th of June, at 2 p. m., the British bomb^vessel Thun der, Captain James Caulfield, accompanied by the gun-brigs Charger, Lieutenant John Aitkin Blow, Piercer, Lieutenant John Sibrell, and Turbulent, Lieutenant George Wood, and a homeward-bound convoy of 70 merchant vessels, got under way from Malmo road, with a moderate northerly wind. At 4 h. 30 m. p. m. the wind began to fall, and at 5 p.m. entirely subsided. At 5h. 20 m., just as the convoy had arrived abreast of the, south end of the island of Saltholm, 25 Danish gun-vessels com menced an attack upon the Turbulent, whose istation was in the rear. As the gun-boats approached, the Turbulent opened a fire upon 'them from her 18-pounder carronades, and the Thunder 1808. BRITISH CONVOYS AND DANISH GUN-BOATS. 75 threw shells and one-pound balls from her mortars, but the Charger and Piercer were at too great a distance to co-operate. At 5 h. 40 m. p. m. the Turbulent's main topmast was shot away. The gun-boats shortly afterwards pulled close alongside the British brig, and boarded and captured her. At 6 p. m., having secured their prize, the Danes formed on both quarters and astern of the Thunder, and kept up, as they rapidly advanced, a heavy fire. The Thunder got her two 6- pounders out of the stem-ports, and returned the fire both from them and from her' broadside carronades (24-pounders) as the latter could be brought to bear. At 9 h. 30 m. p. m. she cut away her launch and jollyboat, they having been shot to pieces. At 10 h. 10 m., finding tihey could not induce the bomb to haul down her colours, the gun-boats ceased firing, and retired with the 10 or 12 rear vessels which they had been enabled to capturec W~e have no means of showing the loss, if any, sustained by the Turbulent or Thunder; but we find that, for his gallant defence, Captain Caulfield received the public approbation of Vice- admiral Sir James Saumarez, the commander-in-chief in the Baltic, and that Lieutenant Wood, for the loss of his brig, was honourably acquitted by the sentence of a court-martial. On the 2d of August the gun-brig Tigress, Lieutenant Edward Nathaniel Greenswood, after a contest of one hours' duration, and a loss of two men killed and eight wounded, was taken in the Great Belt by 16 Danish gun-vessels. Of this action, as well as of that which preceded the capture of the Tickler, we should have been glad to have been enabled to give a more par ticular account, but our researches have failed us in procuring details of either. On the 1st of October the British 18-gun brig-sloop Cruiser, acting commander Lieutenant Thomas Wells, being off the Wingo beacon at the entrance of Gottenbourg, fell in with about 20 armed cutters, luggers, gun-vessels, and row-boats. Having, as we suppose, a commanding breeze, the Cruiser dealt with this Danish ¦flotilla much in the same manner as, three or four years previous, she was accustomed to deal with the famous French flotilla in the neighbourhood of Ostende. So far from capturing her, she captured one of them, a schuyt-rigged vessel, of ten 4- pounders and 32 men, and compelled the remainder of the flotilla to take shelter under the batteries of the island of LsBsoe. As, instead of the letter of Lieutenant Wells, an abstract only (a practice at this time becoming frequent) was published in the London Gazette, and as we have been unable to supply the de ficiency in the account from our usual sources of information, we are again presented from giving details. It gratifies us, however, to be able to state, that, in seven or eight weeks after his suc cessful encounter with the Danish gun-boats, Lieutenant Wells was promoted to the rank of commander. 76 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. On the 15th of October the British 64-gun ship Africa, Cap tain John Barrett, accompanied by the Thunder bomb-vessel and one or two gun-brigs, sailed from Carlscrona in Sweden with a homeward-bound convoy of 137 sail. On the morning of the 20th the whole of this convoy, except one vessel captured and three which had run on shore and were destroyed, got safe into the channel of Malmo. While the smaller vessels of war and the convoy anchored in that roadstead, the Africa, for their better protection, anchored about eight miles to the southward of the town of Drago, on the Danish island of Amag. At about 40 minutes past noon, observing a flotilla of gun-boats advancing to attack the convoy, the Africa got under way and stood to meet them. At 1 p. m. the little wind there had been died away to a calm ; and the Danish flotilla, rowing towards the Africa, was now seen to consist of 25 large gun and mortar boats, and seven armed launches, mounting between them, upon a moderate estimate, 80 heavy long guns, and manned with upwards of 1600 men. At 1 h. 15m. p.m. the Africa shortened sail and cleared for action; and at 2 h. 55m. the gun-boats advanced within gun shot upon the ship's quarters and bows, and commenced an ani mated fire of round and grape. The Africa returned the fire by such of her guns as she could bring to bear ; and in this way the engagement continued without intermission until 6 h. 45 m. p. m., when the darkness put an end to it. During the action the Africa had her colours twice shot away; and each time the Danes advanced cheering, thinking they had gained the day. The British crew quickly rehoisted the colours, and, cheering in their turn, gave the Danish crew such a salute as sent them quickly back to their secure retreat upon their motionless op ponent's quarters and bows. The Africa had her lower masts and lower yards badly wounded, and the greater part of the standing and running rigging and sails cut to pieces. Her two cutters were entirely destroyed, and her remaining boats disabled. Her hull was struck in many places, several large shot had entered between wind and water, and her stern was much shattered. The loss on board the Africa was proportionably severe. It amounted to nine seamen and marines killed, the captain (slightly), two lieutenants of marines (Thomas Brattle and John George Richardson), the captain's two clerks, one midshipman, and 47 seamen and marines wounded. The loss among the Danes it is impossible to state ; but one or two of their boats were seen to go down. The difficulty of bitting such small objects, and the care the gun-boats took to station themselves where few shot could reach them, render it probable that the Danish loss was comparatively trifling. Captain Barrett walked the deck during the whole engage ment, perfectly cool and composed, and kept exhorting the men 1808. COMET AND SYLPHE. 77 to persevere in their resistance. After the action was over, he gave up both his cabins to the wounded ; and, following their captain's example, the officers gave up their cots for the same humane purpose. Had the daylight and calm continued two hours longer, the Africa must either have sunk or surrendered. As it was, her disabled state sent the ship back to Carlscrona to refit. One salutary effect of the restriction imposed by Great Britain on neutral commerce was, that it obliged France to carry on, in the best manner she could, her own trade with her colonies'. Hence the frigates and corvettes, of the latter power, instead of, when they got to sea, roaming about the ocean to capture or destroy the merchant vessels of the former, ran straight for Guadaloupe or Martinique, deeply laden with troops, ordnance- stores, and provisions, and, in consequence, were less likelv to escape from a chasing force. On the 11th of August, at 8h. 30m. a.m., latitude 45° 58' north, longitude 5° 4 west, the British 18-gun ship-sloop Comet, Captain Cuthbert Featherstone Daly, observed three strangers in the north-north-east. These were a small French squadron, which had sailed from Lorient on the 9th, bound to Martinique with a supply of flour for the colony, and consisted of the 18-gun ship-corvette Diligente, Captain Jean-Francois Lemaresquier, and 16-gun brig-corvettes Espiegle and Sylphe, Captains Joseph Francois-Leon Maujouen and Louis-Marie .Clement, all armed, we believe, with French 24-pounder car ronades, and long sixes for bow-chasers. At 9 a.m. the Comet, having approached nearer to the stran gers, made them out to be three enemy's corvettes ; and, con sidering it likely that if he altered his course they would chase and overpower him by their united superiority, Captain Daly boldly stood on. Whether alarmed by the frigate-built appear ance of the Comet, or that he considered himself bound by his orders to hasten to bis destination, the French commodore tacked from the Comet, and, with his two consorts, made all sail to the north-north-east. At noon the Diligente, having much outsailed the two brigs, tacked again and stood to the southward. Feeling no hesitation about attacking the two brigs, Captain Daly made all sail in chase of them. At 3h. 30 m, p.m. the Espiegle, which was the headmost brig, tacked, and passed to windward of the Comet at the distance of about two gun shots. At 5 p.m. the Sylphe, in pursuit of which the Comet continued, hoisted French colours and commenced firing her stern-chasers. At 5 h. 20 m. p. m., having got within pistol-shot of her, the Comet opened her fire ; and at the expiration of 20 minutes, being much disabled, and having, out of her crew of 98 men and boys, lost one midshipman and five men killed, and two midshipmen and three men wounded, the Sylphe hauled down her colours. ; In this very gallant affair on the part of Captain Daly, the 78 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. Comet had not.a man hurt ; but her main and maintop masts were badly wounded, and her sails and rigging cut.. The Sylphe a fine brig of 343 tons, was afterwards added to the British navy under the name of Seagull. Lieutenant James Tomkinson, first of the Comet, was much commended by Cap tain Daly in his official letter, and became a commander, as the lists inform us, in March, 1810. To the additional credit of the crew of the Comet on this occasion, they consisted chiefly' of newly-raised men. The Espiegle afterwards succeeded in joining her remaining consort, and the two vessels proceeded in company to the westward. On the 16th, however, they were fallen in with by the British 38-gun frigate Sibylle, Captain Clotworthy Uptoru. After a chase of some continuance, the Diligente by her good sailing escaped ; but the Espiegle was captured., and, under the name of Electra, became added to the British navy. Proceeding alone to her destination, the Diligente met no further obstruction until the 6th of September, in latitude 17° 50' north, longitude from Greenwich 58° 20' west. On this day, at 6 a.m., the British 18-gun brig-sloop Recruit, Captain Charles Napier, standing close hauled on the starboard tack with the wind from the east by north, discovered the Diligente in the north-east, going free on the larboard tack, or in the direction of the island of Martinique. The Recruit immediately tacked, and made all sail in chase ; and at 7 h. 30 m. a. m. fired two shot at the strange ship, and boisted her colours. At 8 h. 15m. a.m. the Diligente tacked to preserve the weathergage, and in less than a quarter of an hour afterwards hoisted a French ensign and pendant. At 8 h. 30'm. a. m. the two vessels, the Recruit on the larboard, and the Diligente on the starboard tack, passed each other within pistol-shot, and exchanged broadsides. On this occasion Captain Napier was wounded, but not, we believe, so as to oblige him to quit the deck. At 8 h. 40 m. both vessels, having passed out of gun-shot, tacked, and again exchanged broadsides. The Diligente then wore, with the intention of raking the Recruit astern ; but the brig wore also, and brought her antagonist to close action with the larboard guns. At 9 h. 20m. a.m. the second lieutenant (Moses De Willetts) was wounded. In this way, broadside to broadside, the action continued until 11 h. 30m. a.m.; when the Recruit had her mainmast shot away. While this lay over the stern the brig continued the action with her foremost guns, and made several attempts to board her antagonist ; but the Diligente every time sheered off. The French ship then backed her mizen topsail, and, shooting up under the brig's stern, raked her. As the Diligente stood along her starboard beam, the Recruit returned this fire ; but the Diligente reserved her next broadside, until, bearing, up athwart the bows of her disabled antagonist,, she 1808. RECRUIT AND DILIGENTE. 79 was enabled to bestow it with more effect. The Diligente then stood along the brig's larboard beam, with the intention probably of running round her a second time ; but a well-directed fire from the Recruit blew up a part of the ship's quarter, and cut away her stem-boat filled with small-arm men. Immediately on this the Diligente put her helm up, and ran away before the wind. The Recruit quickly set about clearing the wreck, refitting her rigging, rebreeching and remounting her carronades, many of which had upset, and preparing herself to renew the action with the French ship ; who then lay upon her lee beam repairing her damages. At 2 p.m., having got ready to engage, the Recruit bore up to close ; but the Diligente, setting courses, topsails, and topgallantsails, hauled to the wind on the starboard tack. At 4 p.m. the Recruit got up a jury mainmast and set a royal upon it, and hoisting her fore topsail, endeavoured again to close • but every effort was in vain, and by 7 h. 30 m. p. m. the Diligente had run herself completely out of sight. Notwithstanding the very serious nature of her damages, the Recruit does not appear to have had more than one man killed, and a few, besides the captain and second lieutenant, wounded. The hrig was of course obliged to make the best of her way into port to get a new mainmast, and on the 10th she anchored in Carlisle bay, Barbadoes. The extent of the loss which the Diligente sustained has not been made public ; but we must suppose it to have been very heavy, to excuse Captain Lemares- quier for having abandoned the action after he had knocked away his antagonist's mainmast. He, indeed, takes care to assign a sufficient reason for his retreat ; no less than that several enemy's vessels were in sight, although not a sail of any kind, except the Diligente herself, could be discovered from the Recruit. His opponent the French captain takes to have been " le Curieux, de 20 carronades de 32,"* and says : " Ce dernier a ete totalement desempare, et n'a echappe que parce que la Diligente, ayant une mission importante et voyant plusieurs batimens ennemis,. n'a pas du s'exposer en poursuivant son avantage, a ne voir couper le chemin de sa destination." This destination the Diligente reached in safety, and, at the surrender of Martinique a few months afterwards, was one of the few French national vessels that fell into the hands of the conquerors. The Diligente was a ship of 371 tons, and became added to the British navy by the name of St.-Pierre, the port in which she was found by her captors. On the 29th of September, at 6 a. m., Pointe Antigua, island of Guadaloupe, bearing south-west, the British gun-brig Maria, of twelve 12-pounder carronades and two long fours, with 65 * See vol. iv., p. 347. The brig was at this time lying at an anchor in the harbour of. Halifax, Nova-Scotia. 80 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808'. men and boys, commanded by Lieutenant James Bennett, saw and chased a sail bearing south-east by south, in the hope to cut her off from the land, towards which the vessel, supposed to be a French letter of marque, was then steering. Instead, however, of being a letter of marque, the stranger was the ship-corvette Departement-des-Landes, now mounting 16 carronades, 24- pounders, and four long 8-pounders* on the main deck, and two brass 6-pounders on the quarterdeck, besides a large swivel oh the forecastle, with a crew of at least 160 men and boys, com manded by Captain Joseph-Francois Raoul. Just as the Maria had got within gun-shot of her opponent, a flaw of wind from the land took the brig aback. The weather almost immediately afterwards fell dead calm, and the Maria, in consequence, lay with her stern exposed to the broadside of the corvette ; who, hoisting her ensign and pendant and raising her ports, poured into the British brig a most destructive raking fire. Before the Maria could get her sweeps to act, the Departement-des-Landes was enabled to give her a second broadside; and, when the brig did sweep herself round, her fire was too insignificant to be of much avail, while the effect of that of her opponent was soon visible in the shattered state of the Maria's masts, yards, rigging, and hull. Owing to the latter's ensign-halyards having been shot away, her colours came down. On this the French captain asked if she had struck. Lieutenant Bennett replied " No." Presently afterwards this gallant officer received three grape shots into his body, and fell dead beneath the colours which he had rehoisted. The action was still maintained with spirit, for several minutes, by the master, Mr. Joseph Dyason ; when the Maria, being in a sinking state, and having lost, besides her captain, one midship man (Robert O'Donnel) and four seamen killed and nine wounded, surrendered. One or two men slightly wounded ap pears to have been the extent of the loss sustained by the French corvette ; and, considering the unmanageable state of her oppo nent at the commencement of the action, and her very inferior force, that was as much as could be expected. Scarcely had the Departement-des-Landes taken possession of the Maria and re moved the prisoners, than the prize-crew were compelled to run the vessel on shore to prevent her from sinking under them. Nothing could better testify the gallantry with which the Maria had been defended, and that against a ship in every respect but gallantry so decidedly her superior. Mr. Dyason, who writes the official letter to Sir Alexander Cochrane, calls, or by the Gazette is made to call, his opponent, "le Sards." As the Departement-de-la Manche French frigate was mostly, for shortness, called Manche ;f so the Departement- des-Landes, we have no doubt, was named by her officers and For her armament in 1805, see vol. iv., p. 139. f See vol. iv., p. 337. 1808. AMETHYST AND THETIS. 81 crew " les Landes." This accounts pretty well for the name given to the corvette in Mr. Dyason's letter ; and our contem porary, having no better guide, is excusable for adopting the same name, or rather " le Sarde," a word, by the by, as here spelt, not French. But how happens Captain Brenton to call the Maria's opponent a " brig of war,"* when Mr. Dyason and Sir Alexander Cochrane had both officially stated that she was a ship ? We know, too, from the French Captain's account, that she was the Departement-des-Landes. This very corvette, it will be recollected, was one of Captain Mudge's "two frigates ;f and, if any person was justified in applying that term to the French ship, it was the officer who lay alongside of her in a brio- of 172 tons. Nowhere, however, in Mr. Dyason's letter, nor in Sir Alexander Cochrane's, does the word " frigate" appear. After carrying his prize into Martinique, Captain Raoul sailed again on his voyage to France. On the 3th of November, in latitude 21° north, longitude (from Paris) 64° west, the Departement-des-Landes, according to the French accounts, fell- in with an English brig of war, "carrying 32-pounder carronades," and, after an action of two hours, dismasted and would have taken the brig, but for the appearance of " two British frigates" advancing to her relief. Captain Raoul states his loss on this occasion at only two men kilied and a few wounded. Although we have searched the logs of six or seven of the 18-gun brigs at this time cruising in the West Indies, we have not been so successful as to discover the brig engaged by the Departement- des-Landes. There were, however, three or four brig-sloops with 24-pounder carronades, and some gun-brigs with only 18- pounders, stationed off the French islands. Having escaped from the two British frigates, the Departement-des-Landes hastened towards Europe, and on the 8th of December was fortunate enough to reach the river of Bordeaux. On the 10th of November, at 6h. 42 m. p.m., while the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Amethyst, Captain Michael Seymour, with the wind at east-north-east, was standing from the north-west point of the island of Groix towards the main land of France, a battery at Larmour fired several shot apparently at her. In three or four minutes afterwards a sail was observed astern, running about west by south. The Amethyst immediately wore in chase, and presently fired two muskets to bring to the strange vessel, now discovered to be a large ship. The latter was, in fact, the French 40-gun frigate Thetis, Captain Jacques Pinsum, from Lorient bound to Martinique, with troops and 1000 barrels of flour, besides other stores. It was therefore the object of the Thetis to pursue her course, and she did so under all sail. We may here mention, that it was at this ship that the French battery had fired, not having received notice of her intended departure. * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 272. f See vol. iv., p. 144. VOL. V. G 82 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. At 9 p. m. the Amethyst, having got within a quarter of a mile, discharged her bow gun at the Thetis, who smartly returned the fire from one of her stern-chasers. Convinced now that the latter was an enemy, Captain Seymour, as his duty prescribed, let off one or two rockets, and soon saw them answered by three flashes in the east-north-east. The ship that did this was the Triumph 74, Captain Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, and who instantly made sail in the direction of the rockets. Shortly after firing her stern-chasers, the Thetis took in her lower studding- sails, and the Amethyst the whole of her studding-sails and her royals. At 9 h. 15 m. the Thetis, then going nine knots, suddenly luffed to on the starboard tack, with the intention of raking the Amethyst, who was advancing upon her weather quarter. To avoid the rake, and yet be ready to close, the Amethyst put her helm hard a-starboard ; and, the instant the Thetis had dis charged her starboard broadside, the Amethyst shifted her helm to hard a-port, and, just clearing the French ship's starboard quarter, shot up in the wind right abreast of her to windward. In this way a close and furious action commenced between the two frigates ; who, losing their way, fell round off and stood again to the westward, engaging broadside to broadside. At 9 h. 40 m. p. m., the Amethyst shooting a little ahead, the Thetis attempted to cross her opponent's stern, and rake or gain the wind of her ; but, not having room, ran her jib-boom between the Amethyst's main and mizen rigging. After being a few minutes in this position, the two ships separated, and went off in hot action, steering nearly the same course as before. At 10 h. 5 m. p. m., having got sufficiently ahead to execute the ma noeuvre, the Amethyst put her helm hard a-starboard, and, crossing her opponent's hawse, raked her severely. The Ame thyst then put her helm hard a-port, and brought the Thetis a little before her starboard beam, still running with the wind about a point on the starboard quarter. At 10 h. 20 m. p. m. the mizenmast of the Amethyst came down, and, falling in-board, broke and damaged the wheel, and encumbered the whole quarterdeck. Scarcely had the Thetis increased her distance by this disaster of her antagonist, than her own mizenmast fell over the side, and the two ships again lay abreast of each other. At 1 1 P. M., having for the last half hour been gradually sheer ing closer, the Thetis put her helm a-starboard, and steered to lay the Amethyst on board. Aware that the Thetis, after striking the Amethyst on the bow, would rebound off and bring the quarters of the two ships together, Captain Seymour reserved his fire. The ships met at the bows, and then at the quarters, and off went the whole broadside of the Amethyst, with double- round from the maindeckers and grape from the carronades. As, just before the discharge, the French officers, troops, and sea men were assembled on the quarterdeck ready to spring on board the British frigate, its destructive effect may be partly CAPT. SIR P. V. BROKE, BAR? R. ^. ESTGRAVED BX "W" GILEAIBAICH Lcmiiorr, itich.arc]. BeiLtley 1836 . 1808, AMETHYST AND THETIS. 83? imagined : one proof of it was, that four guns only were returned by the Thetis. In a minute or two afterwards the outer arm of the Amethyst's best bower anchor entered the foremost maindeck port of the Thetis, and held her fast. In this way the action was maintained, with destructive effect on both sides, particularly to the Thetis, who had been set on fire in several places, until about 20 minutes past midnight ; when, having completely silenced the guns of her antagonist, the Amethyst boarded and Carried her. The following diagram will explain the manoeuvres that took place in this action; but we must observe, that the straight tracks, as in many other similar cases, are necessarily shortened, to suit the space to which we are restricted. The difference in the time, and the rate at which the ships may be supposed to have been sailing, will show the impracticability of an adherence to truth in this unessential point. . . Tti-c. JZSh- 6/r.15mn'.M: 'Ao! '^-¦'MM-' •9'i./Sc^3U& &¦ % Arnetli. """rx,'T &h. 40.m. P.M. OV ¦"¦ Dh ¦ iii-iTc. r. m. "%r; " - $ ;#*- - ----- J^ - - WJ>'5m£M: It was not until 45 minutes past midnight, after several pri soners had been received by the Amethyst, that her cable was cut and the Thetis disentangled. In five minutes afterwards the fore and main masts of the Thetis went over the side. At 1 h. 15 m. a. m. on the 1 1th, a light was observed in the north-east, and the Triumph soon came up under a press of sail. In about another quarter of an hour the 38-gun frigate Shannon, Captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke, joined from the westward, and, after receiving on board several prisoners, took the prize, now wholly dismasted, in tow. The Amethyst (of same force as San-Fiorenzo, at vol. iv., p. 123) had her rigging and sails cut to pieces, and, besides the fall of her mizenmast, had her fore and main masts greatly in jured. She had also three feet and a half water in the hold from the number of shot-holes in her hull. Her loss, out of a crew of 261 men and boys, amounted to one second lieutenant of marines (Bernard Kindall), 10 seamen, and eight marines g2 ETHYST. THETIS 21 22 467 524 261 436 1046 1090 84 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808. killed, and one first lieutenant of marines (Samuel John Payne, dangerously), one master's mate (Richard Gibbings, mortally), one midshipman (Lawford Miles, severely), her boatswain (Leo nard Taylor), captain's clerk (Thomas Gilson), 32 seamen, 12 marines, and two boys wounded ; total, 19 killed and 51 wounded. The Thetis (same force as Minerva, at vol.iv., p. 232) was dread fully shattered as well as dismasted ; and, out of a crew, in cluding 106 French soldiers, of 436 men and boys, had her captain, and 134 officers, seamen, and soldiers killed, and 102 wounded. COMPARATIVE FORCE OF THE COMBATANTS. Broadside-guns j ,, °* Crew No. Size tons Here stands another frigate action, in which the comparative statement, in every line of figures on the French side, exhibits a superiority of force, particularly in crew. There is, however, a circumstance or two, which, fairly considered, will be allowed to bring the odds a little nearer to an equality. The object of the Thetis, from the first, was to gain her destination, not to- fight ; and even, had it been otherwise, an exchange of night- signals, at the commencement of the chase, must have informed her that a friend to her antagonist, and consequently a foe to* her, was not many miles distant. Still the Thetis fought man fully, and did not surrender till every hope had fled; The crew ofthe Amethyst, in the heavy loss and damage they inflicted upon the Thetis, proved the high state of discipline to which they had been brought by their commander and his officers. If any thing can add to the merits of Captain Seymour on the occasion, it is the modesty of his published account, and the handsome eulogium he pays to the gallantry of Lieutenant Joseph Dede, the surviving commander of the Thetis ; who, he says, acted with singular firmness, and was the only Frenchman on the quarterdeck when the British boarded. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Dede lost the esteem of his generous: captor, by uniting with the two officers who were next to him self in command on board the Thetis, in swearing before1 the prize-court, by way of making the thing go down better with the French government, that the Thetis was captured by a 74 and two frigates. This is easily disproved. When the Thetis had been, not only taken possession of by, but cut clear from, the Amethyst, the appearance of a large ship, coming down under a press of sail from the eastward, occasioned Captain Seymour to ask Lieutenant Dede, if he had previously seen any ship, or expected any other to sail from Lorient. The lieutenant 1808,. CIGNE AT ANCHOR OFF PEARL ROCK., 85 answered decidedly, that he had seen no ship, and did not know that any was to sail that night. But a more satisfactory refuta tion of the sworn assertion of the French officers is contained in the following extract from a letter written by an officer on board the Triumph, and published at or about the same time as Cap tain Seymour's official letter : " At 12 they ceased firing, and at 1 a. m. we saw the two ships close to us." And the Shannon, it is admitted, did not join until a quarter of an hour or 20 minutes after the Triumph. Soon after the return of the Amethyst to port, her first lieu tenant, Mr. Goddard Blennerhasset, was promoted to the rank of commander. Captain Seymour, in his official letter, speaks also in high terms of his second and third lieutenants, William Hill and Edward Thomas Crouch ; as well as of the master of the Amethyst, Mr. Robert Fair. The prize was purchased for the British navy, and, under the name of Brune (a Thetis being already in the service), was subsequently added, as a cruising frigate, to the large class of 38s. , On the 12th of November the three new French 40-gun frigates Venus, Commodore Jacques-Felix-Emmanuel Hamelin, Junon, Captain Jean-Baptiste-Augustin Rousseau, and Amphi- trite, with whose captain's name we are unacquainted, accom panied by the brig-corvettes Cigne and Papillon and two armed schooners, put to sea from the road of Cherbourg ; the Venus bound to the Isle of France, and the remaining two frigates and smaller vessels to Martinique and Guadaloupe, with ordnance stores and provisions. Just as this squadron reached the Antilles, a separation, either by accident or design, appears to have taken place. At all events the Cigne, and the two schooners, at 11 a. m. on the 12th of December, were discovered at anchor off the Pearl rock, by the gun-brig Morne-Fortunee, Lieutenant John Brown ; who immediately made a signal to that effect to Captain Francis Augustus Collier, of the 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Circe, the commodore of a small British squadron stationed between that rock and the town of St.-Pierre. Immediately the Circe, accompanied by the 18-gun ship-sloop Stork, Captain George Le Geyt, 16-gun brig-sloop Epervier, Captain Thomas Tudor Tucker, and advice-schooner Express, Lieutenant William Dowers, made sail towards St.-Pierre's ; which one of the French schooners was endeavouring to reach, by being towed alongshore under cover of a body of troops on the beach. Finding it impossible, owing to the near approach of the Stork, to get between the port of St.-Pierre and the Circe, the schooner ran on shore under a battery of four guns, flanked by two smaller ones, and defended also by the troops that had accompanied her from her anchorage at the Pearl. Immediately the Circe, followed by the Stork and Morne-Fortunee, stood in . to attack the batteries ; and, engaging them within pistol-shot, 86 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. I808L- soon silenced the two smaller batteries and drove the trobps from the beach. Observing at this time that the French brig and the schooner in her company were unlading, Captain Collier directed the Morne-Fortunee to watch the motions of the schooner on shore,. and to give similar orders to the Epervier on her coming up; and then, with the Circe, Stork, and Express, he made sail towards the Cigne and her consort, now lying well to windward, close to the rocks, and under the protection of four batteries and a considerable number of troops, with field-pieces, assembled on the beach. Having manned her barge and two cutters, with 68 officers and men, under the command of Lieutenant Charles Henry Crooke, Mr. William Collman the purser, and Mr. Wil liam Smith the master, and directed Lieutenant Crooke to lie off until the French brig's fire slackened, the Circe, followed by the Stork and Express, stood in and opened a close and well- directed fire upon the brig, the batteries, and the troops on the beach. As soon as the Circe and Stork, which latter ship had manned her boats to assist those of the former, had run past the batteries and brig, Lieutenant Crooke, without waiting for the Stork's boats, dashed on, in the most gallant manner, and boarded the Cigne. It happened, in this instance, that gallantry did not meet its accustomed reward. The three boats were defeated with dreadful slaughter. One boat was taken, another sunk, and the third entirely disabled ; and, out of the 68 men detached from her, the Circe lost nine killed, 21 wounded, and 26 miss ing : total 56, including, among the badly wounded, Lieutenant Crooke, in four places, and Mr. Collman the purser. It being, when the issue of this unfortunate business was known, quite dark, the Circe stood off from the shore; leaving the 18-gun brig-sloop Amaranthe, Captain Edward Pelham Brenton, wh© had just joined company, to watch the Cigne during the night. At daylight on the 13th the French brig got under way, and, aided by her sweeps and boats, stood alongshore for St.- Pierre's. Captain Brenton having in the handsomest manner volunteered to bring out the Cigne, the Amaranthe, towed by the boats of the Circe and Stork, used her utmost endeavours to close with her. At 10 a. m. the Cigne grounded near several batteries to the northward of St. - Pierre's : whereupon the British brig tacked and worked in, under a heavy fire from the French brig, and particularly from the batteries, by which the Amaranthe had one man killed and five wounded. The Circe and the rest of the squadron, meanwhile, were engaging the bat teries to leeward. By her close and well-directed fire, the Ama ranthe soon obliged the crew of the Cigne to quit their vessel and take to the shore : immediately on which the boats of the Amaranthe, Circe, and Stork, led by Lieutenant James Hay, first of the Amaranthe, gallantly boarded and carried the Cigne, 1808. BOATS OF KENT AND WIZARD AT NOLI. 87 in the face of a heavy fire from the batteries and troops on the beach. The prize having bilged, it was impossible to get her off: the British, therefore, were obliged to be contented with destroying her. Captain Brenton, having again volunteered, proceeded with a party to destroy the French schooner, then also on shore. By 9 a. M., after overcoming a resistance that wounded Mr. Joshua Jones, the master of the Amaranthe, and killed one and wounded three seamen belonging to the Express, the British set fire to and burnt the schooner. But for the rash act of Lieu tenant Crooke (and yet who, under such circumstances, could refrain ?) the whole of this enterprise would have been accom plished with a very slight loss. As it was, the loss amounted to 12 killed, 31 wounded, and 26 missing; a part of the latter probably drowned, the remainder prisoners. The other corvette, the Papillon, appears to have reached St.- Pierre unseen by any British ship; and on the 19th, in the morning, the Amphitrite was discovered, close to Pigeon island, by the British 38-gun frigate Ethalion, Captain Thomas Co chrane, 18-gun ship-sloop Star, Captain William Paterson, and advice-boat Express. The French frigate, being to windward and ably manoeuvred, managed to escape into Fort-Royal bay,. after receiving a few ineffectual shot from the Ethalion and Star. The remaining French frigate, the Junon, arrived safe at Guadaloupe. On the 14th of November, at 8 h. 30 m. a. m., the British 64- gun ship Polyphemus, Captain William Pryce Cumby, cruising off the city of Santo-Domingo, despatched her boats in chase of the French national schooner Colibri, of three carriage-guns and 63 men, commanded by a lieutenant de vaisseau, which was attempting to enter the road. At 9 h. 20 m. Lieutenant Joseph Daly, with the barge, in the face of a heavy fire of grape and musketry, boarded and carried the schooner. In accomplishing this very gallant service, the barge had one marine killed ; and the French, in defending their vessel, had one man killed and five wounded. On the 1st of August the British 74-gun ship Kent, Captain Thomas Rogers, and 16-gun brig-sloop Wizard, Captain William Ferris, running along the coast of Italy from Genoa to Cape Del Melle, discovered a convoy of 10 sail of coasters deeply laden, lying at anchor, under the protection of a gun-boat, close to the beach abreast of the town of Noli. As there appeared a chance, by a prompt attack, of bringing out the vessels before the enemy had time to collect his force, Captain Rogers despatched the boats of the Kent and Wizard, under the orders of Lieutenant William Cashman, second of the Kent, assisted by Lieutenants James Lindsay and Fairfax Moresby, Captain of marines Henry Rea, and Lieutenants of marines John Hanlon and Patrick Grant, also of that ship, and Lieute- 88 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808; nant Alexander Bissett, of the Wizard ; which latter vessel, as there was very little wind, was to tow the boats, as well as cover them in their approach to the shore. By great exertions, the boats were towed by the Wizard; close to the vessels, when it was found impossible to bring them out without landing, most of the vessels being fastened to the shore by ropes from their keels and mast-heads. The boats, therefore, pulled to the beach with great resolution, exposed to the fire of two guns in the bow of the gun-boat, of two field- pieces placed in a grove which flanked the beach, of a heavy gun in front of the town, and of a continued fire of musketry from the houses. But all this was no check to the ardour and intrepidity of British seamen and marines ; who leaped from the boats and rushed upon the enemy, with a fearless zeal that was not to be resisted. ;. The gun in front of the town was soon taken and spiked by Lieutenants Cashman and Hanlon ; and the French, who had (drawn up a considerable force of regular troops in the grove to defend the two field-pieces, were dislodged by Captain Rea and Lieutenant Grant, of the marines ; who took possession of the guns and brought them off. In the mean time, Lieutenants Lindsay, Moresby, and Bissett, who had equally distinguished themselves in driving the enemy from the beach, were actively employed, first in taking possession of the gun-boat, which was the Vigilante, commanded by an enseigne de vaisseau, with a crew of 45 men, and then in freeing the merchant vessels from their fasts to the shore. , The whole was soon accomplished, and the party re-embarked under the protection of the Wizard; who, by her judicious manoeuvres and well-directed fire, contri buted very essentially to keep the enemy in check, both in the advance and in the retreat of the boats. Notwithstanding the perilous nature of this very gallant enterprise, Lieutenant Cash- man and his party accomplished it with so comparatively slight a loss, as one seaman killed and one mortally wounded., The French, on the other hand, left many dead upon the ground. Among the British cruisers appointed to harass the French army in its movements along the east coast of Spain, was the 38-gun frigate Imperieuse, Captain Lord Cochrane. This description of service, requiring, with great boldness and nautical experience, no slight share of military knowledge, was peculiarly adapted to the genius of that zealous and enterprising officer : and never did Lord Cochrane exert himself more strenuously, more effectually, or more honourably, than in the aid he afforded to the cause of the Spanish patriots. Of one quality in Lord Cochrane, we, in common with other compilers, have to com plain: the brevity of his accounts; all of which appear to be written more to recommend to notice his gallant companions in arms, than to blazon his own feats to the world. On the 31st of July the Imperieuse silenced, and Lord,' 1808. THE FRENCH REPULSED AT ROSAS. 89 Cochrane landed with his marines, under Lieutenant James Rivers Hore of that corps, and took possession of, the castle of Mongal ; an important post completely commanding a pass in the road from Barcelona to Gerona, then besieged by the French, and the only post between those towns occupied by the enemy. The Spanish militia are represented to have behaved admirably, in carrying an outpost on a neighbouring hill. Lord Cochrane demolished the works, and gave up to the Spanish militia the arms ofthe 71 prisoners made on the occasion. In the latter part of September, cruising off the coast of Languedoc, Lord Cochrane landed with a portion of his officers and men, and blew up and completely demolished the semiphoric telegrapbs at Bourdique, La Pinde, Saint-Miguire, Frontignan, Canet, and Foy, with their telegraph houses, 14 barracks of the gens d'armes or douanes, one battery, and the strong tower upon the lake of Frontignan. The telegraphs being of the utmost consequence to the safety of the numerous convoys that passed along the coast, their destruction was a serious blow to the French, and particularly beneficial to the patriots, and those who espoused their cause, by preventing about 2000 troops, intended for the important fortress of Figueras, from advancing into Spain. Always anxious to do justice to those who embark with him in services of danger, Lord Cochrane, in his official letter, attributes the successful result ofthe enterprise just recorded to the exertions of Mr. David Mapleton, the first, and Mr. Urry Johnson, the second lieutenant, Mr. George Gilbert, assistant- surgeon, Mr. William Burney, gunner, and Messieurs Houston Stewart and George Charles Stovin, midshipmen, ofthe Impe rieuse. On the 7th of November a body of about 5000 French troops occupied the heights around the bay of Rosas, at the north-eastern extremity of Spain; and at noon on the same day, a small detachment entered the town of Rosas, the inhabitants of which had fled for protection either to their boats or to the citadel. At this time the British 74-gun ship Excellent, Captain John West, and bomb-ship Meteor, Captain James Collins, lay within point- blank shot of the town. A well-directed fire from these ships soon compelled the French precipitately to retire towards some houses and ruins in the rear of the town, which they occupied as an advanced post. On the 8th, at noon, observing that the French were hard pressing a body of Miguelets, Captain West made a sortie from the citadel at the head of 250 of the Excel- lent's seamen and marines ; but the superior force of the French, who endeavoured, with their cavalry, to surround the British, compelled the latter, after being successful in their object of rescuing the Miguelets, to retire within the fortress. The sea men and marines, who, throughout this to them novel engage- 90 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808, ment, behaved in the bravest manner, had several of their number wounded, and Captain West himself had his horse shot under him. On the 15th, at 8 a. m., the French, about 200 strong, with a reserve of 2000, made a most resolute, but unsuccessful assault upon Fort Trinidad, one of the defences of Rosas, and part of the garrison of which consisted of one officer and 25 privates of the Excellent's marines. In a second assault, with increased numbers, two of the outer gates were broken open ; but, by a steady and galling fire of musketry and hand-grenades from the fort, the French were, a second time, obliged to retire, leaving their leader, a chief of brigade, and several other officers and men, dead under the walls. Expecting a third assault, Captain West, by means of a rope ladder, threw in a reinforcement of two officers and 30 marines ; of whom one man only was slightly wounded, although the party had bravely entered during an inces sant fire of musketry from the besiegers. On the 20th the French opened a battery of three guns from a height that commanded the fort ; and, although these guns made no sensible impression on the fort, they succeeded in driving away the bomb-ship Lucifer, Captain Robert Hall ; which vessel had recently joined, and during the two preceding days had been throwing her shells, to obstruct the enemy in his works. Another battery, erected nearer to the citadel, shortly afterwards compelled the British 74 also to retire from the shore. The loss sustained by the Excellent and Meteor, in these different attacks, amounted to 21 seamen and marines wounded, but none killed. On the following day, the 21st, the Excellent was relieved by the 74-gun ship Fame, Captain Richard Henry Alexander Bennett ; a portion of whose marines supplied the place of those of the Excellent which had been thrown into, and since withdrawn from, Fort Trinidad. On the 22d both the latter and the citadel of Rosas were more than half invested, and a breach was nearly effected in Trinidad. The Spanish garrisons were also in a deplorable situation. In this state of things, it was considered necessary, on the 23d, to withdraw the marines of the Fame, and that ship soon afterwards retired from the coast. On the 24th or 25th the Imperieuse arrived in the bay, and joined the Lucifer and Meteor bomb-vessels. Lord Cochrane went himself to examine the state of Fort Trinidad ; and, finding that the garrison, composed of 80 Spaniards, was on the point of surrendering, threw himself into the fort, with 50 seamen and 30 marines belonging to the Imperieuse. The resources of Lord Cochrane's active mind must, indeed, have astonished the Spaniards. Among other substitutes which he made use of, about 1000 bags, together with barrels and palisadoes, supplied the place of walls and ditches. So that the French, when on 1808. EXPEDITION AGAINST DESIRADE. 91 the 30th they assaulted the castle with 1000 picked men, were repulsed with the loss of their commanding officer, their storming equipage, and all who had attempted to mount the breach. The whole of this daring and important service was effected without any loss to the British. On the 5th of December the citadel of Rosas capitulated ; and, considering further resistance in Fort Trinidad impracticable against the whole French army, Lord Cochrane fired the trains for exploding the magazines, and re-embarked his men. As usual, he speaks in the highest terms of his officers ; among whom he names Lieutenant Urry Johnson, Lieutenant of marines James Hore, William Burney gunner, William Lodwick carpenter, and midshipmen Houston Stewart, George Charles Stovin, and Frederick Marryat. COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS, WEST INDIES. In the month of February the British 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Cerberus, Captain William Selby, 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Circe, Captain Hugh Pigot, and 20-gun ship Camilla, Captain John Bowen, cruised off Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadaloupe.. Finding the impossibility of preventing the French privateers and their prizes from gaining that port, while they were enabled to shelter themselves under the batteries of Marie-Galante until an opportunity offered for them to run over, Captain Selby resolved to attempt the surprise of Grand-Bourg, the principal town on the island. Accordingly, on the 2d of March, early in the morning, the three ships weighed from Petite-terre, and soon after daylight disembarked, with very slight opposition, 200 seamen and marines, under the orders of Captain Pigot, at a spot about two miles from the town. The British, as soon as they appeared in sight of Grand Bourg, were met by an officer with a flag of truce. The unconditional surrender of Marie-Galante immediately fol lowed, and Captain Selby garrisoned the island with a detach ment of marines from his little squadron. The ease with which Marie-Galante had been obtained de termined Rear-admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, the British commander-in-chief at the Leeward-islands, to send an expe dition, under Captain Selby, against the island of Desirade, another spot that afforded shelter to the Guadaloupe privateers. Accordingly, on the 29th of March, the Cerberus, accompanied, this time, by two sloops, two gun-brigs, and a schooner, weighed from off Marie-Galante; and on the 30th the boats of the squadron, under the command of Captain William Henry Shirreff, ofthe ship-sloop Lily, stood towards the shore of Desi rade, which was defended by two 8-pounders, that completely commanded the narrow entrance of the harbour ; where also was posted a detachment of national troops and militia, about 70 92 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — WEST INDIES. 1808. men in number, and who opened a smart fire upon the boats as they approached. Seeing this, the Cerberus and the vessels with her anchored with springs on their cables, and commenced a cannonade upon the shore. The islanders soon ceased their fire; and, by 4 h. 30m. p.m., the British were in quiet possession of Desirade. The neutrality of the island being all that was required on the part of Sir Alexander Cochrane, Captain Selby did not retain possession: he merely destroyed the batteries (mounting but seven guns altogether), and, to prevent a garrison arriving from Guadaloupe, stationed a sloop and gun-brig off the coast. On the 3d of July, while the British 18-gun ship-sloop Wanderer, Captain Edward Crofton, and 4-gun schooners Subtle and Ballahou, Lieutenants George Augustus Spearing and George Mills, were cruising between the islands of Anguille and St.-M artin, some intelligence was received which induced Captain Crofton to expect that he should succeed in an attack upon the French part of the last-named island. For this purpose, soon after midnight, the boats of the ship and two schooners, con taining 135 men placed under the orders of Lieutenant Spearing, pulled towards the shore. With a trifling loss, the British landed and obtained pos session of, and spiked, the six guns mounted upon the lower fort. On ascending the rocky heights, covered with the prickly pear, to storm the upper battery, a number of brave fellows felL; and among them Lieutenant Spearing himself, who was shot through the chest within ten yards of the ramparts of the fort he was rushing forward to assault. The remainder of the party now reluctantly retreated to the boats; but, unable to resist the overwhelming force that assailed them, the survivors were obliged to surrender. The Wanderer, who with the two schooners had been firing at the batteries, to cover the party on shore, now ceased her fire, and hoisted a flag of truce. By a communication with the French commandant it was soon ascertained, that the regular force on the island amounted to 900 men, and that the detach ment from the little squadron had lost seven officers and men killed, and nearly 30 wounded. The French commandant behaved in a very honourable manner ; not only giving to the remains of the gallant young English officer a funeral with military honours, but himself attending his late enemy to the grave, and permitting a part of the Subtle's crew to pay their last duty to their late commander. The three British vessels, in the mean while, as with their colours at half-mast they lay at anchor in Marigot bay, united with the French batteries in firing minute guns. BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. The abstract which now comes under notice is so far remark able, that several of its principal totals have arrived at their maximum of height.* The number of cruising line-of-battle ships in commission remains the same as in the preceding ab stract ; but an increase of one in the " ordinary" column makes 127 as the sea-service total. The increase of five in the line grand-total is of far less consequence. The number of cruisers, line and under-line, in commission, appears to have been 684 ; and the numbers that approach the nearest to it are to be found in the abstracts on each side, No. 16 showing 618, and No. 18, 664. The total of sea- service cruisers belonging to the British navy, at the commence ment of the year 1 809, stands at 728 ; and the two next highest numbers appear also in abstracts Nos. 16 and 18, one being 673, the other 699. As the difference between the grand and the minor totals at the foot of the columns is made up entirely of vessels that are unseaworthy, or deemed to be so, it will be un necessary to dwell upon the excess of the grand-total of cruisers in this abstract, over the corresponding total in any other. The general grand-total, of which the cruising and only effec tive total forms, in the present abstract, scarcely two thirds, and in some of the others much less, might also be passed over without notice, were it not, in addition to being the highest m amount that occurs throughout the series, the only total usually referred to as indicative ofthe strength ofthe British navy. The total that Steel gives, in his February list for the present year, is 1 140, including 59 hired vessels. These deducted leave 1081, 20 more than the abstract total; a difference discoverable, almost wholly, among the building ships, those in the abstract being 82, * See Appendix, Annual Abstract No. 17. 94 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. while Steel enumerates 100. Among the latter he includes 50 instead of 47 line-of-battle ships. The three surplus ships were the Akbar, Julius, and Orford ; the [first, ordered but counter manded ; the two others, not ordered at all. As a further proof of his imperfect information, Steel names 14 only out of his re maining 50 under-line building ships. Nor does the list, as usual, notify the yards or places at which the unnamed vessels are con structing. The abstract for the present year shows the launch ing of the Caledonia, a ship of very large dimensions, and as a first-rate, of extraordinary qualifications. Some interesting par ticulars respecting her will be found in the Notes to the Abstracts at the end of the volume. The 20 captured enemy's national vessels purchased into the service will be found among those in the foreign prize-lists ofthe year 1808 ;* as will the 34 vessels lost by the British navy during the same period, in the list appropriated to them.f The number of the latter still continues to be of serious amount ; of which the wrecked cases, with all their attendant calamities, constitute full two thirds. The number of commissioned officers and masters belonging to the British navy at the commencement of the year 1809, was Admirals 46 Vice-admirals 59 Rear-admirals 71 „ superannuated 45 Post-captains 689 » » 32 Commanders or sloop-captains . 543 „ superannuated 49 Lieutenants 3036 Masters 491 And the number of seamen and marines voted for the service of the same year, was 130,000.J We last year left in the road of Brest, waiting an opportunity to put to sea, a squadron of eight sail of the line and some fri gates. The continued prevalence of westerly gales, during the latter part of January and the commencement of February, having driven Admiral Lord Gambier from his station off Ushant, afforded that opportunity; and accordingly, on the 21st of Fe bruary, at daylight, Rear-admiral Willaumez weighed and put to sea with the following squadron: ¦Gun-ship 10„ n , ( Rear-ad. Jean-Bapt.-Philibert Willaumez. 1-0 ucean . . . . ^ Captain pierre-Nicolas Rolland. r, , ( Rear-ad. Antoine-Louis Gourdon. rFoudroyant . •£ Captain Antoine Henri. 80 \ Varsovie .... „ Jacques Bergeret. * See Appendix, Nos. 6 and 7. f See Appendix, No. 8. $ See Appendix, No. 9. 1809. COMMODORE BERESFORD AND M. WILLAUMEZ. 95 Van ship 'Tourville . . . Captain Charles- Nicolas Lacaille. Jean-Bart ... „ Charles Lebozec. 74{ Tonnerre ... „ Nicolas Clement de la Ronciere. Aquilon ... „ Jacques-Remy Maingon. .Regulus .... „ Jean-Jacques-Etienne Lucas. <3un-frig. 40 $ Indienne .... „ Guillaume-Marcellin Proteau. \ Elbe „ Jacques-Francois Bellenger. Brig-corvette Nisus ; schooner (late British) Magpie. At 9 a. m. the rearmost ship doubled the Vendree rock, and the French squadron, in line of battle, stood for the Raz, with a fresh breeze at north-north-east. Just as the headmost ships bad cleared the Raz passage, they were descried by the British 74-gun ship Revenge, Captain the Honourable Charles Paget. The latter immediately steered for the Glenans to give informa tion to Captain John Poer Beresford ; who, with the Theseus 74, and the Triumph and Valiant, of the same force, Captains Masterman Hardy and Alexander Robert Kerr, was blockading three sail of the line and three frigates in the road of Lorient. At 30 minutes past noon the Revenge lost sight of the French ships, but at 3 h. 15 m. p.m. again discovered them, and a minute or two afterwards exchanged numbers with the Theseus, in the south-west, off Isle Groix. The instructions to M. Willaumez were to chase from off the port of Lorient the British blockading squadron, stated to be of four sail of the line besides frigates, in order that Commodore Troude, with his three sail of the line and five frigates, might join the former. If, however, the tide should happen not to suit at the moment that he appeared off the port, the rear-admiral was to proceed straight to Basque roads, and dispossess of that anchorage a British squadron, stated also to consist of four sail of the line. M. Willaumez was then to anchor in the road of Isle d'Aix, and there wait for further orders. So far the Moni- teur. But those orders had already issued. Adding to his 11 sail of the line the Rochefort squadron of three, and the Cal cutta armed en flute and frigates, M. Willaumez was to make the best of his way to Martinique; and, with his fleet and the troops that were on board of it, he was to save that island from falling into the hands of the British, who, by the last accounts, were on the eve of attacking it. It was at about 4 h. 30 m. p. m. that the squadrons of Rear- admiral Willaumez and Commodore Beresford fully discovered each other. The latter was then steering about east-south-east, with a fresh breeze at north-north-east, and the former was nearly close hauled on the same tack. Rear-admiral Gourdon's division, consisting of four sail of the line, immediately bore up in chase, and the remaining division soon afterwards did the same. Whereupon the British squadron tacked, and steered west-north- 96 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. west, formed in line of battle, the Theseus leading, followed by the Revenge, Triumph, and Valiant. A short continuance of the British squadron upon this course leaving open the port of Lorient, the French ships, by the time they had approached within four or five miles of the enemy, again hauled their wind. At 6 p. m., neither squadron then in sight ofthe other, the British ships tacked and shortened sail; and at about the same time the French squadron, which had been partly delayed by the falling of the breeze, arrived off Isle Groix. A calm during the night kept both squadrons stationary ; but at daylight on the 23d a fresh breeze from the north-west en abled M. Willaumez, after sending in the Magpie schooner to apprize Commodore Troude of his arrival off the port, to steer for the Pertuis d'Antioche. At about 9 a. m. the two squadrons regained a view of each other, and continued in sight until late in the afternoon. The French ships then, passing inside of Belle-Isle, steered for, Isle d'Yeu, with the wind back to north east ; and at 10 h. 30 m. p. m., just as they had arrived abreast of the Tour de Baleine, were discovered by the 36-gun frigate Ame thyst, Captain Michael Seymour, the look-out ship of Rear-admiral Stopford's squadron, at anchor to the north-west of the Chas- seron lighthouse, consisting of the 80-gun ship Caesar, Captain Charles Richardson, and 74-gun ships Defiance, Captain Henry Hotham, and Donegal, Captain Peter Heywood, acting for Captain Pulteney Malcolm, who was in England attending a court-martial. A flight of rockets soon conveyed the informa tion to the rear-admiral, and the British squadron got under way and stood to the north-west, the direction in which the Amethyst ; lay. At about midnight the British rear-admiral gained a sight of M. Willaumez's squadron to the eastward, standing into the Pertuis d'Antioche. The former went in chase, and at daylight on the 24th saw the French in the act of entering Basque roads. Rear-admiral Stopford, rightly considering that the squadron had escaped from Brest, despatched by signal the 38-gun frigate Naiad, Captain Thomas Dundas, to acquaint Lord Gambier with the circumstance. At 7 a. m. the Naiad, having run a few miles to the north-west, made the signal of three suspicious sail coming down from the northward ; whereupon, leaving the Amethyst, in company with the 36-gun frigate Emerald, Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, to watch the squadron of M. Willaumez, Rear- admiral Stopford wore and made sail in the direction pointed out by the Naiad. Shortly after Rear-admiral Willaumez had sailed from Isle Groix, the three French 40-gun frigates Italienne, Commodore Pierre-Roch Jurien, and Calypso and Cybele, Captains Louis- Leon Jacob and Raymond Cocault, sailed from Lorient, with the wind at about east-north-east. Finding, on clearing the road, that Commodore Troude, owing to the state of the tide, had nota sufficient depth of water to enable him to get under way, Captain 1809. DESTRUCTION OF FR. FRIGATES AT SABLE D'OLONNE. 97 Jurien stood to sea, and in the evening, when off Belle-Isle, steering along the coast to the south-east, descried in the offing the squadron of Commodore Beresford. On the 24th, at day light, the Tour de Baleine made its appearance ; and the British 38-gun frigate Amelia, Captain the Honourable Frederick Paul Irby ; accompanied by the 18-gun brig-sloop Dotterel, Captain Anthony Abdy, both of whom had been in chase during the whole of the night, now approached so near to the Cybele, the rearmost French frigate, that her two consorts hauled up for her support. It was about this time that Captain Jurien observed the squadron of Rear-admiral Stopford, approaching from the south-east. Being thus completely cut off, the French com modore, with the wind now at about south-east by east, steered for the Sable d'Olonne, and was followed closely by the Amelia and Dotterel. At 9 a.m. the two latter tacked to the north east, as the three French frigates had previously done ; and in ten minutes more the Amelia, having wore round, hauled under the stern of the Cybele, and opened a fire in passing. At 10 a. m. the Amelia tacked and steered after the enemy, in company with the Caesar, Defiance, and Donegal, who had just joined. In a minute or two afterwards the three French frigates came to anchor in line of battle, with springs, close under the powerful batteries of the town of Sable d'Olonne. At 10 h. 30 m. a. m. the British ships stood towards the former in the following order: Defiance, Caesar, Donegal, Amelia. At II a.m. the Defiance, as drawing less water than either of the other line-of- battle ships, anchored in seven fathoms' water, within about 600 yards of the three French frigates, and opened her fire, receiving in return the fire of the latter, as well as of the batteries on shore. In about 20 minutes after the Defiance had commenced firing, the Caesar and Donegal opened their broadsides, and in another 10 minutes the Amelia joined in the cannonade; the batteries, all the while, keeping up a heavy fire at the British. At 11 h. 50 m. a. m., unable to withstand the fire of their op ponents, particularly of the Defiance, some of whose wads had set them partially in flames, the Italienne and Cybele cut their cables and ran on shore. Immediately the Defiance veered her cable, that her guns might again bear upon her opponents ; and, while the Caesar to get into deeper water had wore to the south west, the Defiance, Donegal, and Amelia, continued the engage ment- for a few minutes longer, until the weathermost French frigate, "the Calypso, that she might not mask the fire of the Italienne, and feeling sensibly the effects of that of the Defiance, veered her cable, and soon drove on shore stern foremost. The ebb-tide making, and the water falling fast, the rear-admiral, at noon, signalled his ships to stand out. At about 15 minutes past noon the Defiance cut her cable and made sail towards the Caesar, then, with the Donegal and Amelia, nearly two miles to the southward. The three latter ships soon afterwards tacked vol. v. h 98 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809* and the Donegal, while in stays, fired a broadside at the enemy. After this, the British squadron stood off-shore and fhe action ceased. The Caesar had her bowsprit wounded, her fore spring-stay shot away, and her rigging a good deal cut, but had not a man hurt. The Donegal suffered also in her rigging and sails, and had one man killed and six wounded. The Defiance, who bore the brunt of the action, had all her masts badly wounded, her rigging cut to pieces, and two men killed and 25 wounded. Of the French frigates, the Italienne had six men killed and 17 wounded, the Calypso, 10 killed and 18 wounded, and the Cybele, eight killed and 16 wounded, total, 24 killed and 51 wounded ; and all three frigates had their hulls much shattered. The loss, if any, that was sustained on shore, does not appear in the French accounts. The three French frigates, having taken the ground nearly at the top of high water, could not be got off,. and were consequently wrecked ; but the crews, and probably the stores, were saved. At sunset Rear-admiral Stopford returned to his station off the Chasseron lighthouse, and observed the squadron of M. Wil laumez at anchor in Basque roads. On the next day, the 25th, Captain Beresford and his three ships joining company, the rear- admiral, with his force thus augmented to seven sail of the line and five frigates, resumed the blockade of the port ; in which now lay, in two divisions, a fleet of 10 sail of the line, four frigates, and a 50-gun ship, the Calcutta, armed en flute. On the 26th the Brest squadron weighed and stood for the road of Isle d'Aix. While proceeding thither, the Jean-Bart grounded on the Palles shoal near Isle Madame ; and, although an attempt was made to force her off by a press of sail, the ship became wrecked. The remaining ships of the Brest squadron anchored between the southern extremity of Isle d'Aix and the Boyart shoal, in company with the following squadron : Gun-ship fCassard Commod. Gilbert-Amable Faure. 74-«, Jemmappes „ Joseph Fauveau. [Patriote „ Jean-Michel Mahe\ 50 Calcutta (flute) „ Jean-Baptiste Lafon. Gun-frig. ..(Pallas , Amand-Francois Le Bigot. \ Hortense . „ Emanuel Halgan. With his nine French line-of-battle ships, M. Willaumez was blockaded by Rear-admiral Stopford, witb eight British (the Hero having joined him), until the 7th of March, when the latter was relieved by Admiral Lord Gambier; who had received the first intelligence of the escape of the Brest squadron on the 23d of February, while, with nine sail of the line, on his way ta resume the blockade of that port. The admiral then detached 80- 18091. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 99 Vice-admiral Duckworth, with eight ships, in quest of the French squadron, and returned to Cawsand bay with the Caledonia. In his way thither Lord Gambier fell in with the Naiad, bearing the intelligence of the arrival of the French squadron in Basque roads ; and on the 3d of March, with five ships of the line, sailed for that station. On joining Rear-admiral Stopford, his lordship's force became increased to 13 sail of the line; but, the Defiance and Triumph shortly afterwards parting company, the following 11 sail only remained : Gun-ship |" Admiral (b.) Lord James Gambier. 120 Caledonia . . . . --i Captain Sir Harry Neale, Bart. L „ William Bedford. Caesar . . \ Rear-^dm- 0>0 Hon. Robert Stopford. I 5 * C Captain Charles Richardson. { Gibraltar „ Henry Lidgbird Ball. ' Hero ...... „ James Newman Newman, Donegal „ Pulteney Malcolm. Resolution .... „ George Burlton. _ , , Theseus „ John Poer Beresford. '* ] Valiant , John Bligh. Illustrious .... „ William Robert Broughton. Bellona „ Stair Douglas. _ Revenge „ Alexander Robert Kerr. On the 17th of March Lord Gambier anchored his fleet in Basque roads ; stationing his frigates and smaller vessels about a mile in advance, either towards Isle d'Aix or the town of Rochelle, according to the direction of the wind. As an addi tional guard against any attempt upon the fleet by fire-vessels, the ships were to be in constant readiness for action, and for slipping their cables, leaving buoys upon them. Two boats from each ship of the line, with fire-grapnels, were also to be sent every night after sunset on board the advanced frigates, to be ready to tow off the French fire-vessels the instant they ap proached. Although neither M. Willaumez, nor M. Allemand his successor, had, as far as we can learn, any idea of resorting to such a mode of attack against the British fleet, Lord Gambier, nearly a week before he began his defensive preparations, had himself suggested to the British admiralty the employment of fire-ships against the French fleet. His lordship's letter to Lord Mulgrave is dated on the 1 1th of March, and the following is the paragraph on the subject: "The enemy's ship lay very much exposed to the operation of fire-ships : it is a horrible mode of warfare, and the attempt very hazardous, if not des perate ; but we should have plenty of volunteers for the service."* The admiralty, however, had anticipated Lord Gambier's * Minutes of a court-martial on tile Right Honourable James Lord] Gambier, Admiral ofthe Blue, &c.,p. 114. H2 10.0 BRITISH, AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. wishes ; for, on the 7th of March, the board ordered a number, of fire-ships to be prepared, guided, no doubt, by a report delivered in by Captain Richard Goodwin Keats ; who, in the month of April, 1807, when the Majestueux and four two-deckers were lying at anchor in the road of Isle d'Aix, had suggested to the admiralty the propable success of " an attack of bombs, fire- ships, and rockets, covered and protected by a squadron;" and which squadron, adds this able and distinguished officer, should be kept " as close to Isle d'Aix with easterly, and to the Boyart with westerly winds, as possible, in order that it may be in con stant readiness to act decisively, should an opportunity present itself." Thus resolved, the board of admiralty, on the 19th, by their secretary inform Lord Gambier, that 12 transports are fitting as fire-ships, that Mr. Congreve is to proceed in a trans port, with a supply of rockets and of men skilled in the manage ment of them, and that five bomb-vessels are under orders to fit for sea with all possible expedition and proceed to Basque roads. The letter of directions then proceeds thus : " All these preparations are making with a view to enable your lordship to make an attack on the French fleet at their anchorage off Isle d'Aix, if practicable ; and I am further commanded to signify their lordships' direction to you, to take into your consideration the possibility of making an attack upon the enemy, either conjointly with your line-of-battle ships, frigates, and small-craft, fire-ships, bombs, and rockets, or separately by any of the above- named means." On the same day, on which these orders were written, arrived at the admiralty Lord Gambier's letter of the 11th, suggesting the use of fire-ships ; and on the same day also arrived at Plymouth, from the Mediterranean, the 38-gun frigate Imperieuse,, Captain Lord Cochrane. About an hour after the frigate had dropped anchor, her captain, by a telegraphic communication from the admiralty, was ordered to attend the board, it being known to their lordships, by the records in their office, that Lord Cochrane was well acquainted with that part of the French coast in which the operations were to be carried on. On the 21st, having arrived by express from Plymouth, Lord Cochrane waited upon Lord Mulgrave, who confidentially con ferred with him on the means of destroying the French fleet at their anchorage under Isle d'Aix. Lord Cochrane was decidedly of opinion that the attempt by fire-ships would succeed. The first lord of the admiralty then asked Lord Cochrane, if he would undertake to execute the plan which they had so dis cussed. " This, in the first instance, Lord Cochrane declined, offering, as a reason, the jealousy which such an appointment might excite in the breasts of his brother-officers serving on that station. But, at a subsequent interview, the first lord of the admiralty having stated to Lord Cochrane, that he was the only officer with whom he had communicated, who deemed the 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 101 enterprise of easy execution and little risk, and having renewed his offer of command, Lord Cochrane acquiesced, conceiving that Lord Mulgrave might have considered a final refusal as originating in motives not creditable to an officer, who had ex pressed so decided an opinion of the practicability of the under taking." On the 25th the board of admiralty addressed a letter to the British admiral in Basque roads, acquainting him that they had thought fit to select Lord Cochrane, for the purpose of conducting, under his, Lord Gambier's, directions, the fire-ships to be employed in the projected attack on the enemy's fleet.. This letter was delivered to Lord Cochrane ; and, as soon as that active officer could reach Plymouth, the Imperieuse sailed upon her destination. On the 26th Lord Gambier received the board's letter of the 19th, directing him to endeavour to destroy the enemy's fleet in the manner described. On the same day his lordship wrote two letters in reply. In the first, Lord Gambier admits that the French fleet lay exposed to an attack by fire-vessels ; but, in the second, his lordship says : " The enemy's ships are anchored in two lines, very near to each other, in a direction due S. from the fort on the Isle d'Aix ; and the ships in each line not farther apart than their own length ; by which it appears, as I imagine, that the space for their anchorage is so confined by the shoaliiess of the water, as not to admit of ships to run in and anchor clear of each other. The most distant ships of their two lines are within point-blank shot of the works upon the Isle d'Aix : such ships, therefore, as might attack the enemy would be exposed to be raked by the hot shot, &c. from the island ; and, should the ships be disabled in their masts, they must remain within the range of the enemy's fire until destroyed, there not being sufficient depth of water to allow them to move to the southward out of distance." The admiral concludes his letter thus : "I beg leave to add, that, if their lordships are of opinion that an attack on the enemy's ships by those of the fleet under my command is practicable, I am ready to obey any orders they may be pleased to honour me with, however great the risk may be of the loss of men and ships."* It is clear from the tenour of this letter, that Lord Gambier was averse to the plan of attack by the line-of- battle ships, conceiving it impracticable, both on account of the strength of the batteries on Isle d'Aix protecting the French anchorage, and of the supposed shallowness of the water within, or a little beyond, point-blank range of them to the south ward. Hence, as the mode of destroying the French fleet in the road of Isle d'Aix was left discretionary with Lord Gambier, he chose that mode which he had himself suggested, the attack by fire-ships. It being discovered from the anchorage of Lord Gambier in * Minutes, &c, p. 120. 102 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. Basque roads, that the French were endeavouring to strengthen their position in Aix road by throwing up works on the south end of the Boyart shoal, the 38-gun frigate Amelia, Captain the Honourable Frederick Paul Irby, was directed to dislodge them. Accordingly, on the 1st of April, at 9 a.m., the frigate got under way and stood for the spot; and at 10 h. 15m. a.m., wearing round, fired a broadside and drove the French away. The Amelia then sent her boats and completely destroyed the works. In a day or two afterwards Captain Irby was detached to .another part ofthe French coast. On the 3d Lord Cochrane, in the Imperieuse, arrived in Basque roads, and deliyered to Lord Gambier the board's letter to the admiral. Twelve of the fire-ships to be employed were at this time lying in the Downs waiting for a fair wind ; and six transports, to be fitted as fire-ships by the fleet, had been ordered to sail from Plymouth. The board of ordnance had also been directed, to send from Woolwich a ship laden with com bustible matter, including a quantity of Valenciennes composi tion, also 1000 carcasses of an 18-pound caliber. The Plymouth transports not being likely to join for some days, Lord Gambier ordered eight of the largest transports of the 30 sail then in company, to be fitted as fire-ships in their stead ; and it hap pened very opportunely, that three French chasse-marees, laden with tar and rosin, had recently been captured by the fleet. With this supply of combustibles, and with such other mate1 rials as the fleet could furnish, the eight transports, and also, at the suggestion of Lord Cochrane, the Mediator frigate-storeship, were fitted as fire-ships ; the latter by her own officers and crew, and the former by the officers and crews of the line-of-battle ships. Three explosion-vessels were also equipped, under the immediate inspection of Lord Cochrane. On the 6th the iEtna bomb-vessel anchored in the road, and on the 10th the 12 fire- ships from the Downs, escorted by the Beagle and Red pole sloops ; who had also under their charge the Cleveland transport, laden with Congreve rockets, the ingenious inventor of which had previously arrived in the iEtna. Having already given a list of the line-of-battle ships, we here present a list of frigates and smaller vessels, employed on this expedition. Gun-frig. 44 .Indefatigable Captain John Treymayne Rodd. 38 Imperieuse Lord Cochrane. .,„( Aigle „ George Wolfe. ) Emerald „ Frederick Lewis Maitland. Unicorn „ Lucius Hardyman. ' Pallas , George Francis Seymour. £ Mediator (flute) „ James Wooldridge. Guu-b.-slp. {Beagle Francis Newcombe. Doterel , Anthony Abdy. Foxhound , Pitt Barnaby Greene. 32) I 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 103 ,„| Lyra Captain William Bevians. ( Redpole John Joyce. X., ( Thunder „ James Caulfleld. ""•{.Etna „ William Godfrey. Gun-brig 14 Insolent Lieut. John Row Morris. ("Encounter „ James Hugh Talbot. Conflict , Joseph B. Batt. 12<[ Contest , John Gregory. Fervent „ John Edward Hare. .Growler „ Richard Crossman. 'Schooner, Whiting ; hired cutters, Nimrod and King-George. [1 Some attention is now due to the party against whom all these formidable preparations are making. Among the officers of the Brest squadron, who disapproved of the forbearance of Rear- admiral Willaumez to attack the four 74s under the command of Commodore Beresford, was Captain Jacques Bergeret, already so well known to us. What ship of the squadron that officer commanded we are unable to state, as he afterwards quitted her for Paris, and the captain's names assigned to the ships in the list given at a preceding page are as they stood subsequently to the appointment of Captain Bergeret1 s successor. A letter from the last-named officer to the minister of marine occasioned Rear-admiral Willaumez to be recalled. On the 16th the latter struck his flag on board the Ocean, and went on shore; and on the morning ofthe 17th Vice-admiral Allemand hoisted his flagon board the same ship. Rear-admiral Gourdon remained as second in command ; but two or three of the cap tains, including M. Bergeret, were superseded by others, leaving the whole as they stand in the list already referred to. When M. Allemand joined the fleet, he found it moored in three lines at the entrance ofthe passage, and too far out. He ordered the ships to weigh, and, dropping lower down, anchored them in a double indented line "ligne endentee;1' which may be explained by considering each point in the following figure as a ship with her broadside bearing against it : /VN/S/N/X/- the two parallel lines of ships bore about north-north-east and south-south-west ; and the ship's heads were to the northward. The van-ship of the outer line bore due south of the battery at the southern extremity of Isle d'Aix, and was distant from it about 640 yards. The two lines were about 250 yards apart, and the ships of each line from the stern of one to the head of the other full 170 yards ; thus making the distance from the stern of the rearmost ship in the outer line to the fort (reckoning each ship's length upon an average at 70 yards) 1520 yards, or nearly seven eighths of a statute mile. Each ship was moored with one cable to the north-west and another to the south-east. At about 740 yards in froiit of the outer line lay the three 104 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 180&i frigates Pallas, Hortense, and Indienne. The fourth frigate, the Elbe, was moored as the headmost ship in the second or inner line. The method here taken will show, without the aid of a diagram, how the different ships were stationed : Indienne Hortense Pallas Foudroyant Varsovie Ocean Regulus Cassard Calcutta Tonnere Patriote Jemmappes Aquilon Tourville Elbe At the distance of about 110 yards in front of the line of frigates, a boom, half a mile in length, and composed of cables secured by anchors and floated by buoys, was thrown across the channel leading from Basque to Aix road, having its northern end within rather less than 1000 yards of the rocks that lie off the south-western extremity of the island. The anchors employed in mooring the boom were of the enormous weight of 5J tong English, and the cables 31 \ English inches in diameter. For the information of such as are unacquainted with the subject it may be useful to add that the bower anchor of the Caledonia, the largest ship in the British navy, weighs 4f tons, and that her bower cable measures in diameter, or did measure before iron ones were adopted, 25 inches. For any thing that appears in the accounts, the existence of this formidable boom was not known to the British until after the attack whicli we are about to relate had commenced. The strength of the batteries that protected the anchorage has been variously stated at from 13 to 50 guns. It is probable that the number of guns did not exceed 30 ; but the greater part of these were long 36-pounders ; and there were also several mortars of the largest description in use. The island was gar risoned with 2000 troops ; but they were all conscripts and not to be relied upon. Nor was Isle d'Aix strong in any other part than that which protected the fleet. On its north-east side, or the side which fronts the bay of Rochelle, there were only a few guns mounted, and those in bad condition and at a great distance apart. Exclusive of the batteries on Isle d'Aix, the isle of Oleron, distant three miles and a half to the west-south-west of the citadel of Aix, contained three or four gun and mortar batteries, one of which, named Saumonard, could throw its shot arid shells nearly within the range of the former. Besides these artificial defences, the road of Isle d'Aix had a shoal at a short distance in its rear, and another, at a somewhat greater distance, ,1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 105 stretching along its southern extremity. The latter was named Falles, and was in several parts hard and rocky. The former was a bank or bar of mud, thrown up at the mouth of the river Charente. The arrival of the 12 fire-ships, on the afternoon of the 10th, leaving no doubt in the mind of M. Allemand as to the nature of the attack in contemplation, he directed the armed launches and boats of the fleet, 73 in number, to be assembled in five divisions, in order to be ready, at the close of day, to take their stations near the boom, for the purpose of boarding and towing away the fire-ships, and of engaging any British boats that might be sent down to assist the latter in their operations. Some very excellent regulations were drawn up for the guidance of these boats, as appears by a copy of them which afterwards fell into the hands of the British. The French admiral also ordered the ships of each line to strike their topmasts and get their top- gallantmasts on deck, and to unbend all useless sails : the advanced frigates, however, were to keep their topmasts an-end, and to be in readiness to get under way, the instant the signal to that effect should be made. The line-of-battle ships were also directed to be prepared to land the few troops they had on board, in case any attempt should be made by the British to possess themselves of Isle d'Aix. On the 11th, early in the afternoon, the British admiral having completed his arrangements, the different frigates and smaller Vessels moved to the stations assigned them. The Imperieuse ran down towards the inner end of the Boyart, and came to, in nine fathoms, close to the shoal ; having the north point of Isle d'Aix bearing east, the south point south-east by east, and the centre of the French fleet south-east by south ; the latter at the distance of about two and a half miles. The bearing of the Im? perieuse, as taken from the French frigate Indienne, was nearly north-west, distant about a gun-shot and a half from the boom. The Aigle, Unicorn, and Pallas, anchored a short distance above, or to the north-west of the Imperieuse ; in order to receive the crews of the fire-ships on their return, to support the boats of the fleet which were to accompany the fire-ships, and to render assistance, if required, to the Imperieuse herself. The Whiting schooner, Lieutenant Henry Wildey, and the King-George and Nimrod cutters, master's mates Thomas Mekeek and Edward Tapley, which had been fitted for throwing rockets, also took their stations near the Boyart shoal. The iEtna, the only bomb- vessel present, although four others (Fury, Hound, Thunder, and Vesuvius) had been promised, and eight would not have been one too many, placed herself to the north-west of Isle d'Aix, as near to the fort as possible in that direction, and was covered by the Indefatigable and Foxhound. The Emerald, Beagle, Dot terel, Conflict and Growler, were stationed, to make ,a diversion, at the east end of the island ; and the Red pole and Lyra, with 106 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. lights hoisted, and properly screened from the enemy's view, were stationed, the one near the shoal to the north-west of Isle d'Aix, the other close to the Boyart shoal, in order to guide the fire-ships in their course to the attack. Each of these brigs was distant rather less than two miles from the extremity of the French line on her side. The 1 1 British line-of-battle ships, which lay at a distance of from eight to nine miles from the French fleet, also unmoored, to be ready to co-operate, if necessary ; but, having unavoidably anchored in a strong tide-way, and the wind blowing hard from the north-west, the ships were again moored when the weather- tide made, in order to prevent them from falling on board of each other. Mr. Edward Fairfax, the master of the Caledonia, con sidered the distance of that ship and those around her from the enemy's anchorage to be only six miles ; but, when the French telegraphed from the citadel on Isle d'Aix, as they did every morning, they stated the distance at three leagues. The wind, although in its direction as favourable as it could blow for the progress of the fire-ships, the whole of which had dropped to an anchorage about a mile nearer than the British fleet, was too violent to admit one part of the plan to be carried into effect, that of chaining the vessels together in divisions of four. Each fire-ship, therefore, was left to act an independent part ; and at about 8 h. 30m. p. m., the night uncommonly dark, the wind even fresher than it had been, and the tide flowing at the rate of more than two knots an hour, the Mediator, and the ether fire-ships that had anchored around her, cut their cables and made sail. Of the three explosion- vessels, one was swept from the stern of the Imperieuse by one of the too early aban doned fire-ships ; and, although the crew of the explosion-vessel were on board ready to proceed, and did afterwards set fire to the fusee, the fusee appears to have failed. In the mean while the remaining two, one of which was conducted by Lord Co chrane, assisted by Lieutenant William Bissell and four seamen, proceeded towards the road of Isle d'Aix. These two explosion- vessels appear to have been ignited when within less than three quarters of a mile from the French line : how near to it they exploded, and what effect the blast produced, the French them selves are the most competent to state. The effect that such machines were calculated to produce may be conceived from the manner in which they were prepared. Lord Cochrane's vessel alone contained about 1500 barrels of gunpowder, started into puncheons placed end-upward, fastened to each other by cables wound round them, and jammed together with wedges, having moistened sand rammed down between them, so as to render the whole, from stem to stern, quite solid, and thereby increase the resistance : besides which, on the top of this mass of gunpowder^ lay between 300 and 400 shells charged with fusees, and nearly as many thousands of hand-grenades. 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 107 Several of the fire-ships were ignited and abandoned long before they got abreast of even the northernmost of the two vessels stationed as guides. Others, again, were admirably conducted ; especially the Mediator, the largest and most efficient of all of them. This ship, from her great weight, and the strength of the wind and tide, which had by this time in creased to nearly four knots, broke the boom, and thus afforded a clear passage to the remainder of the fire-ships. So resolved was the Mediator's gallant commander to see the service he had engaged in properly executed, that himself and the officers and men who had volunteered to accompany him nearly perished with their vessel : one officer, the gunner (James Segges), was killed, and Captain Wooldridge, Lieutenants Nicholas Brent Clements and James Pearl, and one seaman, were blown out of the ship ; the three latter slightly, but the captain very severely, scorched. The loss sustained on board the other fire-ships appears to have been, two seamen killed belonging to the Caesar, by the bursting of an explosion-vessel near the fire-ship, and an acting lieutenant (William' Flintoft) and one seaman, who died from fatigue in the boat; one master's mate (Richard Francis Jewers) of the Theseus, and another (John Conyers) of the Gibraltar, both scorched by powder. The five or six officers in command of fire-ships, who, besides Captain Woollcombe, had the judgment and presence of mind to wait till the proper time before they set fire to the trains of their vessels, and among whom we can name Captains Newcome of the Beaver, and Joyce of the Lyra, and Lieutenant John Cookes- ley of Gibraltar, were exposed to imminent danger in their en deavours to regain the advanced frigates. They had to pull against a strong tide and rough sea, which nearly swamped many ofthe boats ; and they were also endangered by flights of rockets, many ofthe latter, from having been placed in the rigging ofthe fire-ships, taking a direction quite different from that intended. The boats of the fleet under the direction of Rear-admiral Stopford, had been ordered to support the fire-ships, and were assembled accordingly alongside of the Csesar; but, judging from the boisterous state of the weather that their services would not be required, the rear-admiral did not proceed with them. He was so far correct that, although the fourth and fifth divisions of the French boats had been ordered to the boom, there to wait until 2 a. m., nearly the whole of them, owing to the strength of the wind and tide, were obliged to put back. Dark as was the night, the sky soon became illuminated by the glare of so many vast fires ; and, what with the flashes of the guns from the forts and retreating ships, the flight of shells and rockets from the fire- vessels, and the reflection ofthe rays of light from the bright sides of the French ships in the back-ground, a scene was formed, peculiarly awful and sublime. But such was the strength of the wind at the commencement of the attack, that, in the British 108 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 18091 fleet, not even the explosions, loud as they were, could be heard. One of their early effects, however, was to lull the breeze consi^ defably. What other effects the fire and explosion vessels pro duced, we shall proceed to relate, as well as we can collect the facts from the published and other accounts. At 9 h. 30 m. p. m., accordingto the time kept by the Indienne, a floating body at the boom, in the direction of her starboard cat-head, blew up with a tremendous explosion, but, although distant only 110 or 120 yards from the frigate, did not, as we are told, do her the slightest injury. The words of Captain Proteau in his journal are: " J'etais dans cette position, a trois encablatures et demie de mon escadre, l'amiral dans mes eaux, lorsque nous distinguames a 9 heures et demie, sous notre bossoir de tribord, un corps flottant a. I'estacade. L'explosion s'en fit tout-a-coup et vomit quantite de fusees artificielles, grenades, et obus, qui eclaterent en I'air sans nous faire le moindre mal, ce-1 pendant nous n'en etions qu'a. une demie-encablature." What then becomes of the statement of Mr. Fairfax, the master of Lord Gambier's fleet, that the e'x plosion- vessel blew up at "about a mile" from the enemy? What grounds had he for fearing, that he should be blown up, instead of the enemy, when he ad mits that the Lyra, the vessel he was on board of, lay two cables' length to windward of the explosion-vessel, while the Indienne, who escaped unhurt, lay only half a cable to leeward of her?* In 10 minutes more, a second vessel exploded, also on the boom, and almost under the bowsprit of the Indienne. We may ob serve, in passing, that, although in point of absolute time the Indienne and Imperieuse differ by an hour and ten minutes, in relative time they agree exactly. This last explosion is described to have been more loud and appalling than the first, and to have covered the frigate with a shower of fire ; and yet we are not informed of any injury she sustained. It is therefore true, as Lord Gambier has stated, that " the blast of the explosion- vessels, under Lord Cochrane's immediate direction, did not take place by any means so near to the enemy's ships as his lordship had projected. "f But it was not because the fusees had been fired too early, as stated by Lord Gambier's witnesses, nor be cause the fusees had burnt too rapidly, as generally understod, but because the boom had interposed to stop the progress of the ves sels. When the Indienne's officer on the forecastle discovered the floating body, it was already, at, not advancing towards, the boom. Had this boom been away another half minute would have carried the vessel amidst the line of frigates; and then, what would have been the effect of the blast ; that blast fol-' lowed in 10 minutes by a second, which was even greater and more terrific than the first? At 9 h. 45 m. p. m. the Mediatof broke through the boom, and, as well as the ships with her, was instantly fired at by the French ships, the shot of the line-ofj * See Minutes, &c, pp. 177, 178. f Ibid., p. 131. 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 109 battle ships passing between the masts of, and no doubt injuring, the frigates in advance. The latter presently cut their cables. The, Hortense, making sail, passed to windward of many of the fire-ships, and discharged several broadsides into them. This frigate and her two consorts then retreated to the rear of the line-of-battle ships. Of these, the first boarded by a fire-vessel was the Regulus, with whom a large brig, in full combustion, is represented to have been grappled for a quarter of an hour ; and yet the French 74 escaped, as far as it appears, without any material injury, except some slight damage occasioned by running foul of the Tourv.ille. The Ocean was also grappled by a fire-ship ; the particulars of which we will give in the words of one of her own officers, as extracted from the translated copies of several intercepted letters, with a sight of which we have been favoured. "A frigate fire-ship was directing her course towards the Ocean. We veered out several fathoms of our north-west cable, but the vessel was still nearing us. The Regulus had just cut her cables, and was endeavouring to get clear of a vessel which threatened to burn her. This movement of the Regulus obliged us to cut our north-west cable. We set the mizen top sail to the mast to assist the ship ; but, as soon as we brought up by our south-east anchor, three fire-vessels made towards us. What was to be done? We were obliged to cut this cable also, hoist the foretopmast staysail, loose the foresail, and steer so as to avoid the Palles, the bank of rocks on which the Jean-Bart was lost. At 10 we grounded; and immediately afterwards a fire-ship, in the height of her combustion, grappled us athwart our stern. For ten minutes that she remained in this situation, we employed every means in our power to prevent the fire from catching our ship. Our engines played upon and completely wetted the poop : with spars we hove off the fire-ship, and with axes we cut the lashings of her grapnels fastened to the end of her yards ; but the chevaux de frise on her sides held her firmly to us. In this deplorable situation we thought we must be burnt, as the flames from the fire-ship covered the whole of our poop. Two of our line-of-battle-ships, the Tonnerre and Patriote, at this time fell on . board of us. The first broke her bowsprit in our starboard main rigging, and destroyed our main channels. Provi dence now aided us. "Just as the fire-ship athwart our stern began to drive forward along our starboard side, the Tonnerre separated herself from us. Unless this had happened, the fire- ship would have fallen Into the angle formed by the two ships, and would infallibly have burnt them. The fire-vessel having drifted as far forward as to be under our bowsprit, we held her there some time, in order to afford time to the Tonnerre and Pa triote to get out of her reach. While this fire-vessel was on board of us we let the cocks run in order to drown the magazine, but the flow of water was too slow for the purpose. We lost 50 men at least, through their zealous exertions to disengage the 110 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. fire-ships: they fell into the sea and were drowned; but our boats saved a number of others. A short time after we had so* fortunately escaped being burnt, another fire-vessel was making for our starboard quarter: we fired our broadside and cut away her mainmast. This fortunately occasioned her to wear, and she passed close alongside of us. All the remainder of the night we were surrounded by vessels on fire. Our guns were con stantly firing, even on English boats towing some of the fire- vessels. The one that grappled us on the poop was towed by a boat, manned with 15 or 16 men: we fired on her and obliged her to let go the tow. In this disastrous night the Cassard had five men killed and 15 mortally wounded by a shot from one of the fire-ships." In the narrow escape of the French admiral's ship, as here faithfully depicted by one who was on board of her, we may form a tolerable idea of what must have been the situation of several of the others. Such, in fact, was the terror naturally inspired by the fleet of flaming bodies approaching, that every French ship, except the Foudroyant, cut or slipped her cables and went adrift. The Cassard, however, brought up again in the road, at the distance of about 500 yards ahead of the Fou droyant ; who had, we believe, cut her north-west cable, and was- now riding by her south-east one. By midnight the whole ofthe remaining 13 French ships were aground ; and the following were their situations at daylight on the 12th, as described by the French themselves. The Ocean lay in the mud at the distance of a full half mile to the east-south-east of the anchorage in Aix road. Having on board, in common with the other ships, a quantity of provisions for the supply of the colony to which she had been destined, the Ocean was very deep, drawing not less perhaps than 28 or 29 feet. Hence she grounded while still in a part of Aix road, and not on the Palles shoal, as was thought to have been the case. This accounts for M. Allemand dating his official letter of the 12th " a bord du vaisseau l'Ocean en rade de l'isle d'Aix." At about 500 yards to the south-west of the Ocean, upon a rocky bed named Charenton, lay the Varsovie and Aquilon, and close to them, but upon somewhat better ground, the Regulus and Jemmappes. The Tonnerre, with her head to the south-east, lay, on a hard bottom about 200 yards to the eastward of the rock of Pontra, and bore north-west of Isle Madame, situated on the south-west side of the entrance to the Charente, and north-east of the isle of Enette, which forms the northern extre mity of the opposite side of the same river. This ship, since 2 a. m., had thrown all her guns overboard except 10 of her 36- pounders, and had cut away her mainmast; but nothing could save her, as she had already bilged. At some distance to the south-west of the Tonnerre, nearly on the extremity of the Palles in that direction, and close to the wreck of the Jean-Bart, lay the 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. HI Calcutta, with her head to the south-east. The Calcutta first took the ground at 11 h. 30 m. p.m., floated again at 1 a.m., and soon afterwards grounded a second time upon the rocky bottom on which she at this time lay. The Patriote and Tour- ville lay on the mud off Isle Madame, and at no great distance from the channel of the Charente. With respect to the four frigates, the Indienne lay about three quarters of a mile to the eastward of the Ocean, upon the mud off Pointe Aiguille, near Enette isle. The Elbe and Hortense lay upon the Fontenelles, and the Pallas upon the mud off" the little fort of Barques, just at the entrance of the Charente. All the grounded ships, especially the six on the hard part of the Palles, were more or less upon the heel ; and most of them, from the nature of the ground on which they lay, were in a very desperate situation. So that, although the fire-vessels of the British had not caused the immediate destruction of a single ship of the French fleet, they had left nearly the whole of the ships in a comparatively defenceless state ; exposed, if promptly acted upon, to an attack of a different description, an attack more conformable to the rules of regular warfare, and more congenial to what is usually the prevailing spirit on board a British fleet. From her proximity to the scene of disaster, the Imperieuse was the first British ship to observe, and the first to communicate to the commander-in-chief, the grounded state of the French ships. The falling tide obliged the Imperieuse, at daylight, to weigh and stand out. Lord Cochrane then made the following telegraphic signals to the Caledonia, the distance of whose anchorage from the grounded ships was just 12 miles. At 5 h. 48 m. a. m. " Half the fleet can destroy the enemy ; seven on shore." At 6 h. 40 m. " Eleven on shore." At 7 h. 40 m. " Only two afloat." At 9 h. 30 m. " Enemy preparing to heave off." As soon as the tide suited, which was at 10 a. m., the Imperieuse returned and reanchored close to the Boyart shoal, the south part of Isle d'Aix bearing south-east by east; which was nearly on the same spot from which the frigate had a few hours before weighed. Immediately after the last telegraphic signal of the Imperieuse, Lord Gambier telegraphed the fleet, " Prepare with sheet and spare anchors out of stern ports, and springs ready." At 9 h, 35 m. a. m. the British admiral made the signal for the fleet to weigh, but suspended the execution of that signal by making another, calling all captains on board the Caledonia. As soon as the conference was ended, the captains returned to their ships j and at 10 h. 45 m. a. m., according to the average time noted down in the logs of the different ships, the fleet got under way. At 11 h. 30 m. A. m. the fleet reanchored, in 12 and 13 fathoms' water, at the distance of three miles from the flagstaff on Isle d'Aix, and consequently of about six miles from the grounded 112 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. French ships. The reason, officially assigned by the admiral, for anchoring at so great a distance was, that the wind blew fresh from the northward, and combined with the strength of the flood- tide, rendered it hazardous to run into Aix roads; but, according to the evidence of Captain Broughton examined at Lord Gam- bier's court-martial, his lordship was induced to anchor so far off, because, " as the enemy were on shore, he did not think it necessary to run any unnecessary risk of the fleet, when the object of their destruction seemed to be already obtained."* As a further proof that the British admiral, whatever may have been his original intention, had now abandoned the idea of employing the fleet to cannonade the works on Isle d'Aix, or fhe French ships aground on the Palles shoal, Lord Gambier did not make the customary signal for the ships to get springs on their cables, and be ready to anchor by the stern, because that signal (No. 14) began by calling upon the ships to " prepare for battle." He therefore had recourse to the telegraph, as the only means of making the latter part of the signal without the former. The admiral did, however, direct the iEtna bomb, covered by the gun-brigs Insolent, Conflict, and Growler, to proceed towards Aix road, and take a position for bombarding the grounded French ships ; arid Captain Bligh was directed to take under his orders the Valiant, Bellona, and Revenge, also the. frigates and sloops, and to anchor them as close as possible to the Boyart shoal, to be ready to support the bomb-vessel and gun-brigs. While therefore the latter, as they had been ordered, stood on towards the road of Aix, the Valiant and her division came to an anchor about a mile nearer to the grounded ships than the spot at which the Caledonia and the remainder of the line-of-battle ships were then lying. This movement on the part of the British fleet auguring an immediate attack, the Foudroyant and Cassard, who had been since daylight getting up their topmasts, cut their cables and made sail for the Charente, the latter at 45 minutes past noon, and the former in a few minutes afterwards ; but, in attempting to ascend the river, the two ships grounded on the shoal at its entrance, very near to the castle of Fouras. In the mean time, as the tide flowed, all the ships that had previously grounded began to get upright, and their crews to exert themselves anew to float them off the bank. The water and provisions were started, many of the guns and much of the ammunition thrown overboard, and anchors laid out for warping. Since 6 A. m. the Ocean had carried out a stream-anchor, with six cables. At about 2 p. m., by similar means, the Patriote, Regulus, and Jemmappes, succeeded in getting afloat, but grounded again on the muddy shoal at the entrance of the Charente. By the time * Minutes, &c, p. 222. 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 113 it; became nearly high water, the Ocean also got afloat, and moved herself about 700 yards nearer to the channel of the riverj where she was again stopped by the mud. Seeing the French ships thus gradually getting beyond the reach of attack, whereby the whole object ofthe enterprise would be defeated, and observing, in particular, that the three nearest ships, the Calcutta, Aquilon, and Varsovie, were laying out anchors and hawsers for the purpose of effecting a similar removal, Lord Cochrane, at 1 p.m., just as the iEtna and the three gun-brigs had run past him, got under way with the Im perieuse, who had previously hove short, and, without any order or signal to that effect, dropped down towards the enemy At 1 h. 30 m. p. m. the frigate set her topsails, and stood directly for the group of grounded ships on the Palles. Conceiving, now, that no serious attack was intended to be made upon these ships, which were setting their sails to assist in forcing them off the shoal, Lord Cochrane made the signal No. 405, " The enemy's ships are getting under sail ;" and in 10 minutes afterwards, or at 1 h. 40 m. p. m., finding no attention paid to that, he caused to be hoisted the signal No. 378, " The enemy is superior to the chasing ship." At 1 h. 45 m. this was followed by No. 364, "The ship is in distress, and requires to be assisted immediately." The latter was the point aimed at; but there was no disuniting the signal without having recourse to the tedious operation of the telegraph. At 1 h. 50 m. p. m. the Imperieuse shortened sail, and fired a shot at the Calcutta; and at 2 p.m. anchored on the Palles shoal in five fathoms, veered to half a cable and kept fast the spring. Her starboard broadside being thus brought to bear upon the Calcutta's starboard quarter, the Imperieuse com menced her fire upon that ship, and occasionally, with her star board forecastle and bow guns, upon the Varsovie and Aquilon. At 2 h. 10 m., finding that the shot from the 24 and 18 pounder carronades ofthe Insolent, Growler, and Conflict, were dropping outside of the Imperieuse, and that even the shot from the heavier carronades of the Beagle, which brig had since anchored rather within the line taken up by the gun-brigs, were not pro ducing any visible effect, Lord Cochrane wished to order them to come closer in ; but, the signal making no distinction between ships and brigs, the iEtna would also feel bound to obey it, and she was in a proper situation for throwing her shells. In this emergency, the captain of the Imperieuse adopted an expedient more decisive than courteous : he ordered the maindeck guns of the frigate to be fired at, or near to, the brigs. They were so ; and the latter took the hint, and dropped down to a more effective position, but still kept outside of the Imperieuse. At a few minutes past 2 p. M., finding that the Imperieuse was warmly engaged with the enemy's ships, Lord Gambier made the signal for the Indefatigable, then at anchor with the vol. v. I 114 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. advanced squadron near the Boyart shoal, to weigh. Accord ingly, at 2 h. 15 m. p. m., this frigate got under way, and, agree ably to a signal to that effect, stood for the Imperieuse ; but, the wind though fair being light, and the ebb-tide making, the In defatigable proceeded very slowly, although carrying royal and topgallant studding-sails. Shortly after the Indefatigable had weighed, the remaining frigates and smaller vessels did the same, and stood after her ; and at about 2 h. 30 m. p. m. the Valiant and Revenge, by signal from the admiral, got also under way, and proceeded in the direction of the firing. In the mean time the Imperieuse continued engaging the Calcutta ; and at 3 h. 20 m. p. m., on the near approach of the Indefatigable and other frigates, the crew of the Imperieuse cheered them. At that moment, finding that the Calcutta had ceased firing, and that the Frenchmen were abandoning her, Lord Cochrane sent a midshipman and boat's crew to take pos session. At about 3 h. 30 m. p. m. the Indefatigable anchored on the inner or starboard quarter of the Imperieuse, and, until hailed by Lord Cochrane and informed that the Calcutta had struck, directed her fire at the latter. The Indefatigable then turned her foremost guns upon the Varsovie ; and the Aigle, Emerald, and Unicorn, presently took their stations ahead of the Indefatigable. Shortly afterwards the Valiant, Revenge, and Pallas, came up and anchored ; the last ahead of the other frigates, the Valiant close astern of the Indefatigable, and the Revenge about 600 or 800 yards to the north-east of the Im perieuse. Thus anchored with springs, in the form of a crescent, around the grounded French ships, the British ships opened upon them a heavy and destructive fire. The fire upon the Calcutta rendered it requisite to withdraw the boat of the Im perieuse, and Lord Cochrane sent others to inform the frigates that the French ship had surrendered. Determined to show that his object in anchoring where he had was not to avoid close action, Captain Newcome, when he weighed, gallantly ran in between the Indefatigable and the wreck of the Jean-Bart. There dropping her anchor, the Beagle opened a heavy fire upon the grounded French ships. Finding, after a while, that his rudder was almost coming in contact with the wreck of the Jean-Bart, and that the Beagle was in considerable danger from the fire of the Indefatigable, Captain Newcome got under way and made sail for the stern of the Aquilon. On arriving within pistol-shot of the French 74, the Beagle opened upon her a well-directed and destructive fire. Having sustained the cannonade of the many ships opposed to them, without the means of using more than their stern-chase guns, the Varsovie and Aquilon, at 5 h. 30 m. p. m., made the token of submission by each showing a union jack in her mizen chains. At this moment the Theseus, having weighed from 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 115 Basque roads by signal at 3 h. 30 m. p. m., anchored between the Revenge and Valiant. At 6 p. m. the Tonnerre, who lay just out of range of the nearest British ship, the Revenge, was set on fire by her officers and crew, all of whom landed safe upon Isle Madame ; and at 7 h. 30 m. p. m. the ship exploded. The Cal cutta appears to have been set on fire by the midshipman of the Imperieuse without orders, and at about 8 h. 30 m. p. m. blew up with a tremendous explosion, her hold containing an immense quantity of powder and other ordnance-stores. The only British ships that sustained any loss in this attack were the Revenge and Imperieuse. The Revenge had one sea man and two marines killed, and one lieutenant (James Garland), five seamen and nine marines wounded ; two of them mortally, and nearly the whole with contusions. The ship had her bow sprit severely wounded, a great part of her running rigging and sails cut to pieces, five planks of the quarterdeck cut through and a beam carried away ; besides which a number of shot had struck different parts of ber hull. The damage in the hull, and the killed and wounded, are stated to have been caused by the fire of the batteries on Isle d'Aix, and the cut rigging by the fire of the Aquilon and Varsovie. The loss sustained by the Imperieuse consisted of three •seamen killed, her surgeon's assistant (Gilbert), purser (Mark Marsden), seven seamen, and two marines wounded. The frigate received several shot in the hull, and had her masts, rigging, and sails a good deal cut : both loss and damage princi pally the effects of the fire of her three antagonists on the Palles, especially of the Calcutta. The Indefatigable and Beagle, although they escaped without loss, received more or less of damage in their masts and yards from the enemy's shot. It is remarkable that, although the batteries of Isle d'Aix and of •Saumonard on the isle of Oleron kept up a constant fire of shot and shells, the Revenge and Indefatigable were the only British vessels of the 14 engaged that suffered from it : the damage to the Indefatigable, indeed, was merely a wounded topmast. With respect to the French loss in this attack, our information is not of the most certain kind. The Calcutta is described to have had her hull riddled before any assistance came to the Imperieuse, and to have lost, out of a crew of 230 men, none killed, but 12 badly wounded. The captain of the Aquilon appears to have been killed, as he was sitting by the side of Lord Cochrane in the boat of the Imperieuse, by a shot from one of the Tonnerre's guns, which accidentally went off while that ship was burning. The Aquilon 's loss on board was inconsiderable, owing, as it was stated, to Captain Maingan, when he found he could not return the enemy's fire, very prudently directing his officers |and men to lie down. The Varsovie lost upwards of 100 in killed and wounded together. The Ocean sent her boats i 2 116 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. to save the crew of this ship, but the grape-shot from the British ships prevented the boats from getting alongside. The discrepancies that occur in the time kept by the British ships, and our inability to remedy the evil by a reference to the minutes kept by the French ships, prevent us from applying to any very useful purpose, the following translated extract from the letter written by the officer of the Ocean -. " During this action (that with the grounded ships), we fired some of our guns from the stern. The flood having borne our ship up for a short time, we ran her on shore a few cables' lengths further up. An English ship of the line tried to come to an anchor under our stern ; but she touched the ground, and was with great difficulty got off. Had this not happened, we should have been can nonaded in a pretty style." We cannot discover that any of the British line-of-battle ships sent into Aix road had an intention to molest the Ocean : but the ship alluded to was undoubtedly the Revenge. This ship, however, did not actually take the ground : she only stirred up the mud with her keel. One fact is certain. The Ocean, at the time she was thus menaced, or supposed to be menaced, with an English line-of-battle ship's raking fire, had retired from a spot nearly half a mile nearer to the British fleet : on which exposed spot the French three- decker had lain aground since long before daylight ; where, for four or five hours the ship was heeling very much ; and where, in short, a couple of well-handled frigates, one on each quarter, might have nearly destroyed her. Even after this opportunity had been lost, five French line-of- battle ships, and one frigate were still assailable, either by fire- ships, or by frigates, gun-brigs, and bomb-vessels. Those ships were the Ocean, Cassard, Regulus, Jemmappes, Tourville, and Indienne, all lying aground at the mouth of the Charente. Unfortunately, there having been no reserve of fire-ships, the fleet was now without any, and the only bomb-vessel present was the iEtna. However, three transports were hastily converted into fire-ships ; and at 5 h. 30 m. p. m. Rear-admiral Stopford got under way with the Caesar, and, accompanied by the three fire-ships, and the launches of the fleet fitted to throw Congreve rockets, stood towards Aix road, receiving from the batteries of Aix and of Oleron, a spirited but ineffectual fire. At 7 h. 40 m. p.m., Isle d'Aix bearing from north to north-north-east, the Caesar struck on what was supposed to be the south-eastern extremity of the Boyart shoal. As it was nearly low water, the Caesar did not float again until 10 h. 30m. p.m.; when she swang to the stream-anchor which had been let go. The Valiant had grounded about half an hour earlier than the Caasar, and got afloat a few minutes later, equally without damage. Neither the Theseus nor the Revenge appear to have grounded at all. Upon weighing from her first anchorage, which she did shortly 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS/ 117 after the Theseus had brought up astern of her, the Revenge unexpectedly kept afloat, until, to the surprise of her captain,* she reached a fine anchorage between the Boyart and Palles shoals, in five and a quarter fathoms' water, at the dead of a spring-tide ebb, out of reach of shot or shell ; and where there was room for five or six sail of the line. It was in endeavouring to reach this anchorage, that the Valiant grounded on the edge of the Palles. The Indefatigable and Imperieuse also grounded, but got off in an hour or two without damage. At about 8 p. m. all the remaining frigates and brigs, except the Imperieuse, weighed and anchored with the Revenge in the Maumusson passage. It was very near midnight before the three fire-ships were ready to proceed. The wind then became baffling ; and, at 2 a.m. on the 13th, began to blow from the south-west, or directly out of the passage to Aix road. Profiting by this circumstance, Rear-admiral Stopford, at 2 h. 30 m. a. m., got under way and. made sail ; and at 4 a. m. the Ceasar came to anchor in Little Basque roads. As the fire-ships, which had been committed by the rear-admiral on his departure to the charge of Captain Bligh, could not for the present be put in operation, nothing further was done beyond setting fire to the Aquilon and Varsovie ; both of which ships, it is said, had the water up to their orlop decks. Some persons have thought, however, that the Varsovie, repre sented to have been one of the finest two-decked ships in the world, might, with a little exertion, have been saved. But the Varsovie, as well as the Aquilon, was, by the orders of Captain Bligh, doomed to destruction. The time occupied in removing the prisoners and their effects, made it a few minutes past 3 a.m. before the fire could be put to the two ships. At 3 h. 30 m. a.m. the flames began to ascend ; and not being aware that the magazines of the two ships were drowned, the Imperieuse got under way, to avoid the effects of the expected explosion : as did also the three fire-ships, which, by the orders of Captain Bligh, had removed to the anchorage of the Imperieuse, to be employed, when the time suited, under Lord Cochrane's directions. One of these, while working out, ran a°round off Isle d'Aix, and remained fast ; but it does not appear that the few hands on board of her were either lost or made prisoners. The appearance of the two flaming bodies 'led to some extra ordinary occurrences on the part of the French. They actually mistook the burning Varsovie, and Aquilon for British fire-ships; and the Ocean, Tourville, Indienne, and others of the grounded ships opened a cannonade upon them. This was not all. The captain and crew of the Tourville were so alarmed at the seeming approach of those dreadful engines, that they abandoned their ship, without waiting to furl the sails, which had been set to force * Minutes, &c, p. 167. 118 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809^ her off the shoal, or even to see that the fire, which had been put to the ship in two places, had begun to take effect. Observing at daylight from Pointe des Barques, where he and his crew had landed, that the Tourville had neither suffered by fire from without, nor from within, and that the British line-of-battle ships and frigates were getting under way to return to Basque roads, Captain Lacaille prepared to go back to his ship. In about two hours after he had quitted her, he was again on board with, including three boats' crews that had returned from doing duty on board the Ocean, about 230 officers and men, out of a crew of at least 660. The French captain now learnt that, during his absence, a single British boat would have captured the Tourville, had it not been for the prowess of one of her quartermasters, who, unknown to M. Lacaille, had remained in the ship. We are unable to state what ship's boat it was that so nearly made a prize of a French 74; for, certainly, had the officer been aware of the abandoned state of the Tourville, a resolute attack must have been crowned with success. The following is a summary of the French quartermaster's story : His name was Eugene-Joseph Romain Bourgeois, and his age 31 years. Being resolved to stand by his ship to the last, he crept from the boat into which he had been ordered to embark, unperceived, through one of the Tourville's lowerdeck ports. As soon as the boats had all pushed off, he began constructing a raft, in case the two supposed fire- vessels should grapple the Tourville; or that the fire, which had been put to the ship in two places, should take effect. He had just completed his raft, when an enemy's boat approached the Tourville. He hailed the boat twice ; and, receiving no reply, fired off the musket which the sentry at the gangway had in his haste thrown down. The boat returned the fire ; but the intrepid Bourgeois was not to be so daunted : he ran to the captain's cabin, and, taking an armful of muskets from the rack, dis charged 20 of them in quick succession. This had the desired effect, and the boat pulled away. After he had been on board about an hour, he discovered, lying on the lower deck, three of his shipmates, drunk and insensible. Shortly afterwards three of the Tourville's boats arrived from on board the Ocean ; and a young midshipman-volunteer (aspirant de premiere classe), named Marinier, took the command of the 30 men now present, and made suitable preparations for defending the ship : indeed, every man of this little band is represented to have sworn to defend the Tourville to the utmost of his power. At 5 a. m., agreeably to a signal made by Rear-admiral Stop ford, Captain Bligh got under way with the Valiant, Theseus, and Revenge, and was followed by the Indefatigable, Unicorn, Aigle, and Emerald. While the Imperieuse, in her way to the anchorage she was about to take up, was passing within hail of the Indefatigable, Lord Cochrane proposed to Captain Rodd that, if the Indefatigable would go on one quarter of the Ocean*' 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 119 the Imperieuse would take the other. Captain Rodd declined to do so ; alleging as his reason, that the Indefatigable's main topmast had a shot through it, that her draught of water was too great for the service in contemplation, and that he should not be j ustified in acting without orders, in the presence of two superior officers, Captains Bligh and Beresford. At 6 a. m. the Impe rieuse anchored in the Maumusson passage; and at 6h. 30m. A. m. the Pallas passed under sail, on her way to Basque roads after the other ships. Captain Seymour hailed the Imperieuse, to know whether or not he should remain. Lord Cochrane directed him to do so, if he, Captain Seymour, had received no orders to the contrary. The Pallas immediately anchored ; and the Beagle and gun-brigs followed her example. At 8 A. m., which was as early as the tide suited, Lord Cochrane despatched the brigs and bomb-vessel to attack the nearest French ships aground at the entrance of the Charente ; meaning to follow with the two frigates, if the water, which happened not to be the case, should prove sufficient. At 11 a. m. tbe Beagle, iEtna, Conflict, Contest, Encounter, Fervent, Growler, the rocket schooner Whiting, and the two rocket cutters Nimrod and King- George, coming to anchor, opened their fire upon the Ocean, Regulus, and Indienne, as those ships lay aground. The Ocean, during the preceding night, had landed all her boys, and the greater part of her soldiers : the faint-hearted (hommes pleureux) of her crew had also been allowed the same indulgence. This left on board just 600 officers and men, determined to defend their ship to the last extremity. Since daylight the third tier of water had been started, the shifting ballast, 100 barrels,, of flour, and a great quantity of salt provisions, thrown overboard ; but the Ocean still remained fast. The Beagle, in the most gallant manner, took a position, in 1 6 feet water (her draught was 12| feet forward, and very nearly 15 abaft), upon the French three-decker's stern and quarter, and engaged her for five hours. The Ocean returned the fire with her eight stern-chasers ; from which, although her two poop-carronades from being overheated had upset early in the action, she is represented to have fired 260 36-pound shot, 340 24-pounders, and 380 12-pounders. The Beagle appears to have borne the brunt of the engage ment. At all events, that brig suffered more than any one of her consorts ; having had her hull struck in several places, her main yard and main topmast shot through, and her standing and running rigging very much injured. The Beagle did not, how ever, sustain any loss of men ; none at least that has been re corded. The bomb-vessel and gun-brigs also appear to have escaped without loss, as well as without any material damage ; except that the ./Etna, as was now become an invariable case, had split her 13-inch mortar. At the time that the flotilla ceased firing, the Ocean and Regulus, it being then high water, were preparing to push further up the Charente. At 4 p. m., the 120 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. tide then falling, the Beagle and her consorts weighed and worked back to their former anchorage, exposed, during a part ofthe time, to a heavy fire from the batteries on Isle d'Aix ; but which, nevertheless, appears not to have injured any one of the British vessels. Among the damages sustained by the Ocean in this attack, was a 32-pound shot (one of the Beagle's) right through the mizenmast to the spindle, spankerboom cut in two, six main and two mizen shrouds cut through, maintopsail yard badly wounded, and two chain plates and all three topgallant yards shot away. The hull had also been struck by several shot and pieces of shell, and even the decks in many places ripped up. But, notwithstanding this heavy damage, the Ocean had only one killed, a young midshipman, while standing near the admiral at the commencement of the action. M. Allemand immediately ordered all the hands, not wanted at the stern-chase guns, to go below. Owing to this wise precaution, no other life was lost, and only a few men slightly wounded. The Regulus was at too great a distance to be much annoyed by shot, especially when discharged from carronades. Three shells, however, fell on board of her ; and one of them went through all her decks, and burst in the hold. Her loss we are unable to state. The Indienne had only three men wounded ; one with his thigh shot off. Several shot, however, are represented to have struck the frigate's masts. The Cassard, Jemmappes, and Tourville, appear likewise to have had a slight share in this engagement, but were too distant to suffer from it. While this action was going on, the Imperieuse and Pallas lay at the anchorage, unable, from the strength and direction of the wind and the velocity of the tide, to advance with safety to the attack of the grounded ships. At noon the Dotterel, Fox hound, and Redpole, and two more rocket-vessels, from Basque roads, joined Lord Cochrane, and anchored near the two frigates. By these vessels Lord Cochrane received both a public and a ' private letter from Lord Gambier. The public one directs Lord Cochrane to make an attempt upon the Ocean, with the bomb and rocket vessels, but expresses a strong doubt about the success of the attack. Lord Cochrane is then ordered to come to Basque roads as soon as the tide turns. The private letter states thus : " You have done your part so admirably, that I will not suffer you to tarnish it by attempting impossibilities, which I think, as well as those captains who have come from you, any further efforts to destroy those ships would be. You must there fore join as soon as you can with the bomb, &c, as I wish for some information which you allude to, before I close my de spatches." To the first or public letter, Lord Cochrane replied : "I have just had the honour to receive your lordship's letter. We can destroy the ships which are on shore, which I hope your lordship will approve of." Either a few minutes before or after 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 121 the receipt of Lord Gambier's letter, it was considered on board the Imperieuse that her signal of recall was made by the Cale donia. The Imperieuse answered the supposed signal (for it is doubtful if it was made), and telegraphed that the enemy could be destroyed. It was shortly after this that the Beagle, iEtna, and smaller vessels, reanchored near the Imperieuse and Pallas. On the 14th, at 2h. 30 m. a. m., by throwing overboard the chief part of her guns and other heavy materials, the Tourville got afloat and entered the Charente ; but, presently afterwards, through the alleged carelessness of her pilot, the ship ran on shore on the opposite side of the river, off the town of Fouras, and close to the wreck of one of the largest of the fire-ships, probably the Mediator. The Ocean was equally unsuccessful in her efforts to get into the channel, and grounded on the same side of the river as the Tourville ; but the Patriote, Hor tense, Elbe, and Pallas were more fortunate, and ascended the Charente beyond the reach of danger. At 9 a.m. the Imperieuse, it is admitted, was recalled by signal from the Caledonia; which signal also directed Lord Cochrane to communicate with Captain Wolfe of the Aigle, who had been ordered to supersede his lordship in the command of the Aix flotilla. At noon the Aigle joined the Imperieuse; and at 4h. 30m. p.m., in compliance with the admiral's orders, the latter weighed and stood towards Basque roads. On the 15th the Imperieuse sailed for England, having on board Captain Sir Harry Neale with Lord Gambier's despatches. About an hour previous to the departure of the Imperieuse from the anchorage in the Maumusson passage, the -ZEtnal and five of the brigs had proceeded to attack the Regulus, Indienne, and the other ships in their vicinity. The bombardment and cannonade continued until 7 p. m., and only ceased then because the iEtna had con sumed all her 10-inch shells. Very little effect appears to have been produced on either side by this engagement. During its progress, the Jemmappes had cleared herself and run up the river. In consequence of the strong north-west winds which had been blowing, the French expected that the tide of the 15th would be of an extraordinary height. To prepare for this, the Ocean threw overboard the whole of herthirddeck guns, half of those on her first deck, and four 24-pounders from her middle deck. As soon as the ship began to feel the flood-tide, a great strain was hove upon the cables which had been laid out the day before, and the driver and all the after sails were set, to bring the ship's head to the wind, which still blew strong from the north-west. At 2 a.m. the Ocean felt the canvass, and got out of her bed. The head-sails were then set, the cables cut, and the French three-decker moved ahead through the mud. After forcing her through it for 500 yards, the Ocean got into the fair 122 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809* way of the river, and at 3h. 30m. a.m. anchored off Pointe des Barques in perfect safety. At 4 p.m., by following the same plan as the Ocean, the Cassard met with the same success. So that the only ships that remained aground at the mouth of the Charente, were the Foudroyant, Regulus, Indienne, and Tourville, the latter furthest up of any. Against these ships- no effective attack could be made, even had the weather per mitted, because there was no bomb-vessel in the British fleet, the iEtna having split her 13-inch mortar and used all her 10-inch shells. On the 16th, at 10 a.m., after more than five days' exertions, highly creditable to her commander, M. Proteau, and his officers and crew, the Indienne was set on fire, and in an hour or two blew to pieces. On the 17th at 4 a.m., it being then about high water, the Foudroyant and Tourville extricated themselves and stood up the river; the latter anchoring off Pointe Verge- ron, and the former a little below Pointe des Barques. There now remained only the Regulus ; and she lay, as already stated, on the north-east bank of the Charente, just under the town of Fouras. The 18th and 19th passed, without any attempt to destroy this French ship. On the first day there was no bomb-vesseL On the second day the Thunder arrived, but the weather was too- violent for the small vessels to co-operate with her. Tbe officer of the Ocean, whose letter we have before quoted, says, under date ofthe 19th of April : "We begin to despair of getting off the Regulus, which ship is still in the same situation. The enemy continue in Isle d'Aix road to the number of 20 sail. They have not made any movement whatever for these three days : which is a thing not at all to be understood (ce qui l'on ne con§oit pas bien), for they might with ease attack the Regulus, and oblige her crew to abandon her." On the 20th the Thunder, covered by the gun-brigs, went to- attack the Regulus ; but a few discharges from the former's 13-inch mortar soon reduced it to the state ofthe ^Etna's. The 21st and 22d appear to have passed inactively. On the 23d four gun-brigs took each on board two of the Aigle's long 18-pounders, and, with the two bomb-vessels (the iEtna having supplied herself with 10-inch shells from the Thunder), used every means, during the whole of the 24th, to drive the French out of the Regulus, but without success. This was the last attempt that was made; and at daylight on the 29th the Regulus got herself afloat, and soon joined her companions at Rochefort. On the same day Admiral Lord Gambier, in the Caledonia, sailed for England ; and Basque road soon became .thinned of its shipping. Although rather a ticklish subject to handle, we shall not be deterred from submitting a few observations upon the proceed ings which were carried on, for the avowed purpose of destroying 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 123 tlie French fleet at anchor in the road of Isle d'Aix. In the first place, we ask, Is it necessary that an attack by fire-ships should take place in the night ?* It is clear that, if the officers commanding those at Basque roads had had daylight to steer by, fewer of them would have failed in their object. To destroy the French boats at the boom, one or more explosion-vessels were ad mirably calculated ; but, if no boats were assembled at the boom, the blast, however great, could have produced little or no effect, as is evident from the Indienne's escaping comparatively unhurt, although not above 110 yards from the vessel that exploded ahead of her. Had it not been for the accidental employment of the Mediator as a fire-ship, it is probable that the boom would have been unbroken, and then all the ships, as well as the explosion-vessels, would have expended themselves outside of it. The existence of a boom should have been presumed ; and one heavy fire-ship, or explosion-vessel if deemed preferable, should have been sent considerably ahead of the others, to break it down and open a channel for them. The remaining fire-ships, chained in twos or fours, might then have proceeded, with almost a certainty of taking effect, admitting, as we before suggested, that daylight had been the time of the operation. Another question presents itself, applicable to either a day or a night attack. Supposing the attack to have been delayed until the tide had flowed two hours more, would not the French ships have grounded upon the harder parts of the shoal, as well as the shallower at low water, and have been therefore less likely to get afloat at the return ofthe tide ? The next point for consideration is the attack upon the grounded ships. It must here in justice be stated, that Lord Gambier had not such an effective force in vessels of a light draught of water, as, according to the nature of the service, he ought to have been supplied with. In most navies a gun-vessel means a small vessel, carrying from one to four heavy long guns, capable, from the manner in which they are mounted, of being used on either side, and from the extent of their range, of an noying an enemy at a considerable distance; but in the British navy a gun-vessel, or gun-brig, is a vessel that carries on her broadside five or six 18-pounder carronades, whose effective range is scarcely two-thirds that of a long gun of the same caliber i Lord Gambier had five of this description of small-craft: he had also, except j ust as the affair ended, one, and only one bomb- * Mr. James has asked this question as a landsman, and it is easily answered : had the attack taken place by daylight, the fire-ships would most probably have been sunk bv the well-directed fire ofthe French ships ; the effect of the attack would have been destroyed by the danger being visible, and night, and its darkness and horrors, adds more to the fear of fire than the inexperienced can imagine ; by daylight, the French ships if they cut tneir cables, might have run without grounding, into security ; whereas by nigtit, the marks could not be seen, the danger could not be avoided. — Ed- , 124 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. vessel. This was not the kind of force which Captain Keats contemplated, when in April, 1807, he proposed attacking the French squadron at anchor in the same road. He required small vessels with long guns, and " that class which have been in the custom of throwing 8-inch shells from 68-pounder car ronades."* Being deficient, as he undoubtedly was, in his force of small vessels, the admiral should have been more vigorous and decisive in his attack by the larger vessels. Next to the Caledonia and Gibraltar, the Caesar and Revenge drew the most water of any ship in Lord Gambier's fleet. What business, then, had the Caesar and Revenge in Isle d'Aix road, while the Bellona and Resolution were lying at anchor in Basque road 1 Why was not the water from the transports, that were fitting as fire-ships emptied into the sea, instead of being transferred to the line-of- battle ships ? Every additional half-foot the latter drew was of consequence, in the service in which they were about to be en gaged. Even of the small vessels, the b'est use was not made. Why were the Doterel and Foxhound, with their 32-pounder carronades, not sent into the road of Aix before the 13th ? Then came ignorance of the navigation and of the shore-defences, and disputes about the authenticity of charts. It was at length dis covered, but too late to be of any utility, that there was room for ships to act upon a fleet in Aix road out of range of the batteries on either side ; and it was even doubted, whether the fort of Aix might not have been silenced by two or three British 74s.-j- A remark made by the officer of the Ocean may here be introduced. " The batteries of Isle d'Aix afforded us no pro tection at all, for the enemy forced a passage up the road with the greatest ease. Two of our line-of-battle ships (Foudroyant and Cassard) did not think they could maintain their position at the anchorage, and ran aground under Fouras. I did not think even the flotilla (alluding to some gun-boats fitting out) can hinder ships from forcing their way into the road ; a road with which the enemy, during the 15 days he was at anchor there, made himself so well acquainted, that he went in and out as if it was one of his own harbours." Upon his return to England, Lord Cochrane, for the gallant part he had performed, was created a knight of the Bath. He shortly afterwards intimated to the first lord of the admiralty, that he should, in his seat in parliament, oppose the passing of any vote of thanks to Lord Gambier for his conduct at Basque roads. Lord Mulgrave communicated this to the admiral; and Lord Gambier, being well advised on the subject, requested that a court-martial might be held upon his conduct between the 17th of March and 29th of April. The court-martial was granted ; and on the 26th of July Admirals Sir Roger Curtis and William * Minutes, &c, p 18. f lbid- PP- 21°- 214, 221, &c. 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 125 Young, Vice-admirals Sir John Thomas Duckworth, Sir Henry Edwin Stanhope, Billy Douglas, and George Campbell, Rear admiral John Sutton, and Captains John Irwin, Robert Hall, Edward Stirling Dickson, and Richard Dalling Dunn, assembled at Portsmouth, to try Admiral Lord Gambier upon the following charge : •' And whereas, by the log-books and minutes of signals of the Caledonia, Imperieuse, and other ships employed in that service, it appears to us that the said Admiral Lord Gambier, on the 12th day of the said month of April, the enemy's ships being then on shore, and the signal having been made that they could be destroyed, did for a considerable time neglect or delay taking effectual measures for destroying them." The court sat from the 26th of July to the 4th of August. The minutes of the trial are now before us ; and we cannot re frain from observing, that several of the members, particularly the president (Sir Roger Curtis) and Admiral Young, evinced a strong bias in favour of tbe accused. On two or three occasions, Admiral Young attempted to browbeat Lord Cochrane ; and the cross-examination of some of the witnesses, whose evidence went in support ofthe charge, would have done credit to a practitioner of Westminster hall. Nor must we omit to notice the singular circumstance, that Captain Maitland, of the Emerald, who had made no secret of his opinion on the character of the proceedings in Aix road, should happen, when the court-martial was about to take place, to be on the Irish station. It is true that the secre tary of the admiralty informed Lord Gambier, that Captain Mait land, if his lordship desired, should be ordered to attend. But Lord Gambier, as may be supposed, did not wish to delay the trial on that account; and out of the 17 captains employed in Basque roads, with tbe exception of Captain Richardson of the Caesar, Captain Maitland was the only one who was not examined as a witness on the admirals court-martial. Upon the whole, therefore, we are not at all surprised at the sentence which that court-martial pronounced upon Admiral Lord Gambier. The sentence was as follows : " Having heard the evidence produced in support of the charge, and by the said Right Honourable Lord Gambier in his defence, and what his lordship had to allege in support thereof; and, having maturely and deliberately weighed and considered the whole, the court is of opinion, that the charge has not been proved against the said Admiral the Right Honourable Lord Gambier; but that his lordship's conduct on that occasion, as well as his general conduct and proceedings as commander-in-chief of the Channel fleet in Basque roads, between the 17th day of March and the 29th day of April, 1809, was marked by zeal, judgment, ability, and an anxious attention to the welfare of his majesty's service, and doth adjudge him to be most honourably acquitted; and the said Admiral the Right Honourable Lord Gambier is hereby most honourably acquitted accordingly." 126 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809 Lord Gambier's assertion at his trial, that the most distant French ship of the two lines was within point-blank shot of the works of Isle d'Aix, we, by giving the exact distance, have shown it to be incorrect. Equally untenable are the last two of the four points upon which his lordship rested his defence. One of those two points was : " That three out of the seven of the enemy's ships aground on the Pelles were, from their first being on shore, totally out of the reach of the guns of any ships of the fleet that might have been sent in ; and that at no time what ever, either sooner or later, could they have been attacked." The other point was : " That the other four of the 1 1 ships of which the enemy's fleet consisted, were never in a situation to be assailed after the fire-ships had failed in their main object."* To demolish the first of these grounds of justification, it is only requisite to advert to the situation, near the Calcutta, of the Re gulus and Jemmappes, two of the above three ships, until 2 p. m. on the 12th ;+ and the second ground gave way beneath his lord ship, when the first British cannon-shot struck the Indienne, de scribed by her commander as half a league to the eastward ofthe Ocean, and she was the north-easternmOst of all the grounded line-of-battle ships.1! The neglect, or the impossibility, to send out the promised bomb-vessels contributed, undoubtedly, to mar the enterprise, but not to the extent generally supposed, because of the in efficient state of all the 13-inch mortars (chiefly from being too light, an evil since remedied) then in use in the British navy. It has been urged, that the admiralty ought to have selected officers acquainted with the navigation of Basque and Aix roads ; but it will be recollected, that, when the attack was resolved upon, a British fleet already lay at anchor in the former road, and to have substituted officers for others, who were on the spot, might have led to the inference that there was not merely a lack of information, but a lack of zeal. As it was, the appointment of Lord Cochrane, the junior of so many captains in the same fleet, to conduct the enterprise, created a jealousy, where the utmost unanimity should have prevailed. A little management and address might have effected the object, without giving offence to any one. Or the thing might have been done boldly; and, as Lord Gambier had expressed a doubt as to the success of the plaii in the contemplation of the admiralty, he should have been recalled, and another admiral, who saw no uncommon difficulty in the undertaking, have been sent to relieve him. The opinion which Napoleon is said to have expressed, when many years afterwards questioned relative to the attack upon his fleet in the road of Aix, is contained in the following extract from a well-known English publication : " Some conversation now took place about Lord Cochrane, and the attempt which * Minutes, &c, p. 137. f See p. 112] 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 127 his lordship made to capture or destroy the ships in the Clarente. I said that it was the opinion of a very distinguished naval officer whom I named, and who was well known to him, that, if Cochrane had been properly supported, he would have destroyed the whole of the French ships, ' He could not only have de stroyed them,' replied Napoleon, ' but he might and would have taken them out, had your admiral supported him as he ought to have done. For, in consequence ofthe signal made by L'Allemand •(I think he said) to the ships to do the best in their power to save themselves, sauve qui pent in fact, they became panic- struck and cut their cables. The terror of the brulots (fire-ships) was so great that they actually threw their powder overboard, so that they could have offered very little resistance. The French admiral was an imbecille, but yours was just as bad. I assure you that, if Cochrane had been supported, he would have taken every one of the ships. They ought not to have been alarmed by your brulots, but fear deprived them of their senses, and they no longer knew how to act in their own defence.' "* The destruction of three French two-deckers and a ship armed en flute seems hardly to have warranted the Nelsonic exordium : " The Almighty's favour to his majesty and the nation has been strongly marked," &c. ; much less the high-flown panegyric, contained in the secretary of the admiralty's letter to Lord Gambier : " I am commanded by their lordships to con gratulate you on the brilliant success of the fleet under your command." And again : " Their lordships, considering that the state ofthe enemy's force in consequence of the brilliant success of the fleet under your command," Sec. The only part of the enter prise, in which any thing of a brilliant nature discovered itself, was when the fire-ships were burning, and the explosion-vessels bursting through the air ; unless, giving to the term its intended metaphoric allusion, it was when Captain Wooldridge, in the Mediator, broke the boom, and, above all, when Lord Cochrane, in the Imperieuse, dashed in, without orders, and attacked the grounded line-of-battle ships. In the Lords, the thanks of the House were voted to Lord ¦Gambier upon the motion of Lord Mulgrave, with a few dis sentients, but without a division. In the House of Commons, Lord Cochrane moved for a copy of the minutes of the trial of Lord Gambier, but lost his motion by the success of the amend ment of the chancellor of the Exchequer, that " sentence" might be substituted for "minutes." Mr. Percival then moved, "That the thanks of the House be given to Admiral the Right Honourable Lord Gambier, for the zeal, jndgment, ability, and anxious attention to the welfare of his majesty's service, which marked his lordship's conduct as commander-in-chief of the fleet in Basque roads; by which the French fleet, which had taken arefuge under their own batteries, were driven on shore and * See O'Meara's Napoleon in Exile, vol. ii., p. 292. 128 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. deserted, and a considerable part of them destroyed on the 11th and 12th of April, 1809." On this resolution being put, adebate ensued; but the resolution was finally carried by a majority of 161 to 39. The second resolution was, " That the thanks of this House be given to Rear-admiral the Honourable Robert Stopford, Captain Sir Harry Neale, captain of the fleet, and to the several officers and captains of the fleet under the command of Lord Gambier, for their gallant and highly meritorious conduct on that glorious occasion, particularly marked by the brilliant and unexampled successes of the difficult and perilous mode of attack by fire-ships, conducted under the immediate direction of Captain Lord Cochrane." The third resolution went to thank the seamen and marines of the fleet, for their meritorious and gallant conduct. These two resolutions passed unanimously. To the last, no ob jection could be urged ; but, with respect to the second, had the words " glorious," " brilliant," and " unexampled," been terms less hackneyed and deteriorated, the resolution would not, we think, have passed as it did. At all events, had the house been aware that the officers, who staid with Admiral Lord Gambier in Basque road, had as little to do with the " perilous" as with the " gallant," measures which led to the whole of the success that ensued, the strong terms used would have been, if not exclu sively, more pointedly addressed to Captain Lord Cochrane and the officers serving with him in Aix road. But it was not on the British side only that blame was imputed for what had taken place in the neighbourhood of Basque roads. The captains of the Tonnerre, Tourville, Indienne, and Calcutta, were tried for alleged misconduct. The trial lasted from the 21st of June to the 8th of September, and led to the following sentences. Captain Clement de la Ronciere was pronounced, by a majority of eight voices to one, not guilty of the loss of the Tonnerre, and was acquitted. Captain Lacaille, the court taking into consideration that he did not lose the Tourville, that he re turned on board two hours after he had quitted her, and that he afterwards defended his ship against the enemy, and conducted her safe into port, was sentenced, by a majority of six voices to nine, to two years' imprisonment ; to be erased from the list of officers, and degraded from the legion of honour. Captain Proteau was unanimously acquitted of the loss of his frigate ; but the court, nevertheless, by a majority of five voices to four, condemned him to three months' confinement in his chamber, for having set fire to the Indienne without having previously acquainted the admiral with his intention. Captain Lafon was found guilty, by a majority of five voices to four, of having shamefully abandoned the Calcutta in the presence of the enemy, and was condemned to suffer death on board the admiral's ship, the Ocean : a sentence which, at 4 p. m. on the following day, the 9th, was put in execution upon this unfortunate officer. All the remarks, which we think it necessary to offer upon the 1809. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 129 trial of the French officers, may be comprised in a few words, Had the facts disclosed on that trial, respecting the actual position and defenceless state of several of the grounded ships, been known to the court-martial which sat upon, and honourably acquitted, Admiral Lord Gambier, the members would certainly have been better qualified to judge of the merits of the case sub mitted to their consideration; but we cannot persuade ourselves that, even in that case, the court, composed as it was, would have pronounced a sentence more consonant to justice, and, as it would then in reality have been, " to the welfare of his majesty's service."* We have looked into the account of the business of Basque roads, as it stands in the work of a contemporary ; but the par tiality, visible in every line of the few pages devoted to the Subject, excites in us so much disgust, that we shall notice it no- further than to mention, that the Jean-Bart, wrecked six weeks before the fire-ships were sent into Aix road, is declared to have been " lost on the Pallais shoal a few days after, in consequence of this attack ,"•)- and that, among the half a dozen captains, upon whom the writer bestows his commendation, is Captain " Prouse," or Prowse, who was not present, nor even in com mand of a ship. We will now take a brief view of the state in which the fleet of M. Allemand was left, at Lord Gambier's departure from Basque roads. The Ocean and Foudroyant were moored a full league up the river, and there lay aground ; the latter with only 26 of her guns on board, and the former with scarcely as many. The Ocean was also in a very leaky and insecure state, from the opening of her seams by the straining she had previously under gone and was still suffering. The Cassard, Tourville, Regulus, and Patriote, with the three frigates, were at anchor off Roche~ fort, and were to remove back to the road of Aix, as soon as they could be supplied with guns and anchors from the imperial' foundry, and from among those set apart for the ships on the stocks at Rochefort, consisting of two three-deckers, the Jena and Ville-de-Vienne, and a 40-gun frigate. A fine 80-gun ship, the Triomphant, had recently been launched, and was fitting for sea. To protect the anchorage of Aix, as soon as he should be in a state to return to it, M. Allemand had ordered the construction of a fresh boom, composed, in part, of the chains taken out of the wrecks of the fire-ships. There was also to be a second boom, within the principal one ; and both booms were to be protected by a numerous flotilla of heavy gun and mortar boats. By way of encouraging the sailors selected to man them, the minister of marine promised very high rewards to those who should board * See p. 125. f Brenton, vol. iv, p. 287. VOL. v. K 130 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. an enemy's armed vessel ; but, adds the French officer, whose excellent letters have been so useful to us, " it is first necessary to inspire our sailors with the spirit with which they were ani mated previous to this unfortunate affair. As it is, the greater part are completely disheartened : every day I hear them lament ing their situation, and speaking in praise of our enemies. This, in my opinion, is the greatest injury the English have done to us." Having now presented the only details, which have ap peared, of the destruction of the French ships in the road of Isle d'Aix, we shall proceed to give an account of another important expedition against a French fleet. Before we enter upon the Scheldt affair, an intermediate ex pedition in the northern waters, upon a small scale, demands our brief notice. Early in the month of May a British squadron, consisting of one 64-gun ship, one frigate, three sloops, and a gun-brig, under the command of Captain Askew Paffard Hollis, of the Standard, was detached by Vice-admiral Sir James Sau marez, the British commander-in-chief in the Baltic, to effect the reduction of the Danish island of Anholt. A party of seamen and marines, commanded by Captain William Selby of the 18- pounder 36-gun frigate Owen Glendower, assisted by Captain Edward Nicolls ofthe Standard's marines, was landed. On the 18th, after a smart but ineffectual resistance, which killed one British marine and wounded two, the Danish garrison, consisting jpf 170 men, surrendered at discretion, and possession of the island was immediately taken. The principal point gained by this conquest was the power to restore the lighthouse upon the island to the use for which, until the war between England and Denmark, it was formerly kept : a matter of no slight import ance to the British men of war and merchantmen navigating; those dangerous seas. In our account of the proceedings of the year 1807, we had occasion to advert to the formidable naval preparations carrying. on by France in the waters of the Scheldt.* Finding that the port of Antwerp was not quite deep enough to float an 80-gun ship with her guns and stores on board, Napoleon forced his brother Louis, the king of Holland, to cede to France, by treaty, the port of Flushing. By this acquisition, the French emperor ibecame entire master of the entrance of the Scheldt, and pos sessed a capacious basin or harbour, in which a fleet of 20 sail of the line could lie in perfect readiness for sea. It has been doubted, whether line-of-battle ships, fully armed and pro visioned, could pass in and out of the basin of Flushing ; but a French writer, when speaking of the advantages of the place to France, expressly says : " Elle etait un arsenal supplementaire ou s'ar'maient les vaisseaux construits a Anvers." Admitting, # See vol. iv., p. 276. 1809. EXPEDITION TO THE SCHELDT. 131 therefore,4hat there was a sufficient depth of water, the French ships could lie in the basin secure from the ice, and be ready to put to sea in the winter months. Nor was 20 sail of the line, a number that the shores of the the Scheldt alone might not very soon furnish. In the summer . ofthe present year there were already at anchor to the south-east of the Calot sand, the following ten 74-gun ships, under the command of Rear-admiral Burgues-Missiessy : Charlemagne (flag), Albanais, Anversois, Cesar, Commerce-de-Lyon, Dalmate, Dantzig, Duguesclin, Pulstuck (late Audacieux), and Ville-de- Berlin, late Thesee. These ships were only waiting for the absence of the British blockading force to put to sea. There were, also, on the stocks at Antwerp, the following two-deckers; one of them just ready to be launched, and several of the others in a very forward state : Auguste, Conquerant, Friedland ( j ust ready), Illustre, Pacification, and Tilsitt, of 80 guns, and Gaulois, Superbe, and Trajan, of 74 guns. There was hke wise one 74 on the stocks at Flushing ; and, with respect to smaller vessels, two only of the five slips were vacant. The number of slips at the arsenal at Antwerp amounted to 19 ; ten close under or in front of the citadel, and nine a short distance to the south-west of it. The whole of these slips, it is believed, were calculated for ships of the largest size ; and we doubt if a single slip was without the keel of some vessel of war, large or small. Previous to the year 1804, the site of the arsenal was oc cupied by 1500 houses; all of which the sovereign will of Napoleon levelled with the dust, in order that he might carry on his ambitious projects against England. Nothing certainly could exceed the eligibility of the situation he had selected, as the resources for building from the Black Forest were inexhaustible. A tolerable idea may be formed of the state of Antwerp as a naval depot, from a knowledge of the fact, that, since the summer of 1805, or probably soon after he had begun to discover the impracticability of assembling off Boulogne his fleets from Brest and other western ports, Napoleon had expended upon the fortifications, basin, dock-yard, and arsenal, 66 millions of francs, or 2,640,000/. sterling. It was in the latter end of May that the British government first resolved to send an expedition against the French naval force in the Scheldt. A great portion of the English army being at this time employed in Spain and Portugal, and a strong force naval as well as military, being required for the purpose in view, it was not until two months afterwards that the expedition was ready to put to sea. In the mean time, principally by the aid of the English journals, its object was about as well known on the continent, as it was at the horse-guards or the admiralty. On the 28th qfJuly, at daybreak, the bulk of this immense expedition, consisting, when wholly assembled, of 37 sail of the hne (four fifths of the ships with their lowerdeck guns out and k2 132 ' BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. their main hold prepared for the reception of horses), two 50- gun ships, three 44-gun ships, 23 frigates, one 20-gun ship, 31 ship and brig sloops, five bomb-vessels, 23 gun-brigs, and about 120 sail of hired cutters, revenue-vessels, tenders, and gun-boats, making, in all, 245 vessels of war, accompanied by about 400 transports (measuring more than 100,000 tons), sailed from the Downs, the fleet commanded by Rear-admiral Sir Richard John Strachan, and the troops, numbering 39,219 men (in cluding about 3000 cavalry), by Lieutenant-general the Earl of Chatham. The precise object ofthe expedition, as contained in the admiral's instructions, was, to capture or destroy the whole of the enemy's ships afloat in the Scheldt or building at Antwerp, to demolish the dock-yards, and arsenals at Antwerp, Terneuse, and Flushing, and, if possible, to render the Scheldt no longer navigable for ships of war. To facilitate the passage up the western Scheldt, Cadzand and the islands of Walcheren and. Zuid-Beveland were to be occupied by divisions of the British troops. On the same evening the two commanders-in-chief, in the 74- gun-ship Venerable, Captain Sir Home Popham, accompanied by the 36-gun frigate Amethyst, Captain Sir Michael Seymour and several smaller vessels, anchored in the road of West- Kapelle, and were there joined by the 38-gun frigate Fisgard, Captain William Bolton ; who had placed vessels as buoys on some of the shoals off the coast. After dark the Roompot channel was sounded, and vessels stationed at its entrance. On the 29th, in the morning, the transports containing Lieutenant- general Sir John Hope's division ofthe troops joined; and in the evening the whole under the direction of Rear-admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats in the 36-gun frigate Salsette, Captain Walter Bathurst, presented by Captain Sir Home Popham, who had removed from the Venerable to the ship-sloop Sabrina, Captain Edward Kittoe, anchored in safety between the islands of Noord-Beveland and Schouwen, and nearly opposite to the town of Zierikzee upon the latter. On the same evening, and on the morning of the 30th, arrived Rear-admiral William Albany Otway, in the Monarch 74, with the left wing of the army, about 17,000 strong, under Lieutenant-general Sir Eyre Coote, destined to act exclusively against Walcheren, and in tended to be landed on Domburg beach. The first intention had been to disembark tbe men in Zouteland bay, but intel ligence received at Deal, of preparations to resist a landing, had occasioned Domburg to be preferred. In the course of the 29th, a strong westerly wind sprang up, and raised such a surf on the western coast of Walcheren, that a landing at Domburg was considered impracticable. The same gale, on the morning of the 30th, obliged the ships of war and transports to seek shelter in the Roompot : and in the course of the forenoon the fleet, under the skilful guidance, as before, of 1809. EXPEDITION TO THE SCHELDT. 133 Captain Sir Home Popham, anchored in safety off the Veer-Gat. Meanwhile the three divisions of the army, under the respective commands of Lieutenant-generals the Marquess of Huntley and Earl of Rosslyn, and Lieutenant-generai Grosvenor, had arrived in the Wieling passage, preparatory to the meditated disem barkation of a part of that force on the coast of Cadzand, and to the passage of the remainder, as soon as the obstructions were removed, up the western Scheldt, to proceed to the at tack of Lillo, Liefkenshoeck, and finally of Antwerp. On the 30tb,at 4h. 30 m. p. m., the British left wing, under the direction of Captains Lord Amelius Beauclerk ofthe Royal Oak, and George Cockburn of the Belleisle, 74s, and covered, in a very gallant manner, by the 10-gun hired, cutter Idas, Lieutenant James Duncan, landed, with a slight opposition, but without any casualty, on the Breed-Zand, which forms the northern extremity of the island of Walcheren, On the same evening the British bomb-vessels and gun-boats, under the direction of Captain Sir Home Popham, then acting on shore with Earl Chatham, proceeded up to the Veer-Gat, and on the morning of the 31st opened a cannonade upon the town and fort of Veer ; which latter mounted 38 guns, and was garrisoned by 600 men. Major-general Brues, the commander-in-chief of King Louis's forces in Zealand, had commanded at this fort; but, on the appearance of the first British column, he abandoned his post and crossed over to Zuid-Beveland. The command then de volved upon Colonel Van-Bogart. The fire ofthe British was returned from the fort, and continued, with mutual spirit, till evening ; when, the wind blowing fresh, and the strength of the tide not allowing the bomb-vessels to act, the flotilla fell back, having sustained a loss of three gun boats sunk by shot, but without, as it appears, the loss of a man of their crews. In the same evening Captain Charles Richardson of the 80-gun ship Caesar, and George William Blarney, of the 18-gun ship brig-sloop Harpy, who had landed on the 30th, with a brigade of seamen and nine pieces of ordnance to co operate with the army, threw several cases of Congreve rockets from the dike into the town of Veer. Since the peaceable sur render, on that morning, ofthe defenceless town of Middleburg, Veer had been invested on the land side by a division of troops under Lieutenant-general Fraser, detached for the purpose. The appearance of this force and the incessant fire of the rockets induced the Dutch commandant, Van-Bogart, in the course of the night to send a flag of truce, offering to capitulate. The terms were agreed to ; and on the foUowing morning, the 1st of August, the town and fort of Veer surrendered to the British. The army now marched on towards Flushing, and, by the surrender of Fort-Rammekens on the 3d, was enabled com pletely to invest the town. In the mean time Lieutenant- general Hopes's division, under the able disposition of Rear- 134 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. admiral Sir Richard Keats, had landed unopposed on the island of Zuid-Beveland, near Wemeldinge; and on the following night the Dutch Major-general Brues evacuated the important fortress of Bathz, without firing a shot, or even seeing the enemy, unless he so considered a patrole of 30 men, whom Lieutenant-general Hope had sent to reconnoitre the coast ; and who were not slow in taking possession of a post which, in loyal hands, might have given a much larger force some trouble to reduce. It was at about 8 h. 30 m. a. m. on the 29th of July, that the signal posts of Walcheren and Cadzand announced the appear ance of the British off the coast ; and immediately Rear-admiral Missiessy, from his anchorage off the Calot, weighed and stood up the Scheldt. By the next evening's tide the Anversois, Commerce-de-Lyon, Dalmate, Dantzig, Duguesclin, and Pul- stuck, passed the boom of Lillo ; and the Charlemagne would have passed also, but that the French admiral preferred anchor ing below it, in order to be ready to succour, if necessary, the Albanais, Cesar, and Ville-de-Berlin, who had been obliged to bring to between Bathz and Waerden. On the 1st of August, late in the evening, six French gun-brigs, that had been lying in company with the three line-of-battle ships, weighed and made sail towards Antwerp; but the ships ofthe line remained at their anchors until a very few hours before the British were in possession of a fort, which would have completely obstructed their passage, and have rendered their capture or destruction almost certain. The escape of these ships lessened, in some degree, the importance of Bathz ; but still it opened to the British both branches of the Scheldt, and commanded the finest and most extensive anchorage in the river, the bay of Saeftingen, where ships could lie completely out of reach of shot from the shore. Owing to a defect in the arrangements, or to some misun derstanding respecting the degree of co-operation which was to be afforded, the three divisions ofthe army, in- the transports at anchor in the Wieling passage, intended to occupy the island of Cadzand oa the south-west side of the entrance to the Scheldt, were removed to the Veer-Gat, to be lauded on Walcheren and Zuid-Beveland. This was a great relief to General Rousseau, commanding at Cadzand, who, until noon on the 30th, had with him only 300 men, and even after that day received but scanty reinforcements. They were sufficient, however, to enable him to take advantage of the seeming remissness of his enemy, and to send across reinforcements to the garrison of Flushing. By means of small schuyts, aided by a southerly wind, he succeeded, on the 1st and 2d of August, in throwing in 1600 men; but he failed on the 3d, owing to the gallant behaviour of the 16-gun brig-sloop Raven, Captain John Martin Hanchett.* * This service was effectually performed by Captain Hanchett in a style of gallantry seldom surpassed, to the great delight and admiration of a large 1809. EXPEDITION TO THE SCHELDT. 135 At 5 h. 30 m. p. m. this brig, one of the small squadron under the command of Captain Edward William Campbell Rich Owen of the 38-gun frigate Clyde, at anchor in Steen-Diep, weighed, by signal, and stood in to cover the boats of the squadron, which, under the orders of Lieutenant Charles Burrough Strong, had been detached to sound and buoy the channel. In 10 minutes after she had weighed, the Raven became exposed to the fire of the Breskens battery, mounting, according to the French accounts, 20 heavy cannon, and six enormous mortars. The brig returned the fire, and, as she entered the Scheldt, received the fire of four other batteries on the Cadzand side, and of all those forming the sea-front of Flushing, Notwithstanding the shower of red-hot shot and of shells and grape, directed against her from both sides of the channel, the Raven gallantly stood on, and assisted by two or three British gun-boats, drove the boats of the enemy back to the Cadzand shore. It was on her return from executing this service that the brig suffered. One shot cut the main topmast in two just above the cap, and which, in falling, carried away the fore topmast. In this disabled state, the Raven continued exposed to a fire, which cut her sails and rigging to pieces, irreparably injured her mainmast, bowsprit, and main boom, struck her hull in several places, dismounted two of her guns, and wounded Captain Hanchett and eight seamen and marines. At length the tide, and the little sail she could set, drifted the Raven clear ofthe batteries ; but, so unmanageable was the brig, that she struck on the Elboog sand, and did not get off until the following morning. On this day the communication was renewed without interruption, and by the evening ofthe 6th, as many as 3143 men had crossed over; a reinforcement which augmented the garrison of Flushing to 7000 men. ihe surrender of the fort of Rammekens having opened to the British the passage of the Sloe channel, immediate measures were taken to get the flotilla, which had acted against Veer, into the western Scheldt ; in order that a portion of it might prevent any further succours from being thrown into Flushing, either from Cadzand or the canal of Ghent, and another portion proceed up the western Scheldt, to co-operate with that under Rear- admiral Sir Richard Keats. Bad weather and the intricacy of body of both army and navy, who were spectators of the action that very soon commenced between the Raven and the batteries on Cadsand and the whole sea-front of Flushing. The expenditure of the enemy in red-hot shot, grape, and shells upon the little brig, was sufficient to have destroyed fifty such vessels. She, was handled and fought in a manner that reflected the greatest credit and honour on her commander, and every individual on board. Latterly she became unmanageable from the wind failing, and having her topmast knocked over the side, her lower masts and all her spars badly wounded, sails and rigging cut to pieces. The ebb-tide drifted her out of gun-shot on a sand-bank, from which she was not extricated till the following moraJEg." — Capt. Scott's Recollections of a Naval Life, vol. ii, p. 186. 136 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. the navigation made it the 6th of August before the sea-blockade of Flushing, by means of the flotilla, could be effectually esta blished. On the 9th a strong division, under the orders of Captain Sir Home Popham, was detached up the western Scheldt, with directions to sound and buoy the Baerlandt channel to enable the larger ships to advance ; and the following 10 frigates, under the command of Captain Lord William Stuart, were waiting only till the weather permitted, also to proceed up the western Scheldt : Gun-frig. 40 Lavinia Captain Lord William Stuart. C Perlen n Norborne Thompson. 38 \ Rota „ Philip Sonierville. ( Statira „ Charles Worsley Boys. f Amethyst „ Sir Michael Seymour, Bart. j Aigle ... . . „ George Wolfe. 36 <{ Euryalus „ Hon. G. Heneage Law Dundas. j Dryad „ Edward Galwey. L Nymphen . . . : . „ Keith Maxwell. 32 Heroine „ Hood Hanway Christian. On the 11th, in the afternoon, a light air from the westward springing up, Lord William, with his squadron, in the following order of battle in line ahead, Lavinia, Heroine, Amethyst, Rota, Nymphen, Aigle, Euryalus, Statira, Dryad, and Perlen, forced the passage between the batteries of Flushing and Cadzand ; and, although from the lightness of the wind and an adverse tide the ships were exposed to the enemy's fire during two hours, no greater loss was sustained than two men killed and nine wounded , namely, the Amethyst, one seaman killed and one wounded ; Heroine two wounded, and Perlen the same ; and Aigle one marine killed, and one lieutenant of marines (Henry Loveday Vine), one schoolmaster (Thomas Donovan), one seaman, and one boy wounded. The Aigle was the only ship of the 10 that sustained any material damage : a shell fell through her decks into the bread-room, and, exploding there, shattered her stern-frame greatly, and occasioned the whole of her loss. At the upper part of the Scheldt, a fruitless attack had been made by Rear-admiral Missiessy's flotilla upon the fort of Balthz ; and the increased strength of the British flotilla, com manded by Sir Richard Keats, had obliged the French admiral to retire beyond the boom at Lillo. Five of the French 74s subsequently proceeded a short distance above Antwerp, and the whole 10 lay, as plainly seen from the more advanced vessels of the British flotilla, with topgallant yards across. It had been arranged that the squadron of seven effective or full-armed line-of-battle ships, under the command of Rear- admiral Lord Gardner, lying at anchor in the Deurloo passage, off Dykeshook, should co-operate with the army in cannonading Flushing. Accordingly, on the 12th, Rear-admiral Sir Richard 1809. EXPEDITION TO THE SCHELDT. 137 Strachan hoisted his flag oh board the St.-Domingo, to be ready to stand into the river the instant the British batteries opened their fire. The force under the rear-admiral, assembled for this purpose, consisted of the Gun-ship St -Domino-o 5 Rear-adm. (w.) Sir R. John Strachan, Bart. a ' I Captain Charles Gill. gj ke 5 ReM-adm. (b.) Alan Hyde Lord Gardner. '(Captain Edward Codrington. 74 • ( Rear-adm. Ju.-M. Cosamo-Keriulien. Commerce-de- Paris . . . < ,-, . ¦ n , ¦ , » . -r, j ( Captain Gabnel-Auguste Brouard. , „ , ( Rear-adm. Francois-Andre Baudin. „„ S -Robuste < r, • t> •' t 80 < J Captain I'rancois Legras. ' Donawerth „ Louis-An.-Cyprien infernet. Ajax „ Jean-Nicholas Petit. Genois „ Ant.-Marie-Fran. Montalan, Breslau „ Joseph Allemand. Boree „ Gaspard Laignel. Suffren „ Auguste-Francois Louvel. Annibal „ L.-C.-A. La Marre-la-Meillerie. Magnanime „ Nicolas Jugan. ¦Danube „ Antoine Henri. Lion „ Eus.-Marie-Joseph Bonami. L Ulm „ C.-J.-Cesar Chaunay Duclos. s Victoires et Conquetes, &c, tome xix., p. 268. 74 142 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. Having received information that M. Ganteaume, with his 15 sail of the line and frigates, meant to make the attempt, Vice- Admiral Lord Collingwood retired from his station off Cape Sicie, and, with 15 sail of the line and five or six frigates and sloops, proceeded off Cape San-Sebastian ; between which and Barcelona he established his cruising-ground, in the full expect ation of intercepting the French admiral on his way to the latter port. In the mean time Lord Collingwood had not neglected the usual precaution of stationing frigates off' the port of Toulon to watch the movements of the French fleet. The 38-gun frigates Pomone, Captain Robert Barrie, and Alceste, Captain Murray Maxwell, from the tried zeal and activity of their commanders, were well calculated for such a service. On the 21st, in the morning, Rear-admiral Baudin, with the Robuste, Boree, and Lion, the two 40-gun frigates Pauline and Pomone, and a fleet of armed store-ships and transports, sailed from Toulon, with an easterly wind, bound to Barcelona. At noon the British frigate Pomone descried the enemy, and made sail to the west- south-west. On the next morning Captain Barrie spoke the Alceste, and at 9 p. m. fell in with Lord Collingwood, then, with 15 sail ofthe line, three frigates, and a ship-sloop, cruising off the coast of Catalonia, between Cape San-Sebastian and Barcelona. Judging that, as the squadron, or fleet, for Captain Barrie did not know but that the whole French force might be coming out, had sailed with the first of an easterly wind, it was bound to the westward, the British admiral prepared his fleet for battle, and stationed his frigates to windward, to give notice of the enemy's approach. On the 23d, at 8 a.m., the 38-gun frigate Volon- taire, Captain Charles Bullen, made the signal for a fleet to the eastward. As the vessels of it continued to come down before the wind, Lord Collingwood made no alteration in the fleet, beyond advancing two fast-sailing ships, theTigre and Bulwark. At 10 a. m. the English Pomone made the signal that the enemy, now seen to consist of three ships of the line instead of seven, as had at first been signalled, had hauled to the wind. Immediately Rear-admiral Martin, with eight ofthe best-sailing ships, was ordered to chase in the east- north-east. At 3 p. m. the three French line-of-battle ships and two frigates separated from the. convoy ; the latter steering north-north-west, in great confusion, and the former east-south-east, with the wind at north east. The English Pomone being well to windward, got hold of a part of the convoy, two brigs, two bombards, and a ketch, and in the evening destroyed them ; but the remainder of the convoy and the five men of war were shortly afterwards lost sight of by the British fleet. At 8 p. m. Rear-admiral Martin, judging that the French would push for their own coast, taeked to the northward, the wind then about east. Shortly afterwards two of the chasing 1809. REAR-ADMIRALS MARTIN AND BAUDIN. 143 ships accidentally parted company, leaving the rear-admiral with the following six sail of the line : Gun-ship 80 Canopus 5 Rear-adm. (r.) George Martin. ( Captain Charles Inghs. /"Renown „ Philip Charles Durham. { Tigre „ Benjamin Hallowell. 74,-i Sultan „ Edward Griffith. ] Leviathan „ John Harvey. ^Cumberland „ Hon. Philip Wodehouse. The ships continued under a press of sail all night ofthe 23d, but saw nothing of the enemy until 5 p. m. on the 24th ; when the Tigre, the headmost ship, made the signal for four sail in the north-north-east. These were the Robuste, Boree, Lion, and Pauline ; the Pomone having previously parted company and steered for Marseille. Every stitch of canvass was now set by the British ships, in the hope to bring their opponents to an action before dark. But this could not be accomplished; and at dark Rear-admiral Martin, owing to the proximity of the land, the shoalness of the water, and the circumstance of the wind blowing directly on the shore, was obliged to haul off for the night. On the 25th, at 7 a. m., the French ships again discovered themselves in the north, running along-shore with a fresh breeze from the south-east. Instantly all sail was again set in chase ; and the British ships, nearing the land as well as the enemy, prepared for anchoring with springs. At 11 h. 45 m. a. m., the Robuste and Lion, putting their helms up, ran themselves on shore, within pistol-shot of each other, at a spot about six miles north-east of the harbour of Cette, and near to the village of Frontignan. The Boree and Pauline, closely pressed by the Tigre and Leviathan, and the first fired at by the Tigre, suc ceeded in reaching Cette harbour ; but which scarcely contained depth enough to float them. Owing to the shoalness of the water upon the coast, and the intricacy of the navigation, the British ships, some of which had already got into seven and others into five fathoms, hauled their wind and stood off. At 1 p. m., finding it impossible to save his ships, M. Baudin began dismantling them and landing the crews; and at 4 p.m. the mizenmasts of both ships went by the board. At dark the British ships stood to the southward, and in the night tacked, with the intention of being close in with the wrecks by daylight on the 26th : but, the wind falling, they did not regain a sight of them until evening. At 7 h. 30 m. p.m., both French ships, now with only a foremast between them, were set on fire by their crews. At 8 p. m. the Robuste and Lion were in flames fore and aft, and at 10 h. 30 m. p. m. blew up with a tremendous explosion ; the British squadron then lying nearly becalmed about seven miles from the spot. 144 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. Having thus, by his energy and perseverance, caused the entire loss to France of a new 80 and a fine 74 gun ship, and having left in jeopardy a new 74 and a fine large frigate, Rear-admiral Martin, with his six sail of the line, stood away to the south ward; and on the 30th, in the morning, rejoined Lord Colling wood,; then, with 10 sail of the line (the Conqueror having recently joined), cruising off Cape San-Sebastian. Lord Colling wood soon ascertained that the five ships of war, the failure of whose mission we have just done recording, were the whole that had sailed out of Toulon, the blockade of which port his lordship resumed. It appears, however, that both the Boree and Pauline afterwards managed [to get into the road from their insecure anchorage at Cette. After the capture ofthe five vessels of M. Baudin's convoy by the British frigate Pomone, the remainder, consisting of seven merchant vessels, in charge of the armed store-ship Lamproie, of 16 long 8-pounders and 116 men, commanded by Lieutenant de vaisseau Jacques-Marie Bertaud-la-Breteche, two armed bom bards, the Victoire and Grondeur, and the armed xebec Nor- mande, put into the bay of Rosas, and anchored under the protection of the castle of that name, of Fort-Trinidad, and of other strong batteries in the neighbourhood. Resolving to attempt the capture or destruction of these vessels, Lord Colling wood detached Captain Hallowell, with the Tigre, Cumberland, and Volontaire, also the frigates Apollo and Topaze, Captains Bridges Watkinson Taylor, and Henry Hope, and brig-sloops Philomel, Scout, and Tuscan, Captains George Crawley, William Raitt, and John Wilson. On the evening of the 31st of October, after dark, the squadron bore up, with a fresh south-east wind, for the bay of Rosas ; and soon afterwards the five ships came to an anchor about five miles from the town of Rosas ; but the brigs, as had been ordered, remained under way. The boats of the squadron were then armed and maimed; and, owing to the care that, in this instance, had been taken to insert the names of the officers in the London Gazette, we are enabled also to give them. Boats of the Tigre: Lieutenants John Tailour, Augustus Wm. Jas. Clifford, v Edward Boxer, William Waterface, William Hamilton, and John Brulton ; master's mates James Caldwell and Joshua Kynson ; midshipmen Day Richard Syer, Honourable Robert Churchill Spencer, Henry Fawcett, George Francis Bridges, George Sandys, James Athill, Honourable George James Percival, James Montagu, and Frederick Noel; and assistant surgeon Alexander Hosack. Cumberland : Lieutenants John Murray, Richard Stuart and William Bradley, Captain of marines Edward Bailie, master's mate John Webster, and midshipmen Charles Robert Milbourne, Henry Wise, William Hollinshed Brady, and Annesley Blackmore. Apollo : Lieu tenants James Begbie, Robert Cutts Barton, and John Forster ; 1809. LIEUTENANT TAILOUR IN THE BAY OF BOSAS. 145 master's mates Henry William de Chair and William Plant ; midshipmen James Dunderdale and Henry Lancaster, and captain's clerk John Oliver French. Topaze : Lieutenants Charles Hammond, James Dunn, William Rawlins, and David Lord Balgonie (Ville de Paris) ; lieutenant of marines William Halsted, master's mate Alexander Boyter, carpenter Thomas Canty, and midshipmen Joseph Hume, Hungerford Luthill, and Harry Nicholas. Volontaire : Lieutenants Dalhousie Tait, Samuel Sison, and honourable J.A.Maude (Ville de Paris ;) lieutenants of marines William Burton and Duncan Campbell, master's mates John Bannatyne and Thomas Randall, midship men Richard Stephen Harness, Henry John Leeke, and John Armstead (Ville-de-Paris) ; and carpenter William Middleton. Scout: Lieutenants John Tarrant and Honourable William Waldegrave, and midshipman John Davy ; the two latter from the Ville-de-Paris. Tuscan : Lieutenant Pasco Dunn, master's mates John M'Dougall and Charles Gray (both from Ville-de- Paris), and midshipman John Stiddy. The names of the officers in the Philomel's boats do not appear in the Gazette. Every suitable arrangement having previously been made, the boats, commanded by Lieutenant John Tailour, first of the Tigre, pushed off, with characteristic ardour, to execute the business assigned them. As if apprehensive that an attack would be made upon him, M. Bertaud-la-Breteche had made every preparation to meet and repel it. The Lamproie was en closed in boarding-nettings, and a gun-boat, or armed launch, advanced ahead of her, to give notice of the enemy's approach : the bombards and xebec, and the batteries on shore, were also on the alert. The boats approached, the alarm-gun fired ; andj rending the air with their cheers, the British seamen and marines stretched out, each division of boats taking its allotted part. The Lamproie was boarded at all points, and, notwithstanding a very spirited resistance, was carried in a few minutes. The Victoire, Grondeur, Normande, and a felucca armed with mus ketry, defended with equal gallantry, shared the same fate. All this was effected in the face of a heavy fire from the castle of Rosas, Fort Trinidad, and several other batteries,* and of re peated vollies of musketry from troops assembled on the beach. Notwithstanding that the force opposed to the British was double what they had reason to expect, such was their alacrity in subduing it, that, at the opening of day on the 1st of November, every French vessel of the 1 1 was either burnt at her moorings, or brought off by the aid of a light air of wind from the land. The loss sustained by the British was severe, but not more so than might have been expected, from the opposition they expe rienced. It amounted to one lieutenant (Tait), one master's mate (Caldwell), 10 seamen, one sergeant .and two privates of ¦•ie i * See p. S3. - VOL. V. L 146 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. marines killed, two lieutenants (Tailour and Forster), one mid shipman (Syer), seven seamen, one private of marines severely, and three lieutenants (Stuart, Maude, and Begbie), one master's mate (Webster), two midshipmen (Brady and Armstead), 28 seamen, five privates of marines slightly wounded ; total, 15 killed and 55 wounded. The loss on the part of the French has not been recorded ; but, from the obstinacy of their resistance, it must have been extremely severe. While in the act of boarding the French commodore's ship, Lieutenant Tailour received a most distressing wound by a pike on the side of his head, near the temple, but, stanching the blood by means of a knotted hand kerchief, was again among the foremost in the fight. Had he not possessed sufficient presence of mind immediately to apply this ready species of tourniquet, the thrust would have proved mortal. Lieutenant Tailour, as the lists inform us, obtained the just reward of his gallantry, in being immediately promoted to the rank of commander. In the month of October in this year, the islands of Zante, Cephalonia, and their dependencies, surrendered, without oppo sition, to a combined naval and military force under the respective commands of Captain John William Spranger of the British 74- gun ship Warrior, and of Brigadier-general John Oswald. The island of Cerigo surrendered, upon similar terms, to Captain Jahleel Brenton of the British 38-gun frigate Spartan, and a division of troops under the command of Major ChariesWilliam Clarke, of the 35th regiment ; as did also the island of Ithaca to the brig-sloop Philomel, Captain George Crawley, and a small detachment of troops under Captain Church of the army. By these vigorous measures, the inhabitants of these islands were liberated from the oppression of the French, and the septinsular republic was declared to be restored. LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. On the 1st of January, at daylight, the British brig-sloop Onyx, of eight 18-pounder carronades and two sixes, with 75 men and boys, Captain Charles Gill, cruising in latitude 53° 30' north, longitude 3° east, discovered on her lee bow a sail standing to the southward. As soon as the Onyx had made the private signal, the stranger, which was the Dutch brig-sloop Manly, of 12 English 18-pounder carronades and four brass sixes (two of them stern-chasers), with 94 men and boys, Captain-lieutenant W. Heneyman, ofthe Dutch-navy, hoisted her colours and hove to, as if prepared for battle. The British brig kept her wind until 8 A. m. ; then, being perfectly ready, bore down and brought the Dutch brig to close action. The Manly made several at tempts to rake the Onyx, but the superior manoeuvring of the latter frustrated eveiyj attempt. At 10 h. 30m. a.m., being 1809. ONYX AND MANLY. 147 much cut up in sails and rigging, and having most of her guns disabled by the close and well-directed fire of her antagonist, the Manly hauled down her colours, with the loss of five men killed and six wounded ; while that on the part of the Onyx amounted to only three men wounded : a difference in execution very creditable to the latter's young ship's company, especially considering the difficulty of pointing the guns, in the turbulent state of the sea. The slight superiority of force was on the side to render the parties about equally matched ; and the officers and crew of the Onyx were entitled to great credit for the bravery, as well as skill, they displayed. It gives us pleasure to be able to add, that Captain Gill was immediately made a post captain, and that Lieutennnt Edward William Garrett, first of the Onyx, became also promoted to the rank of-commander. Having, previously to her capture by the Dutch in the river Ems, been the British gun-brig of the same name, the Manly was permitted to resume her station among her old class-mates in the British navy. On the 2d of January, at 11 A. m., being off the Welbank near the Texel, standing to the southward, the British 12- pounder 32-gun frigate Aimable, Captain Lord George Stuart, discovered a strange sail upon her weather quarter, standing to the northward and eastward. Suspecting her to be an enemy, the Aimable wore round and made all sail ; and, at 4 p. m. on the 3d, after a chase of 24 hours, came alongside of the French ship-corvette Iris, of 22 carronades, 24-pounders, and two long 12 or 8 pounders, with a complement of 140 men, commanded by Captain Joseph- Jean Macquet. After a running fight of a few minutes, the Iris hauled down her colours. To the creduV-of-the French crew in the use of their guns, the Aimable had her mainmast shot in the head, main yard shot away in the slings, mizenmast head, mizen topmast, and trysail mast shot away, and her rigging and sails greatly cut up. With all this damage, however, damage which very nearly caused the escape of the . French ship, the Aimable had only one seaman and one marine slightly wounded. The loss on board the Iris amounted to two killed and eight wounded. The Iris had sailed from Dunkerque on the 29th of December, with 640 casks of flour on board, bound to Martinique. She was a ship of 587 tons, launched at Dunkerque, October 12, 1806, and became added to the British navy by the name (an Iris being already in the service) of Rainbow. Her English armament was 20 carronades, 32-pounders, on the main deck, and six carronades, 18-pounders, and two long sixes on the quarterdeck and forecastle, total, 28 guns ; with a net comple ment of 173 men and boys. On the 5th of January, at noon, latitude 39° 24' north, and longitude 11° 41' west, the British 38-gun frigate Loire, Captain ' i. 2 148 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809- Alexander Wilmot Schomberg, fell in with the French ship- corvette Hebe, of 18-carronades, 24-pounders, and two long twelves, with a crew of 160 men, commanded by Lieutenant Guillaume Botherel-Labretonniere, in the act of taking a ship and brig. On the Loire's approach, the Hebe bore up and made all sail, deserting her two prizes, and leaving the brig destitute of men. The Loire went immediately in chase, and at 8 p. m. got alongside of the French ship and brought her to close action. The Hebe defended herself for about 20 minutes, and then hauled down her colours. Neither ship appears to have had a man hurt. The Hebe was from Bordeaux bound to Santo-Domingo, with 600 barrels of flour. She measured 601 tons, and was after wards added to the British navy by the name (a Hebe being already in the service) of Ganymede. The armament established upon her was 22 carronades, ' 32-pounders, on the main deck, and 10 carronades, 18-pounders, and two sixes, on the quarter deck and forecastle, total 34 guns ; with a net complement of 173 men and boys. On the 22d of January, at 7 a.m., the British 18-gun ship- sloop Hazard, Captain Hugh Cameron, cruising off Gaudeloupe, discovered in the south-west a ship and schooner standing in for the land. The schooner presently steered a different course, seemingly to induce the Hazard to follow her ; but the British sloop, in a very gallant manner, bore up for the ship, which was the French 40-gun frigate Topaze, Captain Pierre-Nicolas Lahalle, from Brest since the early part of December, with 1,100 barrels of flour, bound to Cayenne ; but, having found that port blockaded by a " superior force," she was now on her way to Gaudeloupe. At 9 a. m. the British 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Cleopatra, Captain Samuel John Pechell, hove in sight, in the south-east, and about the same time the 38-gun frigate Jason, Captain > William Maude, made her appearance to the south ward. Thus hemmed in, the Topaze had no alternative, but to haul close in-shore ; which she accordingly did, and at 1 1 a. m. came to an anchor, with springs, under a small battery a little to .the southward of Pointe-Noire. Owing to light and baffling winds, the chasing ships made very slow progress, until about 2h. 30m. p. m. ; when the regular sea breeze, or east-north-east wind, enabled the Cleopatra to begin working up towards the enemy. At about 4h. 30m. p. m. the Cleopatra got within 200 yards of the shore, and within half-musket shot of the Topaze. The latter immediately opened ther fire ; and, as soon as she had anchored with springs upon her opponent's starboard bow, the Cleopatra did the same. In a short time, having had her outside spring shot away, the Topaze swang in-shore, with her head towards the Cleopatra; who thereupon raked the French frigate with destructive effect, and so well maintained her position, that the Topaze could not, at 1809. HORATIO AND CONSORTS WITH JUNON. 149 any time afterwards, get more than half her broadside to bear. At the expiration of 40 minutes from the commencement of the firing, in which the battery on shore had, from the first, taken a part, the Jason and Hazard came up. While the Hazard can nonaded the battery, the Jason brought to on the starboard quarter of the Topaze, and opened a fire from her bow guns. Thus assailed, the French frigate had no chance of escape, and therefore, at 5 h. 20 m. p. m., hauled down her colours. Neither the Jason nor the Hazard sustained any inj ury from the frigate or the battery ; and the damages of the Cleopatra, on account of the secure position she had taken and the high firing of her antagonist, were chiefly confined to her rigging. The loss on board the Cleopatra, for the same reason, amounted to only two seamen killed and one wounded. The Topaze was tolerably struck in the hull, especially about the bows, and had, as acknowledged by her officers, 12 men killed and 14 wounded, out of a complement, including 100 soldiers, of about 430 men. One third of these, when the frigates surrendered, took to the water; and several must have been drowned, or killed by the Jason's shot, in attempting to reach the shore. The Topaze, the same that, in July, 1805, captured the Blanche,* was added to the British navy under the name of Alcmene, a Topaze being already in the service. On the 8th of February, at 2 p. m., the British 16-gun brig- sloop Asp, Captain Robert F. Preston, and 14-gun brig-sloop Superieure (with only, it appears, four of her carronades, 18- pounders, on board), Captain William Ferrie, cruising to the southward of the Virgin islands, discovered and chased a ship standing to the northward, with the wind at east-north-east. At 3 p. m. the leading brig, the Superieure, having got into the latter's wake, tacked and stood directly for her. The ship, then about seven miles ahead, was the French 40-gun frigate Junon, Captain Jean-Baptiste-Augustin Rousseau, from the Saintes four days, bound to France. At llh. 30m. p. m., when distant full four miles to-windward of her consort, and about two astern of the Junon, the Superieure fired a shot at the latter to bring her to ; but the frigate, very naturally, disregarded the summons and pursued her route to the northward. In the course of the night the Asp dropped completely out of sight, and at daylight on the 9th the Superieure and Junon were left to themselves. At 8 a. m., just as the Virgin-Gorda bore from the Superieure north-west by north distant five or six miles, the latter fired several shot at the frigate ; who, at 10 a. m., hoisted French colours, and fired two harmless broadsides at the brig, then about two miles off, on her lee quarter. Even this did not check the ardour of Captain Ferrie. The Superieure merely tacked to avoid a repetition ofthe salute, and then again pursued * See vol. iv. p. 140. 150 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. the French frigate ; who, after bearing away to fire, hauled up again on the starboard tack, with the wind now at north-east by east. In the afternoon the 38 gun-frigate Latona, Captain Hugh Pigott, made her appearance toleeward, and joined in the chase. On the 10th, at daylight, the Superieure had the Junon on her starboard and weather bow 12 miles off, and the Latona at about the same distance on her lee quarter ; all three vessels upon a wind, as before, steering about north by west. The brig soon shortened her distance from the Junon, but the Latona rather increased hers ; and, from her great superiority of sailing over the latter, the Junon would no doubt have escaped, had not, at 10 h. 30m. a.m., latitude 19° 50' north, longitude 61° 30' west, an enemy suddenly hove in sight upon her weather bow. This was the British 38-gun frigate Horatio, Captain George Scott, steering on the opposite or larboard tack south by east, and having astern of her, at the distance of about 15 miles, the 18-gun ship-sloop Driver, Captain Charles Claridge. At noon, having made out the Horatio to be an enemy's frigate, the Junon put right before the wind ; but, in less than half an hour, per ceiving the Latona standing across her path, hauled up again, and, having previously hoisted French colours, resumed her course to the northward, Captain Rousseau rightly considering that, if he could disable the weathermost frigate, he should, in all probability, be able to outsail the one that was to-leeward. At 36 minutes past noon the Horatio and Junon met on opposite tacks, and exchanged broadsides in passing. The Horatio then wore, with the intention of engaging her opponent to-leeward ; but the Junon wore almost at the same instant, and, having run a short distance to-lee ward, hauled up again on the star board tack. In the mean while the Horatio, having come round more quickly, raked the Junon astern with her larboard broad side. The Horatio then ranged up alongside of her antagonist to-windward ; and the two frigates, running on upon the star board tack, became closely and warmly engaged. At 0 h. 50 m. T. m. Lieutenant Manley Hall Dixon, first of the Horatio, was badly wounded by a musket-ball, which entered his left groin and passed through his thigh; and at lh. 10m. p.m. Captain Scott received a severe wound in the shoulder by a grape-shot. The command now devolved upon Lieutenant the Honourable George Douglas. At lh. 25m. the Horatio had her main and mizen topmasts shot away, and at the same moment descried the Latona, at the distance of about eight miles upon her lar board and lee quarter, close hauled upon the starboard tack, standing towards her. By 2 h. 12 m. p. m., besides the loss of her main and mizen topmasts, the Horatio had had her mainmast badly wounded, and fore topgallantmast shot away ; also the foretopsail tie and lifts, which brought the yard on the cap, and left her with only the 1809. HORATIO AND CONSORTS WITH JUNON. 151 foresail set. At this moment the Junon, having only her fore- topsail tie shot away, was enabled to range ahead out, of gun shot. Now was the time for the Driver to have rendered assist ance ; but that sloop, although her signal to make more sail had been hoisted at 2 p. m., was still two miles distant on the Hora tio's starboard bow. The Superieure, however, was near at hand, and raked the Junon, as the latter, with her three masts stand ing certainly, but with scarcely any rigging to support them, and with her sails all flying about and hull visibly shattered, put away nearly before the moderate breeze, which the previous heavy cannonade had then left blowing. At 2 h. 24 m. p. m. Lieutenant Douglas hailed the Superieure and directed the brig to take the Horatio in tow, to enable her the more quickly to get again alongside of her antagonist. The Superieure did as she had been ordered ; but the Horatio, having set her fore topsail and hauled aft her main sheet, was presently going upwards of five knots with the wind on the quarter, and the brig cast her off. At 2 h. 40 m. ^ m. the Driver fired her bow-chasers at the Junon, then nearly a mile distant from her. This sloop continuing to yaw about as if she was afraid to ad vance, the Horatio, at 2 h. 50 m. p. m., directed the Superieure to make the Driver's signal to engage more closely. Having, agreeably to his orders, hoisted this signal, and doubting, as it was not obeyed, whether it was rightly under stood, Captain Ferrie resolved himself to show its practical meaning. Accordingly, at 3 h. 4 m. p. m., the Superieure hauled across the French frigate's stern and gave her a broadside, in a very gallant style; but, having only two 18-pounders, not in so effectual a manner as the Driver might have done with her eight 24-pounders. Finding that the force of example was in the present instance thrown away, the Horatio, at 3 h. 10 m. p. m., repeated the Dri ver's signal to engage more closely, with two guns shotted. This produced some effect, for, in five minutes, the sloop set her fore sail and steered towards the Junon ; who was now firing at the Latona, as the latter was advancing to engage her. At 3 h. 25 m. p. m. the Latona, having arrived within pistol-shot, opened her broadside; and shortly afterwards the Driver, becoming more bold from having so efficient a consort, hauled across the French frigate's stern and discharged her broadside, receiving in return from the Junon 's chase-guns a fire that cut away her foretopsail tie and wounded one seaman. In five minutes after this, being closely pressed by the Latona, the Junon hauled up on the starboard tack, and had scarcely come to the wind, when her previously wounded main and mizen masts, unable to resist the lateral pressure against them, fell over the side. The French frigate instantly struck her colours. This was at 3 h. 40 m. p. m., and in two minutes more the Junon's foremast fell over her bows. When that took place the Horatio was not above a mile and a 152 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. half distant, with her starboard fore topmast and lower studding- sails set, rapidly approaching. The Horatio, out of a crew on board of about 270 men and boys, had one midshipman (George Gunter) and six seamen killed, her captain, first lieutenant (Manley Hall Dixon), boat swain (Andrew Lock), and 14 seamen badly, and one lieutenant of marines (Richard Blakeney) one master's mate (Robert King and seven seamen and marines slightly wounded ; and the La tona, one midshipman (John Hoope) and five seamen slightly wounded ; making, with the Driver's one wounded, the total loss on the British side amount to seven killed and 33 wounded. From the number of shot-holes low down in her hull, the Junon was in a very leaky state ; and her loss was very severe, amount ing, out of a very fine crew of 323 men and boys, to 130 in killed and wounded, including among the mortally wounded her gallant commander. As the Horatio and Junon each mounted 46 guns of nearly the same caliber, bad they met singly, a fairer match could not have been desired ; and, notwithstanding the skilful and resolute manner in which the Junon was manoeuvred and fought, the rela tive damage and loss sustained by the two ships leaves it scarcely doubtful which combatant would have ultimately gained the victory. That the Junon, when at 2 h. 12 m. p. m., she made off from the Horatio, was in an unmanageable and defenceless state, may be inferred from her running to leeward directly into the fire of another enemy's ship : whereas, could she have hauled to the wind, her escape would have been certain, as the Horatio could set no after-sail to enable her to chase in that direction. More over Lieutenaut Jean-Leon Emeric, the French commanding officer, upon the removal of Captain Rousseau from the deck, declared that nearly all the injury done to the Junon, both in materiel and personnel, arose fromthe fire ofthe Horatio. When, also, the Latona's officer came on board to take possession, M. Emeric refused to deliver up his sword until the arrival of an officer from the Horatio, pointing to her ; and Lieutenant John James Hough, third of that ship, presently afterwards came on board and received it. The case, in other respects, displays nothing very striking, unless it be the conduct of Captain Ferrie of the Superieure, who, in his little vessel, so closely and per- severingly pursued the French frigate ; and who, during the action between the Junon and the Horatio, did more with his four guns, than the commander of another sloop that was present did with his 18, and those, too, of a heavier caliber. The prize was nearly a new frigate, and of rather larger di mensions than the Horatio, who was herself one of the finest British-built frigates of the 18-pounder class. The Junon was carried to Halifax, Nova-Scotia, and, as soon as repaired, was commissioned under the same name, as a cruising frigate in the British navy. 1809. HORATIO WITH CONSORTS AND JUNON. 153 A contemporary, contrary to his usual practice, has been in duced to give a somewhat detailed account of the action, which ended in the surrender of the Junon. Were it not for one cir cumstance, the source of his information might be gathered from the following paragraph : " This, we believe to be as accurate and impartial an account of the action as can be found. It dif fers a little from others, but we have merely placed Captain Pigott in his proper position, without taking away from the merits of Captain Scott and the Horatio."* We cannot suppose that any officer of the Latona would have made so gross a mistake re specting the "position" of that ship, as to say that she wore and " renewed the action on the larboard tack." We have now before us the log of every British ship that was present ; and we may add, that those logs, coupled with private information of the highest authenticity, form the groundwork of our account of the Latona's proceedings. With respect to the Horatio's " throw ing in stays under the stern of the Frenchman," it is sufficient to remind the reader, that the Horatio engaged the Junon to wind ward, We leave it to Captain Brenton himself to reconcile the statement that the Junon, when she bore up, left " the Horatio a perfect wreck to windward," with that disclaiming any inten tion of " taking away from the merits of Captain Scott and the Horatio." On the 8th of February the British 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Amphion, Captain William Hoste, cruising off Long island in the Adriatic, was joined by the British 18-gun brig-sloop Red wing, Captain Edward Augustus Down, with information that an armed brig and a trabacculo were lying in a small creek in the island of Melida. The frigate and sloop immediately made sail in that direction, and found the two vessels advantageously moored for defending the entrance of the creek ; with a body of soldiers, which they had brought from Zara and were carrying to Ancona, drawn up behind some houses and walls. A long 1 2-pounder on the shore, and the brig, which mounted six 12-pounder carronades, opened upon the Amphion and Red wing, as the latter were taking their position. The instant, how ever, that the British vessels brought their broadsides to bear, the French troops, 400 in number, as afterwards ascertained, fled in all directions, leaving the two vessels to their fate. The boats of the Amphion and Redwing, under the orders of Lieutenant Charles George Rodney Phillott, now landed and brought off three guns, and destroyed two warehouses of wine and oil. Nor, such was the panic spread among them by the cannon of the ships, did the French soldiers offer the least opposition to the British seamen and marines employed on this service. On the 14th of February, in the morning, the British 38-gun frigate Belle-Poule, Captain James Brisbane, having been driven * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 376. 154 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. by a hard southerly gale about 12 leagues to the northward of the island of Corfu, discovered a suspicious vessel far distant on the lee bow. All sail was immediately made in pursuit ; but, light and partial winds coming on, the Belle-Poule chased with out success the whole day. Captain Brisbane, however, saw that it was the intention of the stranger, which was the French frigate-built store-ship Var, of 22 long 8-pounders and four 24- pounder carronades, with a crew of 200 men, commanded by Captain Paul- Francois Paulin, to enter the gulf of Velona. The Belle-Poule, accordingly, steered in that direction. On the 15th, at daybreak, the Var was discovered, moored with cables to the walls of the fortress of Velona, mounting 14 long 18 and 24 pounders; and, upon an eminence above the ship, and completely commanding the whole anchorage, was another strong fort. A breeze at length favouring her, the Belle- Poule, at 1 p. m., anchored in a position to take or destroy the Var, and at the same time to keep in check the formidable force prepared apparently to defend the French ship. The Belle- Poule immediately opened upon the latter an animated and well- directed fire ; and, as the forts made no efforts to protect her, the Var discharged a few random shot, which hurt no one, and then hauled down her colours. Before she could be taken pos session of, her officers and the greater part of her crew escaped to the shore. The Var measured 777 tons, and was added to the British navy as a store-ship under the name of Chichester. At or about the commencement of the present year the British 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Proserpine, Captain Charles Otter, by the orders of Vice-admiral Thornborough, took her station off the road of Toulon, to watch the movements of the French fleet. The boldness of her approaches at length determined Vice-admiral Ganteaume to detach a force to chase her away. Accordingly, on the 27th of February, the two 40-gun frigates Penelope, Captain Bernard Dubourdieu, and Pauline, Captain Frangois- Gilles Montfort, weighed and sailed out to execute that service. They in a short time discovered the Proserpine, and the latter, as she was bound, retired before them ; but, no sooner had the two frigates put about to return, than the Proserpine put about also, in chase of several small sail of coasting vessels, running along shore towards Marseille. Failing in cutting off the convoy, the Proserpine stood off for the night, and in a short time lay nearly becalmed. The French admiral now formed an excellent plan for sur rounding and capturing the British frigate. At 8 p.m. the Pehelope and Pauline got under way, and were quickly followed by the 40-gun frigate Pomone; also by the two fast-sailing 74- gun ships Ajax and Suffren, Captains Jean-Nicolas Petit and Auguste-Frangois Louvel. The two first-named frigates worked to the westward, under the high land of Cape Sicie, upon short tacks, with variable winds. At about 1 a. m, on the 28th, the 1809. PROSERPINE WITH PENELOPE AND PAULINE. 155 moon rose in the north-east ; thereby casting the ships that were under the land in complete shade, and throwing a light upon objects in the offing. Thus favoured, the Pen61ope and Pauline, at 2 a. m., discovered in the south-west by south the unsuspect ing Proserpine, lying becalmed, with her head directed towards them. The two French frigates immediately bore up under all sail, before a freshening land wind from the east-north-east. We will now take the account as given by the Proserpine herself. At 4 a. m., Cape Sicie bearing north-east by north distant 12 or 13 miles, the Proserpine discovered the two French frigates steering towards her from under the land. Having no doubt that they were enemies, Captain Otter, taking advantage of a light breeze which that moment sprang up from the east-south east, wore on the larboard tack, and made all sail ; j ust keeping near enough to the wind to permit the larboard topgallant stud ding-sails to draw. For the double purpose of being used as chasers, and of bringing the ship more by the stem to quicken her sailing, the two foremost 18-pounders were removed to the cabin. Before, however, they could be pointed through the ports, the two French frigates had arrived within gun-shot. At about 4 h. 25 m. p. m. Captain Otter hailed the Penelope, then approaching upon the larboard quarter. The French frigate answered by a single gun. Upon this the British crew were ordered to their quarters ; and, while the drum was rolling for that purpose, the Penelope opened her broadside upon the Proserpine's larboard quarter. This was at 4 h. 30 m. a. m. ; and almost at the same instant the Pauline commenced firing into the British frigate's starboard quarter. The fire was re turned by the Proserpine, but not in so effective a manner as it might have been, the two guns, that had been brought into the cabin, disabling the two aftermost guns on the larboard side. The same untoward circumstance prevented any return to the raking fire kept up by the Pauline upon the Proserpine's stern and starboard quarter. At 4 h. 40 m. a. m. the Penelope ranged up alongside within pistol-shot of her opponent, and several broadsides were ex changed. The Pauline, in the mean while, preserved her station upon the Proserpine's starboard quarter, and continued to direct her fire chiefly at the latter's rigging and sails. By 5L10m. a.m. the Proserpine had her maintopsail yard shot away, foremast half cut through nine or ten feet from the deck, main and mizen masts, main yard, and foretopsail yard badly wounded, and her stays, shrouds, braces, bowlines, and the whole of the running rigging destroyed : the Penelope was also on her larboard bow, and the Pauline on her starboard quarter, each preparing to board. Being in this hopeless situation, the British frigate hauled down her colours. The proper complement of the Proserpine was 251 ; but, having manned some prizes, she had only 211 men and boys on 156 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. board. Of these" the Proserpine had one seaman killed, and 10 seamen and marines (including one mortally) wounded. As if ashamed of their very indifferent gunnery, the French officially declared, that the Proserpine's loss amounted to 11 killed and 15 wounded. But the guns on the British side appear to have been discharged with even less effect. For, according to the French accounts, neither the Penelope nor the Pauline had a man killed or wounded ; and the latter frigate suffered not at all, and the former very slightly, in the rigging and sails. " Notre bonheur est tel que, quoique nous avons combattu vergue a vergtie et du nuit, la Penelope et la Pauline n'ont pas eu un seul homme de tue, ni de blesse. La Penelope a eu quelques avaries dans son greement, et la Pauline, par la position habile qu'elle a su conserver, n'a nullement souffert."* At daybreak, which was just as the two French frigates had taken possession of their prize, the two 74s were discovered about seven miles in the east-north-east, approaching under all sail ; and shortly afterwards the Pomone made her appearance in the south-east. Captain Otter continued in France as a prisoner until the conclusion of the war. On the 30th of October, 1814, the captain and late officers and crew of the Prosperine were tried by a court-martial for the loss of their ship, and most honourably acquitted. On the 15th of March, early in the morning, the British 38- gun frigate Arethusa, Captain Robert Mends, cruising off the north coast of Spain, detached her boats under the orders of Lieutenant Hugh Pearson and Lieutenant of marines Octavius Scott. At' daylight these officers, with the seamen and marines under their command, landed, and destroyed upwards of 20 heavy guns mounted on the batteries at Lequito, defended by a detachment of French soldiers; a sergeant and 20 of [whom, when the British forced the guard-house in the principal battery, threw down their arms and begged for quarter. These were made prisoners, but the rest of their comrades effected their escape by running. Notwithstanding a smart fire of musketry from the battery and guard-house as Lieutenant Pearson and his party advanced, this very gallant exploit was performed with so slight a loss as three men wounded. A small chaloupe, laden with brandy, was found in the harbour and brought away. On the 16th, in the evening, having received information of two chasse -marees, laden with brandy for the French army in Spain, being up the river Andero, the same party again landed, and found the vessels aground four miles up the river. The cargoes were destroyed: but the vessels, having been forcibly taken from the Spaniards by the French, were restored to their owners. * Moniteur, March 7, 1809. 1809. AMETHYST AND NIEMEN. 157 On the 20th Lieutenant Elms Steele, with a party of seamen and marines, landed and destroyed the guns at Baigno, and captured a small vessel laden with merino wool, which had run in there for security, and was from San-Andero bound to Bayonne. In the mean time Lieutenant of marines John Fennele, accompanied by Mr. John Elliott the purser, and a boat's crew, ascended the mountain and destroyed the signal-posts. On the same evening, also, Lieutenant Pearson, with the officers and men who were with him at Lequito, took possession of the bat teries of the town of Paissance, without opposition, and destroyed the guns ; the small French force stationed at all the above places, retiring as the British approached. On the 5th of April, at 11 a.m., the Cordouan lighthouse bearing east by north distant 42 leagues, the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Amethyst, still commanded by Captain Michael Seymour, standing about a point free on the larboard tack with the wind at east, and having in her company, within signal distance to the northward, or nearly astern, the 18-pounder 36- gun frigate Emerald, Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, descried, in the east-south-east, a ship steering to the westward ; and which, on discovering the two frigates, hauled up to the south-south-east. This was the French 40-gun frigate Niemen, Captain Jean-Henri-Joseph Dupotet, two days from Verdon road, with six months' provisions and a quantity of naval stores on board, bound to the Isle of France. Both British ships made all sail in chase, and at noon the Niemen was about half topsails down from the deck of the Ame thyst. The chase continued all the afternoon ; so little, however, to the advantage of the Amethyst, although a much better sailer than her consort, that at sunset the line of the Niemen's taffrail was all that could be seen from the lower part ofthe Amethyst's main rigging, bearing a point and a half on her weather or lar board bow. At 7 h. 20 m., which was just as it was getting dark, the Amethyst lost sight, both of the Emerald that was astern, and the Niemen that was ahead of her. Concluding that the French frigate, on getting rid of her pursuers, would resume her course to the westward, Captain Seymour, at 9 p. m., bore up to south-west. At 9 h. 40 m. p. m., the wind then blowing in squalls from the east-north-east, the Amethyst discovered, on her weather beam, the ship she was in search of; and who now, as rightly conjectured by Captain Sey mour, was steering to the westward. The Amethyst lost no time in giving chase ; and the Niemen, having only in view to execute her mission, wore and made all sail with the wind upon the lar board quarter, steering about south by west. At 11 h. 30 m. p. m. the Amethyst began firing her bow-chasers, and was fired at in return by the stern-guns ofthe Niemen. At lh. 15 m. a. m. on the 6th the Amethyst closed upon the Niemen's larboard quarter, and opened her starboard broadside. In return, the Niemen 158 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. fired her guns on the larboard side, then wore round on the starboard tack, and steered to the north-west. As soon as she could wear and trim sail, the Amethyst hauled up after her oppo nent ; and, as the rigging and sails of the Niemen had already received some damage, the Amethyst, at about 1 h. 45m. a.m., ranged close alongside of her to windward. After an exchange of broadsides, the Amethyst, having passed ahead, bore round up, raked the Niemen, and then braced sharp up again on the same tack under the French frigate's lee bow. At 2 h. 45 m. a. m. the Niemen fell on board the Ame thyst, on her starboard beam and quarter ; but, in a few minutes, the Amethyst shooting ahead, the Niemen got clear, and bore away south-west. At about 3 a. m. the Amethyst, having crossed over, got upon the larboard and weather beam of the Niemen. Scarcely had the mutual cannonade recommenced between the two ships in this position, ere the Niemen caught fire in her larboard hammock-netting. At 3 h. 15m. a. m. the Niemen had her mizenmast and main topmast shot away. The ship had also just caught fire in the main top, and her main yard was lowered halfway down the mast. In this state, the Niemen bestowed little or no return to the animated cannonade main tained by the Amethyst. At 3 h. 25m. a.m., finding that her antagonist had ceased firing, the Amethyst ceased also, and bore up under her stern. At about 3 h. 30 m. a. m., as the Amethyst, with her main yard square, was in the act of bringing to to leeward of the Niemen, the mainmast of the British ship, owing chiefly to the quantity of canvass that lay aback against it and the damaged state of the rigging, came down, carrying with it the mizenmast ; and the wreck of the two masts fell over the lee quarter. Almost at the same moment the Niemen's mainmast, or what remained of it, came down by the board ; and the 38- gun frigate Arethusa, Captain Robert Mends, just then an nounced to the Amethyst, by signal, her approach from the eastward. The Amethyst meanwhile, in consequence of the great way upon the ship having caused the spread sails over the lee quarter to act as a back-water, disobeyed her helm, and wore with her stern abreast ofthe Niemen's starboard and lee beam. At 3 h. 45 m. p. m., while the Amethyst was in this unfortunate position, the Arethusa approached within gun-shot on the larboard quarter of the Niemen, who was then going nearly before the wind. The French ship thereupon hoisted a light, and fired one shot at the Arethusa and another at the Amethyst. The Arethusa then gave a small 3'aw and fired seven or eight of her foremost larboard guns at the Niemen. To this fire, the French frigate made no return, but hauled down her light, and almost instantaneously raised and lowered it again as the signal of submission. The following diagram will assist in explaining the different movements of the combatants. 1809. AMETHYST AND NIEMEN. . TracGoI.AreEliusa Ik.Bm.A.M* _ __ 159 A '^T E 23 — *- 3/i 25™ The guns of the Amethyst were precisely those which she mounted in her action with the Thetis ; but in complement the frigate was short, having two lieutenants and 37 men absent ; all, except one of the lieutenants (who had been appointed, but had not joined), away in prizes, the prisoners from which, 69 in number, were then on board. Of her 222 men and boys, the Amethyst had six seamen and two marines killed, and her first and second lieutenants of marines (Henry Waring and Samuel Prytherch), her boatswain (Mr. Lacey), 24 seamen, and 10 marines wounded. The armament of the Niemen was the same as that of the Thetis, except that the former mounted two additional 36- pounder carronades, or 14 in all ; making her total number of guns 46, two more than are stated in Captain Seymour's letter. The French frigate, whose hull was much cut up by shot, and whose remaining mast was in a tottering state, had on board as her complement, when the action commenced, 339 men and boys ; of whom she lost 47 in killed, and 73 in wounded. The Arethusa, not having been fired at except by a single gun, sus tained no loss or damage whatever. The same statement of comparative force, given in the action between the Amethyst and Thetis, will, without being more particular, suffice to show the relative force of the Amethyst and Niemen. Every Englishman, who is proud of the martial spirit of his country, must regret that a third party came to interrupt a meeting, which his own, although the numerically weaker side, was so near bringing to a favourable termination. A view ofthe relative damage and loss sustained by the two frigates, and of 160 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. their relative means of further annoyance, as displayed by the vigorous fire of the one, and the slackened and still slackening fire of the other, cannot leave a doubt that, at the time the Arethusa made her appearance, the combat between the Ame thyst and Niemen was virtually, if not formally, decided. On the day succeeding that of the capture, the foremast of the Niemen, as a proof of the damage it had received in the action, fell over the side, and the Arethusa took the prize in tow. Being only nine months old, and a remarkably fine frigate, the Niemen became a great acquisition to the British navy ; in which, under her French name, she classed the same as the Amethyst's former prize, the Thetis. Captain Seymour, soon after his return to port, was made a baronet of the United Kingdom ; and the first lieutenant ofthe Amethyst, Mr. William Hill, who, fromthe absence of two lieutenants, had a double share of duty to per form, was as deservedly promoted to the rank of commander. That, as Captain Seymour in his official letter is careful to state, " the French captain defended his ship with great ability and resolution," the length of the action, the execution done to the Amethyst, and the circumstances under which the surrender took place, sufficiently testify. And yet the Moniteur of July 13, 1809, contains a letter purporting to be from M. Dupotet, which, if genuine (and there we have our doubts), does not speak much for the French captain's veracity. As maybe conjecturd, the effect produced by the fall of the Amethyst's main and mizen masts is taken due advantage of. " L'ennemi prit chasse vent arriere, ayant a. la traine ses deux mats," says M. Dupotet ; and he gravely adds : " Au bout de quinze minutes mon premier lieutenant Valin me fit prevenir que l'ennemi etait rendu, et qu'on criait de son bord de ne plus tirer. Je designai l'enseip-ne Kerangoue pour aller l'amariner ; mais bientot on vit venir une fregate qui venait au secours de celle-ci." Knowing that Frenchmen, in many of their actions with the British at sea, have mistaken the cheers of triumph for the screams of despair, we pass over the statement that the people of the Amethyst called upon those of the Niemen to cease firing; but the assertion, that the mainmast of the Niemen fell after the Arethusa had opened her fire, is a deliberate falsehood, which can admit of no palliation. Fortunately for the cause of truth, it is disproved in an instant ; for thus says the log of the Are thusa : " At half past 3, observed both ships going before the wind with only their foremasts standing. At 3 h. 45 m. com menced firing on the enemy." The assertion, that the foremast of the Amethyst was in a shattered and unsupported state is equally false, although that may have arisen from misinforma tion. The fact is, that the foremast was only struck by one grape-shot, and was not even fished after the action. We designated the movement, forced upon the Amethyst by the fall of her masts and sails in the water, an unfortunate one. 1809. CAPTURE OF THE D'HAUPOULT. 161 It was very much so. Less, however, in reference to the easily refuted mistatements of the captain ofthe Niemen, than, as we gather from the proceedings which afterwards took place in the admiralty prize-court, to the misconception that seems to have prevailed among the officers of the Arethusa. A little fore thought in shortening sail, before the Amethyst bore up athwart the stern of her beaten antagonist, would have given quite a dif ferent tone to the letter of Captain Dupotet, if indeed any such letter had then been published ; and would have left no grounds for a second British ship, by establishing a claim for head- money, to make it appear that she had any share in producing the surrender of an already silenced and defenceless French frigate. It was formerly stated, that early on the morning of the 22d of February, the day after Commodore Beresford was chased from off Lorient by the squadron from Brest, the three French frigates, Calypso, Cybele, and Italienne, sailed from that port, and that they were not immediately followed by the three sail of the line at anchor in the road, because the tide did not suit.* In a few hours the depth of water became sufficient ; and com modore Amable-Gilles Troude, with the three 74-gun ships Courageux, Polonais, and d'Haupoult, having under their convoy the two armed en flute frigates Furieuse and Felicite, laden with troops, flour, and military stores, for the island of Martinique, escaped from Lorient, unseen, or at all events unmolested, by any of the British ships cruising off the French coast. On the 29th of March, having from some prizes he had made on the passage learnt that Martinique had surrendered to the British arms (an account of which will appear in its proper place), the French commodore entered the Saintes, to watch for an opportunity of getting across to Basse-terre, Guadaloupe. Scarcely, however, had the French ships anchored, than a superior British force arrived to blockade them. The line-of- battle portion of that force consisted ofthe nQ tv-t . ( Rear-admiral (r.) Hon. Sir Alex. J. Cochrane, bt. 98 NePtune J Captain Charles Dilkes. ("York „ Robert Barton. 74< Pompe'e „ William Charles Fahie. (Captain „ James Athol Wood. 64 Polyphemus „ William Pryce Cumby. The Saintes consist of two small islands, each about three leagues in circumference, exclusive of three or four still smaller ones, so arranged as to form a commodious road or harbour be tween the larger islands ; the westernmost of which is called Terre d'en Bas, and the other Terre d'en Haut. They lie be tween Vieux-Fort, near the southern extremity of Basse-terre. Guadaloupe, and Pointe des Ajoupas on the west side of Marie- * See p. 96. vnt.. v. 162 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. Galante, about five leagues distant from the latter and two from the former. The road or harbour of the Saintes, having three entrances in different directions, is not easily blockaded. Under these circumstances, it was thought advisable to land a body of troops, for the double purpose of driving the French ships to sea, and of reducing the Saintes' islands, which had at all times afforded to the enemy's ships a capital shelter. Accordingly, on the 12th of April, a small British squadron, , under the orders of Captain Philip Beaver of the 40-gun frigate Acasta, accompanied by a fleet of transports, having on board from 2000 to 3000 men commanded by Major-general Frederic Maitland, sailed ,from Fort-Royal bay, Martinique, and on the next day arrived off the Saintes. On the 14th.the troops were landed with a very slight loss ; and on the same after noon possessed themselves, with some difficulty, of a mountain 800 feet high, called Morne-Russel, and which completely overlooked the ships in the harbour. Upon these two 8-inch howitzers were presently brought to bear with such effect, that at 8 p.m. the three line-of-battle ships began to get under way, and at 9 h. 30 m. p. m. sailed out through the windward passage ; but, although favoured by an unusually dark night, not unseen by the British in-shore squadron of sloops and brigs, under the orders of Captain Hugh Cameron, of the 18-gun ship- sloop Hazard ; and who immediately made the preconcerted signal to the admiral outside. At this time the Neptune was off the south-west passage at some distance, and the Pompee about a mile and a half to the westward of Terre d'en Bas, or the Lower Sainte. In a very few minutes the Pompee discovered the three French ships bear ing down under a press of canvass, followed by the Hazard and other vessels belonging to the in-shore squadron. At 10 p. m. the Pompee closed with the sternmost French ship, and endea voured to stop her by the discharge of two broadsides ; but, having a strong breeze in her favour, the latter continued her course to the west- south-west without returning a shot. At 10 h. 15 m. p. m. the 18-gun brig-sloop Recruit, Captain Charles Napier, got up and opened her fire at the enemy's sternmost ship. At 11 p. m. the Neptune joined in the chase, and at 30 minutes past midnight crossed so near to the same ship, that the latter fired into her and killed one and wounded four of her men. On the 15th, at 4 a. m., the Recruit, by her superior sailing, again got near enough to discharge a broadside at the d'Hau- poult, now the rearmost French ship ; and the Pompee was very soon in a situation to open a distant fire from her bow-chasers ; all three French ships as they steered in line abreast, returning the fire with their stern-chasers. At 10 h. 30 m. a. m. Captain Napier had his sergeant of marines wounded by a shot from one of the French ships ; but the Recruit still persisted to ha rass them with her attack s= So nnnovinp- were those attacks. 1809. CAPTURE OF THE D'HAUPOULT. 163 that at 10 h. 45 m. A. m. the d'Haupoult broached to and dis charged her main and quarter deck guns, cutting away two of the brig's fore shrouds on the larboard side and doing other da mage to her rigging, but fortunately, wounding no one. Even this did not intimidate Captain Napier ; for, no sooner had the d'Haupoult resumed her course before the wind, than the Re cruit ran across her stern, and poured in one or two broadsides, receiving in return a fire from the 74's stern-chasers. The Pom pee also joined occasionally in the running fight; and thus the day passed. At 8 p. m. the French ships separated, the d'Hau poult altering her course to west-north-west, while her two con sorts continued steering west-south-west. The Pompee imme diately hauled up after the d'Haupoult, and was at this time about three miles to the eastward of the latter, full five miles to the east-north-east of the Courageux and Polonais, and about the same distance ahead of the Neptune ; who, since the fore noon, had detached the Hazard and Superieure, and was now in company with only the Hawk brig. At midnight the Pompee could no longer see the two French ships in the west-south west, but still kept sight of the d'Haupoult. On the 16th, at daylight, the wind still from the eastward, the d'Haupoult was about three miles north-west half-west, and the Neptune about nine miles south-east half-east, of the Pom pee. The Recruit, having dropped astern, on account probably of her damaged rigging, was not now in sight. In the course of the forenoon the British 38-gun frigate Latona, Captain Hugh Pigot, and 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Castor, Captain William Roberts, made their appearance in the north-east, and soon joined in the chase. At 5 p. m. the Neptune was no longer visible from the Pompee's mast-head ; and the latter ship and the d'Haupoult sailed so nearly alike, that no apparent altera tion had taken place in the distance between them since the pre ceding day. At 5 h. 30 m. p. m. the high land of Porto-Rico was seen from the Pompee, bearing north-north-east, about nine leagues distant. The night shut in extremely dark, and the ships, as they approached the land, were baffled with light and variable winds from the northward and westward. By midnight the Castor had got so far ahead as to be on the starboard bow of the Pompee, but the Latona had not been able to advance beyond the latter's starboard quarter. On the 17th, at2h. 45m. a.m., the Castor shortened sail; and at 3 a. m., when within little more than half a mile of the d'Haupoult's starboard quarter, commenced a fire with her lar board guns. In this Way the action was maintained between an English 12-pounder frigate and a French 74 until 4 a.m.; when, owing to the latter having had frequently to yaw to bring her guns to bear, the Pompee got up. Passing between the Castor and her opponent, the Pompee engaged the d'Haupoult within musket-shot distance, gradually closing until 5 h. 15 m. m2 164 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. a. M. ; when the d'Haupoult ranged ahead, steering before the wind, and became again engaged with the Castor. Before many shot had been exchanged between these unequal antagonists, the Pompee, putting her helm a-port, fired her bow guns at, and was preparing with her broadside to rake, the d'Haupoult; when the French ship, now a complete wreck in rigging and sails, lowered her topsails, hove to, and hauled down her colours. This was a measure which could no longer have been delayed ; for the opening daylight discovered the Neptune, York, and Captain, with the sloops Hazard, Ringdove, and Hawk, about nine miles to the eastward, and the Polyphemus, Ethalion fri gate, and sloops Tweed and Ptecruit, within less than that dis tance to the westward ; all, under a press of canvass, standing for the Pompee, Castor, and their prize, and whom the Latona was now also in the act of joining. Thus terminated a running fight, which had commenced to the southward of Vieux-Fort, Guadaloupe, at 10 p. m. on the 14th of April, and had ended within eight leagues north-east by north of Cape Roxo, Porto- Rico, at 5 h. 15 m. a. m. on the 17th. The Pompee was nearly in as disabled a state, especially in rigging and sails, as the d'Haupoult herself, and had her gaff, mizenmast, main yard, and bowsprit badly wounded, besides having received a number of shot in her hull. The Pompee's loss consisted of her boatswain (Edward Casey), seven seamen, and one marine killed, her captain, first lieutenant (William Bone), one lieutenant of marines (Charles Edward Atkins), 22 seamen, and five private marines wounded. The damages of the Castor were comparatively trifling, and her loss amounted to only one seaman killed and six wounded. The loss of these two ships, added to that of the Neptune and Recruit already stated, makes the total loss on the British side, 10 killed, and 35 wounded. The hull of the d'Haupoult, as is usually the case against British opponents, had suffered more than the appear ance of her sails and rigging indicated ; and the French ship lost, out of a crew of 680 men and boys, between 80 and 90 in killed and wounded, including several officers. In this case there was nothing that could cast the slightest imputation upon the French ship: the d'Haupoult retreated from a superior force, manoeuvred skilfully, and, when at last overtaken, fought bravely. There were periods, probably, when Commodore Troude might have shortened sail and engaged to advantage ; but, doubtless, he considered that, long before he could bring the contest to a favourable issue, Rear-admiral Cochrane and his squadron would be close at his heels; not merely to retake his prize (admitting the French commodore to have taken the Pompee), but to capture one or more of his ships, disabled as, in all likelihood, they would have been. The con duct of the Pompee was such as was expected of her, and the Castor gave proofs of a commendable zeal in closing with so 1809. INTREPID WITH FURIEUSE AND FELICITE. 165 powerful an antagonist ; but what shall we say of the Recruit ? Her behaviour was gallant in the extreme, and was well cal culated to eflace the stain which, not many weeks before, nor many degrees from the same spot, the Driver's conduct had, seemingly, put upon the sloop-class.* Next to the pleasure of recording acts of intrepidity like that performed by the Recruit, is the pleasure of being able to announce that they were appre ciated in the quarter possessing the power to reward them. Sir Alexander Cochrane, with feelings highly honourable to him, appointed Captain Napier to the command of the d'Haupoult. The admiral did this on the spot, and then detached the York and Captain, with two frigates and a sloop of war, in quest of M. Troude ; but who evaded all his pursuers and reached Europe in safety, anchoring, about the middle of May, in the road of Cherbourg. The d'Haupoult was a tolerably fine ship of 1871 tons, and, under the name of Abercromby, cruised for three or four years in the British service. The two armees en flute, Furieuse and Felicite, which we left at anchor in the road of the Saintes, did not get under way until 9 a. m. on the 15th : they then, accompanied by a brig-corvette, stood over for Guadaloupe, chased by the 64-gun ship Intrepid, Captain the Honourable Warwick Lake, one of the Acasta's squadron. At 10 a. m. the Intrepid commenced action with the two French ships, and also with the batteries on shore ; under the protection of which both her opponents soon obtained shelter, leaving the British ship with her masts, yards, rigging, and sails much wounded, and one boat cut from her quarter, chiefly by the heavy shot from Fort-Matilda, but, as far as we can gather, with no loss of men. On the night of the 14th of June these two French frigates, the Furieuse, armed with two long 18, and six long 8-pounders, and 12 carronades, 36-pounders, with a crew, including some military passengers, of about 200 men and boys, commanded by Lieutenant Gabriel-Etienne-Louis Le Marant-Kerdaniel, and the Felicite, armed with 14 long 12-pounders and a crew of 174 men and boys, and both frigates laden with a cargo of colonial produce, escaped from the road of Basse-terre, Guadaloupe, bound to France ; but not unseen by some of the in-shore sloops and brigs of the blockading squadron, one of which, the gun-brig Haughty, Lieutenant John Mitchell, fired several shot at the two frigates. At daylight the whole British squadron went in chase ; but, towards the afternoon, the only ships in sight of the enemy were the 38-gun frigate Latona, Captain Hugh Pigot, and 18-gun ship-sloop Cherub, Captain Thomas Tudor Tucker. The chase of the two French frigates continued all the 15th and 16th and during a part of the 17th ; when they separated. * See p. 151. 166 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809 The Furieuse was pursued by the Cherub, and effected her escape ; but the Felicite found all her efforts unavailing to get from the Latona; who, on the 18th, overtook and captured her with little or no opposition. The Felicite had belonged to the French 36- gun class, and measured about 900 tons ; but, being old and nearly worn out, she was not considered eligible for the British navy. An agent from Christophe at St.-Domingo purchased her, and, after being refitted, the Felicite sailed for Cape- Francois. On the 5th of July, at 3 p. m., in latitude 43° 41' north, and longitude 34° west, the British ship-sloop Bonne-Citoyenne, of 18 carronades, 32-pounders, and two long nines, with a crew, including a few supernumeraries, of 127 men and boys, com manded by Captain William Mounsey, being on her way from Halifax, Nova-Scotia, to Quebec, steering north-west by west with the wind at south, descried, in the west-south-west, a large frigate, in the act of taking possession of an English merchant ship. The Bonne-Citoyenne went immediately in chase of the ship of war, which was no other than the Furieuse, so far ad vanced on her way to Europe. On the sloop's approach, the Furieuse abandoned the merchant ship, and steered, under a press of sail, to the northward, followed by Captain Mounsey ; who, from the French ship's inability to answer the private signal, had already discovered her to be an enemy. At sunset the two ships of war were about five miles apart, striving their utmost to get forward. During the night the Bonne-Citoyenne lost sight of the Furieuse, but, at 3 a. m. on the 6th, again de scried her, at a great distance on the larboard quarter. The Bonne-Citoyenne immediately hauled up on that tack, with the wind now a point or two more easterly than it had been ; and, by 4 a.m., [got within nine or 10 miles of the object of her pursuit. At9h. 10m. a.m. the Furieuse shortened sail, and hauled close upon a wind ; as immediately afterwards did the Bonne- Citoyenne, in eager pursuit. In another 10 minutes the French ship hove to ; and in five minutes more the British ship got alongside and commenced the action, within pistol-shot distance. A smart cannonnade was now mutually kept up ; during which the Furieuse fired away more than 70 broadsides, and the Bonne- Citoyenne 129 ; the latter, alternately from the larboard and the starboard side, as she changed her position to avoid the necessity of slackening her fire from the carronades becoming overheated. This was, however, the case with three, which were dismounted and rendered useless early in the action. After the combat had lasted, in this way, for six hours and 50 minutes, and each ship had become greatly crippled in her masts and rigging ; and after the Bonne-Citoyenne, in particular, had expended nearly the whole of her powder, Captain Mounsey gallantly took a position close athwart the bows of his antagonist, preparatory to boarding 1809. BONNE-CITOYENNE AND FURIEUSE. 167 her with all hands. This bold demonstration decided the affair ; and the Furieuse, at 6 h. 16 m. p. m., struck her colours. The Bonne-Citoyenne had her fore and main topgallantmasts and mizen topmast shot away, her three lower masts badly wounded in several places, and nearly all the standing rigging, and every part of the running rigging, sails, boats, and booms, cut to pieces. With all this serious damage, the Bonne-Citoyenne's loss amounted to only one seaman killed, and four seamen and one marine badly wounded. The Furieuse was in a far more disabled condition. Her topmasts and all her yards, except the cross-jack and sprit-sail, were shot away, and her lower masts reduced to a tottering state: she had also 14 shot-holes between wind and water, and five feet water in the hold. Her loss con sisted of two quartermasters, 27 seamen, and six soldiers killed, her commander, two lieutenants, three midshipmen, four gunner's mates, 19 seamen, one lieutenant of artillery, and seven soldiers, all dangerously wounded ; total, 35 killed and 37 dangerously wounded. The slightly wounded probably amounted to 18 or 20 more. According to the certificate of two of the surviving French officers, the Furieuse commenced the action with 195 men ; but, admitting 35 to be the correct amount of the killed, the ship must have had 213 men, 178 being the number of prisoners that were received out of her. As there may have been a slight mis take in the number of killed, and especially as several of the soldiers consisted of invalids, we shall consider the Furieuse to have had no more than 200 men. compaeativk force op the combatants. Broadside-guns < j, °- Crew No. Size tons BONNE-CITOYENNE. 10 297 127 511 rtmiEUSE. 10 279 200 1085 Few cases occur wherein the usual figure-statement requires less to be left without remarks than the present case. The Furieuse presented herself, at first, in the size and formidable appearance of a full-armed 38 or 40 gun frigate. The Bonne- Citoyenne made sail in chase ; and it was only upon a near approach that she could have discovered, that the 26 maindeck ports of the frigate were but partially filled with guns. After the action had commenced and the rigging of the Furieuse become injured, the frigate's size was rather a disadvantage: it rendered her unwieldy in comparison with tbe Bonne-Citoyenne ; who, even when disabled in her rigging, could manoeuvre much more quickly than her antagonist. With respect, also, to the mutual cannonade, the lowness of the sloop's, and the great height of the frigate's, hull gave a decided advantage to the Bonne- 168 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. Citoyenne ; and to that may be attributed, in a great degree, the comparative impunity with which the latter came out of the action. In resolving to measure his strength with an antagonist of such apparently superior force, Captain Mounsey displayed a highly commendable zeal for the service ; as, in conducting the six hours' engagement to its final, and to him glorious result, he did an equal degree of skill and intrepidity. On the other hand, when it is considered that the French commander and two of his lieutenants (perhaps the only two) lay dangerously wounded, that more than 70 of his people had been placed hors de combat, and his ship battered until she was totally unmanageable and scarcely seaworthy ; that, when thus reduced, a body of British seamen, numerically equal, and, in the sickly state of a portion of the French troops, physically superior, to all his remaining hands, were ready to rush upon his decks : when all these cir cumstances are considered, few persons will think that the flag of the Furieuse could have been kept any longer flying. It was not merely in gaining this victory, that the officers and men of the Bonne-Citoyenne displayed so large a portion of those qualities, by which British seamen have attained their admitted pre-eminence. Much remained to be done. Two crippled ships, one with five feet water in the hold, were to be carried from the middle of the Atlantic to a port of safety. The effective prison ers, too, were more than equal in number to those by whom, during so long a voyage, they were to be kept in subjection. It took the Bonne-Citoyenne until 1 h. 30 m. p. m. on the 7th, and that was by very great exertions, ere she could take her prize in tow and make sail for Halifax, Nova-Scotia. On the 8th, at9h. 30 m. p. m., the main and mizen masts of the Furieuse, no longer able, in their shattered state, to withstand the motion of the sea, fell overboard ; and thus was a ship of 500 tons, herself in a crippled condition, compelled to drag after her a dismasted ship of nearly 1 1 00 tons. The Bonne-Citoyenne did so for 25 days, and anchored with her prize in Halifax. The season of the year, no doubt, was much in her favour: had it been winter, one ship, if not both, would in all probability have foundered. The Furieuse was afterwards purchased for the use of the British navy, and became classed as a 36-gun frigate. When subsequently fitted for sea at Portsmouth, Captain Mounsey, who had been promoted to post-rank the moment his exploit reached the admiralty, was appointed to command her. Lieu tenant Joseph Symes, first of the Bonne-Citoyenne at the capture of the Furieuse, gained also, what he justly merited, a step in his profession. Captain Mounsey, in his official letter, makes honourable mention of his second lieutenant, William Sandom, his master, Nathaniel Williamson, and his purser, John Nicholas C. Scott ; also of two passengers on board the- 1809. BOATS OF SPARTAN, &C OFF PESARO. 169 sloop, Mr. John Black and Mr. Angus M'Auley, who in the handsomest manner volunteered their services, and assisted at the guns, and wherever they could make themselves useful. Steel's monthly Navy-list, until some correspondent caused the mistake to be partially corrected, made the Furieuse of " 50 guns ;" which exceeds, by two, the number Captain Mounsey states the ship to have been pierced for, by six, the number she could have mounted without filling her chase-ports, and, by as many as 30, the number she did actually mount when captured. .The French were very sore at this exaggeration of the force of their frigate, but laid the blame in the wrong quarter. A pub lisher is seldom very, scrupulous on these points; but a British officer, although liable to be charged with every printed mis- tatement magnifying his own action, is too honourable to coun tenance such barefaced cheatery. On the 17th of May, at noon, latitude 44° 6' north, longitude 11° 20' west, the British 10-gun brig-sloop Goldfinch (eight 18- pounder carronades and two sixes, with 75 men and boys), Captain Fitzherbert George Skinner, standing close hauled on the larboard tack with the wind from the north-east by north, discovered and chased a ship directly to windward. This ship was the French corvette Mouche, of 16 long brass 8-pounders and 1 80 men and boys, commanded by Lieutenant de vaisseau Antoine Allegre ; and, although of so decided a superiority of force, M. Allegre suffered himself to be chased all the afternoon and night, and until 3 a. m. on the 18th, when the Goldfinch gallantly brought the Mouche to action. The two vessels con tinued to engage on opposite tacks, but at too great a distance for the brig's carronades to produce their proper effect, until 7 A. M. ; when the corvette, with the head of her fore topmast shot away, made off to windward, leaving the Goldfinch with the loss of three men killed and three severely wounded, and her masts, rigging, and sails a good deal cut up. On the 21st, off the north coast of Spain, the Mouche fell in with the British hired armed lugger Black-Joke, Lieutenant Moses Cannadey, and, after exchanging broadsides with her, stood away for the harbour of San-Andero. Here the Mouche, with a French gun-brig and schooner, was found and captured, on the 10th of June, by the British 38-gun frigates Amelia, Captain the Honourable Frederick Paul Irby, and Statira, Captain Charles Worsley Boys ; who had arrived off that port to co-operate with the Spanish patriots under General Ballesteros in expelling the French from their territory. On the 23d of April, while the British 38-gun frigate Spartan, Captain Jahleel Brenton, 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Amphion, Captain William Hoste, and 28-gun frigate Mercury, Captain the Honourable Henry Duncan, were cruising off the town of Pesaro, in the gulf of Venice, a number of vessels were observed to be lying in the mole. Deeming it practicable to take posses- 170 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. sion of these, Captain Brenton anchored his three frigates, with springs on their cables, within half a mile of the town ; and, having placed the boats of the squadron under the orders of Lieutenant George Wickens Willes, first of the Spartan, and formed them into two divisions, he directed the first division, composed of the launches with their carronades, and other boats carrying field-pieces, and commanded by Lieutenant Charles George Rodney Phillott, first of the Amphion, to take a station to the northward, and the second division, composed of rocket- boats, and commanded by Lieutenant William Augustus Baum- gardt of the Spartan, to the southward, of the town. As soon as these arrangements were made, Captain Brenton sent a flag of truce on shore, to demand the surrender of all the vessels; adding, that should any resistance be offered, the governor must be answerable for the consequences. At 11 h. 30 m. a. m. the officer returned to the Spartan, with a message from the commandant of Pesaro, stating that, in half an hour, the English commodore should have an answer. At the end of 35 minutes, observing no flag of truce flying on shore, but that troops were assembling in the streets and on the quays, and the inhabitants employed in dismantling the vessels, Captain Brenton hauled down the flag of truce, and fired one shot over the town to give warning to the women and children. Shortly afterwards the three frigates and the gun and mortar boats, by signal from the Spartan, opened their fire upon the town. At 32 minutes past noon, observing several flags of truce hung out, Captain Brenton made the signal to cease firing. Lieutenant Willes then pulled into the harbour ; where he was informed that the commandant had made his escape with all the military. Considering the place now as surrendered at discre tion, Captain Brenton sent all the boats to bring out the vessels, and landed the marines under Lieutenant Thomas Moore, of that corps, to protect them. By 6h. 30m. p.m., 13 vessels, deeply laden, were brought off. Several others had been scut tled by the inhabitants and sunk, and some were aground. At 7 p. m. the castle at the entrance ofthe harbour was blown up, under the direction of Lieutenant Willes, and the British returned to their ships without a casualty. Nor was it known that any lives had been lost in the town, except one man, who, from not attending to the warning given him, was buried in the ruins of the castle. On the 2d of May the Spartan and Mercury (the Amphion having been detached) chased two vessels into the port of Cese- natico, the entrance of which is very narrow, and was defended by a battery of two 24-pounders and a castle. Observing that several other vessels were lying in the harbour, Captain Brenton determined to take possession ofthe whole of them. The coast is so shoal, that the two frigates had only four fathoms consi derably out of gun-shot of the town. On this account the boats 1809. BOATS OF SCOUT AT CARRI. 171 were detached ahead and on each bow, to lead in, with directions to make a signal when in three fathoms. In this manner the two frigates, by noon, were enabled to anchor in a quarter three fathoms within grape-range of the battery. The latter was very soon silenced ; and the boats under the orders of Lieutenant Willes, pushed in and took pos session of it, turning the guns upon the castle and town, which were very soon deserted. The British captured on this occasion 12 vessels, some laden with corn for Venice, and others in ballast. The latter were filled with hemp and iron out of the magazines for those articles on the quay, and a vessel which had been scuttled was burnt. The castle and magazine were then blown up, the battery destroyed, and the guns spiked ; and the British returned to their ships without having a single man wounded, although much exposed to the fire of the battery and of musketry. Nor was any damage done to the ships, although, ' in consequence of the zeal of Captain Duncan to get close to the enemy, the Mercury was for a short time aground. On the 14th of June, in the morning, the British 18-gun brig- sloop Scout, Captain William Raitt, discovering a convoy of 14 or 15 sail of vessels, under the protection of two gun-boats, coming round Cape Croisette, made all sail in chase ; but, about 1 p. m., it falling calm, and the convoy being a good deal dis persed, Captain Raitt despatched his boats under the orders of Lieutenant Henry Robert Battersby. On seeing this, seven sail pushed for a. harbour about three leagues to the eastward of the cape, into which the boats proceeded under a heavy and well-directed fire of grape and musketry. Lieutenant Battersby, with a part of his men, landed, and attacked the enemy, who were numerous among the rocks : he then stormed and carried the battery, mounting two 6-pounders in-embrasures. These were spiked ; and, the boats with Lieu tenant John Farrant, Mr. John Batten, the master, and master's mate Granville Thompson, having in the mean time pulled up the harbour, the seven vessels were brought out ; although, for their better security, they had been made fast with ropes from the shore to their mast-beads and keels. In the execution of this service, the British sustained a loss of one man killed and five wounded. On the 14th of July Lieutenant Battersby, at the head of a detachment of the Scout's seamen and marines, attacked a strong battery which commanded the port of Carri, between Marseille and the Rhone ; carried the fort without any loss, spiked the guns, killed five of the enemy, and made seven prisoners. For his gallantry on this and other occasions, Lieu tenant Battersby, in the succeeding September, was promoted to tie rank of commander. On the 12th of March, at 6h. 30 m. A. m., the island of Anti- Paxo in the Adriatic bearing about north distant six or seven .172 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. leagues, the British 12-pounder 36-gun frigate Topaze, Captain Anselm John Griffiths, standing close hauled on the starboard tack with a light breeze from the south-south-east, in company with the 18-gun ship-sloop Kingfisher, Captain Ewell Tritton, discovered, and immediately bore up for, -two strange frigates in the east-north-east. These were the French 40-gun frigates, Danae and Flore. At 6h. 40m. a.m., mistaking, we suppose, the Kingfisher for a larger vessel than she was, the two frigates made all sail north by east. At 10 a. m. they were hull down from the Topaze in the east-north-east, and the Kingfisher was in the south-west between four and five miles off, under all sail in light airs, trying her utmost to close. At 1 1 A. m. the two frigates made sundry signals, and tacked off shore a little to the southward of Pargos. The Topaze then stood within three miles of the strangers, tacked, and hove to ; the Kingfisher at this time eight or nine miles astern, still under all sail, and sweeping. The Danae and Flore then wore and stood in shore again, Anti-Paxo at noon bearing from the Topaze west-north west, distant four or five miles. At 20 minutes past noon the Topaze, with the wind now from north-north-west, wore and again made all sail after the two strangers, evidently frigates mounting from 44 to 48 guns each. At 1 p.m. the Danae and Flore, who were now to windward, passed within, hail of each other, and tacked off the main land. At 2 h. 10 m. p.m. they hoisted French colours, and one of them a broad pendant. In five minutes more the Topaze hoisted her colours and fired a shot at the headmost ship, which the latter returned; and the two frigates exchanged broadsides while passing on opposite tacks. The Topaze then stood on and engaged the sternmost frigate in a similar manner ; and at 3 p. m. tacked from the main. The headmost French frigate at the same moment tacked off Paxo, and was presently followed in the manoeuvre by her consort. At 3 h. 30 m. p. m. the Topaze and her two opponents engaged in crossing each other, the same as before ; the Kingfisher at the distance of six or seven miles, and to leeward. At 4 h. 30 m. the Topaze and the two French frigates again commenced firing on opposite tacks, and continued engaging, at the distance of about a mile and a quarter, until nearly 5 p. m., when the Danae and Flore tacked off Paxo out of gun-shot, and stood up the passage to Corfu under all sail; leaving to a single British frigate, with 12-pounders only, the credit of having obliged them to do so. Shortly afterwards the Topaze bore up and closed the King fisher ; without, as it appears, having sustained any loss in her action with her two very forbearing opponents, although ore French 18-pound shot had gone through the gig, launch, yawl, and the quarterdeck bulwark. Our researches have not enabled us to give the names ofthe captains of these two French frigates ; not, at least, with that degree of certainty which is requisite in a .1809. CYANE OFF 1SCHIA AND PROCIDA. 173 case circumstanced like the present. At all events it is evident, that Captain Griffiths, in chasing and attacking two such opponents, evinced a considerable share of gallantry. On the 31st of May the Topaze, cruising off the coast of Albania, observed nine vessels lying at anchor in the road of Demata, situated behind the reef of rocks under the fortress of St.-Maura. Finding that the ship could not with safety ap proach near enough to capture or destroy them, Captain Griffiths despatched upon that service the boats of the Topaze, under the orders of the first lieutenant, Charles Hammond (whose right hand was nearly useless from a previous wound in cutting out vessels), assisted by the acting master George Garson, Lieu tenants of marines Edward Smith Mercer and William Halsted, and master's mates Henry Packhurst Taylor and Robert Bisset Fenwick. Being obliged to row along outside the reef, and having then to round it, the boats were necessarily exposed, within a musket- shot distance, to the galling fire of the enemy's whole force. Notwithstanding this formidable opposition, Lieutenant Ham mond and his party gallantly pushed on ; and, with so com paratively slight a loss as one marine killed and one seaman slightly wounded, boarded and brought out the whole nine vessels; among which were, one xebec of eight carriage guns and six swivels, with a crew of 55 men, one cutter of four, and one felucca of three guns, and two gun-boats of one gun each. After this act of gallantry performed by Lieutenant Hammond, and the severe wounds which his former services had cost him, we regret to find, by a reference to his name in the list, that he still bears the rank he did 20 years ago. On the 13th of June, at 8 a. m., Cape Bon bearing south-west distant seven miles, the British 38-gun frigate Pomone, Captain Robert Barrie, captured, after a short chase, the Neapolitan pri vateer Lucien-Charles, a new bombard, mounting one long 12, and two long 6 pounders, with a crew of 53 men, commanded, of all things, by a French adjutant-general, and no less a man than the Chevalier Charles-Lucien Prevost de Boissi ; who could also add, to his title of privateer's-man, that of " officier de la legion d'honneur." On the 24th of June Rear-admiral Martin, with the 80-gun ship Canopus, Captain Charles Inglis, 74-gun ships Spartiate and Warrior, Captains Sir Francis Laforey, Bart., and John William Spranger, 22-gun ship Cyane, Captain Thomas Staines, and 18-gun brig-sloop Espoir, Captain Robert Mitford, with a numerous flotilla of British and Sicilian gun-boats, and a fleet of transports with troops, anchored to the northward of the islands of Ischia and Procida, in readiness to make an attack upon them. In the course of the evening, the rear-admiral detached the Cyane and Espoir, with 12 gun-boats, to take a station to the southward of those islands, for the purpose of pre- 174 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. venting any reinforcements or supplies being thrown into them from the main. On the 25th, at 8 a. m., when lying at anchor two miles south by east of the island of Procida, in company with the gun-boats, the Cyane and Espoir discovered a French frigate, a corvette, and several gun-boats, coming out of Pozzuoli bay. The British vessels, by signal from the Cyane, immediately got under way, and, having a light air from the north-east, stood to meet the enemy's vessels ; with what chance of success, had one party been as daring as the other, some account of the force on each side will best explain. The Cyane mounted on her main deck 22 carronades, 32-pounders, and on her quarterdeck and fore castle eight carronades, 18-pounders, and two long sixes, total 32 guns; with a complement, if all were on board, of 175 men and boys. The Espoir mounted the usual armament of her class, 16 carronades, 32-pounders, and two sixes, with 120 men and boys. The French frigate Ceres appears to have been of the same class as the Franco- Venetian frigate Carrere, captured in 1801,* and consequently carried 18-pounders : her total number of guns was at least 42, some accounts say 44, and her complement was about 350 men. The corvette was the Fama, mounting 28 or 30 guns, including 24 long 8, or, according to some accounts, long 12 pounders, with a crew of 260 men. The gun-boats on each side were armed much in the same manner ; each with a long 18 or 24 pounder. At 8 h. 30 m. the Cyane and her consorts fired several broad sides at the French frigate and her consorts ; which fire the latter returned, and then stood in for the land. At 9 h. 40 m. A. m. the firing ceased ; and, on account of the distance at which it had been maintained, with no great effect on either side : the Cyane, however, had her main topgallant yard and some stays shot away. The British ship and brig continued all day cruising between Procida and the main, and at 9 p. m. reanchored off the island. On the same evening Procida surrendered without op position ; as had Ischia in the morning, except a castle on the south-east point of the island, which made a demonstration of resistance, and did not capitulate till some days afterwards. On the night of the 25th, receiving intelligence that a flotilla of gun boats was on its way from Gaeta to the bay of Naples, Rear- admiral Martin detached in that direction the few Sicilian gun boats remaining with him. On the 26th, at 6 h. 25 m. A. m., the Cyane, Espoir, and the British and Sicilian gun-boats in their company, having shortly before weighed, began engaging the French gun-boats, just as they were rounding the point of-Baia. By his prompt and vigorous attack upon the gun -boats and batteries, Captain Staines checked the progress of the flotilla, and enabled the * See vol. iii., p. 96. 1809. CYANE AND CERES. 175 British and Sicilian gun-boats to bring their opponents to close action ; whereby, before 10 a. m., 18 French gun-boats were taken and four destroyed. In this smart affair, the Cyane re ceived 23 shot, in the hull, had her masts, yards, rigging, and sails a good deal cut, and lost one seaman and one boy killed, one master's mate (David Jones) mortally, and six seamen slightly wounded. The Espoir appears to have escaped without any loss whatever. On the same afternoon, observing a flag of truce on a battery near Point Messino, Captain Staines detached the boats to the spot ; and, after spiking four 36-pounders on the battery and de stroying the carriages, the boats took off 15 deserters. At 7 p. m. the Cyane and Espoir, accompanied by 23 Sicilian gun boats, stood into Pozzuoli bay, where the Ceres, Fama, and 12 gun-boats, were lying at anchor. Captain Staines continued working and sounding off the town of Pozzuoli ; and at 8 A. m. on the 27th the Cyane found herself becalmed so near to the shore, that a battery of four guns opened upon her. At 10 A. m., the fire becoming troublesome, Captain Staines embarked in one of the gun-boats, and, leading them to the attack, soon silenced the battery. He then landed with a party of men, spiked four 36-pounders, destroyed the carriages, hove a 10 inch mortar into the sea, and returned to his ship without a casualty. At 5. p. m., finding that the Cyane and Espoir lay becalmed in the offing, and considering the gun-boats in the bight of the bay was no obstacle, the French commodore weighed and put to sea with the Ceres, Fama, and 20 gun-boats, bound to Naples. At 5 h. 42 m. the Cyane made the Espoir's signal to prepare for battle and make all possible sail. At 6 h. 23 m. p. m. the Sicilian gun-boats began annoying the rear of the French gun-boats. At 6 h. 50 m., finding that the Espoir and Sicilian gun-boats were now too far astern to be of much service, and observing that the French frigate was nearly a mile and a half astern of the cor vette, and about the same distance from the French gun-boats, the Cyane manned her sweeps and stood towards the Ceres, then not more than three miles from the mole of Naples. At 7 h. 20 m. p. m. the Cyane succeeded in getting alongside of the French frigate, within half pistol-shot distance, and com menced the action with her. The Ceres, assisted occasionally by the corvette, the gun-boats, and the batteries of Naples, within gun-shot of which she had by this time arrived, returned the Cyane 's fire. At 7 h. 30 m. the Ceres was observed to get a reinforcement of men from Naples. Notwithstanding this, at 7h. 45 m., the frigate hauled down her colours, but rehoisted them on getting a second reinforcement of men. At 8 h. 25 m. p. m, the fire of the Ceres slackened considerably. In two or three minutes more the frigate discontinued firing her maindeck guns ; and at 8 h. 30 m. ceased firing altogether. But, as the Cyane, 176 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. besides having expended all her powder, was at this time ap proaching fast towards the mole-head of Naples, then scarcely a mile and a half distant, Mr. Joseph Miller, the master, upon whom, for the reasons that will shortly appear, the command had devolved, found himself unable to take advantage of the enemy's confusion. This being the case, the Cyane hauled off, with all her sails completely riddled by the enemy's grape and langridge, her standing and running rigging cut' to pieces, her fore and mizen masts badly wounded, 45 round shot in and through her sides, her chain-plates, and several port-timbers destroyed, and four guns disabled from the drawing of the ring-bolts ; also with a loss of one seaman and one marine killed, her captain and first lieu tenant, James Hall (both dangerously), second and only remain ing lieutenant (John Ferrier), one midshipman (John Taylor), 1 1 seamen, four marines, and one boy wounded. The Espoir, who had some share in the latter part of this engagement, sent the gun-boats to the assistance of her* crippled consort, and they towed her out of the bay. On account of her greatly disabled state, the Cyane was immediately sent to England to be refitted. The wound of Captain Staines was indeed a severe one. He lost his left arm out of the socket at the shoulder, and was also wounded in the side. Lieutenant Hall's wounds were in the thigh and arms; and it gratifies us to observe that, in a few months after the very gallant service in which he had been en gaged, he was promoted to the rank of commander. Of the proceedings of the Cyane altogether, in the vicinity of Procida, they are such as do honour to every officer and man who was on board of her ; and, certainly, nobler behaviour than that which Captain Staines displayed on the occasion, we have never had to record. On the 28th of July, in the morning, the British 74-gun ship Excellent, Captain John West, being at an anchor off Triest, discovered an enemy's convoy standing along the northern shore towards that port. With the view of cutting off the vessels, Cap tain West got under way, and took up a position between them and Iheir destined port. Seeing this, the convoy took shelter in Duin, a port four leagues to the north-west of Triest. Having in company with him the 18-gun ship-sloop Acorn, Captain Robert Clephane, and 16-gun brig-sloop Bustard, Captain John Duff Markland, Captain West deemed it practicable to get pos session of this convoy ; and accordingly, at 10 p. m., Captain Cle phane, with the two sloops, and all the boats of the Excellent, under the orders of her first lieutenant, Mr. John Harper, was detached to perform the service. About midnight the boats covered by the Acorn and Bustard, who from her light draught of water led in, pushed through a heavy fire into the harbour ; and, while Captain Robert Cummins, 1809. BOATS OF AMPHION AND CORTELAZZO. 177 of the marines, landed with a small party to dislodge the enemy from the rugged precipices round the port, Lieutenant Harper and his detachment gallantly boarded and carried six Italian gun-boats, three of three long 24, and the remainder of three long 18 pounders; and which gun-boats, along with 10 laden trabaccolos, or coasters, were brought off with no greater loss to the British than the Bustard's master, Mr. Katly Robinson, and seven seamen and marines wounded, one of them mortally. On the 24th of August the British 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Amphion, Captain William Hoste, reconnoitred the port of Cor- telazzo, situated between Venice and Triest, and discovered lying there six Franco-Italian gun-boats, and convoy of merchant trabaccolos, moored in a strong position, under a battery of four 24-pounders, at the mouth of the river Piavie. Finding it impracticable, on account of the shallowness of the water, to enter the port with the frigate, Captain Hoste, having received from a fisherman a very correct account of the force and situation ofthe vessels and battery, resolved to send in his boats. To prevent any suspicion of design, he kept out of sight of land until the evening of the 26th; when, crowding all sail the Amphion stood in shore, and at 1 a. m. on the 27th anchored off the entrance of the Piavie. At 3 a. m. a detachment of 70 seamen and marines, commanded by Lieutenant Phillott, assisted by Lieutenant George Matthew Jones, and Lieutenant of marines Thomas Moore, landed about a mile to the southward of the battery ; leaving Lieutenant Wil liam Slaughter, with the boats, to push for the river the instant the fort wras carried. At 3 h. 15 m. a. m. the alarm was given ; and at the same instant Lieutenant Phillott and his party attacked the fort. So vigorous was the assault, that, in 10 minutes, although surrounded by a ditch and a chevaux de frize, the fort was carried, and the concerted signal made forthe boats to advance. The four 24-pounders on the battery were instantly turned upon the gun-boats, which were also attacked by a fire of musketry from Lieutenant Moore and his marines. Thus assailed, the gun boats were boarded and carried, after a slight opposition, by the Amphion's boats under Lieutenant Slaughter. Four of the gun-boats mounted one long 24-pounder each, and two of them, of a larger description mounted each one long 24-pounder in the bow and one long 12-pounder in the stern, with four swivels along the gunwale, and a crew of 36 men. Two trabaccolos with cargoes were taken, and five burnt. Having spiked the guns at the battery, and totally destroyed it, together with an adjacent barrack, Lieutenant Phillott and his detachment re-embarked at 1 p. m., with so slight a loss as one marine acci- dently wounded by an explosion, and that not badly, after the battery and vessels had been captured. In addition to the officers already named, there were present in this very gallant and important exploit, master's mates Joha vol. v. N 178 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. Dalling and Thomas Boardman, midshipmen Joseph Gape, Charles Henry Ross, George Castle, Charles Henry Kempthorn, William Lee Rees, and Charles Bruce, and first-class volunteers, or boys, Thomas Edward Hoste, Francis George Farewell, and Robert Spearman; also surgeon's assistant Jonathan Angas. For his distinguished behaviour on this and on several previous occasions, Lieutenant Phillott wras immediately promoted to the rank of commander. On the 1st of April in the evening, the British 28-gun frigate Mercury, Captain the Honourable Henry Duncan, detached her boats, under the orders of Lieutenant Watkin Owen Pell, assisted by Lieutenant Robert James Gordon, Mr. Richard Hildyard the master, Lieutenant of marines James Whylock, Jeremiah Crawley the carpenter, George Anderson captain's clerk, mid shipmen John Sterling, John Wilkes, William Parker, and Charles Adam, and Mr. Robert Williams acting surgeon, to cut out from the port of Rovigno, on the coast of Istria, two Franco- Italian gun-boats moored close to two heavy batteries. After dark the boats pulled into the harbour, the entrance of which is not more than 100 yards wide ; and, under a very heavy fire of great guns and musketry, they boarded and carried, although fully prpoared with boarding-nettings triced up to her mast-bead, the g-.A-boat Leda, of one long 24-pounder and six large swivels, commanded by a French enseigne de vaisseau. The other gun-boat, similarly armed, was lying close to her, and would also have been captured ; had not a fog unexpectedly come on, which completely deranged the plan of attack, and obliged the boats to tow the prize out under the additional fire of five guns, mounted upon an island that was to have been stormed by the marines. In this very gallant affair, the British had one seaman killed, and Lieutenant Pell, who had previously lost a leg in the service, wounded severely in two places, and three seamen wounded slightly. On the 15th of May the Mercury anchored within half gun shot, in four fathoms, and cannonaded the town of Rotti, near Manfredonia. After pouring in a few broadsides, Captain D uncan sent in a boat's crew and a party of marines under Lieutenant Gordon, who landed and destroyed seven trabaccolos which had been hauled on shore, and returned to the ship with no other loss than himself severely wounded by an explosion of gunpowder while burning one of the vessels. On the night of the 7th of September, the boats of the Mer cury, under the orders of Lieutenant Pell, assisted by Lieutenant Gordon, Lieutenant Whylock of the marines, Mr. Sandell the gunner, and Mr. Anderson captain's clerk, each of whom com manded a boat, went into the harbour of Barletta near Manfre donia, and boarded and carried, in a very gallant style, the French national schooner Pugliese, mounting five 6, and two 18 pounders, with 31 men on board, commanded by an enseigne da 1809. MELPOMENE AND DANISH GUN-BOATS. 179 vaisseau. Although the schooner fired as the boats approached was moored with eight cables inside, almost touched the mole lined with musketry, and was within musket-shot of a castle mounting eight guns, and of two armed feluccas, from under the fire of which the Pugliese was towed without rudder or sails, so judiciously and promptly was the attack made by Lieutenant Pell, that not a man of his party was hurt. On the 11th of May the British 38-gun frigate Melpomene, Captain Peter Parker, chased a Danish man-of-war cutter, of six guns, on shore at Huilbo, a harbour in Jutland. The Mel pomene immediately anchored in 19 fathoms, and despatched her boats, under the orders of Lieutenants James Hanway Plum- ridge and George Rennie, to destroy the cutter. The boats, covered by the fire of the Melpomene, completely effected their object under a galling fire from the enemy, but not without loss, Lieutenant Rennie, two seamen, and three^marines having been severely wounded. On the 15th of May the British 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Tartar, Captain Joseph Baker, chased on shore near Felixberg, on the coast of Courland, a Danish sloop-privateer of four guns ; the crew of which, 24 in number, landed with their muskets, and, being joined by some ofthe country people, posted them selves behind the sand-hills near the beach. Captain Baker immediately sent the Tartar's boats, under the orders of Lieu tenants Thomas Sykes and Frederick Augustus Hargood Parker, to board the vessel and bring off or destroy her. The British boarded the privateer without loss, and, by turning her guns upon the beach, soon dislodged the party posted there. But the Danes, before they abandoned their vessel, had most disho nourably placed a lighted candle in a 12-pounder cartridge in the magazine, where lay several hundred weight of powder. Fortunately one of the Tartar's men discovered the light, and, with wonderful presence of mind, grasped the candle in his hand just as it had burnt within half an inch of the powder. Another minute, and all on board and alongside of the vessel would have been blown to destruction. On the 23d of May, at 10 h. 30m. p.m., it being very dark, the British 38-gun frigate Melpomene, now commanded by Cap tain Frederick Warren, lying at single anchor in the Great Belt off Omoe island, nearly becalmed, discovered several large boats, standing towards her. The frigate immediately cleared for action, and at 1 1 p. m. commenced an engagement with about 20 sail of Danish gun-boats. Finding it impossible to bring her guns to bear with any effect while at anchor, and a light air of wind just then springing up, the Melpomene cut her cable, and made sail to close her opponents. In this way the action con tinued until 1 h. 15 m. a. m. on the 30th ; when the gun-boats began to slacken their fire, and presently pulled away from the frigate with all their strength. The wind still continuing light, n2 180 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGE SHIPS. 1809. the Melpomene was unable to proceed in chase ; and her indi vidually small, but collectively formidable, antagonists got back to their port. The long 1 8 and 24 pounders of the Danes had produced a very serious effect both upon the materiel and the personnel of the British frigate : her sails and rigging of every sort were cut to pieces ; her mizenmast so badly wounded as to require to be fished ; her bumpkin shot away, and her hull, both above and below water, greatly shattered. The loss on board the Mel pomene amounted to four seamen and one marine killed, and 29 officers, seamen, and marines wounded. What loss was sustained on the part of the Danes, we are unable to show ; but it was pro bably of no very great amount, the darkness of the night con cealing the gun-boats from view, and the calm state of the weather enabling them to take a position out of the reach of the frigate's broadside. Captain Warren, his officers, and crew behaved in the bravest manner ; and, as a proof that their ship was really in the shattered state we have described, the Mel pomene, on her return to England in two or three months after wards, was put out of commission as a cruising frigate. On the 19th of June the British 74-gun ship Bellerophon, Captain Samuel Warren, cruising off the coast of Swedish Fin land in company with the Minotaur 74, Captain John Barrett, was detached by the latter off Hango. At sunset the Bellero phon discovered a lugger, apparently armed, and two other vessels, at anchor within the islands. Deeming it of importance to get hold of them, Captain Warren anchored, and detached the boats of the Bellerophon, under the orders of Lieutenant Robert Pilch, assisted by Lieutenants John Sheridan and George Ben- tham, Lieutenant of marines Alfred Octavius Carrington, and Mr. Mart the ship's carpenter, all volunteers. The party met no opposition in getting possession of the vessels ; but, being found of no value, they were abandoned, especially as they lay within gun-shot of four strong batteries, not before observed, and of several gun-boats. It was now judged necessary, to prevent loss in returning, to dash at the nearest battery, which mounted four 24-pounders, and was garrisoned by 103 men. After an obstinate resistance, this battery was carried in the most gallant manner, the Russians retreating to some boats that lay on the opposite side of the island. The guns were spiked and the magazine destroyed, and the British got back to their ship with so comparatively slight a loss as five men wounded. On the 7th of July, as a British squadron, composed of the 74-gun ships Implacable, Captain Thomas Byam Martin, and Bellerophon, Captain Samuel Warren, 38-gun frigate Melpomene, Captain Peter Parker, and 18-gun ship sloop Prometheus, Captain Thomas Forrest, was cruising on the coast of Finland, a Russian flotilla of gun-boats and merchant vessels was observed at anchor under Porcola Point. The gun-boats were eight in 1809. BOAT-ATTACKS ON THE BALTIC. 181 number, each armed with one long 24 and one long 30 pounder, and manned with 46 men. The position they had taken was of extraordinary strength, being betwixt two rocks, which served as a cover to their wings, and whence a destructive fire of grape could be poured upon any boats that should assail them. Not withstanding this, it was resolved to attempt the capture or des truction of the flotilla ; and Lieutenant Joseph Hawkey, first of the Implacable, was gratified with the command of the Enter- prize, to consist of the boats of the four ships, 17 in number, con taining about 270 officers and men. Among the officers em ployed, were the following: Lieutenants William Houghton and Frederick Vernon, and Lieutenants of marines James Thomas Cracknell and James Clarke, of the Implacable ; Lieutenants Charles Allen, John Sheridan, and John Skekel, and Lieute nants of marines George Kendall and Alfred Octavius Car rington, of the Bellerophon ; Lieutenant George Rennie, Lieu tenant of marines Robert Gilbert, and midshipman John B. Mounteney, of the Melpomene ; and Lieutenant James Stirling, of the Prometheus. At 9 p. m. the boats proceeded to the attack, and, regardless of the heavy fire opened upou them in their advance, pushed on, not firing a musket until they touched the sides of the gun boats; when the British seamen and marines boarded, sword in hand, and carried all before them. Of the eight gun-boats, six were captured, one was sunk, and one escaped ; and the whole 12 merchant vessels under their protection, and which were laden with powder and provisions for the Russian army, were also captured, together with a large armed ship. The latter was burnt, but the other vessels were brought safe out. This truly gallant exploit was not accomplished without a serious loss. Lieutenant Hawkey, the commanding officer of the detachment, having taken one gun-boat, was killed by a grape-shot while in the act of boarding the second ; and the last words of this gallant young man were : " Huzza ! push on, England for ever !" Captain Martin, in his letter to Vice-admiral Sir James Saumarez, thus eloquently touches upon the merits of Lieutenant Hawkey : " No praise from my pen can do adequate justice to this lamented young man; as an officer, he was active, correct, and zealous, to the highest degree ; the leader in every kind of enterprise, and regardless of danger, he delighted in whatever could tend to promote the glory of his country." The next officer, Lieutenant Charles Allen, of the Bellerophon, as sumed the command of the party, and completed the business in the successful manner already described. The whole of the loss on the British side amounted to two lieuteriants (Messrs. Hawkey and Stirling), one midshipman (Mr. Mounteney), one second master (Benjamin Crandon), eight seamen, and five marines killed,] and one boatswain (Matthew Vesey), 25 seamen, and 11 marines wounded. Among 182 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. the loss acknowledged to have been sustained by the Russians were 63 killed. A great many of the Russian seamen escaped on shore, and several perished in the attempt ; and, of the 127 prisoners taken, 51 were wounded. On the 25th of July Captain Charles Dudley Pater, com manding a British squadron, composed of his own ship the Princess-Caroline 74, the Minotaur, of the same force, Captain John Barrett, 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Cerberus, Captain Henry Whitby, and 18-gun ship-sloop Prometheus, Captain Thomas Forrest, permitted the latter toj lead the boats of the squadron, 17 in number, to the attack of four Russian gun-boats and an armed brig, lying at Fredericksham, near Apso roads, in the gulf of Finland. After dark the boats, commanded by Captain Forrest, who was assisted by, among other officers, Lieutenants James Bashford of the Princess-Caroline, John James Callenan, and Lieutenants of marines William Wilkin, of the Minotaur, Lieutenants Robert Pettet and John Simpson, of the Cerberus, and Gawen Forster and Thomas Finnimore, of the Prometheus, pushed off fromthe squadron, and at lOh. 30m. t. m. commenced the attack. After a most desperate and san guinary conflict, three of the gun-boats, mounting two long 18-pounders each, and having on board between them 137 men, besides an armed transport brig, with 23 men, were captured and brought off. Costly, indeed, were the prizes. The British loss amounted to one lieutenant (John James Callenan), one second lieutenant of marines (William Wilkin), one midshipman (Gordon Car rington), and six seamen and marines killed ; Captain Forrest himself, one ieutenant (Gawen Forster), three midshipmen (George Elvey, Thomas Milne, and John Chalmers), and 46 seamen and marines wounded. The Russians, on their side, acknowledged a loss of 28 killed and 59 wounded ; making a total of 47 men killed and 110 wounded, in obtaining "possession of three gun-boats. One of these gun-boats, No. 62, was so obstinately defended, that every man of her crew, 44 in number, was either killed or wounded before she surrendered : the killed alone amounted to 24. The result of this enterprise was a defeat to the Russians certainly, but under circumstances that reflected the brightest honour upon the character of their navy. For the gallantry, he had shown on the occasion, Captain For rest was promoted to post-rank. On the 12th of August the British 18-gun ship-sloop Lynx, Captain John Willoughby Marshall, and gun-brig Monkey, Lieutenant Thomas Fitzgerald, being off Dais head on the Danish coast, discovered and chased a lugger, and on standing in-shore discovered two others at an anchor. The latter got under way, and, with the one first seen, hoisted Danish colours, and reanchored in line within the reef off Dais head. The water being too shoal to admit the Lynx to get within gun-shot 1809. DIANA AND ZEPHYR. 183 of these luggers, Captain Marshall, at 4 p.m., detached the Monkey, accompanied by the boats of the Lynx under Lieu tenant Edward Kelly, to make an attack upon them. On the approach of the brig, the luggers, the largest of which mounted four guns and four howitzers and lay with sprino-s on her cable, opened a fire upon her. The Monkey reserved her fire until she had anchored about half gun-shot from them ; at which moment, owing to the intricacy of the navigation, the brig took the ground, but was presently got off without damage. The Monkey then opened her fire, and at the second broadside compelled the three luggers to cut their cables and run on shore. The Danes now attempted to scuttle their vessels ; but, by the well-directed fire of the 18-pounder carronade mounted in the Lynx's launch, they were prevented from doing so, and the vessels were promptly boarded, and their guns turned upon their retreating crews. The British then proceeded to get the three luggers afloat, and by 5 a. m. on the 13th, brought them all out without the slightest casualty. This was peculiarly fortunate, as a cask of powder was discovered on board the largest lugger, close to the fire-place, where it had been put by the Danes with the evident intention of blowing up the vessel. On the 10th of September, in the afternoon, the British gun- brig Diana, of 10 long 6-pounders and 45 men and boys, Lieu tenant William Kempthorne, standing into the bay of Amarang on the north end ofthe Dutch island of Celebes, discovered the Dutch brig of war Zephyr, of 14 long Dutch 6-pounders and 45 men and boys, commanded by Captain- lieutenant Gillet Van- der-Veld, lying at anchor close under a fort, with two cables fast to the shore. As the sea-breeze was blowing fresh into the bay, Lieutenant Kempthorne did not think it prudent to attack the brig in that position, but resolved to attempt cutting her out at night with the boats, when the wind would probably blow off the land. The Diana, accordingly, beat about the bay, disguised as a merchant brig ; and, as soon as it became dark, Lieutenant Kempthorne detached the strength of his little crew to execute the hazardous service of cutting out the Dutch brig of war, keeping close after the boats with the Diana to be ready to give them support. After a fruitless search of two hours, the boats returned without having been able to find the brig. It imme diately struck Lieutenant Kempthorne that, as the night was dark and hazy, and the land wind blew fresh, the Zephyr had made sail with the intention of sheltering herself under a strong fort in the bay of Monado at a short distance to the northward. The Diana immediately hoisted in her boats, and made all sail in that direction. On the 11th, at daylight, the Dutch brig was discovered hull down ahead : but, although the Diana gained fast upon her, the Zephyr got under cover of the fort, when the British brig was still three miles off. As the sea-breeze had set in with 184 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. great violence, and there was every appearance of a gale, the Dutch captain did not like to anchor on a lee shore. The Ze phyr, accordingly, came to the wind and stood out towards the Diana. Lieutenant Kempthorne, with the view of drawing the Dutch brig beyond the reach of the fort, now practised every means to retard the Diana's sailing, so as to allow the Zephyr gradually to overtake her. However, when about nine miles from the fort, the Dutch brig wore and stood in again ; and, deception being no longer available, the Diana wore and stood after her. At 4h. 30 m., just as the Zephyr had got within four miles of Monado fort, the land-breeze, which was unusually early, came off, and, taking the brig aback, compelled her to fill on the larboard tack. At the same time the Diana, still feeling the influence ofthe sea-breeze, came rapidly up, till she got within half gun-shot on her opponent's lee beam, when the British brig also filled on the larboard tack, with the land wind. The Diana immediately opened her fire, and the Zephyr returned it. In about 20 minutes, in order to get nearer to the fort, the latter wore round on the star board tack. The Diana followed the manoeuvre, and the two brigs renewed the engagement on the starboard tack. After the action had continued in this way about 40 minutes, the Ze phyr, who had just had her gaff and main topgallantmast shot away, encouraged by the appearance of five gun-boats sweeping off to her assistance, ran down within pistol-shot on the weather beam of her opponent. Having shortly afterwards had both maintopsail sheets shot away, the Zephyr dropped nearly along side ofthe Diana; whose crew were preparing to board, when, at about 5h. 40m. p.m., the Dutch brig hauled down her co lours. The Diana instantly took her prize in tow ; and, wear ing, stood towards the gun-boats, who were then sweeping down in line upon her weather beam, and closing fast. After receiv ing a few shot, however, from the Diana, the Dutch gun-boats put about and left the British brig in undisturbed possession of her prize. Notwithstanding that this action had lasted altogether one hour and 10 minutes, the Diana sustained no damage of the least consequence, and had not a man of her crew hurt. The Zephyr, on the other hand, was tolerably cut up in masts and rigging, and had her first lieutenant and four men killed, and seven or eight men wounded. For the judgment, as well as gallantry, he had displayed, from his first descrying this Dutch brig to the moment at which he secured her as his prize, Lieu tenant Kempthorne was promoted to the rank of commander. On the 17th of October, at daylight, the British 18-gun ship sloop Hazard, Captain Hugh Cameron, and 18-gun brig-sloop Pelorus, Captain Thomas Huskisson, cruising off Pointe-a-Pitre, island of Guadaloupe, observed a privateer-schooner moored un der the battery of Sainte-Marie. Captain Cameron immediately despatched the boats, under the orders of Lieutenant James Ro. 1809. BOATS OF THE THETIS, &C. 185 bertson and Edward Flinn, first of each sloop, assisted by mid shipmen John S. Brisbane and Hugh Hunter, and William Fergusson boatswain, of the Hazard, and Eleazer Scott, mid shipman of the Pelorus, to capture or destroy the privateer ; and the ship and brig stood in to cover them. Although opposed, as they approached the shore, by a heavy fire of grape from the battery until it was silenced by the ships, and of grape and musketry from the privateer until they were nearly alongside, the boats pushed on, and gallantly boarded the vessel ; the officers and crew of which, a minute or two before, had abandoned her and joined the long line of musketry on the beach. As the privateer, which mounted one long 18- pounder on a traversing carriage and two swivels, was moored to the shore with a chain from the mast-head and from each quarter, Lieutenant Robinson found it impracticable to get the vessel off. He and his party then proceeded to burn her ; and, although opposed within 10 yards by musketry on the beach and two field-pieces, the British succeeded in blowing up the French privateer. This very gallant enterprise was not per formed without a serious loss ; six seamen and marines having been killed, and Lieutenant Flinn 'and Mr. Fergusson the Ha zard's boatswain, much burnt at the explosion of the vessel, and seven seamen and marines wounded severely and slightly by the enemy's grape and musketry. On the 12th of December, whilst the British 38-gun frigate Thetis, Captain George Miller, in company with the 16-gun brig- sloop, Pultusk, Captain William Elliott, 10-gunbrig-sloop Achates, Captain Thomas Pinto, gun-brig Attentive, Lieutenant Robert Carr, and armed schooner Bacchus, Lieutenant Charles Deyman Jermy, was cruising off the north-west part of Guadaloupe, the French 16-gun brig-corvette Nisus, Capitaine de fregate Jacques- Gabriel La Netrel, was observed lying at an anchor in the har bour of Hayes, under the protection of a fort. Captain Miller re solved to attempt cutting out this vessel, and for that purpose sent the boats ofthe Thetis, two sloops, and Bacchus, with the whole of their marines and a detachment of their seamen, under the order of Captain Elliott, assisted by Lieutenant Nathaniel Bel- chier, and by lieutenants of marines John Godfrey Ruell and Jervis Cooke. The British landed in the evening without opposition, and proceeded, with considerable difficulty, through a thick wood and over a high hill, without any path or guide, till they reached the rear of the fort ; which Captain Elliott and his party at tacked and carried in the most gallant manner, forcing the gar rison, represented to have amounted to 300 men, to retreat. Leaving Lieutenant Belchier to dismantle and destroy the bat tery, a service he effectually performed, Captain Elliott, sup ported by the squadron, but particularly by the Attentive, who entered a narrow harbour and maintained for upwards of six 186 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. hours, a close and vigorous cannonade, proceeded to attack, and very soon boarded and carried, the corvette. To add to the value of this service, it was executed with so slight a loss as one seaman and one marine of the party on shore, and two seamen on board the Attentive, wounded. The Pultusk had also a con siderable share in the cannonade, and received into her larboard side amidships, a hot shot or carcass from the battery, which, although a foot under water, continued burning until a plug was driven into the hole. The Nisus had sailed from Lorient on the 30th of October with a cargo of flour, had arrived at the Hayes on the 1st of December, and, when captured, was again ready for sea with a cargo of coffee. Being a fine brig of 337 tons, the Nisus was added to the British navy under the appropriate name of Gaude loupe, or Gaudaloupe, as the name is spelt in the lists. On the 14th the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Melampus, Captain Edward Hawker, cruising off Guadaloupe, after a chase of 28 hours, captured the French 16-gun brig-corvette Bearnais, of 109 men and boys, commanded by Lieutenant de vaisseau Louis-Charles-Gaspard Bonnefoy-de-Monthazin ; who did not surrender till he had one man killed and several wounded, and had wounded two men on board the Melampus. The Bearnais was from Bayonne bound to Guadaloupe, with flour and warlike stores ; and, being a brig exactly similar in size to the Nisus, was added to the British navy under the name of Curieux, the former brig-sloop of that name having recently been wrecked in the West Indies. On the 17th, close in with the island of Sante-Cruiz, another French brig-corvette, of the same class as the Bearnais and Nisus, the Papillon, commanded by Capitaine de fregate Thomas-Joseph Lamourex de la Genetiere, was captured after a 38 hours' chase, but without, as it appears, the slightest resist ance, by the British 18-gun ship-sloop Rosamond, Captain Benjamin Walker. The Papillon mounted, like the rest of her class, 14 carronades, 24-pounders, and two sixes, with, including 30 troops, a crew of 110 men and boys ; had been 33 days from Bordeaux, and was carrying a cargo of flour to Guadaloupe. Being a fine brig of 343 tons, and only two years old, the Papillon was added to the British navy under the same name. On the 13th of December, at 1 p. m., latitude 17 18' north, and longitude 57° west, as the British 38-gun frigate Junon, Captain John Shortland, in company with the 16-gun brig-sloop. Observateur, Captain Frederick Augustus Wetherall, was lying to boarding an American ship, four large ships made their appearance to the northward. These were the French 40-gun frigates Renommee, Commodore Francois Roquebert, and Clo- rinde, Captain Jacques Saint-Cricq ; having under their convoy the two armees en flute and late 40-gun frigates Loire and Seine, commanded by Lieutenants de vaisseau Joseph Normand-Kergre 1809. JUNON WITH RENOMMEE AND CONSORTS. 187 and Bernard Vincent, mounting 20 guns each (iron 36-pounder carronades and long 18-pounders), and laden with troops and military stores for Guadaloupe; with which, on the 15th of the preceding month, they had sailed from Nantes. The Junon and Observateur immediately made sail in chase, and at 4 p. m. discovered that the strangers were frigates. Soon afterwards, having cleared for action, the British frigate and brig hoisted their colours, and the Junon fired several guns to induce the strangers to show theirs. At 5 p. m., approaching near, the Junon made the private signal : on which the Renom mee first, and then her consorts, hoisted Spanish colours, but showed no disposition to bring to. The British frigate, still bearing down, now hoisted the Spanish private signal, a blue pendant at the fore and a ball at the main ; when, almost imme diately, the Renommee hoisted a red flag with a white cross at the fore, which was the proper answer to the signal. Thus deceived, the Junon continued to approach the four French frigates; until, at 5h. 30m. p.m., the latter shortened sail and hauled their wind in line of battle on the larboard tack. The Junon immediately shortened sail also ; and, when about a quarter of a mile to windward of the French squadron, the Renommee, who was the leading frigate, hauled down the Spanish and hoisted French colours, and poured a destructive broadside into the starboard bow ofthe British frigate. Finding, from the state of her rigging, that it was impossible to escape to windward, the Junon ran under the stern of the Renommee and raked her. The Observateur, about the same time, discharged her starboard broadside at the French frigate's bows, but at too great a distance for the brig's carronades to do execution. Meanwhile the Clorinde, the second astern to the Renommee, had hauled close to the wind, and now ran nearly foul of the Junon on her starboard side. In this position a spirited cannonade ensued for upwards of 10 minutes, to the apparent disadvantage of the Clorinde ; when the Renommee, who, after having been raked by her opponent, had wore to avoid a repetition of the salute, ran foul ofthe Junon on her lar board side. As if these two French frigates were not sufficient to overpower the single British frigate, the Seine and Loire stationed themselves, one ahead, the other astern, of the Junon ; and the troops on board of each, particularly of the Loire, who lay with her bowsprit over the British frigate's larboard quarter, kept up a most destructive fire of musketry, which nearly cleared the Junon 's quarterdeck of both officers and men. It was at about this time that Captain Shortland had his leg broken by a grape-shot, and was also badly wounded by splinters. The command of the ship, in consequence, devolved upon Lieutenant Samuel Bartlett Deecker. The Clorinde now attempted to board the Junon on the starboard quarter, but was most gallantly repulsed by a few men led on by Lieutenant John 188 , LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. Green of the marines, who nobly fell in the struggle. The Renommee would probably have made a similar attempt on the opposite side ; but the Junon, dropping her foresail, shot ahead, clear of her two opponents. The latter, however, were not slow in regaining their position, and, boarding the Junon simulta neously, one on each side, took possession of the British frigate, which had by this time fought her four opponents more than 45 minutes, the whole of the time, with two of them at least, yard- arm and yard-arm. The Junon was cut to pieces in her hull and lower masts ; and, out of her reduced crew of 224 men and boys, of whom 44 were Spaniards and Portuguese, she lost 20 officers and men killed and 40 wounded. The Observateur, who had hauled her wind as soon as she saw what was likely to be the fate of her consort, suffered neither damage nor loss. The Renommee, as acknow ledged by Captain Roquebert, had, out of her 360 men and boys, 15 men killed and only three wounded ; and the Clorinde, whose complement was the same, six killed and 15 wounded ; total, 21 killed and 18 wounded. The two armees en flute, each of which had on board, including 200 troops, about 400 men and boys, owing to their safe position during the engagement, escaped, it appears, without any loss whatever. In so shattered a state was the Junon at the time she surrendered, that her captors, despair ing of getting their prize into port, although Guadaloupe, the island to which they were bound, was at no great distance to leeward, quickly removed the prisoners and set the ship on fire. The Junon had on board her French guns, 46 in number,* and the Renommee and Clorinde were each armed exactly the same as she was. Commodore Roquebert is honourable enough to say of his antagonist, " Le capitaine anglais, a manoeuvre sa fregate avec autant de courage que d'habilete ; mais il lui etait devenu impossible de nous echapper."+ It is somewhat strange, however, that the French captain should refer to the Loire and Seine no otherwise than as, without naming them, «," les transports que nous convoyons," and should not state that they took the slightest part in the action. We hope, for the sake of consistency in M. Roquebert, that the minister of marine, or the supervisor of official letters, has been the cause of so important an omission. What is there in this action, that the account of it should have been denied a place in the usual depository of naval and military achievements, the London Gazette? Here is a British frigate defending herself against four ships, each of two of them her equal in guns, and greatly her superior in men, until she loses more than a fourth of her crew in killed and wounded, * Seep. 152. t " Trois," Moniteur, February 3, 1810 ; probably a misprint for" vingt- trois." „ 1809. JUNON WITH RENOMMEE AND CONSORTS; 189 and inflicts upon her two principal antagonists a loss two thirds as heavy as that which she suffers herself ; thus combining, what is not always found united, even in a British ship, a high degree of gallantry with an equal share of practical skill. But the Junon's affair was a defeat. Was not the affair ofthe Blanche a defeat, a far less honourable defeat? Yet Captain Mudge was fortunate enough to get his long letter blazoned in the Gazette, and circulated all over the kingdom. As far as our humble efforts can prevail, justice shall yet be done to the officers and crew of the Junon ; and these pages at least shall tell, of the brave defence maintained by that frigate against a force more than trebly superior to her own. On the 15th, at 1 p. m., the Observateur arrived off Basse terre, Guadaloupe ; and, having telegraphed the 38-gun frigate Blonde, Captain Volant Vashon Ballard, that five French frigates (Captain Wetherall not having witnessed the destruction of the Junon) were within six hours sail of her, stood on under a press of canvass towards Martinique. Captain Ballard, having then in his company the 38-gun frigate Thetis, Captain George Miller, and the 18-gun ship-sloops Hazard and Cygnet, Captains Hugh Cameron and Edward Dix, immediately made all sail for the channel between the Saintes and Guadaloupe, down which he expected the enemy would pess. On the next day, the 16th, Captain Ballard was joined by the 18-gun brig-sloops Scorpion and Ringdove, Captains Francis Stanfell and William Dowers ; and at 8 p. m. he detached the Hazard and Ringdove to reconnoitre Basse-terre. On the 17th, at 4 a.m., the Blonde and Thetis were joined by the 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Castor, Captain William Roberts, with important information. On the 15th, at 3 h. 30 m. p. m., the island of Desirade bearing south-south-east distant 11 miles, the Castor had recaptured the ship Ariel, of Liverpool, taken on the 4th, by the Renommee, and her three consorts, and sOon afterwards fell in with, and was chased by, the French frigates themselves ; two of which, the Seine and Loire, being light rigged, were considered to be corvettes. The four ships afterwards lay to. At daylight the Blonde and squadron, then nearly abreast of Basse-terre, descried two strange ships to the northward. These were the Loire and Seine, which, just as the Castor had lost sight of them, had separated from the Renommee and Clorinde, and were now making the best of their way to Basse-terre. The British ships instantly proceeded in chase ; and at 8 a.m. the two French ships, finding themselves cut off from their port, steered along the coast to the north-west. At 10 a. m. they entered a cove named Anse la Barque, situated about three leagues to the north-west~of Basse-terre. Here the two French ships anchored head and stern, with their broadsides to the sea, and under the protection of a battery on each point of the bay or cove. 190 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. At 2 h. 40 m. p.m. a battery on Pointe Lizard, a little to the southward of Anse la Barque, fired repeatedly at the British squadron, and presently sent a shot right through the hull of the Ringdove, who was then close in shore nearly becalmed. Captain Dowers immmediately embarked with a party in his boats; at 2h. 55m. landed ; at 3 p.m. stormed and" carried the fort; at 3h. 15m. p. m. spiked the guns, destroyed the works, and blew up the magazine ; and at 4 p. m. returned to the Ring dove without the slightest casualty. In the evening, being resolved to attack the French frigates and batteries, Captain Ballard sent the 12-gun schooner Elizabeth, Lieutenant Charles Finch, towards Anse la Barque, to try for an anchorage, and followed with the Blonde, to cover her from the enemy's fire. At 8 p. m. the Blonde opened a fire upon the battery, and was fired at in return. The schooner found anchorage, and she and the Blonde stood out without any material damage. On the same evening the 36-gun frigate Freija, Captain John Hayes, joined company from Martinique. On the 18th, at 8 h. 30 m. a.m., a flag of truce came off from the shore ; and at the same time the 74-gun ship Sceptre, Captain Samuel. James Ballard, from Fort-Royal, Martinique, joined company. Commodore Ballard instantly dismissed the flag of truce, and made preparations for an immediate attack upon the French frigates. The plan, as given out in orders, was for the Blonde to lead in, followed by the Thetis ; which two frigates were to anchor abreast of and engage the two French frigates, while the Sceptre and Freija cannonaded the batteries. The Hazard, Cygnet, Ringdove, and Elizabeth, in the mean time, were to take the armed boats of the squadron in tow. Owing to light airs and calms, the Blonde and Thetis found a great difficulty in nearing the shore. At 2 h. 25 m. p. m. one of the forts commenced firing on the British frigates. At 2 h. 40 m. the French frigates opened their fire, which the Blonde and Thetis returned. Having arrived within a quarter of a mile of the two French frigates, and within half pistol-shot of the fort, and not being able owing to the calm to get nearer, the Blonde anchored with springs and opened her starboard broad side. At 3 h. 20 m. p. m. her stream cable was shot away by the fort, which kept up a very annoying fire. The Thetis soon afterwards got near enough to anchor and open her fire. At 3 h. 30 m. the northernmost French frigate had all three masts shot away by the board. At 3 h. 35 m. she struck her colours. At the same moment the Blonde had her small bower cable shot away by the fort : she let go her best bower, and continued the engagement. At 3 h. 40 m. p. m., in consequence of one French frigate having struck, the Thetis slipped her bower cable and brought her broadside to bear on the fort. At 4 h. 20 m. the south ernmost French frigate hauled down her colours ; and at the same moment the other frigate was seen to be on fire. Having 1809. JUNON WITH RENOMMEE AND CONSORTS. 191 now compelled both French frigates to surrender, the Blonde and Thetis, at about 5 h. 10 m. p.m., cut their cables and made sail out of reach of the fort ; which had latterly been keeping up a heavy fire of round, grape, and musketry. At 5 h. 20 m. p.m. the southernmost French frigate blew up with a tremendous explosion, and a part of the flaming wreck was seen to fall into the maintopmast cross-trees of the southernmost frigate, and to set her on fire. Just about this time the boats of the squadron, under the orders of Captain Cameron, covered by the Sceptre, Freija, Hazard, Cygnet, and Ringdove, pushed off for the shore, and landed under a heavy fire. The British stormed and carried the fort, but not without a serious loss. Captain Cameron was wounded by a musket-ball while in the act of hauling down the French colours; and was killed by a grape-shot just as, having executed the service he had been sent upon, he was stepping into his boat to return to the Hazard. The gazette-account of the destruction of these two French armees en flute and batteries is so very brief and imperfect, that we are not able to distinguish the loss sustained on board from that sustained on shore. The only ships named in the return of loss are the Blonde and Thetis. The Blonde, it appears, had her first lieutenant (George Jenkins), one master's mate (Edward Freeman), four seamen, and two marines killed, her third lieutenant'(Csesar William Richardson), one midshipman (Thomas Robotham), 10 seamen, and four marines wounded ; and the Thetis, six seamen wounded ; total, including Captain Cameron of the Hazard, nine killed and 22 wounded. Among the persons landed out of the two French ships (the last of which blew up while the British were on shore) just previous to their being set on fire, was the gallant and dreadfully wounded captain of the Junon. Captain Shortland had suffered the amputation of his right leg above the knee, and of a finger : a grape-shot had also been extracted from his hand ; and, had , there been a probability of saving his life, other operations would have been necessary. His sufferings, when the Castor hove in sight, in being hastily removed from the captain's cabin to the gun-room, were extreme ; and not less so were they, when with equal huriy he was removed from the French frigate to the shore at Anse la Barque, and then conveyed 13 miles in a scorching sun to the hospital. Human nature at length sank beneath this load of suffering; and on the 21st of January, after having been unable, during the five weeks and upwards that had elapsed since he was wounded, to sit up even in his bed, Captain Short- land expired. Although, as it would appear, shamefully in attentive to this brave British officer while living, the governor- general of Guadaloupe, General Enouf, paid to his mortal remains every possible respect. Captain Shortland was buried at Basse terre with the highest military honours. 192 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. The capture of Guadaloupe, to be noticed hereafter, released Lieutenant Deecker and the other surviving officers and crew of the late Junon, that had been landed from the Loire and Seine ; and on the 19th and 20th days of February, a court-martial was held upon them for the loss of their ship. In addition to a sentence of the most honourable acquittal, the court strongly recommended the Junon's late commanding officer for promo tion. The recommendation, we are happy to say, was attended to ; and on the 17th of the ensuing April, Lieutenant Deecker was rewarded with the commission of a commander. The late second and third lieutenants of the Junon, George Vernon Jack son and Henry Conn, had been taken on board the Renommee, of which ship and her consort we will now give some account. After parting from the Loire and Seine on the evening of the 15th of December, off the north point of Guadaloupe, the Re nommee and Clorinde bent their course back to Europe. On the 16th of January, in latitude 48° 50' north, longitude (from Green wich) 12° 9' west, M. Roquebert was fallen in with by, as it appears to us, the British 38-gun frigate Virginie, Captain Edward Brace ; who watched the Renommee and Clorinde during the day and until night concealed them from view : nor did the two French frigates evince any intention of molesting her. Thus avoiding by flight, even from an inferior force, all chance of being carried to a wrong destination, Commodore Roquebert, on the 23d, anchored in the road of Brest. We formerly mentioned that, on the 12th of November, 1808, the French 40-gun frigate Venus, Commodore Jacques-Felix- Emmanuel Hamelin, sailed from Cherbourg for the East Indies. Some time previously, but exactly when we are uncertain, the 40-gun frigate Manche, Captain Frangois - Desire Breton, escaped from the same port, bourid to tbe same distant station. Upon a similar destination sailed from the port of Nantes, the 40-gun frigate Bellone, Captain Victor-Guy Duperre ; also from Flushing the 40-gun frigate Caroline ; of whose captain's name we are uncertain, but we believe he died before, or very soon after, the frigate arrived at the Isle of France. All four French frigates were at sea for the first time ; and, by an extraordinary piece of good fortune, all reached their desti nation in safety. So intent, indeed, were the respective captains upon their voyage to a station which had already enriched three or four of their number, that, on their passage out, these frigates, we are certain, did not capture, and, we believe, did not chase or molest, a single British cruiser. In fact, when news reached England, that so many French frigates were still in the Indian seas committing depredations upon eastern commerce, no one appeared to know how or when they got there. We will now endeavour to give an account of their more important proceed ings, after they reached their appointed cruising ground. On the 2d of May a small fleet of homeward-bound Indiamen 1809. BRITISH INDIAMEN AND FRENCH FRIGATES. 193 quitted the Sand-heads of Bengal river, under the protection of the 18-gun ship-sloop Victor, Captain Edward Stopford. On the night of the 24th, in dark and squally weather, the Victor parted company ; and on the 30th, after two ships had quitted the convoy from stress of weather, the following Indiamen re mained in company : Streatham, Captain and senior officer John Dale, Europe, Captain William Gelston, and Lord Keith, Cap tain Peter Campbell. The Streatham and Europe were ships of 820 tons, and each mounted 20 medium 18-pounders on the main deck, and 10 carronades of the same caliber upon the quarterdeck, total 30 guns. The Streatham had a crew of 137 men, 60 of which were British and other European seamen, and the remainder, except four invalid soldiers, Chinese and Lascars ; and the Europe, 72 British and other European seamen, and 56 Lascars, total 128. On board of each ship were also a few passengers. The Lord-Keith was a ship of 600 tons, armed with 10 or 12 guns, and a crew of from 30 to 40 men. On the 31st, at 5h. 30 m. a. m., latitude 9° 15' north, longi tude 90° 30' east, as the Streatham, Europe, and Lord-Keith, were steering south-south-east on the starboard tack, with the wind from south-west by south, a strange ship was seen about seven miles off in the south by west, standing to the north-west. The stranger was the French 40-gun frigate Caroline, now com manded by Lieutenant de vaisseau Jean-Baptiste-Henri Feretier. This frigate mounted upon the quarterdeck and forecastle, eight iron 36-pounder carronades and 10 long 8-pounders ; making her total number of guns 46, exclusive of 20 swivels carrying a one-pound ball, distributed along her gunwales and in her tops. Her crew consisted of 330 men and boys, all Europeans ; besides, we believe, 50 or 60 troops taken on board at the Isle of Fiance. The Caroline had sailed from Port-Louis in the month of February, bound on a cruise in the bay of Bengal. In the beginning of April the frigate arrived off the Sand-heads, cruised there about three weeks, capturing only one or two small vessels ; and then, about three days before the India fleet sailed from the spot, steered for Carnicobar island to get a supply of water. While the Caroline was at these islands, the American ship Silenus, which had sailed from the Sand-heads under the pro tection, from pirates, of the Victor and her convoy, arrived there, and acquainted the French captain with the force, names, lading, and probable route of the Indiamen. Thus supplied with information, the Caroline made sail ; and, in the course of a few days, M. Feretier was fortunate enough to find that, although the American captain had betrayed his protectors, he had not deceived him. When first seen, the Caroline was taken for the Victor, but her size soon pointed out that she was a frigate. _ At a few minutes past 6 a. m., having previously made the private signal and got no answer, the Streatham made the signal to form the vol. v. o 194 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. line ; which was soon done, the Lord-Keith leading, followed by the Streatham and Europe ; but the two latter were at too great a distance apart. At 6 h. 30 m. A. m., having arrived abreast of the weather quarter of the Europe, the Caroline hoisted her colours and opened a fire upon that ship ; which the Europe quickly returned. Between these two unequal antagonists, the action was maintained for nearly half an hour ; at the end of which time the Indiamen had all her carronades and two of her maindeck guns dismounted, her foretopsail yard cut in two, fore mast badly wounded, rigging and sails cut to pieces, hull struck in several places, and two of her best men killed and one Lascar wounded. Having thus completely disabled the Europe, the Caroline ranged ahead, and, bearing up athwart the bows of her defenceless opponent, raked her. Captain Feretier then stood towards the lee quarter of the Streatham ; who had shortened sail to support the Europe, but had not been able to bring a gun to bear upon the French frigate. At 7 a. m. the Caroline commenced action with the Streatham ; and these two ships continued engaging until a few minutes before 8 a.m.: by which time the Caroline had reduced this antagonist to as disabled a state as her first, and had killed three, and wounded two, of the English sailors on board. Finding that all his carronades on the engaged side were dismounted, and that no inducements or threats could keep the Portuguese and Lascars to the maindeck guns, Captain Dale ordered the colours of the Streatham to be hauled down. The Caroline then wore from the latter, gave a broadside in passing to the Lord-Keith, who, as well as the Europe, had fired occasionally at her while engaging the Streatham, and brought to on the larboard quarter of the Europe ; with whom she recommenced the action. After firing a short time in return, the Europe made sail to close the Streatham, and at 8 h. 20 m. a. m. learnt that she had struck. Finding this to be the case, and that the Lord-Keith was well to windward, standing with all sail to the southward, Captain Gel- ston put before the wind. As soon as she had secured the Streatham the Caroline made sail in chase of the Europe ; and at 10 A. m. the latter was obliged also to strike. The Lord-Keith effected her escape, and arrived safe in England. The loss on board the Caroline, according to the statement of her captain, amounted to only one killed, the ship's master, and M. Feretier and one or two men slightly wounded. The conduct of the French officers, towards the passengers and crews of the captured Indiamen, was, we are happy to be enabled to state, particularly kind and attentive. On account chiefly of the leaky state of the Europe, it took M. Feretier three days to refit his prizes : and, before the former ship could be made seaworthy, all her guns were obliged to be thrown overboard. The Caroline and her two richly laden prizes then set sail, and on the 22d of July anchored in the bay of St.-Paul, Isle Bourbon. While CAPT* SIR SESBIT J. ^JLLOVGIIBV. rl'.OM <\M OHlO'TNTa. I ' IT TURX L^ Y HAltHI'.R IS THE POSSJ-'.SSION UIMnh M cnnLl.TCffir. Lin.lon . liiiliaT-'l Bcmlev. 1837. 1809. BOATS OF OTTER AT RIVIERE-NOIRE. 195 here, Captains Dale and Gelston addressed a joint letter of thanks to M. Feretier, for his good treatment of them and of his pri soners in general. To this letter M. Feretier returned a suitable reply ; but in the reply, short as it is, he finds an opportunity of paying a compliment to the national character of his country. " Extr6mement sensible aux remercimens que vous me faites, je suis aussi extremement content que l'evenement vous ait prouve que, si le Francois sgait vaincre; il scait aussi ce qu'il doit d'egards a de braves ennemis." Some credit was undoubtedly due to the captain of the Caro line for his bold advance upon the three Indiamen, as well as for the skilful manner in which he attacked them. Had the Streatham, instead of only hauling up her foresail to wait for the Europe to close, taeked, and placed the French frigate between two fires, the Caroline would at all events have purchased her victory at a dearer rate. But having been allowed to conquer his opponents in detail, M. Feretier came out of the contest with almost entire impunity; and, on.every consideration, the French Lieutenant, who had thus ably filled a captain's post, deserved the reward bestowed upon him by General Decaen, the Governor at the Isle of France ; which was a commission as capitaine de fregate. Nor must we omit to do justice to the two merchant captains, who certainly defended their ill-armed and worse manned ships as long as was practicable; one of them, as we have seen, not surrendering his vessel until she was reduced to a sinking state. On the 14th of August the British 18-gun ship-sloop Otter, Captain Nisbet Josiah Willoughby, cruising off Cape Brabant, Isle of France, discovered a brig and two fore-and-aft vessels at anchor under the protection of the batteries of Riviere-Noire The brig had recently arrived from France with a cargo. One of the smaller vessels was a merchant lugger, and the other a gun-boat attached to the French squadron on the station. Think ing it practicable, notwithstanding the immense strength of the batteries, to cut out these vessels by a coup de main, Captain Willoughby resolved to make the attempt that same night. In the mean time, to prevent suspicion, the Otter bore away for Bourbon until dark ; then hauled up and worked back to the vicinity of Riviere-Noire. At 11 h. 30 m. p. m., when close enough in, Captain Willoughby pushed off in his gig, accom panied by Lieutenant John Burns in the launch, and midshipman William Weiss in the jollyboat. The plan was, for the gig, sup ported by the two remaining boats, to carry the gun-vessel ; the launch was then to secure the brig, and the jollyboat the lugger. Favoured by the darkness, the three boats got into the harbour unperceived ; and having from the same cause, and the silence of the enemy, missed the gun-boat, the boats pulled alongside and captured the lugger. Having secured this vessel,*Captain Willoughby detached the launch and jollyboat to board the brig, o 2 196 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. and then proceeded with the gig in search of the gun-boat. Lieutenant Burns soon got alongside the brig, and found a body. of soldiers drawn up on board to defend her. In the face of a heavy fire of musketry from these, the British boarded, and after a smart struggle on her decks, carried the vessel. The cable was then cut by one of the seamen left in the launch for that purpose ; but not till he had been wounded in the head by the mate of the brig, and had killed him with a blow of his axe. Captain Willoughby having in the mean time approached so near to the innermost battery as to be hailed by one of the sentries, the alarm became general, and the batteries opened their fire. Owing to her being firmly moored on the shore, and having her yards and topmasts down, there was no possibility of getting off the brig. Finding this to be the case, Captain Willoughby gave orders to take out the prisoners, all of whom had been secured in the hold, and burn the vessel. As, however, the prisoners, many of whom were wounded, could not in the emergency ofthe moment be removed, the brig was abandoned ; and the three boats, taking the lugger in tow, carried her out, under a heavy fire from the batteries on both sides of the river. To enable them to distinguish their object in the dark, the Frenchmen on shore kept coutinually throwing up false fires of a superior de scription, which illuminated the whole river. Under all these circumstances, it was rather surprising that no greater loss was sustained by Captain Willoughby and his party, than one man killed in the launch by a 24-pound shot which took his head off, and another wounded with the loss of his arm by a grape-shot ; particularly as the lugger was much cut up in her rigging. The principal advantage derived from this attack was the evidence it afforded, of the feasibility of cutting out a vessel even from a place so strongly protected by nature and art as Riviere-Noire. And, had the gun-boat been found when the boats first entered, there cannot be a doubt that she would have shared the fate of the lugger. On clearing the entrance of the river, the lugger and the boats were met by the Otter's cutter, under Lieutenant Thomas Lamb Polden Laugharne; who on witnessing the heavy firing, had, with a commendable zeal, pushed off to render all the assistance in his power. The harbour or bay of St.-Paul at Isle Bourbon having long been the rendezvous of French cruizers on the Indian station, and, in particular, having, as has just appeared, afforded shelter to the Caroline and her two valuable prizes, Commodore Josias Rowley, of the 64-gun ship Raisonable, the commanding officer of the British force cruising off the isles of France and Bourbon, concerted with Lieutenant-colonel Henry S. Keating, command ing the troops at the adjacent small island of Rodriguez recently taken possession of by the British, a plan for carrying, first, the batteries that defended, and then the shipping within, the road of St. Paul. 1809. CAPTURE OF ST.-PAUL'S, ISLE BOURBON. 197 Accordingly, on the 16th of September, a detachment of 368 officers and men embarked at Fort Duncan, island of Rodriguez, on board the 12-pounder 36-gun frigate Nereide, Captain Robert Corbett, 18-gun ship-sloop Otter, Captain Nisbet Josiah Willoughby, and the honourable company's armed schooner Wasp, Lieutenant Watkins; and, on the evening of the 18th joined, off Port-Louis, Isle of France, besides the Raisonable, the 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Sirius, Captain Samuel Pym, and 38-gun frigate Boadicea, Captain John Hatley. Early on the following morning 100 seamen from the Raisonable and Otter, and the marines of the squadron, 136 in number, forming, along with the troops, a total of 604 officers and men, were put on board the Nereide ; Captain Corbett's perfect acquaintance with the coast rendering him the fittest person to undertake the im portant service of landing the detachment. Thus prepared, the squadron, in the evening, stood towards Bourbon, and early on the following morning, the 20tb, arrived off the east end of the island. On approaching the bay of St.-Paul, the Nereide, to prevent suspicion, preceded the other ships ; and, on the 21st, at 5 A. m., having anchored close to the beach, the frigate disembarked the troops, without causing any alarm, a little to the southward of Pointe du Galet, distant about seven miles from St.-Paul. The troops and marines, commanded by Colonel Keating, and the detachment of seamen by Captain Willoughby, immediately commenced a forced march, with the view of crossing the cause ways that extend over the lake, before the French could discover their approach. This important object the British fully accom plished ; nor had the French time to form in any force until after Colonel Keating and his party had passed the strongest position. By 7 a. m. the troops were in possession of the first and second batteries (Lambousiere and la Centiere), and immediately Captain Willoughby, with his detachment of seamen, turned the guns of those batteries upon the shipping ; from whose fire, which was chiefly grape, and well directed, within pistol-shot of the shore, the troops suffered much. From the battery of la Centiere, a detachment marched and took quiet possession of the third battery, or that of la Neuf; having previously defeated the islanders in a smart skirmish. The enemy having been re inforced from the hills, and having also received 110 troops of the line from the Caroline frigate, the guns of the first and se cond batteries were now spiked, and the seamen sent to man the battery of la Neuf; which soon opened its fire upon the Caroline and her consorts. The fourth and fifth batteries shared the fate of the others ; and, by 8 h. 30 m. a. m., the town, batteries, ma gazines, eight field-pieces, 117 new and heavy guns of different calibers, and all the public stores, with several prisoners, were in 198 LIGHT SQUADRONS' AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. the possession of Lieutenant-colonel Keating and the little army he commanded. In the mean time the British squadron, having stood into the bay, had opened a heavy fire upon the French frigate, and the two Indiamen and other armed vessels in her company, as well as upon those batteries which, owing to their distance from the point of attack, were enabled to continue their fire. The British squadron then came to an anchor in the road, close off the town of St.-Paul, and began taking measures to secure the Caroline and the rest of the French ships ; all of which, having cut their cables, had drifted on shore. The seamen of the squadron, however, soon succeeded in heaving the ships off, without any material injury. Thus was effected, in the course of a few hours, by a British force of inconsiderable amount, the capture of the only safe an chorage at Isle Bourbon, together with its strong defences and shipping; and that after a loss by no means so great as might have been expected. Ofthe naval detachment serving on shore, there were two seamen and five marines killed, one lieutenant (Edward Lloyd, Raisonable), two lieutenants of marines (Thomas Robert Pye, Boadicea, and Matthew Howden, Raisonable, the latter mortally), two seamen, 13 marines wounded, and one seaman missing ; and of the troops, eight killed, 40 wounded, and two missing : total 15 killed, 58 wounded, and three missing. The captured ships were the Caroline French frigate, " Grap- pler," 14-gun brig, the honourable company's late ships Streatham and Europe, and five or six smaller vessels. The British did not sustain any loss on board the squadron, and the ships were equally fortunate in respect to damage. The loss sustained by the French either afloat or on shore has not been enumerated. By evening the demolition of the different gun and mortar batteries and of the magazines was complete, and the whole of the troops, marines, and seamen returned on board their ships. On the 22d, in the evening, the appearance of a French force collecting upon the hills induced the lieutenant-colonel and commodore to reland the detachment of marines, accompanied by a few seamen, with orders to Captain Willoughby, who had again volunteered to take the command, to destroy the stores containing the public property. An extensive government store, containing all the raw silk which had been on board the India- men, and was valued at more than half a million sterling, was set on fire and destroyed. The remaining stores within reach were left untouched, merely because a doubt existed as to their being public property. This important service effected, the detachment re-embarked without the slightest casualty, although almost within gun-shot of a much superior force. 1809. CAPTURE OF ST. PAUL'S, ISLE BOURBON. 199 On the 23d at daybreak, the troops, marines, and seamen were all in the boats ready again to land, under cover of the Nereide, when it was discovered that General Desbrusleys, the governor of Bourbon, had, in the course of the night, retreated across the island to St.-Denis. The commandant of the town of St.-Paul, Captain St.-Michel, being now disposed to negotiate with the British, terms for the delivery of all public property in the town were drawn up and agreed to. General Desbrusleys having shot. himself, through chagrin, as alleged, at the success of the British,. a prolongation of the armistice was granted for five days. On the 28th the truce expired ; and the British troops, marines, and seamen immediately began shipping the provisions, ordnance- stores, and small remainder of the cargoes of the captured India- men. Captains Dale and Gelston were then reinstated in the command of the Sfreathem and Europe ; and, with the aid of the British squadron, the ships were refitted for sea. This done, Commodore Rowley and his squadron made sail from the bay of St.-Paul. The Caroline, a tolerably fine frigate of 1078 tons, launched at Antwerp in August, 1806, was commissioned under the appro priate name (a Caroline being already in the service) of Bour- bonaise, and Captain Corbett was appointed to command her. The vacancy in the Nereide was immediately filled up by giving post-rank to Captain Willoughby, who had so gallantly and so successfully exerted himself on the occasion; and of whom lientenant-colonel Keating and Captain Rowley, in their several despatches speak in the highest terms. The above, in substance, is as the account of the expedition of St.-Paul's bay Stands in our first edition ; but a contemporary has given a somewhat different version of it. He names Captain Corbett as Captain Willoughby's assistant on shore, although the former never quitted the Nereide ; and had he landed,. would of course, from his superior rank, have assumed the com mand. The following paragraph also appears : " The Sirius (commanded, it appears, by ' Captain Corbet,' not Captain Pym) anchored with her stern within pistol-shot of the beach, and sus tained the fire of the batteries, a frigate, two Indiamen, and a brig. She never returned a shot till both her anchors were let go ; the British troops then rushed on ; and in 20 minutes every French flag was struck. The grape-shot of the Sirius went over the most distant ships of the enemy ; and so severe and well kept up was her fire, that both the French and English expressed their admiration."* The principal part of this statement will be best answered by a short extract from the logs of two of the ships present at- the attack. The Sirius herself says : " At 7 a. m. Nereide tele * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 398. 200 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1809. graphed Raisonable, ' troops on shore.' Observed a union jack on one of the batteries. At 7 (h. 30 m. meant, it is believed) enemy opened a fire on the Nereide. At 8 Raisonable opened a fire on the French frigate. At 8, 10, Sirius fired several broad sides. Filled and made sail to windward. 8, 45, tacked and stood in shore. 9, 15, brought up with the stream and small bower, opened a raking fire on the Caroline, Indiamen, and bat tery. At 10 ceased firing, shipping and batteries in possession of the British troops." The Otter, by her log, says : "At 8, 45, observed all the batteries in our possession. 8, 50, observed Sirius make signal, ' Permission to anchor.' Affirmed by the Raisonable. 9, 14, observed Sirius anchor and open a raking fire on the frigate. 9, 20, the frigate hauled down her colours." Among other misinformation that appears to have reached Cap tain Brenton, is, that Captain Feretier, late of the Caroline, and not General Desbrusleys, committed suicide. In the summer of the present year the French frigates Venus and Manche, accompanied by the 14-gun corvette Creole, were cruising in the bay of Bengal. On the 26th of July, off the south end of the Great Nicobar island, the Venus, then alone, captured the honourable company's brig Orient, Captain Harman, bound with despatches from Madras to Prince-of- Wales's island. Sending his prize to the isle of France, Commodore Hamelin cruised on the same station about a week longer, and then pro ceeded to Camicobar island for water. He was there joined by the Manche and Creole. Having completed their water, the two frigates and corvette made sail for the Preparis isles, and then for Acheen head. The French commodore continued cruising, with very indif ferent success, off the north-west coast of the island of Sumatra until the 10th of October; when he detached the Creole to seize the honourable company's settlement of Tappanooly, on the small island of Punchongcacheel, close to the west side of Suma tra. On the 12th the Creole arrived off and took possession of the settlement. On the 21st the Venus and Manche joined the Creole; and Commodore Hamelin immediately proceeded on the work of destruction. The few guns on the battery were disabled, the property, both public and private, confiscated, the buildings of every description set on fire, the cattle carried off, the horses maimed, and the plantations on the main destroyed. All the residents found at Tappanooly were brought on board the Venus ; but subsequently the female part of them were put on board a prize schooner, and allowed to proceed to Padang. According to a private letter from one of the sufferers, which appeared in the London papers of the day, the behaviour of Commodore Hamelin, to the female portion of his unhappy prisoners especially, was of the most disgraceful and revolting character. We shall not, however, enter into the particulars, 1809. BRITISH INDIAMEN AND FRENCH FRIGATES. 201 but merely state, that on the 23d of October the French squa dron, having thus signalized itself, quitted Tappanooly, and steered for the bay of Bengal. On the 18th of November, at daylight, latitude 6° 30' north, longitude 92° 45' east, the honourable company's outward-bound ships Windham, Captain John Stewart, United-Kingdom, Cap tain William Parker D'Esterre, and Charlton, Captain Charles Mortlock, while standing on tbe larboard tack with a light breeze from the westward, discovered in the east-south-east, about seven miles distant, three ships close hauled on the star board tack. At 6 A. m. the strangers, which were no other than 'the Venus, Manche, and Creole, tacked and stood towards the Indiamen. The three latter were of the same size as the Streatham and Europe; and two of them, the Windham and Charlton, mounted the same guns on tbe main deck, with six medium 9-pounders on the quarterdeck. The United-Kingdom mounted 20 medium 12-pounders on the main deck, and six 6-pounders on the quar terdeck. Each ship had a crew of 110 men, including Lascars; and between the three were distributed about 200 recruits going to join the Indian army. Opposed to two heavy French frigates and a corvette, the three Indiamen would have stood no chance ; but, as it would have been equally impossible to escape, and particularly as one of the frigates, the Manche, was considerably detached and to windward of her two consorts, Commodore Stewart considered that a prompt and well-concerted attack upon her might succeed before she could be supported by the ships to leeward. He accordingly telegraphed his wishes to the United-Kingdom and Charlton, and they affirmed the signal. Upon this the Windham bore down under all sail, and was tardily followed by her two consorts. At 8 a. m., having arrived well up with the weathermost French frigate, and finding that his two consorts still remained far astern, and were making no efforts to co-operate with him, Captain Stewart resolved singly to engage the French frigate, hoping to be afforded a chance of boarding her. His proposal was cheered by the ship's company and troops, and the Windham continued to advance towards the Manche. At 9 h. 30 m. a. m. the latter hoisted French colours and commenced a heavy fire, but the Windham continued to close without returning a shot. Seeing her determination, the French frigate evaded it by wearing round on the starboard tack. The Windham followed the frigate in the manoeuvre and opened her fire ; but Captain Stewart soon found that, while the shot of the Manche were flying over him> those of the Windham fell short. The latter now backed her main topsail, and commenced a close action with the Manche ; who, finding that the Windham's two consorts kept aloof from the battle, merely firing now and then a few distant and harmless 202 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS.. 1809* shot, continued engaging the |Windham till noon ; when the French frigate wore and made sail to join the Venus. Seeing clearly that he should receive no effectual support from his consorts, and having already had three cadets and an ensign of foot killed and two cadets wounded, and the ship's rigging and sails much cut, Captain Stewart, with the concurrence of his officers, made sail, in the hope of saving the Windham from the fate which a longer continuance in action would render unavoid able. While the Manche and the corvette attacked and captured the United-Kingdom and Charlton, the Venus made sail in pur suit of the Windham. Every attempt, by lightening herself and otherwise, was made by the latter to escape ; but the superior sailing of the French frigate enabled her, not, however, until 10 h. 30 m. a. m. on the 22d, and that after a smart running fight, to overtake and capture the Windham. Having received on board the Venus Captain Stewart and nearly the whole of his people, and placed a prize crew in the Windham, the French commodore made sail for the Isle of France. On the 6th of December the two ships fell in with the Manche and Creole, and their two prizes ; but on the 19th, in thick bad weather, the Venus parted as well from them as from the Windham. Steering now alone for the Isle of France, the Venus on the 27th encountered a tremendous gale of wind or hurricane ; in which the frigate lost all three of her topmasts, and, owing chiefly to the inattention of the officers and crew in keeping open the gunroom ports and not securing the hatch ways, had seven and a half feet water in the hold. In this extremity, when his crew had given up the ship as lost, and his officers had retired to their cabins to await the result, Captain Hamelin sent for Captain Stewart, and requested that he would endeavour, with the men of his late crew, to save the French frigate; but he, at the same time, wished him to give a pledge, that his men should not take possession of the frigate. Captain Stewart refused to give the pledge, but replied that M. Hamelin must take his chance of such an event taking place. Having caused all the arms to be removed, the French captain gave up the charge of his frigate to the British captain and crew, his prisoners. By great exertions on the part of the latter, the wreck of the frigate's topmasts, left by the French men hanging over her side, was cleared, and the water in the hold reduced to a very small quantity. In short, tbe Venus was saved, and on the 31st anchored in Riviere-Noire, Isle of France, with scarcely a drop of water for the prisoners or crew, and no provisions except a small quantity of bad rice. In this state of things, it would have been impossible, even could the prisoners have retained possession of the ship, to have conducted her to a British port. Captain Stewart and his people were marched across the 1809. BRITISH INDIAMEN AND FRENCH FRIGATES. 203 country to Port-Louis ; where they arrived on the 1st of January, and on the next day the Manche arrived, in company with the United-Kingdom and Charlton. The Windham, however, was not so fortunate. On the 29th of December, when close off the Isle of France, she was recaptured by the British 12-pounder 36-gun frigate Magicienne, Captain Lucius Curtis. The Wind ham was then sent to the Cape of Good Hope ; where, shortly afterwards, Captain Stewart and his officers arrived in a cartel, and were allowed to rejoin their recovered ship. On the 2d of November, in the afternoon, off the Sand-heads in the Bay of Bengal, the British 18-gun ship-sloop Victor, still commanded by Captain Edward Stopford,* fell in with and was chased by the French frigate Bellone. At about 10 p. m., after having had all her running rigging cut to pieces, her mainmast wounded in two, and her mizenmast in three places, and her fore topsail shot away, the Victor had no alternative but to haul down her colours. As the night was very dark, and the Victor lay very low in the water, her hull was comparatively uninjured, and her loss in consequence amounted to only two men wounded. Nor is it likely that her two 6-pounder chase-guns could have done any material injury to the Bellone. Some newspapers stated, that Captain Stopford " determined to board the Bellone;" and a contemporary historian has gone still further, by declaring that the captain " attempted to board his enemy,"-}- but failed. That no such attempt was made we are sure ; and, considering the immense disparity in size and force between the two vessels, one of which was nearly four times as large as the other, and had on board treble the number of men, we cannot believe that Captain Stopford had the least idea of undertaking so rash an enterprise. On the 22d, being still off the Sand-heads, the Bellone, with the Victor and another prize or two in company, fell in with the Portuguese frigate Minerva, Captain Pinto, of 52 guns, includ ing 30 long 1 8-pounders on the main deck. At 4 p. m. an action commenced between these frigates; and the French crew be haved so badly, notwithstanding they must have had the Victor to assist them, that, if the Portuguese crew had not been the most cowardly that ever manned a frigate, the Bellone would have been the prize of the Minerva. Instead of which, the Minerva became- the prize of the Bellone, and was obtained at so trifling an expense as four or five wounded men and about twice as many cut ropes. As the striking of the colours re mained with the officers, they, to their credit, did not surrender the ship until the fire of the Bellone had killed and wounded several persons on board of her. On the 2d of January Captain Duperre, with his two men-of-war prizes in company, anchored in Port-Louis. * Seep. 193. t Brenton, vol. iv. p. 400, 204 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — COAST OF AFRICA. 1809. Among the services performed by the British navy in this quarter of the globe during the year 1 809, were several success ful attacks made by the 12-pounder 36-gun frigate Chiffonne, Captain John Wainwright, and 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Caro line, Captain Charles Gordon, in company with the honourable company's cruisers Mornington, Captain Jeakes, and Aurora, Nautilus, Prince-of-Wales, Fury, and Ariel, Lieutenants Conyers, Watkins, Allen, Davidson, and Salter, having on board a body of troops under Lieutenant Colonel Smith, upon a nest of pirates in the Persian Gulf, which had for a long time harassed the trade in that sea. On the 13th of November Ras-al-Khyma, the principal pirate-town, together with all the vessels in the port, upwards of 50 in number, including about 30 very large dows, and a considerable quantity of naval stores of every species, was set on fire and destroyed. On the 17th twenty large pirate-vessels in the town of Linga shared the same fate, and on the 27th eleven others at the town of Luft ; the sea-defences of both places being also completely destroyed. All this was not effected, however, without a despe rate resistance on the part of the pirates ; and, in consequence, the loss on the British side amounted to four men killed, one mortally, 15 severely, and 19 slightly wounded : a loss, never theless, of moderate amount, compared with the number of lives which these barbarians, had they been allowed to prosper in their gains, would very soon have sacrificed. COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — COAST OF AFEICA. Much injury having been done to the African coasting trade by small French privateers, fitted out at Senegal, Captain Edward Henry Columbine, of the 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Solebay, the naval commanding officer at the settlement of Goree, concerted with Major Charles William Maxwell, of the African Corps, the commandant of the garrison, a plan for the reduction of Senegal. Accordingly, on the 4th of July, a de tachment from the garrison of Goree, amounting to 166 officers and men under the major's command, embarked on board the Agincourt transport ; and the squadron, composed of the Sole- bay, the 18-gun brig-sloop Derwent, Captain Frederick Parker, and 1 2-gun brig Tigris, Lieutenant Robert Bones, the Agincourt, a flotilla of small armed vessels, consisting of the George govern ment-schooner, and six sloops and schooners, collected for the purpose, and, in order to give the appearance of a greater force, one unarmed merchant ship, two brigs, and one schooner, imme diately weighed and set sail. On the 17th in the evening the expedition, amounting to 14 sail of vessels, anchored off the bar of Senegal ; and on the 8th 160 of the African Corps, 120 seamen, and 50 marines, were got over the bar, in 16 boats, through a very heavy surf. But, in sur- 1809. CAPTURE OF SENEGAL. 205 mounting this difficulty, the George was driven on shore, and a schooner and a sloop were totally wrecked. Only one individual perished on the occasion ; and that unfortunately was Captain Parker ofthe Derwent. It was now discovered that the French had collected their force, consisting of 160 regulars and about 240 militia and volunteers, at Babague, a spot about five miles below the town of St.-Louis and ten above the bar. Major Maxwell, with the detachment of troops and marines, number ing altogether about 210 men, landed without opposition on the left bank of the river, and immediately took up a position, with the intention of waiting until provisions could be passed from the shipping, and the schooner George could be got afloat. On the 9th the French commandant marched out to attack the British, and Major Maxwell, supported by the boats, rapidly advanced to meet him. Finding the British stronger than he had expected, the former waited only to exchange a few shot with the troops and the boats, and (then retreated so expedi tiously, and with so perfect a knowledge of the country, that it was impossible to cut him off. The position, to which the French had retired, consisted of a formidable line of defence at Babague, a battery on the south point of an island command ing the passage of the river. This post was further defended, at about a quarter of a mile in advance of the battery, by a chain secured to anchors on each shore, and floated all across the stream by large spars ; and, at about a hundred yards in the rear of this boom, lay a flotilla of seven armed vessels and gun boats, mounting between them 31 guns., On the 10th, in the evening, the sloop George was got afloat; and on the 11th the Solebay and Derwent, the latter now com manded by captain Joseph Swabey Tetley, took up a position close to the narrow neck of land that divides the river from the sea, for the purpose of cannonading the fort of Babague. This the two ships did with considerable effect; but, in the course of the ensuing night, the frigate, in shifting her birth, went on shore, and, although still in a position to annoy the enemy, became totally wrecked. Fortunately no lives were lost, and the crew managed to save a great proportion of the stores. On the 12th, in the morning, the troops were re-embarked, and the flotilla proceeded up the river until within gun-shot of the fort at Babague ; when, just as every thing was in readiness for a night attack, information arrived that the French comman dant meant to capitulate. The attack was therefore postponed ; and on the morning of the 13th it was discovered, that the French (probably the militia, who were disaffected) had broken the boom, and abandoned the vessels and the battery, leaving their colours flying upon both. Shortly afterwards a letter was brought from the commandant, offering to capitulate; and in the course ofthe day terms were agreed upon, surrendering the colony of Senegal to the British arms. 206 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — WEST INDIES. 1809. This harassing and not unimportant service was effected with a loss to the British, besides that of Captain Parker of the Der went, comparatively slight : one midshipman was drowned, one lieutenant of the troops died in the field from fatigue, and one man was wounded by the enemy's fire. The loss on the part of the French appears to have been also of trifling amount, not exceeding one man killed and two wounded. WEST INDIES. The interception, in the summer of 1808, of some despatches from the colonial prefect of Martinique to the French minister of marine, exposing the wants of the island, and calling for a supply of provisions and troops, is thought to have directed the atten tion of the British government to the reduction of this valuable French colony. At all events, preparations for the attack began at Barbadoes as early as November; and the authorities at Mar tinique, as they themselves acknowledge, anticipated an attack towards the end of that month or the beginning of December. Matters were not, however, in perfect readiness until the latter end of January, when the following force was assembled : Gun ship 98 Nentune -f Bear-Adm. (>"•) Hon. Sir Alex. J. Cochrane, K.B. " "¦ (Captain Charles Dilkes. f Pomn-'p i Commod. George Cockburn. 1 " \ Captain Edward Pelham Brenton. • 74^ York " Robert Barton. j Belleisle " William Charles Fahie. (Captain " James Athol Wood. 64 Intrepid " Christ. John Williams Nesham. 44 Ulysses " Edward Woollcombe. Frigates, Acasta, Penelope, Ethalion, Ulysses, iEolus, Circe, Cleopatra, and Eurydice ; ship-sloops, Cherub, Qoree, Pelorus, Star, Stork ; brig-sloops, Amaranthe, Eclair, Forrester, Frolic, Recruit, Wolverene ; gun-brigs, Express, Haughty, and Swinger. On the 30th of that month the expedition, consisting, as here named, of six sail of the line, one 44-gun ship, five frigates, one 22-gun ship, and 13 sloops and smaller vessels, forming a total of 28 sail of pendants, under the command of rear-admiral the honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane, having in charge a fleet of transports containing about 10,000 troops, commanded by Lieu tenant-general Beckwith, arrived off the island of Martinique from Carlisle bay, whence it had sailed on the 28th. The land force at this time at Martinique consisted of about 2400 effective regulars, and about an equal number of militia, or " national guards," a name, as it turned out, rather inappropriately given to them ; and there were mounted upon Fort Desaix, the arsenal, Fort Royal, and the batteries on the coast, about 289 pieces of cannon. The naval force consisted of the French 40-gun frigate 1809. CAPTURE OF MARTINIQUE. 207 Amphi trite,* lying at Fort-Royal, the 18-gun ship-corvette Diligente at St. Pierre's, and the late British brig-sloop Carna tion at Marin. The governor-general of the island was Vice- admiral Villaret-Joyeuse, the opponent of Lord Howe on the 1st of June. Early on the morning of the 30th, one division ofthe troops, nearly 3000 in number, commanded by Major-general Frederick Maitland, landed, without opposition, at Sainte-Luce, under the superintendence of Captain Fahie of the Belleisle ; and a de tachment of 600 men, under Major Henderson of the York Rangers, landed at Cape Salomon, also without opposition. The appearance of the former in Marin bay was the signal for the French to set fire to and destroy the Carnatiou. While these pro ceedings were going on upon the south-west or leeward coast of the island, a division of about 6500 men, commanded by Lieu tenant-general Sir George Prevost, disembarked, under the direction of Captain Philip Beaver of the 40-gun frigate Acasta, at Baie Robert on the north-east or windward coast, still without experiencing any opposition. The fact is, that the French governor-general had committed the great mistake of sending to each of the two points at which the British had landed, Baie Robert and Pointe Sainte-Luce, two of the four battalions of militia on the island, unaccompanied by troops of tbe line. The consequence was, that the militia, or " gardes nationales," left the field to the enemy, and retired peaceably to their homes. This traitorous conduct was partly the effect of a proclama tion, addressed by the two British commanders in chief to the black or coloured population, of which, almost exclusively, the militia was composed. No copy of this proclamation accompanies the official letters : it is merely referred to in them. An enemy has an immense advantage, where the territory he is about to invade contains a slave population ; but there is a homely proverb about persons with glass windows, &c, which might be worth attending to by those who scruple not to resort to so barbarous, so unauthorized a mode of warfare, as that of inciting the slave, if not actually to murder, to betray his master. The first meeting between the regular troops on each side was upon the heights of Desfourneaux and Surirey, on the 1st and 2d of February ; on each of which days the British forces, under the command, nominally of Lieutenant-general Sir George Prevost, but really of Brigadier-general Hoghton,-)- were suc- * See p. 85. t That Sir George took no personal share in the battles that ensued, his own letters, on a careful perusal of them, sufficiently prove. For instance : " I lost no time after this junction, and pushed forward (not himself, but) " the honourable Lieutenant-colonel Pakenham," &o. " This movement I supported" (not by leading his own division, but) " by the light-infantry bat talion under Brigadier-general Hoghton ;" who, in fact, did all that was done. On another occasion Sir George writes : " Having yesterday evening recon- 208 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — WEST INDIES. 1809. cessful, but not without a loss amounting to 84 killed, 334 wounded, and 18 missing. The French, who, though decidedly inferior in numbers, were strongly posted, acknowledged a loss, in killed and wounded together, of 700 men. On the same night, or the succeeding morning, the French troops in this vicinity abandoned their advanced posts, and retired upon Fort Desaix. After the detachment of 600 York Rangers, under Major Henderson, had possessed themselves of the battery on Pointe Salomon, an attack was made upon Islet aux Ramiers, or Pigeon island ; and, on the 4th of February, after being bombarded for 12 hours by 10 mortars and howitzers, five of which had been got to the top of a commanding height by the very great ex ertions of a detachment of seamen under Captain Cockburn of the Pompee, that important little spot surrendered. This post was acquired with a loss of only two seamen killed and one soldier wounded. Nor did the French garrison of 136 men, the retreat of whom had been cut off by the frigates iEolus and Cleopatra, Captains Lord William Fitzroy and Samuel John Pechell, and the brig-sloop Recruit, Captain Charles . Napier, detached to the upper end of the bay, lose more than five killed and 11 wounded. Sir Alexander immediately stood in with the squadron and anchored in Fort-Royal bay ; but, on the approach of the two frigates and sloop, the French had set fire to and destroyed the Amphitrite and the other vessels in the harbour. They had also abandoned all the forts in this quarter, at Case-Navire, and along the neighbouring coast, and shut themselves up in Fort Desaix. On the 5th, Major-general Maitland, who had marched from Sainte-Luce to Champin and La Croissades without the slightest opposition, pursued his march, and on the 8th arrived at Case-Navire, equally unmolested ; thereby completing the in vestment of Fort Desaix on the western side. On the 9tb, being garrisoned solely by militia, the town of St.-Pierre and its de pendencies, with the ship-corvette Diligente at anchor in the port, surrendered, on the first summons, to Lieutenant-colonel Barnes ; and on the 10th the town of Fort-Royal was occupied by the British troops. From the 10th to the 19th the besiegers were occupied in constructing gun and mortar batteries, in landing cannon, mortars, and howitzers, with their ammunition and stores, in dragging them to the several points selected by the engineers, and in the completion ofthe works preparatory to a bombardment of Fort Desaix. On the 19th, at.4h. 30m. p.m., the British opened upon that fortress from six points, with 14 heavy pieces of cannon and 28 mortars and howitzers ; and the bombardment continued without intermission until the 23d at noon, when the French noitered the enemy's advanced picket, I decided upon attempting the surprise of it in the course of the night, and— gave directions accordingly to Major Pearson," &c. 1809. CAPTURE OF MARTINIQUE. 209 general sent a trumpeter with a letter proposing terms. These being considered inadmissible, the bombardment recommenced at 10 p. m., and continued until 9 a.m., on the 24th ; when three white flags were discovered flying in the fortress. The British batteries immediately ceased ; and, in the course of the day, the French colony of Martinique surrendered by capitulation to the arms of Great Britain. As far as appears in the Gazette, no loss was sustained by the British troops during the bombardment ; but the seamen serving on shore under Captain Cockburn sustained a loss of five men and one boy killed, and the Amaranthe's boatswain and gunner (Thomas Wickland and John Thompson), one master's mate (James Scott), one midshipman (Thomas Mills), and the gunner (John Edevearn), of the Pompee, and 14 men wounded ; total, six killed, 10 badly, and nine slightly wounded. The whole of the Amaranthe's loss, amounting to three killed, four badly, and two slightly wounded, arose from the accidental explosion of the laboratory tent in the rear of the great mortar battery on Tartan- son. We must not part with the seamen without stating, that they were ofthe greatest use in the operations ofthe siege, particu larly in dragging the heavy cannon up the heights. The French acknowledge a loss in killed and wounded, by the bombardment alone, of 200 men : a loss which, had it not been for the timely surrender of the garrison, might have been much greater ; for it appears that the shells of the besiegers had cracked and damaged in several places the roof of the magazine, and that the French troops were in momentary dread of an explosion. This, indeed, was the alleged, and it must be ad mitted to have been a very natural, cause of the proposal to capitulate. The court of inquiry which sat at Paris on the 6th of December, 1809, to investigate the causes of the surrender of the colony, strongly animadverted upon the neglect of not hav ing previously removed the powder to the galleries of the for tress; and, for that and other causes, the governor-general, Vice-admiral Villaret-Joyeuse, together with some of the subor dinate officers, was stripped of his rank and honours. On the 8th of December, 1808, a small expedition, consisting ofthe British 20-gun ship Confiance, Captain James Lucas Yeo, the two Portuguese brigs Voader and Infante, and some smaller vessels, having on board about 550 Portuguese land forces, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Manoel Marques, and which had been fitted out at the Brazils, with the concurrence of Rear- admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, the British commander-in- chief on that station, took peaceable possession of the district of Oyapok in French Guyane, and on the 15th reduced that of Approuak. This success determined Captain Yeo and the Por tuguese lieutenant-colonel to make a descent on the east side of the island of Cayenne ; on which stands the town of the same name, the capital of the colony. The island is divided into two vol. v. p 210 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — SOUTH AMERICA. 1801. parts by an artificial river, or fosse, about 30 feet wide, named Crique fouillee : and is bounded on the north by the sea, on the south by the river " de tour de l'ile," on the east by the river Mahuy, and ou the west by that of Cayenne. All the Portuguese troops, with 80 seamen and marines from the Confiance, and a party of marines from the Voader and In fante, having been embarked on board the small vessels, the latter, on the 6th of January, early in the morning, dropped into the mouth of the river Mahuy. In the evening Captain Yeo, with 10 canoes, and about 250 men, proceeded to attack some forts that com manded the entrance of the river ; having left the vessels that had on board the remainder of the troops in charge of Captain Salgado of the Voader, with directions to follow after dark, and, on being apprized by signal that the two forts were carried, to enter the river and disembark the men with all possible de spatch. On the 7th, at 3 a. m., Captain Yeo reached Pointe Mahuy, with five canoes ; the others, being heavy, could not keep up. The party then landed in a bay about half way be tween Fort Diamant and the battery named Degras de Cannes • but the surge was so high that all the boats soon went to pieces. Having ordered Major Joaquim Manoel Pinto, with a detachment of Portuguese troops, to proceed to the left and take Degras des Cannes, Captain Yeo, accompanied by Lieutenants William Howe Mulcaster and Samuel Blyth, and Lieutenant John Read of the marines, also Mr. Thomas Savory, the purser, William Taylor, the carpenter, George Forder and David Irwin, midship men, and a party of the Confiance's seamen and marines, marched to Fort Diainant. Both forts were promptly carried : the Dia mant, mounting two long 24-pounders and one brass eight, with the loss of Lieutenant Read and one seaman and five marines badly wounded on captain Yeo's side, and the commandant and three soldiers killed and four wounded, out of 50 men, on the part of the French ; and the Degras des Cannes, mounting two brass 8-pounders, without any loss to major Pinto, but with two men killed on the part of the enemy, whose number at the com mencement ofthe attack was 40. The entrance of the river being thus in possession of the al lied forces, the signal agreed upon was made, and by noon the whole of the remaining troops were safely disembarked. In formation now arrived that General Victor Hugues had quitted Cayenne-town at the head of 1000 troops, to endeavour to re take the captured forts. The force of the allies being too small to be divided, and the distance between the forts being great, and they 12 miles only from Cayenne, Captain Yeo resolved to dismantle Fort Diamant, and collect his whole force at De gras des Cannes. Leaving Lieutenant Mulcaster, with a party of the Confiance's men to do the needful at the Diamant, Cap-. tain Yeo, with the remaining troops and seamen, proceeded to Degras des Cannes. On arriving here, Captain Yeo perceived 1809. CAPTURE OF CAYENNE. 211 two other batteries about a mile up the river on opposite sides : the one on the right bank, named Trio, situated upon an emi nence commanding the Creek (Crique fouillee) leading to Cay enne ; the other on the opposite side situated at the entrance of canal de Torcy, on the creek leading to the house and planta tion of Victor Hugues, and evidently erected for no other pur pose than its defence. The Portuguese cutters, Lion and Vinganza, each armed with a few 4-pounders, were anchored abreast of the two forts, when a smart action commenced, and continued for an hour. Finding the superiority of the enemy's metal and position, and that many on board the vessels were falling from the incessant showers of grape-shot, Captain Yeo resolved to storm both the forts. Accordingly, while Mr. Savory, with a party of Portu guese troops, landed at the battery that defended the house of Victor Hugues, Captain Yeo, accompanied by Lieutenant Blyth and his gig's crew, also by a party of Portuguese troops, pro ceeded to attack Trio. Although both parties had to land at the very muzzles of the guns, the cool bravery ofthe assailants, in defiance of a continual fire of grape and musketry, soon car ried both posts, each mounting two 8-pounders, and put to flight the 100 men divided between them. Scarcely had this service been accomplished, when the French troops from the town of Cayenne attacked Colonel Marques at Degras des Cannes. The allied forces being much dispersed, Captain Yeo, without waiting an instant, pushed off with the boats ; and, arriving at the post, compelled the French, after a smart action of three hours, to retreat to Cayenne. At about the same time 250 men appeared before Fort Diamant ; but, perceiving Lieutenant Mulcaster prepared to receive them, ima gining his force to be much greater than it was, and learning what had been the fate of their general, they quickly followed his example. The strongest post yet remained to be taken, the general's private house ; before which he had planted a field- piece and a swivel, with 100 of his best troops. On the 8th, in the morning, the allied forces proceeded to attack this post. As a preliminary measure, Captain Yeo tried the effect of a summons. The general's advanced guard allowed the gig with the flag of truce to approach within a boat's length, then fired two volleys at Lieutenant Mulcaster and his party, and quickly retreated. Upon this, Captain Yeo landed his men ; but, con sidering that the outrage might have been committed without the knowledge of the French general, he again sent Lieutenant Mulcaster : at whom, this time, the field-piece was discharged. One of the general's slaves was next sent, aud he returned with an answer that the communication must be in writing. At the same moment the general fired his field-piece as a signal to the troops, who lay in ambush in the wood to the right of the allied forces, and who now opened upon the latter a steady and well- p 2 212 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS— SOUTH AMERICA. directed fire ; the field-piece also continuing to play upon them. Finding it impracticable to advance with his field-piece . on ac count of fosses in the road, Captain Yeo proceeded without it ; and his men, with the pike and bayonet, cheering as they rushed on, soon carried the general's gun and the general's house, Vic tor Hugues and his gallant troops flying through the back pre mises into the wood, as the British and Portuguese entered at the front. Information now arriving, that about 400 of tbe enemy were about to take possession of Beauregard plain, an eminence which commands the several roads to and from Cayenne, the British and Portuguese commanders instantly marched thither with their whole force. On the 9th the allied troops reached the spot, and on the 10th Lieutenant Mulcaster and a Portuguese officer were sent into the town of Cayenne with a summons to the general. An armistice followed ; and finally, on the 14th, tlie Portuguese troops, and the British seamen and marines, marched into Cay enne, and took possession of the town. The enemy's troops, amounting to 400, laid down their arms upon the parade, and were embarked on board the several vessels belonging to the expedition : at the same time the militia, amounting to 600, to gether with 200 blacks, both of whom had been incorporated with the regular troops, delivered in their arms. Thus was acquired, by a force, the most effective if not the most numerous part of which was a British 20-gun ship's com plement, the whole of the French settlement of Cayenne, ex tending along the coast to the eastward as far as the river Oya- pok, where the Portuguese possessions begin, and along the western coast to the river Maroni, that separates the colony from the possessions of the Dutch. All this was effected at a comparatively trifling loss of men : the British had one killed (Lieutenant Read) and 23 wounded ; the Portuguese, one killed and eight wounded ; and the French 16 killed and 20 wounded. The previous achievements of Captain Yeo* had prepared us for a display of extraordinary zeal and courage, but we did not expect to find a naval officer so well qualified to fill the station of a general. From the 15th of December, the seamen and ma rines of the Confiance on shore had not slept in their beds ; and, from the time they landed, on the 7th of January, until the sur render of the colony, they were without any cessation from fa tigue. To add to their difficulties, the weather was constantly both boisterous and rainy, and the roads nearly impassable. Even the Confiance, in the absence of her commander and full three fourths of her crew, had the good fortune to accom plish, by her very appearance, what a ship of double her size and treble her force, (her guns were only 18-pounder carron ades), would have been proud of effecting by the fire of her * See vol. iv., p. 135. CAPTURE OF CAYENNE. 213 artillery. For instance, on the 13th of January the French 40- gun frigate Topaze, Captain Lahalle, appeared in the offing, with a reinforcement for the garrison ; but Mr. George Yeo, the captain's brother and a mere lad, although his whole numerical force consisted of another young midshipman, Edward Bryant, 25 English seamen, and 20 negroes, managed, by his skilful manoeuvres and the bold front he put on, to scare the French frigate from the coast, and to send her where, as we have already seen, she became a prize to two British frigates.* See p. 148. BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. As the last annual abstract was remarkable for containing the greatest number of ships that ever did, or that probably ever will, belong to the British navy ; so is the present,* for being the first that exhibits a declension in all its principal totals. In referring, as usual, to the prize and casualty lists of the year,f we have again to notice the heavy amount of loss sustained by the British navy. Yet care must be taken, that this is not abso lutely, but relatively considered. A comparison of the three abstracts (Nos. 16, 17, and 18) containing the highest amount of loss, during the present war, with the three ofthe preceding war (Nos. 5, 9, and 10) similarly circumstanced, shows, that the aggregate loss in the former bore to the aggregate of its com missioned cruisers one tenth only more than was the case in the latter; an overplus of loss scarcely commensurate with the increased numbers and activity of the French marine during the years 1807, 1808, and 1809 ; particularly along the coasts, where far the greater proportion of the lost ships ended their days. The number of commissioned officers and masters, belonging to the British navy at the commencement of the year 1810, was, Admirals 49 Vice-admirals . . . . . 61 Rear-admirals ..... 60 „ superannuated 34 Post-captains 725 Commanders, or sloop-captains . 608 „ superannuated 47 Lieutenants . . . . .3114 Masters .... 501 * See Appendix, Annual Abstract No, 18. f See Appendix, Nos. 1 1, and 12. ADMIRAL, LOJ'D DE S ATTM A R3Z. Z J-'KOM A PICTURE BX THOS PHILLIP S. ESQ. L(_.J\.. 1810. DEATH OF LORD COLLINGWOOD. 215 And the number of seamen and marines, voted for the service of the same year, was 145,000.* Owing to the vigilance of the British blockading force, France was unable, during the whole of the present year, to get a fleet to sea. Napoleon, however, still went on increasing his navy. At Antwerp two new 80-gun ships, the Friedland and Tilsitt, were launched, and the keels of two three-deckers intended to carry 110 guns each, and to.be named Hymen and Monarque, were laid upon the vacant slips. Towards the latter end of the summer 10 sail of the line evinced a disposition to put to sea from the Scheldt, but were restrained from making the attempt by a squadron of seven or eight , sail of the line, under Rear- admiral Sir Richard John Strachan in the St.-Domingo, cruising off Flushing. Since the 6th of January, Sweden, owing to a change in her dynasty, had made peace with France ; and on the 19th of November declared war against England. But Vice-admiral Sir James Saumarez, with: five ,or. six sail of the line, prevented. either the Swedish or the Russian fleet from being in any degree troublesome. Brest was this year a port of little consequence, containing in its road but three sail of the line,: including one ship fi om Roche- fort or Lorient, and about- as many frigates.; These were vigi lantly watched by a British squadron outside; as were the few remaining ships of the line, that lay in some of the minor French. ports, along the Channel and Bay of Biscay frontiers. At the commencement of the present year the command upon the Mediterranean station was still in the hands of Vice-admiral Lord Collingwood, But his lordship was in so infirm a state of health, that on the 5th of March he quitted Minorca in the Ville-de-Paris, bound to England for his recovery ; leaving the fleet under the temporary command of Rear-admiral Martin, in the 80-gun ship Canopus. On the 7th of March, at 8 p. u.r Lord Collingwood expired. The immediate cause of this dis tinguished officer's death was a stoppage in the pylorus or inferior aperture of the stomach : he had nearly attained his 60th year. The French force in Toulon remained much the same as at the close of the preceding year; but we shall defer entering into particulars until we have given some account of a successful expedition in the Adriatic against the island of St.-Maura, the ancient Leucadia ; and which, with the neighbouring island of Corfu, was still occupied by a French garrison. On the 21st of March, early in the morning, the above ex pedition, consisting of the British 74-gun ship Magnificent, Captain George Eyre, 38-gun frigate Belle - Poule, Captain James Brisbane, and 16-gun brig-sloop Imogene, Captain Wil- * See Appendix, No. 13. 216 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1810. liam Stephens, three gun-boats, and five transports, having on board a body of troops under Brigadier-general Oswald, sailed from the island of Zante, and arrived the same evening off St.- Maura. The Imogene and gun-boats anchored to cover the landing of the troops ; and at daybreak on the 22d the whole disembarked, in the face of a slight resistance from some batteries. To the troops were added the marines of the Mag nificent and Belle-Poule, and also of the Montagu 74, Captain Richard Hussey Moubray ; which ship, having knocked off her rudder in working into the road of Zante, had for the present been left behind. Captains Eyre, Brisbane, and Stephens, ac companied the troops in their march; and Captain Eyre was severely wounded in ,the head, and Captain Stephens in the foot, at the storming of the first redoubt: in the attack upon which the 38-gun frigate Leonidas, Captain Anselm John Griffiths, who had been detached to cruise to the northward of the island, lent her very effective co-operation. On the 30th the Montagu, having rehung her rudder, arrived at St. Maura. Immediately two of her lowerdeck guns were landed, and 100 of her seamen joined themselves to the 150 pre viously landed from the Magnificent, who had also sent on shore 10 of her 18-pounders. On the 16th of April, after batteries had been opened against it for nine days, the fortress and island of St. Maura surrendered on capitulation. The loss of the Bri tish army, including the foreign troops serving with it, amounted to 16 officers and men killed, 86 wounded, and 17 missing, and of the British navy, to two seamen and six marines killed, and Captains Eyre and Stephens, one Captain of marines (William Havisand Snowe), one Lieutenant (Vernon Lamphier), one Lieu tenant of marines (Arthur Morrison), six seamen, and 27 marines wounded ; total, 24 killed, 127 wounded, and 17 missing. The French garrison amounted at the capitulation to 714 officers and men, exclusive of 17 sick and 69 wounded. The number of killed must also have been considerable. We now return to the Toulon fleet. Vice-admiral Ganteaume had been succeeded in the command of it by Vice-admiral Allemand. The Boree had got back to her port from Cette ;* and the Robuste and Lion, her less fortunate consorts, were about to be replaced by three new ships, the Wagram of 130, Sceptre of 80, and Trident of 74 guns. The first of these ships was launched on the 30th of June, and another three-decker was immediately laid down upon her slip. Exclusive of those three ships, the French fleet con sisted of 13 sail of the line (one 130, two 120s, one 80, and nine 74s), besides eight or nine frigates and several large armed store- ships. Since early in the month of May Admiral Sir Charles Cotton had arrived on the station as the late Lord Collingwood's successor; and the force under the admiral's command, cruising See p. 144. 1810. CAPTAIN BLACKWOOD OFF TOULON. 217 off Toulon, consisted, in general, of 13 sail of the line, but fre quently of less, with, as usual, a very small quota of frigates. On the 15th of July a continuance of strong gales from the north-west obliged Sir Charles Cotton, with the main body ofthe fleet, to take shelter under Levant island, the easternmost of the Hyeres ; and, while here, the violence of the wind drove the admiral as far to the eastward as Villa-Franca. In the mean time the port of Toulon was watched by a detached squadron, under the orders of Captain the Honourable Henry Blackwood, ofthe 74-gun ship Warspite, consisting, besides that ship, ofthe 74s Ajax and Conqueror, Captains Robert Waller Otway and Edward Fellowes, the 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Euryalus, Captain the Honourable George Heneage Lawrence Dundas, and the 10-gun brig-sloop Shearwater, Captain Edward Rey nolds Sibly. On the 17th eight sail of the line and four frigates stood out of Toulon to exercise, and one of the 74s exchanged a few broad sides with the Euryalus, but without doing her any injury. Either on this or the preceding day a convoy of French coasters from the westward, under the protection of a frigate and corvette, was chased by Captain Blackwood's squadron into Bandol, a small harbour 10 or 12 miles to the westward of Toulon. On the 18th the Euryalus reconnoitered the French fleet, and dis covered two line-of-battle ships and one frigate at anchor off Cape Sepet, ll line-of-battle ships and seven frigates in the outer, and two line-of-battle ships and one frigate in the inner road ; total, 15 sail of the line and nine frigates. Thirteen of these ships comprise all those named at pp. 205 and 206, except the Robuste and Lion : the two remaining ships were the Wagram of 130, and either the Sceptre of 80, or the Trident of 74 guns. On the 20th, at 7 a. m., while the Shearwater lay close to the tongue of land that forms Cape Sepet, and the Euryalus more to the south-east, fronting the road of Toulon, six sail of the line (one three, and five two deckers) and four frigates, under a Vice- admiral, sailed out, with the apparent intention of releasing the frigate and her convoy at Bandol, as the latter, about the same time, got under way and stood to sea before a fine land wind. Just as Captain Sibly had made the signal of an enemy in the north-north jtvest, in which direction the Shearwater, since day light, had been ordered to reconnoitre, the brig was recalled by the commo'dore ; whose object, as he could not now prevent the junction of the frigate and convoy in Bandol, was to collect his own snips, and place them without the enemy, in the most eli gible posture of defence in his power. Having, before she could reach her squadron, to cross the French van or advanced divi sion, consisting of the 74-gun ship Ajax and 40 gun-frigate Amelie, the Shearwater became rather critically circumstanced ; although it is doubtful whether, from her situation to windward, the Shearwater could have been molested by the French ships, 218 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1809. had the brig been suffered to remain where she was. The Euryalus, who had also been ordered to close, was exposed to an equal degree of danger. At 9 h. 15 m. a.m. the Shearwater received a broadside from the French Ajax, and presently two more broadsides, besides some straggling shot. The Amelie also fired two broadsides at the brig ; but not a shot from either the 74 or the frigate struck her. The Euryalus, at whom a part of the fire was directed, came off equally untouched; and both the latter and the Shear water effected their junction with Captain Blackwood ; who, since 8 a. m., had brought to in line of battle, the Warspite leading, followed by the Conquerer and Ajax. The latter, being from her position in the line the nearest to her French namesake and the frigate when they tacked to rejoin their main body, re ceived also a portion of their fire. The Ajax, in the most gallant manner, tacked, and returned the fife with several broadsides. The Conqueror and Warspite, in succession, followed Captain Otway's ship in her manoeuvre, and fired also a few distant shot; but no damage appears to have been done on either side, beyond the loss of the English Ajax's jib-boom by a shot, and some slight inj ury done to her rigging and sails. The French squadron, accompanied by the frigate and her convoy from Bandol, re turned about noon to the anchorage of the fleet in Toulon road. We are doubtful if we should have considered this transaction worthy of any notice, had not two letters on the subject appeared in the London Gazette : one from the British admiral on the station to the secretary of the admiralty ; the other, and that a tolerably long letter, from the commodore of the reconnoitring squadron to the commander in chief. A third letter went also the round of the English newspapers; one from Sir Charles Cotton to Captain Blackwood, thanking him and those under his command for the service they had performed. According to these letters, particularly that of Captain Blackwood to his admiral, one French 130-gun ship, five French two-deckers, 80s and 74s, and four 40-gun frigates, were driven back into their ?ort by three British 74s, a 36-gun frigate, and a 10-gun brig. s there not an absurdity upon the face of this ? Was no allow ance to be made for the state of the wind ? The account admits, that " the weather was light and variable," and that the wind " rather failed" the English ships ; and the logs of all the latter plainly show, that at daylight the wind blew, even with them in the offing, at west-north-west, and at noon at south west by west. The French declare that the wind shifted to opposite points, and was directly against them when their leading ships gave over the chase ; and they justly ridicule the idea of three sail of the line silencing the fire of six. An officer belonging to the Toulon fleet, under date of October 22, 1810, writes thus on the subject to the editor of the Moniteur : " We have read in Nos. 282 and 1810. CAPTAIN BLACKWOOD OFF TOULON. 219 288 ofthe Moniteur, article ' London,' containing extracts from the English papers, the inaccurate report ofthe English Captain Blackwood. He has raised the indignation of the whole fleet ; e?ery person on board of which can attest, that only one 74, the Ajax, and the frigate Amelie, were able to approach the three enemy's ships, owing to the sudden fall of the wind, and its almost immediate change to a point directly ahead. The latter, therefore, had the sole power of attack ; and yet, so far from advancing to a second action with the Ajax and Amelie, they retreated. The bravery of the seamen on board our fleet equals that ofthe English seamen ; and the time may come when Cap tain Blackwood will have to give some other proof of his courage than that of which he has here boasted. It is false that the admiral's ship, of 130 guns, fired a broadside at that captain, or at either of the others. Truly, had she been able to close them, they would soon have made the discovery. It requires, sir, the boastfulness of an Englishman, to wish to inspire a belief, that the fire of three English line-of-battle ships is able to silence the fire of six French, and compel them to fly."* The writer, however, is incorrect in accusing Captain Black wood of having stated, that the French three-decker fired a broadside at any of his ships : that assertion appears in a letter addressed to a newspaper editor by " An officer of the Ajax," and is virtually contradicted by a subsequent paragraph in the same letter. Another extract from the English papers, referred to by the French officer, is a loose paragraph, stating that the Euryalus lost Lieutenant Williams and seven men killed, and 13 wounded. This statement, in which there is not a shadow of truth, is exultingly dwelt upon by the French officer, in a sub sequent part of his letter, as a proof of the superiority of the fire ofthe French, not a man on their side having been hurt, over that of the English. The most objectionable part of Captain Blackwood's letter is the boast of what his three 74s would have done, had the French three-decker, and the five two-deckers, one or two of which in all probability were 80-gun ships, been " bold" enough to engage him. " From the determined conduct of the squadron you did me the honour to place under my command," says the captain, ¦' I am fully persuaded, had the ambition ofthe enemy permitted him to make a bolder attack, the result would have been still more honourable to his majesty's arms." Had Commodore Rodgers, or the equally renowned Captain David Porter, or even the French admiral himself, assisted by the Moniteur's embel lishing powers, written in this style, no surprise would have been created. But what Englishman does not regret, that such boastful threats, from physical causes almost impossible to be realized, should have emanated from the pen of a British officer ; * See Appendix, No. 4. 220 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1810. and that British officer, one who had already so unequivocally distinguished himself? It was not many weeks afterwards, ere a more decided display of British valour, although not a sentence respecting it is to be found in the London Gazette, occurred off the port of Toulon. In the early part of August three French store-ships, bound thither, were chased by the British in-shore squadron into the anchorage of Porqueroles, one of the Hyeres, and were there watched by the 1 8-gun brig-sloop Philomel, Captain Gardiner Henry Guion. On the 26th, at daylight, the three store-ships, each of which was about equal in force to an English 28-gun frigate, weighed and pushed out ; and one, covered by a division of the French fleet from the outer road, succeeded in getting round to Toulon. The remaining two, however, were obliged to put back and reanchor. On the 30th these shifted their births to the entrance of the Petite-Passe, preparatory to a second attempt to reach the port of their destination. On the next morning, the 31st, at daylight, the Toulon fleet was seen in motion; and at 8 h. 30 m. a.m. the two store-ships were again under way. At 9 h. 30 m. a. m. the Philomel, still at her post, tacked, the wind a light breeze from the east-south-east, and at 10 h. 30 m. exchanged a few distant shot with the store-ships as they were coming round Pointe Escampebarion. In 10 minutes afterwards the 74-gun ship Repulse, Captain John Halliday, who was lying to on the larboard tack at some distance outside the brig, exchanged shots with the French advanced frigates. Mean while the two store-ships, favoured by the wind and protected by their friends, got safe into Toulon. Having accomplished this object, the French squadron, under Rear-admiral Baudin in the 120-gun ship Majestueux, continued working out, in the hope, apparently, of capturing the Philomel, who now made all possible sail upon a wind to get clear of her foes. At noon the two headmost French frigates opened a fire upon the brig, which she returned with her two 6-pounders out of the stern-ports. At Oh. 25 m. p.m. the Repulse also com menced firing her stern guns. At 0 h. 30 m., finding that the shot of the frigates were passing over the Philomel, the British 74 gallantly bore up, and, bringing to astern of the brig, opened so heavy and well-directed a fire upon the three headmost frigates, which were the Pomone, Penelope, and Adrienne, that, in the course of a quarter of an hour, they wore and joined the line-of-battle ships ; several of which were also, by this time, far advanced in the chase. These, soon afterwards, wore also ; and, by 5 p.m., the whole were again at anchor in the road. At the time this noble act was performed by the Repulse, the British fleet was out of sight to leeward, off Bandol, except the Warspite 74 and Alceste frigate, who were about nine miles distant in the same direction. Captains Blackwood and Murray Maxwell, and their respective officers and ship's com- 1810. SCORPION AND oreste. 221 panies, must have felt their hearts bound with delight at such a spectacle. Nor could the feelings of Captain Halliday and his ship's company been other than of the most cheering kind ; especially when Captain Guion, in a spirit of honourable grati tude, telegraphed the Repulse, " You repulsed the enemy, and nobly saved us : grant me permission to return thanks." LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. On the 10th of January the British 10-gun brig-sloop Cherokee (eight 18-pounder carronades and two sixes, with 75 men and boys), Captain Richard Arthur, reconnoitred the harbour of Dieppe, and perceived lying at anchor under the batteries, close together, and within 200 yards of the pier-head, seven French lugger-privateers. Notwithstanding the number and strong defensive position of these vessels, Captain Arthur resolved to attack them; and accordingly, at 1 a.m. on the 11th, the Cherokee, favoured by a southerly wind, stood in, and running between two of the luggers, gallantly laid one on board ; which, after a fruitless attempt to board the Cherokee, was carried by the crew of the latter. The vessel proved to be the Aimable- Nelly, a new lugger of 16 guns, 106 tons, and 60 men ; of whom two were killed and eight wounded, three of them dan gerously. The remaining six privateers kept up a smart fire of musketry ; but the Cherokee notwithstanding succeeded in getting out her prize, with the loss of only two wounded, both in the hand, Lieutenant Vere Gabriel, and her boatswain, James Ralph. So daring and successful an act met its due reward, as is evident from the date of Captain Arthur's commission as a post-captain. • On the 1 1th of January Captain Volant Vashon Ballard, of the 38-gun frigate Blonde, commanding a British squadron, consisting, besides that frigate, of the sloops Scorpion, Cygnet, and Pultusk, Captains Francis Stanfell, Edward Dix, and John M'George, and gun-brig Attentive, Lieutenant Robert Carr, stationed off Basse-terre bay, island of Guadaloupe, directed the Scorpion to bring out a French brig-corvette at anchor near the shore. At 9 p. m., while standing in to execute this service, the Scorpion discovered the object of her attack, which was the French 16-gun brig-corvette Oreste, Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste- Anselme Mousnier, just clearing the north point of the bay. The British brig immediately made all sail in chase, but had very soon to use her sweeps on account of the fall of the wind. At 10 h. 30 m. p. m. the Scorpion began firing her bow-chasers, and at 1 1 p. m. brought the French brig to action. A sort of running fight, in which the Scorpion had occasionally to keep in check a battery on the shore, was maintained between the two brigs until 1 h. 30 m. a. m. on the 12th ; when, being completely 222 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. nnrigged by her opponent's well-directed fire, the Oreste hauled down her colours. At this moment the barge of the Blon arrived, and assisted in taking possession of the prize; who> could she have protracted the action many minutes longer, would have run herself on shore. The Scorpion, whose guns were 16 carronades, 32-pounders, and two sixes, with a complement of 120 men and boys, received several shot in her hull, had her main yard wounded in the slings, also her mainmast and gaff, and her sails and rigging much cut ; but she escaped with no greater loss than four men wounded. The Oreste, whose guns were fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two sixes, with a complement of 110 men and boys, besides about 20 passengers, including a lieutenant-colonel and two other officers ofthe army, and the captains and some of the officers of the two French frigates Loire and Seine, recently destroyed at Anse la Barque, was damaged in the manner already stated, and lost two men killed, and her first and second captains and eight men wounded. Twelve officers and 79 men were received from her as prisoners, total, 9 1 ; but the remaining survivors of the crew and passengers succeeded rin reaching the shore in one of the brig's boats. Surrounded as the French brig was by an enemy's squadron, not the slightest imputation can attach to her officers and crew for surrendering. The Oreste, a fine brig of 312 tons, was afterwards added to the British navy by the name of Wellington. On the 17th of January the 18-pounder* 36-gun frigate, Freija, Captain John Hayes, cruising of Englishman's Head, island of Guadaloupe, received intelligence from the log of a schooner captured by her, that there were three or four vessels at anchor in Baie Mahaut, a place of some strength situated on the north side of the neck of land connecting Basse-terre with Grande-terre. Captain Hayes came to the determination of at tacking the forts that defended the harbour, with a division of boats from the little squadron then under his orders ; and, as a preliminary step, the Freija made sail by herself to reconnoitre the spot. On the 21st, at noon, after a two days' search in a most intricate and dangerous navigation, the frigate discovered three vessels lying at anchor ; but, owing to the distance, could only make out that one was a brig with topgallant yards across and sails bent. The evening proving particularly fine, with little wind and smooth water, Captain Hayes resolved to send away the boats of the Freija alone, now quite out of signal-distance from any ship of her squadron. Accordingly, at 9 h. 15 m. p. m., four boats, containing 50 seamen and 30 marines, under the orders of Lieutenant David Hope, first ofthe Freija, assisted by Lieutenant of marines John Shillibeer, master's mate A. G. Countess, and Mr. Samuel Bray, the gunner, pushed off from the frigate, and stood to the south- * Of that class, but we believe the frigate carried Gover's 24s. 1810. BOATS OF FREIJA AT MAHAUT. 223 ward. At a few minutes past 11 p.m., after experiencing great difficulty in finding a passage, and meeting so many shoals that the headmost boat grounded eight or ten times, Lieutenant Hope detained a fisherman ; from whom he learnt that a troop of regular cavalry and a company of native infantry had arrived at Baie Mahaut that evening from Pointe-a-Pitre. Undismayed by this information, the British hastened forward to the point of attack. As soon as the boats arrived within gun-shot, a signal gun was fired, and then a discharge of grape from a battery at the north-east point, and from another at the head of the bay. The guns of the brig, found to be six in number, and all mounted on one side, also opened upon the boats ; and they likewise received a fire of musketry from men concealed in the bushes that lay between one battery and the other. In the face of this very beavy fire, the boats pulled alongside the brig; and, as the British boarded her on one side, the Frenchman fled from her on the other. Leaving Mr. Bray, with a few hands, in charge of the brig, with directions to turn her guns upon the enemy, and cover the landing of the boats, Lieutenant Hope pushed for the shore ; but the boats grounded at so great a distance, that the officers and men had to wade up to their middles to get to the beach. As the British advanced towards the first battery, the French retreated, and took post behind a brick breastwork, from over which they opened a fire of musketry. Pushing forward, the seamen and marines brought their broadswords and bayonets into play, and quickly drove the enemy from his position. The battery was found to consist of one 24-pounder, besides six howitzers which had been dragged to the beach to oppose the landing. The howitzers were now buried in the sand, the 24- pounder hove over the cliff, and the battery destroyed, as well as a magazine containing 20 barrels of powder. Lieutenant Hope and his party then pushed on, and stormed and carried the other battery, mounting three 24-pounders. These the British immediately spiked, and set fire to and destroyed the carriages and guard-house. This battery was a very complete work, ditched all round, with a small bridge and a gateway entrance. Having thus far succeeded in their perilous enterprise, Lieutenant Hope and his party returned to the brig ; which they found fast in the mud, the crew, when they quitted her, having cut her cables. After great exertions, the seamen got the prize afloat. Near to the brig lay, fast aground in the mud, a large English-built ship, under repair, and inside of her a fine national schooner, pierced for 16 guns, but having only 12 on board. Finding it impracticable to float either of these vessels, Lieutenant Hope set fire to and destroyed them. This dcjne, the British 224 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND "SINGLE SHIPS. 18l0# boats and the captured brig moved out of the bay, and in a very- short time were close alongside the Freija. The whole of this very gallant and far from unimportant ser vice was executed with so slight a loss to the British as two seamen severely wounded ; one in going up to loose the brig's foretopsail, and the other in attacking the batteries. The loss on the part of the French could not be ascertained : two officers, one with two epaulets and supposed to be the commandant at . the fort, were found dead, and some lay wounded. In his letter to Captain Hayes, giving an account of the service he had per formed, Lieutenant Hope speaks in the highest terms of the officers and men under his command ; and particularly notices the gallant manner in which Lieutenant Shillibeer led his marines to the charge : as well as the steady discipline of the latter, in keeping possession of the heights while the seamen were destroy ing the batteries. Captain Hayes wrote to Vice-admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, the commander-in-chief on the station, enclosing the letter of Lieutenant Hope ; and Sir Alexander transmitted both letters to the secretary of the admiralty, with one from himself, in which, after dwelling upon the importance of the service, in reference to the intended attack upon the island at large, be says : " The conduct of Lieutenant Hope and his party, in driving so large a force before him, and surmounting so many difficulties in reach ing the enemy's position, stamps their leader as a brave and meritorious officer; and he is deserving the notice of the< lords commissioners of the admiralty." Not one of these letters, how ever, appeared in the London Gazette. Instead of them a sort of abstract was inserted, in the following words : " The vice- admiral has transmitted a letter from Captain Hayes, of his majesty's ship Freija, stating the destruction ofthe batteries at Bay Mahaut, in the island of Guadaloupe, and of a ship and national schooner at anchor there, and also the capture of an armed brig by the boats of the Freija, under the direction of Lieutenant David Hope, who appears to have displayed much gallantry in the performance of this service." To epitomize official letters, so as to do justice to the case and to the parties interested, is no easy task ; and the admiralty clerk who made this very abstract has left it in some degree doubtful, whether the Freija did not destroy the batteries, ship, and schooner, and her boats capture the brig. At all events the service performed by Lieutenant Hope appeared of so little comparative merit, when thus, we suppose we must call it, " gazetted," that, although at that time not a very young lieu tenant, he had to wait four or five years longer before he became a commander. These abstracts of letters may possibly have originated in a press of official matter ; but, then, now happens it that we occa sionally see with them, in the columns of the Gazette, entire 1810. THISTLE AND HAVIK. 225 letters, announcing the capture of half a dozen insignificant chasse-marees, pr of some privateer of trifling force, and that perhaps by a frigate ? Nay, the space occupied by the letters of Sir Charles Cotton and Captain Blackwood, already adverted to,* would have contained at least two of the rejected letters, and have probably led to the promotion of two deserving officers. To the naval annalist, these brief statements occasion great in convenience ; to him especially who feels bound to give a better excuse for tbe omission of the details of a well-conducted enter prise, than that the board of admiralty had not deemed them of sufficient importance to appear in the London Gazette. Un fortunately, too, the sources of information, which for their authenticity and minuteness we prefer to all others, fail us in the majority of those daring, and far from uninteresting cases, attacks by boats upon the enemy's armed vessels and shore bat teries. The log seldom if ever states more, than that at such an hour the boats quitted the ship, and at such an hour returned : sometimes the loss in killed and wounded is inserted, and more rarely the name of the officer who commanded the party. On the 10th of February, at 10 h. 30 m. a. m., latitude 25° 22' north, longitude 61° 27' west, the British 10-gun schooner Thistle (18-pounder carronades, with 50 men and boys), Lieu tenant Peter Procter, steering north-east by north with the wind at south-east, discovered and chased a strange ship in the east- south-east. At 4 p. m , having by superiority of sailing neared the stranger considerably, the Thistle fired a gun and hoisted her colours. The example was immediately followed by the ship, which was the Dutch corvette Havik, Lieutenant de vaisseau Jean Steeling ; a large India-built ship, pierced for 18 guns and mounting] 10 (six long 4-pounders and four 2-pound swivels), with a complement of 52 men and boys, including the Batavian rear-admiral, Armand-Adrien Buyskes, late lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief at Batavia, and his suite, bound from that port to New York, and partly laden with spices and indigo. At 5 p. M., which made just seven hours and a half from the commencement of the chase, the Thistle got alongside the Havik, and firing across her bows, hailed her to bring to. The reply to this was a broadside. (The action immediately commenced, and was maintained with mutual spirit. At 6 h. 15 m. P. m. the Havik attempted to run the schooner down; but the latter, hauling aft hef sheets, adroitly avoided the bows of her huge op ponent. The Thistle, three of whose carronades had been dis mounted since the early part of the action, continued closely engaging the Havik until 6 h. 45 m. r. m. ; when the latter made all sail and endeavoared to escape before the wind. This being * See p. 219. VOL. V. Q 226 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. I8l0. the ship's best point of sailing, it was not until 7 h. 40 m. p. m. that the schooner got near enough to open her bow guns. Gradually advancing in the chase, the Thistle, at 8 h. 30 m. p. m., again arrived alongside. A second close engagement ensued, and continued until 9 h. 45 m. ; when the Havik hauled down her colours and hailed that she had struck. In this five hours engagement and running fight, the Thistle had one marine killed, and her commander and six men wounded. On board the Havik one man also was killed, and the Dutch admiral and seven men badly wounded. The conduct of the Thistle in the affair was highly creditable to her commander, his officers, and crew. It was an act of some boldness for a schooner of 150 tons to attack a large warlike enemy's ship ; nor was it less a proof of persevering courage for the Thistle, after three of her carronades had been dismounted, to continue the engagement for so long a time, and until she brought it to a successful issue. Lieutenant Procter, who is described by Vice-admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, the commander-in-chief on the Halifax station, as " an old officer of much merit," in four months afterwards, as we diseover by a reference to the navy-list, was promoted to the rank of commander. On the 12th or 13th of January the French 40-gun frigates, Nereide, Captain Jean-Franc,ois Lemaresquier, and Astree, Cap tain Francois- Desire Breton, managed to effect their escape from the port of Cherbourg ; the one laden with troops and sup plies for the island of Guadaloupe, and the other with the same for the Isle of France. On the 9th of February, very early in the morning, the Nereide arrived off Basse-terre, and sent an officer and boat's crew on shore for a pilot. The boat did not return, for the colony had been three days in possession of the British ; and tbe first peep of day discovered to the Nereide her perilous situation. From their anchorage off the west end of the Saintes, the following British vessels slipped their cables, and made all sail in chase : — Gun- ship 74 Alfred Captain Joshua Rowley Watson. Gun-frig. Blonde ....... „ Volant Vashon Ballard. 38 \ Thetis George Miller. 36 Melampus „ Edward Hawker. 32 Castor „ George Paris Monke. Gun-br.-slp. 18 Scorpion , Francis Stanfell. Shortly afterwards the Alfred shaped her course to the north ward after a ship at anchor off Anse la Barque, supposed to be a second French frigate, but which proved to be the 18-gun ship-sloop Star, Captain William Paterson,. who had also slipped on descrying the Nereide, but lay becalmed under the land. In the mean while the Blonde, Thetis, Melampus, Castor, and Scor pion, pursued the Nereide ; who was under a crowd of canvass 1810. RAINBOW AND^ NEREIDE. 227 steering to the south-west, and at 8 a. m., the wind then a fresh breeze from the eastward, was but four miles ahead of the lead ing British ship, the Blonde. During the day's chase, the Nereide gained about two miles of the Blonde ; when the latter, at 10 p. m., carried away her main topmast and the yard with it, also her foretopsail yard and fore and mizen topgallantmasts. The Blonde, in consequence, dropped astern ; and the remaining ships continued the chase throughout the night, the Melampus leading. During the whole ofthe 10th the Nereide kept gaining by degrees on the Melampus ; who at 8 p. m. lost sight of her squadron, and, at 10 h. 30 m. p. m., of the French frigate. In another hour the Melampus shortened sail, and hauled to the wind on the starboard tack, to rejoin her consorts. Thus relieved of her pursuers, the Nereide steered a more northerly course, intending to make her voyage back by the windward passage, or that between the islands of St.-Domingo and Cuba. On the 13th, at daylight, when within eight or ten leagues of Pointe Abacou upon the first-named island, another enemy made her appearance to windward. This was the British 22-gun ship Rainbow, Captain James Wooldridge. The latter hoisted the English and Spanish private signals, and, finding them not answered, bore up in chase and cleared for action. At 8 h. 30 m. a. m. the Nereide brought to to reconnoitre the ship which was so boldly approaching her, and must soon have discovered that she had but 10 ports and a bridle of a side on her main deck, three on her quarterdeck, and one on her fore castle, total 28 ports, just the number of guns the ship mounted.* Nor could tlie Rainbow's size have alarmed her, for the ship did not measure more than 587 tons. However,', there was a something about the British ship that the Nereide did not like ; and at 9 a. m. the latter bore up and made all sail. Captain Wooldridge followed ; and at noon, Pointe Abacou then bearing north-north west distant six or seven leagues, the Rainbow was within a mile and a half of a French frigate of more than double her force in guns, men, and size. The chase continued during the afternoon, without any perceptible advantage to either ship ; and at 8 p. m. Captain ' Wooldridge, as his duty prescribed, let off several rockets, to apprize any friend who might be in sight of them, that the Rainbow was in pursuit of an enemy. On the 14th, at 4 a. m., the Rainbow was within about a mile of the Nereide, and at 9 a. m. exchanged numbers with the 18-gun brig-sloop Avon (sixteen 32-pounder carronades and two sixes), Captain Henry Tillieux Fraser, then about six miles north-west by north of Cape Tiburon, and consequently to lee ward of both ships. The Avon was soon under all sail in chase, standing across the" enemy's course. At 1 h. 15m. p.m. the * See p. 147. Q2 228 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. Nereide fired her maindeck stern-chasers at the Rainbow ; and in 10 minutes the French captain cut away his stern-boat, in order that the quarterdeck chasers might also bear. A shot about this time carried away the Rainbow's larboard foretopmast studding-sail boom. At 2h. 30m. p.m. the French frigate, whose course had been north-west by west, hauled by degrees more to the southward, and at 3 h. 30 m. p. m. opened her broad side upon the Rainbow; who, hauling up also, in five minutes returned the fire. A warm action now ensued between this British 22-gun ship and French 40-gun frigate, until 4 p. m., when the Avon came up and raked the Nereide with a broadside. At 4 h. 5 m. p. m., leaving the Rainbow in a totally unmanage able state, the Nereide wore ; as well to evade the raking fire ofthe Avon, as to punish her for her temerity. Between the British brig and French frigate an action now commenced, and continued until 5 p. m. ; when, having reduced this opponent to even a worse state than her first one, the Nereide bore away under courses, topsails, stay-sails, and main and mizen topgal- lantsails. The greater part of the Rainbow's standing and running rigging was cut to pieces, and her masts and yards were much wounded ; but, owing to the high firing of her antagonist, her hull was not materially injured. It was this high firing that occasioned the loss ofthe Rainbow, out of a crew on board of 156 men and boys, to be so comparatively slight as 10 seamen and marines wounded. The Avon, in her rigging and sails, was as much disabled as her consort, and suffered more in her masts ; which, along with her bowsprit, were completely crippled. The brig's hull, although much lower, and therefore more difficult to hit, than the Rainbow's, appears to have received the greater proportion of the Nereide's shot. Her upperworks were cut through ; and several shot had entered between wind and water, causing her to have three feet water in the hold. The Avon had also two of her guns disabled, one man killed, another mortally wounded, and one acting lieutenant (Curtis Reid), one midship man, and five men wounded severely. What loss was sustained by the French frigate in this encounter, we have no means of ascertaining ; and the only visible damage which the Nereide received, besides some cut rigging, was her fore topgallant yard shot away. On ceasing her fire, the Nereide resumed her course to the north-west, and at 6 p.m. was out of sight of her two opponents; who, as soon as the Avon had joined the Rainbow, then about three miles distant in the south by east, made all the sail they could for Jamaica, and on the 16th anchored in the harbour of Port- Royal. The Nereide, in all probability, conveyed to France the account of the fall of Guadaloupe before it was known in England. The Scorpion carried home the English despatches ; 1810. BACCHANTE AND GRIFFON. 229 but, not having departed until after her return from the chase of the Nereide, did not arrive at Plymouth until the 13th of March. One effect ofthe supremacy ofthe British navy was to compel France to make merchantmen and transports of her men of war : hence a frigate, despatched on a voyage to a colonial port, is ordered to chase nothing and speak nothing on her way. This may account for even two French frigates, as we have shown to have been the case, declining to engage one British frigate ; and, had the Nereide fallen in with the Rainbow and Avon before she reached Guadaloupe, might have explained why this French frigate ran from a British 22-gun ship and brig-sloop. But, having found that island shut against her, the Nereide would, one might suppose, resume her character of a ship of war, and endeavour to effect something that should do honour to a 40-gun frigate and confer a benefit, however slight in degree, upon the nation to which she belonged. Instead of this, acting as, after having knocked away his opponent's mainmast, he did on a former occasion,* Captain Lemaresquier waits merely until he has deprived his two inferior antagonists ofthe means of pursuit; then leaves them to repair their damages, and to boast, justly boast, of what their prowess had accomplished. The conduct of the Rainbow and Avon, throughout this running fight, reflects the highest honour upon their respective officers and crews, as well as upon the flag under which they served ; and the noble conduct of Captain Wooldridge, in his earnest pursuit, single-handed, of an enemy so much superior to the Rainbow, was just what might be expected from an officer who, on a former occasion, when commanding the Mediator fire- ship, behaved so gallantly. The prompt support which Captain Fraser afforded his friend, while it relieved the Rainbow from a destructive fire, brought upon himself and his little brig the whole weight of the French frigate's broadside ; the serious effects of which we have already described. But, because the engagement produced no trophy as its result, the account of it did not appear in the London Gazette ; and that having been the case, and no fresh opportunity offering for him to distinguish himself, Captain Fraser continued as a commander during the remainder of his life. He appears to have died in one of the latter months of the year 1816. On the 10th of January, in the morning, while a small Bri tish squadron, under the orders of Captain Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke, of the 80-gun ship Christian VII. was lying in Basque roads, a convoy of French coasters were discovered, on their passage from Isle d'Aix to Rochelle. Immediately the boats of the Christian VII. and of the 38-gun frigate Armide, Captain Lucius Hardyman, were detached, under the orders of Lieute- * See p. 78. 230 BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS. 1810. nant Gardener Henry Guion, to cut off the vessels. The boats soon drove the vessels on shore, within grape and musket range of the French battery. Notwithstanding their apparent secu rity, Lieutenant Guion and his party succeeded in capturing one chasse-maree, and in destroying a brig, a schooner, and two chasse-marees, all valuably laden ; but which, owing to the fast ebbing of the tide, it was found impracticable to get afloat. On the 20th, in the evening, another convoy of about 30 sail making their appearance in the Maumusson passage, and the van seeming inclined to push for Rochelle, the boats of the same two ships, still under the orders of Lieutenant Guion, were sent in chase. With their accustomed gallantry, the Bri tish attacked the convoy, which ran aground within a stone's throw of the batteries ; when five of them, under a heavy fire of grape and musketry, were burnt, and a sixth was taken : the rest put back. The captured vessels were all chasse-marees, and were laden, as the former had been, with wine, brandy, soap, rosin, candles, pitch, oil, &c. In this affair one of the Armide's seamen was wounded, and two of the French seamen were killed. On the 13th of February, three deeply-laden chasse-marees, part of a convoy of ten sail which had sailed on the preceding evening from the Charente in thick weather, blowing fresh from the west- south-west, having got on the reef that projects from the point of Chatelaillon between Aix and Rochelle, Sir Joseph Yorke detached, for the purpose of destroying them, three boats from the Christian VII., three from the Armide, and two from the 12-pounder 36-gun frigate Seine, Captain David Atkins, still under the orders of Lieutenant Guion. As the eight boats of the British, manned and armed in the usual way, advanced towards the grounded chasse-marees, nine French boats, each carrying a 12-pounder carronade and six swivels, and rowing from 20 to 30 oars, pulled out to meet the former and prevent them from fulfilling their object. Lieu tenant Guion made a feint of retreating, to decoy the French boats from their shore defences; and, having got to a proper distance, suddenly pulled round and stood towards them. The French immediately retreated; but the Christian VII.'s barge, in which was Lieutenant Guion, being a fleet boat, boldly advanced along the rear of the French line to their third boat. Finding, however, from circumstances, that the rearmost boat was the only one likely to be attacked with any prospect of success, Lieutenant Guion gallantly boarded and carried her, sword in hand. She had two men killed and three wounded, including her commanding officer,.severely. In the mean time Lieutenant Samuel Roberts, of the Armide, had pursued two others ofthe French armed boats in the direc tion of the beach; and, by the steady fire which his men maintained upon them at a pistol-shot distance, they must have 1810. LORD GAMBIER AT BASQUE ROADS. 231 sustained a loss. The protectors of the chasse-marees being thus defeated, the British boats proceeded to execute the service for which they had been detached : they soon effectually de stroyed the three chasse-marees on the reef, and got back to their ships without, as far as it appears, having a man hurt. For the gallantry which he had displayed in these several spirited boat-attacks, Lieutenant Guion was deservedly promoted to the rank of commander. On the 3d of February, at daylight, the British 74-gun ship Valiant, Captain John Bligh, being close to Belle-Isle in light and baffling winds, discovered, about three miles off, and imme diately chased, a strange frigate. This was the late famous French 40-gun frigate Canonniere, but now the French armed merchant ship Confiance, Captain Jacques Peroud, (the privateer Bellone 's late captain), armed with only 14 guns, and laden with a cargo of colonial produce valued at 150000Z. sterling; with which, 93 days before, she had sailed from the Isle of France, having been lent by General Decaen to the merchants there, for the purpose of carrying home their produce, the frigate requiring more re pairs to refit her as a cruiser than the colony could give her. At about noon, after a seven hours' chase, the wind suddenly took the Confiance by the head, and threw her round upon the Valiant's broadside. Her escape being now hopeless, the Confiance hauled down her colours : she had, it appears, been chased 14 times during the passage from Port-Louis. Having been built since the year 1714, and wanting considerable repairs, the Confiance, although formerly a British frigate, was not restored to the service. On the 21st of February, in the morning, latitude 33° 10' north, longitude 29° 30' west, the British 38-gun frigate Horatio, Captain George Scott, fell in with the French frigate-built store- ship Necessity, mounting 26 guns of the same description as those carried by the Var and Salamandre, and having a crew of 186 men commanded by Lieutenant Bernard Bonnie, from Brest bound to the Isle of France with naval stores and provisions. After u long chase, and a running fight of one hour, during which she manifested some determination to defend herself, the Necessite hauled down her colours. No loss appears to have been sustained on either side; and the Horatio escaped with only a slight injury to her masts and rigging. On the 12th of April, close off the coast of France in the neighbourhood of the isle of Re, the British 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Unicorn, Captain Alexander Robert Kerr, fell in with and captured the late British 22-gun ship Laurel, at this time named Esperance, armed en flute, and under the command of a Lieutenant de Vaisseau, from the Isle of France with a valuable cargo of colonial produce. The prize was afterwards restored to her rank in the British navy, but, a Laurel having since been added to it, under the name of Laurestinus. 232 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. On the 12th of May, at 1 h. 30 m. p. m., the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Tribune, Captain George Reynolds, cruising off the Naze of Norway, observed and chased two brigs under the land. At 2 p. m. the latter, now discovered tobe Danish brigs of war, made all sail for the port of Mandal, and at2h. 30 m. hove to within the rocks. The Tribune immediately stood in, wore, and gave the two brigs a broadside, and then stood off again under easy sail. Several gun-boats now pulled out from behind the rocks, and presently two other large brigs came out and joined the two first seen. At 3 h. 15m. p.m. the Danes began working out, as if intending to attack the frigate ; who, at 3 h. 20 m., wore and stood in-shore to meet them. At 3 h. 40m. the Tribune hove to; whereupon the four Danish brigs, two of which mounted 20 guns, a third 18, and the remaining one 16 guns, tacked and stood towards the British frigate, formed in line of battle. At 4 p. m. the Tribune filled on the starboard tack with light airs ; and at 4h. 30 m. wore round and discharged her larboard broadside at the four brigs then on the same tack to windward, distant rather less than half a mile. A smart engagement now ensued. Finding that the brigs were rather forereaching upon her, the Tribune set her courses, and maintained the cannonade with such effect, that at 6 h. 45 m. the Danish commodore, being in a very shattered state, ceased firing. This brig then made the signal to discontinue the action ; and, followed by her three consorts, crowded sail to regain the port of Mandal. As quickly as possible afterwards, the Tribune tacked and made sail in chase ; but, favoured by the weathergage and the lightness of the wind, the brigs reached their port ; out of which, as they approached, issued several gun-boats, to afford them protection. This was rather a serious contest for the frigate. The Tribune had her fore and main stays and back stays, and maintopgallant yard, shot away, fore and main topmasts and maintopsail yard severely wounded, standing and running rigging and sails much cut, boats all rendered useless, and hull greatly shattered, with several shot between wind and water. Her loss amounted to four seamen, four marines, and one boy killed, and 15 seamen and marines wounded. The Danes at this time owned five or six brigs, two or three of the class and force of the Lougen ; and some mounting not quite so many guns; but all, as it appears, carrying either long or medium 18-pounders, and consequently much more formidable vessels than their appear^ ance indicated. On the 22d of July, in the evening, as the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Belvidera, Captain Richard Byron, and 28-gun frigate, Nemesis, Captain William Ferris, were standing close in-shore of Studtland, coast of Norway, Captain Byron sent his master, Mr. James M'Pherson, to sound round a deep bay. Perceiving three vessels at anchor, Mr. M'Pherson rowed up to 1810. QUEEN-CHARLOTTE AND INDOMPTABLE. 233 reconnoitre them ; when, late in the night, they opened a fire upon him, and proved to be three Danish gun-vessels; two of them, the Bolder and Thor, commanded by Lieutenants Dahlreup and Rasmusen, schooner-rigged, and mounting each two long 24-pounders and six 6-pounder howitzers with a crew of 45 men. The third gun- vessel was of a smaller class, and carried one long 24-pounder with 25 men. On the morning of the 23d Captain Byron detached upon the service of capturing or destroying these gun-vessels, the launch, barge, and two cutters of the Belvidera, also, the launch, pin nace, and yawl of the Nemesis: the four first boats under the orders of Lieutenants Samuel Nisbett, and William Henry Bruce, and Lieutenant of marines James Campbell ; and the three last, of Lieutenants Thomas Hodgskins and Marmaduke Smith. The Danes opened a heavy fire upon the boats as they advanced, and received in return a fire from the carronades in the bows of the launches. In a very short time the two gun-schooners hauled down their colours and were taken possession of without the slightest loss, but the Danes on board of them had four men killed. The remaining gun-boat ran up a creek, and was there abandoned by her crew and burnt by the British. On the 29th of August, at 3 p.m., the island of Alderney bear ing south-south-west three or four leagues, the British hired armed cutter Queen-Charlotte, of 76 tons, eight 4-pounders, and 27 men and boys, commanded by Mr. Joseph Thomas, a master in the royal navy, while proceeding towards the blockading squadron off Cherbourg, observed a large cutter, with an English white ensign and pendant, approaching from under the land in the south-east. At 3h. 30m. p.m. the stranger, whose true character had been suspected and caused suitable preparations to be made on board the Queen-Charlotte, came lose to the latter, luffed up, and, when in the act of changing her colours to French, received a well-directed broadside. The French cutter immediately sheered off, as if not expecting such a salute, but soon returned to the combat. A close action was now main tained, nearly Ihe whole time within pistol shot, until 5 p. m., when the French vessel ceased firing and hauled to the north east; leaving the Queen-Charlotte in no condition to follow, she having had her boatswain killed and 14 men wounded, in cluding one mortally and several badly. The French cutter was the late British revenue-cutter Swan, lengthened so as to measure 200 tons, and mounting 16 long (Impounders, with a crew, as afterwards found on board of her, of 120 men. To have beaten off an antagonist so greatly superior ir^force, was a truly meritorious act on the part of Mr. Thomas arid his brave associates. The Queen-Charlotte, with more than ha\f her crew in a wounded state, and with her rigging and sails very much cut, was obliged to put into St.-Aubin's bay. Among thebadlywounded was a passenger,Mr. P. A.M ulgrave, employed 234 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1808". in arranging the telegraphic communication between the island of Jersey and the British squadron off Cherbourg. This gentle man, while in the act of firing his musket at the enemy, received a musket-ball through his hat, which carried away the outer angle of the socket of his left eye, and, passing through the centre of the upper eyelid, slightly grazed his nose. He, not withstanding, refused to quit the deck, and continued to supply ammunition to those near him until the affair terminated. On the 5th of September, in the morning, while the British 38-gun frigate Surveillante, Captain George Ralph Collier, and gun-brig Constant, Lieutenant John Stokes; were standing out of the Morbihan for the purpose of reconnoitring the Loire, a division of a French convoy was observed to take advantage of the frigate's departure and run from the Morbihan to the south ward. The convoy was immediately chased, and a part of it driven back. One brig sought protection close under the rocks, and between the batteries, of St.-Guildas and St. Jacques. Captain Collier immediately dispatched the boats of the Sur veillante, under the orders of Lieutenant the Honourable James Arbuthnot, assisted by master's mate John Illingworth, and midshipmen John Kingdom, Digby Marsh, Edwyn Francis Stanhope, William Crowder, John Watt, and Herbert Ashton, to attempt the capture or destruction of the brig. Notwithstanding the protection afforded to the French brig by the batteries, and by the additional fire of a party of soldiers placed within the caverns and supported by field-pieces, Lieu tenant Arbuthnot and Mr. Illingworth in the gig, assisted by the other boats, succeeded in carrying the vessel. The crew of the gig then cut her cables and hawsers, and- "the prize was brought out without the slightest loss on the part of the British. But Captain Collier handsomely acknowledges that this fortunate termination of the enterprise was mainly attributable to the " zeal and determination of Lieutenant Stokes, of the Constant, who, with admirable skill and judgment, pushed his brig in between the rocks and shoals of St.-Guildas, and by a well- directed fire kept the enemy close within their holes and caves among the rocks." In performing this service, the Constant became necessarily exposed to showers of grape, but a few of those'shot through her sails and bulwark comprised the extent of the injury she received. On the 6th, late in the night, the Surveillante detached two boats, under the orders of master's mate John Illingworth, assisted by midshipmen John Kingdom and Hector Rose, to destroy a new battery of one long 24-pounder, and a guard house having a small watchtower attached to it, protecting tie north side of, and the entrance into, the river Crache, in which . lay at anchor several coasters. Although the day had dawned before the British reached the spot, they first decoyed the guard from the battery, and then drove them from the beach. Mr. 1810. BOATS OF SURVEILLANTE, & OF CALEDONIA, &C. 235 Illingworth and his little party then pushed for, and made them selves master of, the battery and guard-house. After they had spiked the gun, a quantity of powder, carried on shore for the purpose, was so well disposed of, that in a few minutes the whole building was level with the ground and in flames. Having thus effectually executed the service upon which he had been detached, Mr. Illingworth returned to the frigate without the slightest casualty. On the night of the 27th of September, the boats of the 120- gun ship Caledonia, Captain Sir Harry Neale, 74-gun ship Valiant, Captain Robert Dudley Oliver, and 38-gun frigate Armide, Captain Richard Dalling Dun, lying at anchor in Basque roads, were detached under the orders of Lieutenant Arthur Philip Hamilton, first of the Caledonia, to take or destroy three brigs lying under the protection of a strong battery at Pointe du Che ; and, as the enemy had been known to have strengthened his position with four field-pieces and a party of artillery sta tioned on a low point of the beach situated under the batteiy, as well as by a strong detachment of cavalry and infantry in the adjoining village of Angoulin, a body of 130 marines commanded by Captains Thomas Sherman and Archibald M'Lachlan, Lieu tenants John Coulter and John Couche, and Lieutenant Robert John Little, of the marine artillery, were added to the division of seamen from the three ships. At about 2 h. 30 m. a. m. on the 28th, the marines were landed under Pointe du Che; but, notwithstanding the near approach ofthe boats before they were discovered, the alarm was given by tbe brigs, and an ineffectual fire was immediately opened from the enemy's guns. Lieutenant Little pushed forward with the bayonet to the assault, supported by Captain M'Lachlan's division, and by a detachment under Lieutenants Coulter and Couche, and quickly carried the battery and spiked the guns. At the same time Captain Shearman, with his division of ma rines, took post on the main road by the sea side, with his front to the village, and one of the launches with an 18-pounder car- ronade on his right. In a few minutes a considerable body of men advanced from the village, hut were checked in their ap proach by a warm fire from the marines and the launch. At this period the enemy had succeeded, under cover of the dark ness, in bringing a field-piece to flank the line ; but which the British picket immediately charged with the bayonet and took, putting the men stationed at it to flight. In the mean time the seamen had effected the capture of two of the brigs, and the destruction of the third. The marines were then re-embarked without the loss of a man kilied and only one private wounded, except Lieutenant Little at his first gallant charge. This officer, while struggling with a French soldier to get his musket from him, received the con tents into his hand ; which was so much shattered in conse- 236 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHPIS. 1810. quence, as to render amputation necessary. The French had 14 men killed in defending the battery upon Pointe du Che : what loss the party from the village sustained by the fire of Captain Shearman's division and the carronade in the launch could not be ascertained. On the 7th of September the British 98-gun ship Dread- naught, Captain Valentine Collard, bearing the flag of Rear- admiral Thomas Sotheby, while cruising off' the coast of France, was informed by the 4-gun schooner Snapper, Lieutenant William Jenkins, that a ship was among the rocks on the west side of Ushant. The Dreadnaught made sail to the eastward, and about 6 p. m. on the 8th, on rounding the island, discovered the ship at anchor in a small creek, surrounded by rocks. Rear-admiral Sotheby determined to attempt cutting her out with his boats at daybreak on the following morning. To prevent suspicion, the Dreadnaught stood on until dark : she then bore up for the spot ; and at 5 a. m. on the 9th, seven boats, well manned. and armed, pushed off from her, under the orders of Lieutenant Thomas Pettman. No sooner had the boats approached within gun-shot of the shore, than they were received by a heavy and destructive fire of musketry from a number of troops concealed among the rocks, and from two 4-pounder field-pieces on the beach. In the face of all this, the British pulled towards the ship, lying within half- pistol shot of the beach ; and, exhilarated by the sight of the French troops, that had been stationed on board to defend her, hurrying over the side in the greatest confusion, boarded and carried her. Now came the most serious part of the enterprise. A body of French soldiers, supposed to be 600 in number, stationed, on a precipice nearly over their heads, opened on the British in the ship and in the boats a tremendous fire ; a fire to which no return could be made, except occasionally by the 18- pounder carronade in the launch. The consequence was that, in recapturing this Spanish merchant ship, the Maria-Antonia, from the French privateer who had taken her, and now lay an apparently unconcerned spectator in another creek at about a mile distance, the British sustained the serious loss of one master's mate (Henry B. Middleton), one midshipman (William Robinson), two seamen, and two marines killed, two lieutenants (Henry Elton and Stewart Blacker), two midshipmen (George Burt and Henry Dennis), 18 seamen, and nine marines wounded, and five seamen and one marine missing ; total, six killed, 31 wounded, and six missing, or prisoners. Two of the boats had also drifted on shore during the action, and were taken pos session of by the enemy. On the 14th of October, at noon, the British 10-gun brig-sloop Briseis (eight 18-pounder carronades and two sixes, with 75 men and boys), acting-commander Lieutenant George Bentham, cruising about 80 miles west by south of Horn reef, in the North 1810. BRISEIS AND SANS-SOUCI. 237 sea, fell in with the French privateer-schooner Sans-Souci, of Amsterdam, mounting ten 12-pounder carronades and four long 2-pounders, with a complement of 55 men, commanded by Jules Jacobs. After an anxious chase of eight hours, the Briseis suc ceeded in bringing the schooner to action, which the latter maintained, in the most determined manner, for one hour ; the two vessels touching each other the greater part ofthe time, and during which the privateer's men made three vain attempts to board the British brig. The Sans-Souci then struck her colours, with the loss of eight men killed and 19 wounded ; and the Briseis sustained a loss of one master's mate (Alexander Gunn), her captain's clerk (James Davidson), and two seamen killed, and eight seamen and three marines badly wounded : a proof that the privateer was fought with skill as well as with reso lution. On the 25th of October, at 7 a.m., in latitude 54° 47' north, and longitude 2° 45' east, the British 10-gun brig-sloop Calliope (same force as Briseis), Captain John M'Kerlie, discovered a schooner in the south-east under easy sail standing towards her. As the vessel, evidently a privateer, appeared to take the Calliope for a merchant brig, Captain M'Kerlie thought it prudent not to set any additional sail until the stranger found out her mistake. At 8 h. 30 m. a. m., when about three miles off, the privateer made the discovery, and instantly bore up and crowded sail to escape. The Calliope was quickly in chase, and at 1 0 h. 30 m. a. m. began an occasional fire from her bow-chasers. At 11 a. m. she got near enough to fire musketry ; but the Calliope could not bring her great guns to bear, as the schooner kept on her lee bow. At 11 h. 30m. a.m. the brig got far enough advanced to open a fire of round and grape. At noon the schooner lost her mainmast by the board ; and, in a minute or two afterwards, having had the sails and rigging on the foremast cut to pieces, her captain hailed that he struck. The prize proved to be the Comtesse d'Hambourg of 14 guns, eight of them 12-pounder carronades, and six described as 8-pounders, with a crew of 51 men. Of these, doubtless, several must have been killed and wounded ; but the official account notices no other loss than that ofthe Calliope, which consisted of only three men wounded, two of them slightly. On the 27th of October, at daylight, latitude 48° 30' north, longitude 8° 56' west, the British 16-gun brig-sloop Orestes, (14 carronades, 24-pounders, and two sixes, with 95 men and boys), captain John Richard Lapenotiere, fell in with, and after an hour's chase overtook, the French brig-privateer Loup-Garou, of 16 guns, (6-pounders probably), and 100 men and boys. After about half an hour's close action, the privateer hauled down her colours, with the loss of four men wounded, two of 238 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. them dangerously. The Orestes suffered no damage of conse quence, and had not a man of her crew hurt. On the 8th of November, in the evening, as the British 12- pounder 32-gun frigate Quebec, Captain Charles Sibthorpe John Hawtayne,; was running past the Vlie and Schelling, to resume her station before the fexel, a very fine French privateer- schooner was observed at anchor within the Vlie stroom. Lieu tenant Stephen Popham, first ofthe frigate, immediately volun teered his services to make an attempt upon the vessel. The Quebec now brought to just without the sands and in sight of the enemy : and three boats, the first commanded by lieutenant Popham, the second by lieutenant Richard Augustus Yates, and the third by master's mate John M'Donald, pushed off. There were also present in the boats, Gilbert Duncan the captain's clerk, and Charles Ward " gentleman volunteer." The schooner to be attacked was the Jeune-Lotiise, of 14 guns, (six 12, and eight 9-pounder carronades,) and 35 out of a complement of 60 men, commanded by " Captain Galien Lafont, capitaine de vaisseau and a member of the legion of honour." The three boats had to pull against a very strong tide, and they found the schooner closely surrounded by sands and fully prepared for the attack. At 9 h. 30 m. p. m., when within pistol-shot of the Jeune-Louise, the three boats, grounded on the sand, and in that situation received three distinct broadsides of cannon and musketry. Notwithstanding this, Lieutenant Pop ham and his party extricated themselves, and boarded and carried the vessel, the French captain falling in a personal con flict with Lieutenant Yates. The British loss on the occasion amounted to one seaman killed, one wounded, and one drowned : one of the boats also was destroyed. The French had one sea man, besides the captain, killed, and one wounded. A difficult part of the enterprise was still unaccomplished, to get out the schooner from among the sands and shoals by which she was surrounded. This was at length effected ; and at daybreak on the 9th, after a long and anxious night passed by captain Hawtayne and his officers, their fears were rebeved by the sight of the schooner, with English colours over French, beating out of the enemy's harbour, through the intricate navi gation of the passage. With respect to the alleged rank of the late captain of the Jeune-Louise, we think Lieutenant Popham must have been imposed upon by some of the prisoners ; for we can find no such name as Galien Lafont, among the capitaines de vaisseau of the French navy: there was in 1810 a Mathias Lafond, " an officer of the legion of honour," but he was alive in 1812. Some allusion has already been made to the immense works going on in the port of Cherbourg, by the orders of the French emperor. The principal improvement consisted of a basin ca- 1810. DIANA AND NIOBE WITH AMAZONE AND ELIZA. 239 pable of holding from 30 to 40 sail of the line with sufficient water at its entrance to float the largest ship when ready for sea, About 20 line-of-battle ships could also anchor in the roadstead. sheltered from every wind, as soon as the dike, then constructing at a vast expense, should be finished. From attacks of another sort the ships were also well defended, the three strong fortifiy cations of Pelee, Fort Napoleon, and Querqueville completel- commanding the road. No port belonging to France was so well calculated as Cherbourg, for carrying on offensive ope rations in the channel ; not only from its centrical and projecting situation, but from the facility with which, with any wind in moderate weather, ships can sail in and out of it. Strong gales from north to north-west would, however, occasion a difficulty in getting out, on account of the heavy swell that such winds usually raise in the principal passage. But it is scarcely possible for one or two ships cruising outside to prevent vessels sailing in the night from Cherbourg, as strong tides, deep water, and a rocky bottom prevent the ships from anchoring ; and they can not, at all times, keep close enough in to see a vessel under the land. This accounts for the escape of so many French frigates from Cherbourg, until, on the arrival there in the summer of 1809 of the two French line-of-battle ships Courageux and Polonais,* the port became regularly blockaded. In the autumn of the present year, the British force cruising off the port of Cherbourg consisted of the 74-gun ships Donegal, Captain Pulteney Malcolm, and Revenge, Captain the Honour able Charles Paget ; with occasionally a frigate and a brig-sloop, to be ready to meet the new French 40-gun frigate Iphigenie, launched on the 10th of the preceding May, and a 16-gun brig- corvette, which now lay in company with the two line-of-battle ships, watching an opportunity to sail out. In the middle of October the Alcmene, a second 40-gun frigate from off the stocks in the arsenal, joined the Iphigenie, and was soon in equal readiness for a cruise. In the neighbouring port of Havre, lay also wot new 40-gun frigates, the Amazone, Captain Bernard- Louis Rousseau, and the Eliza, Captain Louis-Henri Freycinet- Saulce ; hoping to elude the vigilance of the two British 38 gun frigates, Diana, Captain Charles Grant, and Niobe, Captain John Wentworth Loring, and, at all events, to get to Cherbourg, as the preferable port, although watched by a British force, for an escape to sea. On the 12th of November, at 10 p. m., favoured by a strong north-east wind, the Amazone and Eliza sailed from Havre, and steered to the north west. At half an hour after midnight, by which time the wind had shifted to north by east, the two French frigates and the Diana and Niobe gained a sight of each other, the two latter to-leeward and in-shore of the former. Captain See p. 165. 240 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS 1810. Rousseau, doubtful probably of the force of the two ships in chase of him, continued his course, but could not, on account of the change in the wind, weather Cape Barfleur, nor, without some difficulty, the isles of St.-Marcouf. At 4 A. m. on the 13th the two French frigates tacked off shore. The Diana who lay on the starboard bow of the Amazone, the leading frigate, tacked also ; while the Niobe, as she came up ahead of the Diana on the starboard tack, passed to-windward of the two frigates, and pushed on to endeavour to cut them off, particu larly the Eliza, from the narrow passage at the west end of Marcouf. In the mean time the Diana had also tacked to the westward, and, passing close to-windward of the two French frigates, exchanged with them two ineffectual broadsides. The latter then bore up, and, being better acquainted with the navi gation ofthe spot, succeeded in entering the passage of Mar couf; under the batteries of which island they anchored. At 11 A. m. the Amazone and Eliza weighed, and kept under sail between Marcouf and the main until 3 p. m. ; when, observing that the Diana and Niobe had been drifted by the ebb-tide to the northward of Cape Barfleur, they steered for the road of^ Lahougue. Here the two Frencb frigates anchored, under the protection of a strong battery. On the 14th, in the morning, Captain Grant despatched the Niobe to Captain Malcolm of the Donegal, cruizing off Cher bourg, with intelligence of the situation of the enemy's ships, and then made all sail to the anchorage of Lahougue. In the mean time, owing to a strong gale from the southward in the night, the Eliza had dragged her anchors, and had been obliged to strike her topmasts, and throw overboard a part of her stores and provisions, to save herself from being lost on the rocks. At 1 p.m. the Diana came to an anchor, and on the morning ofthe 15th, at the first of the flood, weighed and stood into attack the Amazone ; who, in her present position, appeared more assailable than her consort. But the Amazone quickly got under way, and Jproceeded close to ; the shoals of St.-Vaast ; where she again anchored between the batteries of Lahougue and Tatillon. Captain Grant, being resolved nevertheless to make the attack, stood in twice close alongside of the Amazone ; but, having to sustain, not only the frigate's fire, but the fire of two powerful batteries, the Diana was compelled to abandon the attempt. Shortly afterwards the Donegal, Revenge, and Niobe arrived, and renewed the attack ; the four ships successively opening their broadsides while going about. In this way they stood in three times, bringing their guns to bear only when head to wind. At 1 p. m., the British ships, having been drifted to-leeward by the ebb-tide, desisted from the attack, and anchored out of gun shot. All four ships suffered more or less in masts, sails, rigging, and hull : the Diana had one man wounded, the Donegal three, and the Revenge seven, two of them mortally. On board the 1810. PHIPPS AND BARBIER-DE-SEVILLE 241 Amazone, the French acknowledged only one man killed and none wounded. Having on board the Donegal some of Colonel Congreve's rockets, Captain Malcolm, the same evening, sent the boats, under the orders of Lieutenant Joseph Needham Tayler, to try their effect upon the two French frigates. Although, ai daylight on the 16th, the latter was observed to be aground, and one, the Eliza, to heel considerably, neither frigate, according to the French accounts, sustained any injury from the rockets. Both frigates afterwards got afloat ; and on the night of the 27th, just as Captains Malcolm and Grant were meditating to send in a fire-ship, the Amazone gave them the slip, and, before the dawn of day on the 28th, was safe at anchor in the port of Havre. The Eliza was watched with increased attention, and on the 6th of December was attacked by a bomb-vessel. This compelled the frigate to move further in ; and she eventually got aground. Here the Eliza lay a wreck until the night of the 23d, when the Diana sent her boats, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Rowe, and effectually destroyed her. On the 15th of November, at a little before midnight, the British 14-gun brig-sloop Phipps, Captain Christopher Bell, standing across from the Downs to the coast of France, fell in with and chased a French lugger-privateer ; who led the Phipps close under Calais, and so near in-shore, that the brig was obliged, although firing grape-shot into the lugger, to discon tinue the chase. Observing, while in chase of this lugger, two others lying to windward, Captain Bell considered that, by beating up in-shore of them, the Phipps might escape their notice until far enough to fetch them. This the Phipps did, and at 5 a. m. on the 16th closed and commenced an action witb one of the luggers. For a quarter of an hour the lugger maintained an incessant fire of musketry, and appeared determined to run on shore. As the only means of frustrating this design, especially as the brig was already in three and a half fathoms' water, the Phipps ran alongside of her antagonist and poured in her broad side; under the smoke of which, Lieutenant Robert Tryon, assisted by master's mate Patrick Wright, and Mr. Peter Geddes the boatswain, at the head of a party of seamen, boarded, and in a few minutes carried, the lugger ; which proved to be the Barbier-de-Seville, a perfectly new vessel, two days from Boulogne, mounting 16 guns, with 60 men, commanded by Francois Brunet. The loss sustained by the Phipps amounted to one seaman killed, and Lieutenant Tryon, the gallant leader ofthe boarding party, dangerously wounded. But the loss on the part of the privateer was much more severe, she having had six men killed and 11 wounded, including among the latter every one of her officers except the second captain. The effect of the well- directed fire of the Phipps upon the hull of the Barbier-de- vol. v. R 242 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 18l0, Seville was such, that the latter, soon after her capture, filled and sank, carrying down with her one of the seamen belonging to the British brig. On the 10th of December, in the evening, the British 10-gun brig-sloop Rosario (same force as Briseis*'), Captain Booty Harvey, cruising oft' Dungeness, with the wind blowing hard from, the westward, fell in with two large French lugger-priva teers, whose intention was evidently to board her. Knowing their superiority of sailing, Captain Harvey, with the utmost gallantry and promptitude, ran the nearest lugger alongside : whereupon Lieutenant Thomas Daws, with a party of men, sprang on board, and in a few minutes succeeded in carrying her. The Rosario at the same time was engaged on the star board side with the other lugger ; but who, on seeing the fate of her companion, sheered off and effected her escape, owing principally to the loss of the Rosario's jib-boom in boarding the captured lugger, and her consequent inability to make sail to windward. The prize was the Mamelouck, of Boulogne, Captain Norbez Laurence, carrying 16 guns and 45 men ; of whom seven were wounded. The loss on board the Rosario amounted to five men wounded, two of them severely. On the 12th of December, at 8 a. m., the British cutter En- treprenante, mounting eight 4-pounders, with 33 men and boys, Lieutenant Peter Williams, while lying becalmed off the coast of Spain, about midway between Malaga and Almeria bay, observed four vessels at anchor under the castle of Faro. At 9 a. m., these vessels, which were French latteen-rigged privateers, one of six guns, including two long 1 8-pounders, and 75 men, another of five guns and 45 men, and the remaining two of two guns and 25 men each, weighed and swept out towards the cutter. At 10 h. 30 m. a. m. the privateers hoisted their colours, and opened their fire. At 1 1 a. m., which was as early as her lighter guns would reach, the Entreprenante commenced firing at the priva teers • one of the two largest of which lay on her starboard bow, the o'ther on her starboard quarter, and the two smaller ones rffht astern. The action was now maintained with spirit on both sides, at a pistol-shot distance, each party firing with round and grape shot, and the cutter with musketry also. At noon the Entreprenante had her topmast, peek-halliards and blocks, fore jeers, fore halliards, and jib-tie shot away; also two of her starboard guns disabled, by the stock of one and the carriage of the other being broken. Seeing the cutter in this disabled state, the nearest of the two large privateers attempted to board ; but her men were driven back by the British crew, who, with the two foremost guns and musketry, kept up an incessant fire. A second attempt was made to board, and a second time it was defeated, but with a # See p. 230. 1810. ENTREPRENANTE AND FOUR FRENCH PRIVATEERS. 243 loss to the cutter of one man killed and four wounded. The Entreprenante now manned her starboard sweeps, and, getting round, brought her larboard guns to bear. With two broadsides from these, she compelled three of her antagonists to sheer off. All the cutter's canister-shot and musket-balls were now ex pended ; but at this moment two well-directed broadsides, doubled-shotted, carried away the foremast and bowsprit of the most formidable of the privateers. Grown desperate by a resist ance so unexpected, the Frenchmen made a third attempt to board the British vessel, but met with no better success than before ; although in their effort to repulse them, the Entreprenante had two of her larboard guns dismounted, and experienced some additional loss. The fire of the privateers now beginning to slacken, the cutter's people gave three cheers, and, with two guns double-shotted, poured a destructive raking fire into the vessel that was dismasted. This decided the business ; and, at 2 h. 30 m. p. m., the two greatest sufferers by the contest were towed to the shore by boats. The Entreprenante continued sending her shot after her flying foes until 3 p. m., when they got beyond her reach. The castle of Faro at this time fired a few ineffectual shots at the British cutter. Notwithstanding the length and severity of this action, and the more than double force opposed to the Entreprenante, the latter escaped with no greater loss than one man killed and 10) wounded. The loss on the part of her opponents could only be gathered from rumour, and that made it as many as 81 in killed and wounded ; not an improbable amount, considering how nu-1 merously the privateers were manned, and how well the cuttec plied her cannon and musketry. On his return to Gibraltar, Lieutenant Williams, and the officers and crew of the Entrepre nante, received the public acknowledgment of the commanding' officer on the station, Commodore Charles Vinicombe Penrose. Some other marks of favour were conferred upon the lieutenant ; but the reward the most coveted, and, considering that a particle less of energy and perseverance might have lost the king's cutter, no one can say, a reward not fully merited, promotion, appears to have been withheld. We judge so, because, according to the admiralty navy-list, Lieutenant Williams was not made a com mander until the 27th of August, 1814. On the 7th of December, after dark, the British 10-gun brig- sloop Rinaldo (eight 18-pounder carronades and two sixes), Captain James Anderson, while cruising off Dover with the wind from the westward, discovered to windward, and, imme diately chased, two large armed luggers standing towards the English coast. The two French privateers, as they proved to be, the moment they saw the Rinaldo outside of them, endeavoured to pass her and effect their escape over to their own coast. One of them, the Maraudeur, of 14 guns and 85 men, after sustaining a running fight of several minutes' duration, attempted to cross tho r2 244 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. brig's bows ; but the Rinaldo frustrated the manoeuvre, by putting her helm hard a-port and running her jib-boom between the privateer's jib-stay and foremast. . By this evolution the two vessels were brought close alongside. The Frenchmen, being all upon deck, now attempted to board, but were repulsed by the Rinaldo's crew ; who, in their turn, although only 65 in number, including several boys, boarded 'from the fore-chains, in the most gallant style, led by Lieutenant Edward Gascoigne Palmer, and soon cleared the privateer's decks and compelled her crew to call for quarter. This promptly decided and very spirited affair cost the Maraudeur her captain and four men wounded, two of them very severely; but no one was hurt belonging to the Rinaldo. While the latter was occupied in exchanging prisoners, the other lugger effected her escape into Calais. The prize was a fine fast-sailing vessel be longing to Boulogne, only 13 days off the stocks, pierced for 18 guns, and, as a lugger, of very large dimensions. On the 17th of December, at 3 h 30 m. p. m., while stretching out from St.-Helen's, on her way from Spithead to her station off Dover, the Rinaldo discovered four lugger-privateers in the offing, lying to, with all their sails lowered down. Knowing it would be useless to chase them, Captain Anderson altered his course and steered in-shore to the northward, with the view of decoying the privateers within the reach of his brig. To enable them to overtake her about dark, the Rinaldo trimmed her sails by, and kept in such a position as to prevent their making her out to be armed. The manoeuvre succeeded, and the four luggers made all sail in chase of the British brig. At 5 p. m., the Owers light bearing west-north-west distant half a mile, the two largest luggers came up under the Rinaldo's stern, and, hailing her in a very abusive manner to strike, poured in several volleys of small arms. The Rinaldo, being all pre pared, allowed the privateers to come close upon her quarters, and then tacked, thus bringing a broadside to bear upon each of them : she then wore round on her heel, and poured a second broadside, within pistol-shot, into the larger of the two ; who, having discovered her mistake, was endeavouring to escape by bearing up. This well-directed fire brought down the large lugger's masts and sails ; and immediately the latter called for quarter, and requested boats to be sent, as she was sinking. Just at this moment the second lugger, who had hauled her wind on receiving the first broadside, ran down upon the bow of the Rinaldo, apparently with the intention to board, keeping up as she advanced, a constant fire of musketry. The brig imme diately hauled off from the disabled privateer, and attacked the other, who, running within the light, lowered down her sails and called also for quarter. In wearing round and manning her boats, to assist the one, and take possession of the other lugger, the Rinaldo was carried by the calm and strong ebb-tide on 1810. BOATS OF SPARTAN, &C. AT TERRECINO. 245 board the Owers light-vessel, and became so entangled with the latter, that it was not deemed prudent to send away her boats ; especially as, by this time, the two other luggers had come up and were beginning to fire into the brig. While the Rinaldo was using every exertion to get clear, the second lugger that had struck ran up to the first one ; and in a minute or two afterwards, finding that her consort was in the act of sinking, she made all sail to the French coast. The two remaining luggers made off about the same time, having received several shot from the Rinaldo as she lay alongside the light- vessel. It was afterwards ascertained that these four privateers, three of which mounted 14 guns, with 70 men each, belonged to Dieppe ; and, from the Vieille- Josephine, of 16 guns, the one which sank, the captain and two men were all that were saved out of a crew of 80. The boom-mainsail and two topsails of the Rinaldo were completely riddled, and a number of mus ket-shot were found among the hammocks, but fortunately no one on board was hurt. In this little affair both seamanship and gallantry shone conspicuously ; and Captain Anderson, and the officers and crew of the Rinaldo, were entitled to great credit for their performance. On the 4th of April, at 1 p. m., the British 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Success, Captain John Ayscough, and 18-gun brig-sloop Espoir, Captain Robert Mitford, while running along the coast of Calabria, abreast of Castiglione, discovered three vessels on the beach and men loading them. Considering the destruction of these vessels an object worth attempting, Captain Ayscough despatched on that service the boats of the Success and Espoir, under the orders of Lieutenant George Rose Sartorius, third of the frigate, assisted by Lieutenant Robert Oliver, ofthe Espoir, and master's mates George Lewis Coates and Richard Peace. Just as the British had arrived within musket-shot of the shore, three of the boats struck on a sunken reef and swamped ; whereby two of the Espoir's seamen were drowned, and the ammunition of all in the three boats was wetted and spoiled. The officers and men swam to the beach with their cutlasses in their mouths. At this moment a fire was opened upon them from two long 6-pounders and four wall-pieces ; which, having been secreted behind the rocks, were not perceived till the boats grounded.' Regardless of this, Lieutenant Sartorius and his party rushed on, and obliged the enemy to desert the guns and retreat to some adjacent houses ; from the windows of which, until dislodged and driven to the mountains, the enemy main tained a fire of musketry. The British then spiked the two 6- pounders, and destroyed their carriages ; and, having set fire to two laden vessels, already stove, and recovered their three swamped boats, the party returned on board with no greater additional loss than two marines wounded. On the 25th of April, at 10 a. m., the British 38-gun frigate 246 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. Spartan, Captain Jahleel Brenton, accompanied by the frigate Success, and brig-sloop Espoir, being off Monte Circello, dis covered one ship, three barks, and several feluccas, at anchor under the castle of Terrecino. The two frigates and brig im mediately made all sail ; and, on arriving off the town, Captain Brenton detached the boats of the squadron, under the orders of Lieutenant William Augustus Baumgardt of the Spartan, assisted by Lieutenant George Rose Sartorius of the Success, to endeavour to bring the vessels out. At about 30 minutes past noon the boats pulled for the shore, covered by the ships ; and Captain Mitford, with great energy and judgment, ran in with the Espoir and sounded under the batteries. Shortly afterwards the two British frigates and brig came to an anchor, and began cannonading the shore and the batteries. In the mean time Lieutenant Baumgardt, with the boats, pulled into the road, and, in the face of a heavy fire, gal lantly boarded the ship ; which mounted six guns, and was defended for some time by her crew. At length the latter aban doned her to the British ; who also took possession of the three barks, and brought off their four prizes with no greater loss than one seaman killed and two wounded, On the 1st of May, having detached the Espoir, Captain Brenton was cruising with the Spartan and Success ; when, at 5 h 40 m. p. m., the south-west point of the island of Ischia bearing south-east distant three miles, two ships, a brig, and a cutter were discovered in the bay of Naples. These were the French frigate Ceres and corvette Fama, the Cyane's old oppo nents,* with the armed brig Sparviere and cutter Achille. The two British frigates immediately bore up and crowded sail in pursuit, with the wind from the south-west ; and at 7 p. m. the French squadron put about and made all sail for Naples, chased nearly into the mole by the Spartan and Success. On the 2d, at daylight, the Ceres and her consorts were seen at anchor. The two British frigates then stood out towards the entrance of the bay ; and Captain Brenton, feeling satisfied that the French commodore would not put to sea while two British frigates were cruising off the port, detached the Suc cess, that evening to the Spartan's rendezvous, from five to ten leagues south-west of the island of Capri. The Spartan then stood back into the bay, with the intention, by daylight the next morning, of showing herself off the mole of Naples, in the hope to induce the French squadron to sail out and attack her. But Prince Murat had formed a bolder design than Captain Brenton gave him credit for. Having caused to be embarked in the frigate and corvette, 400 Swiss troops, and directed seven large gun-boats, with one loug French 18-pounder each, to accompany the squadron, the prince ordered the commodore to * See p. 174. 1810. .SPARTAN WITH CERES AND CONSORTS. 247 get under way at daylight, and attack, and endeavour to board, the two British frigates, thus hovering about the bay and cutting off all commerce with the capital. Oa the 3d, at 4 h. 30 m. a.m., profiting by a light air which had just sprung up from the south-east, tbe Spartan stood into the bay of Naples on the starboard tack, under plain sails and rather off the wind. At 5 a. m., when about midway between Cape Misano and the island of Capri, the Spartan discovered the French squadron, distant six miles right ahead, standing out from the mole of Naples on the larboard tack. The force, thus advancing to attack a single British frigate, consisted of the Ceres, an 18-pounder frigate mounting 42 or 44 guns, with a crew of from 320 to 350 men, a large corvette, the Fama, mount ing 28 guns, either 8 or 12 pounders, with a crew of more than 220 men, a brig, the Sparviere, mounting eight guns with 98 men, a cutter, the Achille, mounting 10 guns with 80 men, and at least seven* gun-boats, of one long French 18-pounder and 40 men each. The Swiss troops, it appears, were in addition to the complements of the vessels : consequently, there were 95 guns, and about 1400 men, opposed to 46 guns and 258 men. At 7 a. m. the Ceres, followed in line of battle by the Fama and Sparviere, hauled up, as if desirous to get to windward of the British frigate ; but the Spartan frustrated that intention, by setting her courses and hauling up too. In a few minutes, find ing his object defeated, the French commodore again steered with the wind a-beam : and at 7 h. 45 m. clewed up her courses ; the Spartan immediately did the same. In this way the two parties were mutually approximating from opposite points of. the compass. At 7 h, 58 m. a. m., being within pistol-shot on the larboard or lee bow of the British frigate, the Ceres opened a fire from her larboard guns in quick succession. The Spartan " reserved her fire until every gun was covered by her opponent, and then returned a most destructive broadside, treble-shotted on the main deck. The carnage on board the Ceres was very great, particu larly amongst the Swiss troops, which were drawn up in ranks, and extended from the cat-head to the taffrail, in readiness for hoarding."i" The Spartan then engaged in succession the Fama and Sparviere ; and, as neither party was going at a faster rate through the water than from two to three knots an hour, the British frigate was enabled to discharge a broadside at each. Since the commencement of the firing, the cutter and gun boats had hauled to the south-east. In order to cut off these from their consorts, the Spartan now kept her luff; and at 8 h. 13 m. a. m., having fired at the small-craft with her foremost * British official account says, "eight;" French account, "sixj" and Spartan's log "seven." f Brenten, vol. iv., p. 434. 248 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 181.0. starboard guns, the frigate hove in stays, and, as she came round, gave them the whole of her larboard guns : the starboard broadside having been recharged, was then fired at the Sparviere and the two ships ahead of her. Now was the time for the Ceres to have supported the gun-boats, but the French commodore appears to have forgotten them altogether; for, instead of tack ing to meet the Spartan, the Ceres wore and stood towards the batteries of Baia. This stage of the action will perhaps be better understood by a reference to the following diagram. ^•y- G».Bts. t. I- if^ -§A 8K ISmSL'M. Spwv. \ /' iTfitiic: -&-" *£ ••. CereS As soon as she had come round on the larboard tack, the Spartan kept her helm up, and wore in pursuit of the French frigate. But in a few minutes before 9 a.m. the breeze suddenly died away, and left the Spartan with her head exposed to the starboard broadside of the Ceres ; having, also, on her larboard bow the corvette and brig, and sweeping up astern of her, the cutter and gun-boats. A heavy fire was how opened on the Spartan from every side, particularly on the stern and quarter from the long 18-pounders of the gun-boats. In a few minutes Captain Brenton, while standing on the capstan, the better to view his various opponents, received a grape-shot in the hip, and was obliged to be carried below. The command then devolved upon Lieutenant George Wickens Willes. Scarcely had Captain Brenton been removed from the deck, ere a light breeze from the same quarter as before enabled the Spartan to take up a position on the starboard quarter of the French frigate and starboard bow of the corvette. The brig was at this time on the Spartan's larboard quarter or nearly astern, and the cutter and gun-boats on the frigate's stern and starboard quarter, making the best possible use of their advantage. The same breeze, that had enabled the Spartan to get into action, was 1810. SPARTAN WITH CERES AND CONSORTS. 249 made use of by her two principal opponents to carry them out of it; and, owing tothe disabled state ofthe Spartan's rigging, the Ceres and Fama, the latter hauling up to windward of her con sort, succeeded in gaining the protection of the batteries of Baia. The Spartan then wore : and while with her starboard guns she severely raked the frigate and corvette, and cut away the latter's fore topmast, a single broadside from her larboard guns compelled the brig, with the loss of her main topmast, to haul down her colours. This was at 10 a. m.; and the gun-boats presently afterwards came down, in a very gallant manner, and, by towing her away, rescued the crippled Fama from the fate of the Sparviere. The following diagram is meant to represent this, termination of the contest. I\ $\S\ \ w A. Mi >'XA> A-...- Gn.BU -^r""~ Ceres Although the proper complement of the Spartan was 281, having an officer and 18 men absent in a prize and being four men short, the frigate commenced action with only 258 men and boys ; exclusively of Captain George Hoste of the royal engineers, who was a passenger on board, and, during the atten tion of Captain Brenton and his first lieutenant in manoeuvring the ship, took charge of the quarter-deck guns. The loss on board the Spartan was tolerably severe, amounting to one mas ter's mate (William Robson), six seamen, and three marines killed, her captain (severely), first lieutenant (already named), 15 seamen and five marines wounded ; total, 10 killed and 22 wounded. This heavy loss was chiefly occasioned by the long 18-pounders of the gun-boats, while they lay upon the frigate's stern and quarter. The hull of the Spartan had, in consequence, been severely struck ; and, although none of her masts were shot away, they were most of them wounded, and her rigging and sails cut to pieces. The French acknowledged a loss of 30 officers and men killed and 90 wounded, exclusively ofthe loss on board the Sparviere; which, in killed, as 87 prisoners were all that were taken out of her, probably amounted to 11. Among the killed on board the Ceres, was the second captain ; and the first captain is stated to have lost his arm. Some of the English accounts represented the loss on board the French squadron at 150 killed and 300 250 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. Wounded. These round numbers, as our contemporary is also of opinion, are probably incorrect and exaggerated ; " but," Cap tain Edward Brenton adds, "the slaughter, particularly on board the frigate, from her crowded decks, the close position, and the smoothness of the water, must have been very severe."* In addition to the encomiums which he passes upon his first lieutenant, and upon Captain Hoste of the engineers (brother to the captain of the Amphion), Captain Jahleel Brenton strongly recommends his two remaining lieutenants, William Augustus Baumgardt and Henry Bourne; also his master, Henry George Slenner, his two lieutenants of marines, Charles ,Pegan and Christopher Fottrell, and his purser, James Dunn, who took charge of* a division of guns on the main deck, in the place of the officer already mentioned as absent in a prize. For the distinguished part which he took in the action, Lieutenant Willes, on the 2d of June, was deservedly promoted to the rank of commander. Soon after the action had ended in the manner we have stated, the sea-breeze or south-west wind set in. The Spartan then, having repaired her principal damages, took her prize in tow, and stood in triumph directly across, and within about four miles of, the mole of Naples, to the great chagrin and mortification, as was afterwards understood, of Prince Murat ; who had been the whole morning anxiously watching on the mole, to see his squadron tow in the British frigate. At this time the beaten .French frigate and corvette had just dropped their anchors before the town. It would not do for the world, particularly for France, to know how the matter really stood. Hence the Moniteur is commanded to say : " II est impossible de se battre avec plus de bravoure que ne l'a fait la flotille dans cette bril lante affaire, &c." And then the Spartan herself is declared to have been " un vaisseau rase, portant 50 bouches a, feu, done -30 canons de 24 et 20 caronades de 32." . On the 22d of May the British 38-gun frigate Alceste, .Captain Murray Maxwell, chased several French vessels into the bay of Agaye, or Agay, near the gulf of Frejus. - Finding that the two batteries, one on each side of the entrance, which pro tected the vessels, possessed by their height a great advantage over the ship, Captain Maxwell, in the evening, detached two strong parties to endeavour to carry them by storm. The party, under Lieutenant Andrew Wilson, first of the Alceste, that landed on the right of the bay, having to march through a very thick wood to get in the rear of the fort, was attacked in the midst of it by one of the enemy's pickets, whom the marines, under the command of Lieutenants Walter Griffith Lloyd and Richard Hawkey of that corps, without sustaining any loss, very soon dislodged : but the guide, taking advantage of the firing, * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 436. J810. BOATS OF ALCESTE AT AGAYE. £51 made his escape, and Lieutenant Wilson was obliged to re linquish the enterprise and return on board. Meanwhile the other party, under Mr. Henry Bell, the master, reached undis covered the rear of his fort, and attacked and carried it in the most spirited manner. As, however, the opposite battery had not been reduced, Mr. Bell was obliged to retire ; but he did not do- so until he had spiked the guns, two long 24-pounders, broken their carriages, destroyed the magazine, and thrown the shot into the sea. Having accomplished this, he and his men returned to their ship without a casualty. Finding that the vessels would not quit their anchorage while the frigate lay off, Captain Maxwell, on the night of the 25th, sent the barge and yawl, one armed with a 12-pounder carronade, the other with a 4-pounder field-piece, under the command of Mr. Bell, accompanied by master's mate Thomas Day, and midshipman James Adair, with orders to lie in a little cove near the harbour's mouth, while the Alceste stood to some distance in the offing. The bait took ; and on the morning of the 26th the French vessels sailed out quite boldly. To their astonish ment, the two armed boats pulled in amongst them, and presently captured four feluccas, three of which were armed (one with six guns, and the two others with four each), drove two upon the jocks, and the rest back into the harbour. This the British effected, although exposed to a fire from the batteries, from some soldiers on the beach, and from two armed feluccas among the vessels that escaped. Mr. Adair, who with two or three men had been left in charge of the barge while Mr. Bell and Mr. Day were boarding the feluccas, made so good a use of the 12- pounder carronade, that the four prizes were brought off without the slightest hurt to a man of the party. In the month of June Captain William Hoste, of the 18- pounder 32-gun frigate Amphion, having under his orders the 38-gun frigate Active, Captain James Alexander Gordon, and 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Cerberus, Captain Henry Whitby, cruised in the gulf of Triest. On the 28th, in the morning, the boats of the Amphion chased a convoy of several vessels, reported to be laden with naval stores for the arsenal of Venice, into the harbour of Groa. The capture ofthe convoy, although, on account of the shoals, to be effected only by boats, being an object of considerable importance, Captain Hoste resolved to make the attempt without delay. In the evening the Amphion telegraphed the Active and Cerberus, to send their boats to her by 12 at night; but owing to her distance in the offing, the Active was not able to comply with the signal in time. Accord ingly the boats of the Amphion and Cerberus, commanded by Lieutenant William Slaughter, second (first absent) of the Amphion, and assisted by Lieutenants Donat Henchy O'Brien Of the same frigate, and James Dickinson of the Cerberus, 252 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. I8l0i Lieutenants of marines Thomas Moore of the Amphion, and Jeremiah Brattle of the Cerberus ; also by master's mate Charles H. Ross, and midshipmen Joseph Gape, Thomas Edward Hoste, Charles Bruce, and Cornwallis Paley, schoolmaster James Leonard Few, and volunteer Samuel Jeffery, of the Amphion ; and, belonging to the Cerberus, the gunner, John Johnson, and midshipmen John Miller, George Farrenden, Joseph Stoney, George Fowler, William Sherwood, Charles Mackey, and Lewis Rollier, pushed off, and before daylight on the morning of the 29th landed, without the firing of a musket, a little to the right of the town. Advancing immediately to the attack of the town, above which the vessels lay moored, the British were met, about trie dawn of day, by a body of troops and peasantry; who opened a very destructive fire, and obliged the former to retire to the shelter of some hillocks. Conceiving that their opponents were retreating to their boats, the French quitted their advantageous position, and charged with the bayonet. They were received with the bravery and steadiness so characteristic of British sea men and marines, and a lieutenant, a sergeant, and 38 privates of the 8 1st regiment of French infantry were made prisoners. Lieutenant Slaughter and his party now entered the town, and took possession of the vessels, 25 in number. At about 11 a. m. a detachment of the 5th regiment of French infantry, consisting of a lieutenant and 22 men, entered Groa from Maran, a village in the interior. They were instantly attacked by the force that was nearest to them, consisting of a division of seamen and marines under Lieu tenants Slaughter, Moore, and James Mears of the Active, whose boats had landed just as the men of the Amphion and Cerberus had achieved their exploit. The same intrepidity, which had ensured success on that occasion, produced it on this ; and the 22 French troops, with their officer, laid down their arms "and surrendered. Every exertion was now made to get the con voy out of the river ; but, it being almost low water, that object could not be effected before 7 p. m. ; and then not without great labour and fatigue, the men having to shift the cargoes of the large vessels into smaller ones, in order to float the former over the bar. By 8 p. m., however, the whole detachment and the prizes reached the squadron, which had anchored about four miles from the town. The loss on the part of the British, in performing this very gallant service, amounted to four marines killed, one lieutenant of marines (Brattle), three seamen, and four marines wounded ; and the loss sustained by the French amounted to 10 killed, eight by bayonet wounds, a proof of the nature of the conflict, and eight wounded. Ofthe captured vessels, 11 were burnt in the river, because too large to pass the bar in the state of the 1810. CAPTAIN HOSTE AND COMMODORE DUBOURDIEU. 253 tide, five were brought out and sent to Lissa with cargoes ; as were also 14 or 15 small trading craft, laden with the cargoes of the burnt vessels. The British official acount is, as it ever ought to be where practicable, very precise in enumerating the force of the oppo site party : we wish it had been equally so in stating the nume rical amount of the attacking force. There is one part of captain Hoste's letter, which we should like to see oftener imitated. " No credit," he says, " can attach itself to me, sir, for the success of this enterprise ; but I hope I may be allowed to point out those to whose gallant exertions it is owing." Cap tain Hoste then gives the christian as well as surnames of all the officers engaged ; a plan that has enabled us, without that difficulty which we almost on every other occasion experience, to do the same. In. the autumn of the present year the French force cruising in the Adriatic was under the orders of Commodore Bernard Dubourdieu, and consisted of the two French 40-gun frigates Favorite (the commodore's ship, Captain Antoine-Francois- Zavier La Marre-la-Meillerie, and Uranie, Captain Pierre-Jean- Baptiste Margolle-Lanier, the Venetian 40-gun frigate Corona, Captain Paschaligo, and 32-gun frigates Bellona and Carolina, Captains Baralovich and Palicuccia, along with the brig-corvettes Jena and Mercure. The duty of watching this squadron was intrusted to Captain Hoste, with his three frigates already named. On the 29th of September the Franco- Venetian squadron sailed from Chiozzo, and arrived in a few days afterwards at Ancona ; where, accompanied by a schooner and a gun-vessel, the squadron was descried, on the morning of the 6th of October, part under sail and part in the act of weighing, by Captain Hoste ; who, having detached the Cerberus to Malta, had then with him only the Amphion and Active. The wind was blowing a fine breeze from the south-east, and Ancona bore from the two British frigates south-south-west distant four leagues. At noon, having collected all his ships, Commodore Dubourdieu made sail in chase of the Amphion and Active ; one division of three ships stretching out on the starboard tack, add the remainder of the squadron standing close hauled on the larboard tack, ready to take advantage of any change of wind. Captain Hoste stood towards the Franco-Venetian squadron, until he had distinctly made out its force. Finding the enemy's superiority to be such as it would be impossible to overcome, he then, at 1 p. m., tacked and stood to the north-east. Fearful either of an in creasing gale, or of being drawn off the land, Commodore Dubourdieu, at 2 p. m,, tacked and stood in towards the harbour of Ancona. Having seen this squadron of bold cruisers safe at anchor in their port, Captain Hoste steered for the island of 354 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND- SINGLE SHIPS. 1810, Lissa ; and, arriving on the 9th, was so fortunate as to find the Cerberus, who had called there on her way to Malta. On the 12th, having been joined by the 18-gun ship-sloop Acorn, Captain Robert Clephane, Captain Hoste put to sea, with his little squadron of three frigates and one sloop, and steered straight for Ancona, in quest of Commodore Dubourdieu, with his five frigates and two 16-gun brigs. A strong northerly wind, and then a calm of three days' continuance, made it the 20th before the Amphion and her consorts obtained a view of Ancona. M. Dubourdieu was not there. Concluding that he had gone to Corfu, Captain Hoste instantly put about, and crowded sail in that direction, intending to call off Lissa by the way. On the 21st, in the evening, when in sight of that island, the Active, looking out in the south-east, boarded a Sicilian privateer, that had been chased by the enemy, and had lost sight of him only six hours before off Vasto, steering under a press of sail to the south-south-east. There was now just time before dark to recall the Cerberus, who had been despatched to Lissa for intelligence. The priva teer's information confirming Captain Hoste in the opinion that M. Dubourdieu had gone to Corfu, particularly as the wind at this time was from the westward, the British squadron steered south by east all night, with almost a certainty of discovering the Franco-Venetian squadron at daylight between Pelagosi and" St.-Angelo. Daylight on the 22d came, but no sail was in sight, except three fishermen off Pelagosi ; who, on being spoken, said they had left Lissa on the preceding day, but had seen nothing of the enemy. Little doubt now remained, that the enemy was still ahead of the British ; who, consequently continued working to the south-east all that day and all the 23d. On the 24th the squadron came in sight of Brindisi ; and, as the wind was then blowing fresh from the south-east, the commodore thought it likely that M. Dubourdieu, finding the wind foul for Corfu, would stretch over to the Albanian coast, and perhaps rendezvous) at Bocca de Cattaro ; where it was known that a convoy for Corfu were to assemble from Spalatro. Hearing no tidings of the enemy at Cattaro, and judging from the increased force of the south-east wind, that the French commodore was still to leeward, Captain Hoste retraced his steps to' the northward. While this zealous and able officer is hastening towards Lissa, we will endeavour to trace the movements of the object of his anxiety. It was on the 18th of October that M. Dubourdieu, having on board a battalion of the 3d regiment of the line, sailed from Ancona. He then steered alongshore to the southward ; and on the 21st, in the night, was informed by a fisherman, that the English squadron had gone to the southward upon a cruise. Having now little to fear, Commodore Dubourdieu crossed over 1810. CAPTAIN HOSTE AND COMMODORE DUBOURDIEU. 255 from the coast of Apulia, and in the forenoon of the 22d arrived off Port St.-George, island of Lissa. Hoisting English colours, he entered the harbour with the Favourite, Bellona, and Corona ; leaving the Uranie and the three remaining vessels to cruise in the offing, and give notice of the approach of any strangers. At 15 minutes past noon the three frigates anchored and debarked the troops. The commodore then, as he represents, took pos- sion of 30 vessels, of which 10 were "superb" privateers, mount ing altogether 100 guns, burnt 64, of which 43 were laden, and restored several other vessels to French, Illyrian, Italian, and Neapolitan subjects. The troops are stated to have taken the island without resistance, and to have made prisoners of the English " garrison," numbering 100. All this appears to have been the work of only six or seven hours ; for the Franco-Vene tian squadron, by dark the same evening, had re-embarked the- troops and made sail out of the harbour: a sudden step for which we may presently be able to account. The French commodore concludes his letter to Prince Murat by stating that the English squadron, composed of three fri gates, one corvette, and " two brigs," avoided measuring strength with him, although his officers and crews were all extremely eager for the combat. " La division anglaise, composee de trois fregates, une corvette, et deux bricks, a evite de se mesu- rer avec nous. Je puis assurer a V. A. que les etats-majors et equipages etaient dans les meilleures dispositions et fort desi- reux de se battre." He had previously described his own squa dron, as consisting of " trois fregates, deux corvettes, et deux bricks. Thus representing, that the difference of force was only one " corvette;" a name applied, with singular pro priety, to ships like the Bellona and Carolina, measuring 700 tons, and mounting 36 guns, including 24 long French 12- pounders on the main deck. The whole of this statement con veys a vile insinuation ; and, if the paragraph, as it here stands, really formed part of the original letter, and was not superadded by the Moniteur, it leaves an indelible stain upon the character of M. Dubourdieu. With respect to the strong desire in the French officers and men to have a meeting with the British squadron, we may yet have to show how amply that desire was gratified. We have given the Moniteur's version of the proceedings of Commodore Dubourdieu's squadron at Lissa : we will now state the circumstances as they really occurred. On the morning of the 26th Captain Hoste arrived off Port St.-George; and his disappointment may be conceived on learning what had hap pened. The French commodore landed from 700 to 800 troops," and took possession of the port. A midshipman ofthe Amphion, who had been left in charge of some prizes, retired to the moun tains with almost all the inhabitants and the crews of the pri vateers ; and, when the enemy's troops disembarked, none but 256 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. the constituted authorities remained in the town. In the after noon the three firshermen, spoken by the squadron of Captain Hoste that same morning off Pelagosi, arrived in the harbour. The information they brought, of the British being so near, produced the utmost confusion on board the squadron that was "so desirous to meet them ;" and, after destroying two British and three Sicilian privateers, Commodore Dubourdieu got under way and departed with no other trophies of his exploit, than two detained vessels belonging to the British squadron and a pri vateer schooner. The precipitate retreat of a force, apparently so prmidable, left upon the inhabitants of Lissa so unfavourable an impression of French naval prowess, that they almost all beg^an to take up arms ; and had the British squadron made its appearance off the island, the French would have found a resist ance where they little expected it. Without waiting to hear the details of what had taken place, Captain Hoste crowded sail to the north-west. But he was too late; for before the British squadron had even lost sight ofthe island of Lissa, the Franco-Venetian squadron was entering the harbour of Ancona : a harbour which we doubt if it ever would have entered, had the Active not fallen in with the Sicilian privateer. The arrival in the Adriatic of the 74-gun ship Mon tagu, Captain Richard Hussey Moubray, to take the command of the British squadron, and be ready for the new 74-gun ship Rivoli, expected soon to put to sea from the port of Venice, left M. Dubourdieu with a real excuse for remaining, during the rest of the year, quiet in Ancona. On the 25th of July, at daybreak, as the British 12-pounder 32- gun frigate Thames, Captain Granville George Waldegrave, and 18- gun brig-sloop Pilot, Captain John Toup Nicolas, were standing along the coast of Naples, the 18-gun brig sloop Weazle, Cap tain Henry Prescott, appeared off Amanthea, with the signal flying for an enemy's convoy, consisting, as afterwards dis covered, of 32 transport vessels from Naples, laden with stores and provisions for Murat's, army at Scylla, and escorted by seven gun-boats, mounting one gun each,' all long 18-pounders but two, which were brass 36-ppunder carronades, four scampavias, or armed vessels, also of one gun each (8, 6, and 4 pounders), and an armed pinnace with swivels. Immediately on perceiving that the British ships were approaching towards them, the transports ran upon the beach under the town of Amanthea, where they were flanked by two batteries ; while the gun-boats and other armed vessels, under the command of Capitaine de fregate Caraccioli, drew themselves up in a line for the protection of the former. The weather being nearly calm, it was 2 p. m. before the frigate and the two brigs were enabled to form in a close line ; when running along within grape-shot distance, they presently drove the Neapolitans from the vessels, and then anchored. 1810. BOATS OF THAMES, &C. AT AMANTHEA. 257 Captain Prescott now set the example by pushing off with the Weazle's boats, having under him Lieutenant Thomas John James William Davis, Mr. George Cayme the master, and mid shipmen William Holmes and John Golding. The boats of the Thames, under Lieutenants Edward Collier and Francis Moles- worth, midshipmen Matthew Liddon, Christopher Wyvill, John Veal, John Murray, the Honourable Trefusis Cornwall, and William Wilkinson, Mr. William Mullins the boatswain, and Mr. James Beckett the carpenter ; and those of the Pilot, under Lieutenants Francis Charles Annesley and George Penruddoek, Mr. Thomas Herbert the boatswain, and master's mate Thomas Leigh, promptly followed. The marines of the Thames, under Lieutenant David M'Adam, were also landed, to cover the seamen while they were launching the vessels ; the ships all the time firing on the batteries, and on every spot where musketry was collected to oppose the party on shore. The Neapolitans had not only thrown up an embank ment outside the vessels, to prevent the British from getting them off, but also one within them, to afford shelter to the numerous troops collected ; who, when driven from their intrenchments, still greatly annoyed the British from the walls of the town. At length every difficulty was surmounted ! and by 6 p. m. all the vessels were brought off, except one transport laden with bread, too much shattered by shot to float, and one gun-boat, two armed vessels, and two transports, that could not be got off the beach, but all of which were destroyed. This very gallant and important enterprise was accomplished with so slight a loss on the part of the British, as one marine killed, and six seamen and marines wounded. The loss on the part of the Neapolitans nowhere appears ; nor, indeed, can we discover that any account ofthe affair has been published. The Moniteur of August the 5th contains an article, under the head of " Scylla, le 20 Juillet," announcing the departure of Captain Caraccioli, with a division of gun-boats, to meet and protect this convoy ; but, although accounts from the Neapolitan coast continued to arrive, no mention is made of the disaster that befel that convoy and those gun-boats. In his letter to Rear-admiral Martin, giving an account of this affair, Captain Waldegrave, with a liberality and a modesty that do him great credit, thus expresses himself: " Gratified as I feel at an opportunity of testifying the gallantry and zeal of Captains Prescott and Nicolas, and Lieutenant Collier, together with all the officers and crews of the ships (more particularly those in the boats), for their sakes I cannot help regretting it should not have fallen to their lot to have been under the com mand of one, whose testimony would have greater weight in ensuring them that applause and reward to which such conduct so justly entitles them." For his gallantry in the command of the boats, Captain Prescott was promoted to post-rank, and his VOL. V. S 3f§ LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. commission bears date on the day on which the service was executed. On the night of the 28th of September, Captain Robert Hall, of the 14-gun brig-sloop Rambler, lying in Gibraltar bay, having been detached with some gun-boats in search of enemy's pri vateers to the westward, landed with 30 officers, seamen, and marines, after a pull of 20 hours at the sweeps, at a spot near the entrance of the river Barbate, or Barbet, about five miles to the north-west of Tarifa. Lieutenant Hall and his party then crossed the sand-hills to get at a French privateer, lying about three miles up the river, protected by two 6-pounders, her own crew, and 30 French dragoons. After some sharp firing, the enemy retreated with the loss of five dragoons, seven horses, and two of the privateer's crew. The British then swam off to the privateer and carried her with no greater loss than one marine killed and one wounded. Among the officers present in this enterprise, we find the names of Lieutenant James Seagrove and Lieutenant of marines William Halsted. Of all the official letters which we have had occasion to con sult, this of Captain Hall's is the most difficult to understand. He speaks of landing with part of the crew of a gun-boat No. 14, " that of the Rambler and the marines and seamen of the Topaze, in all 30," and dates his letter on board " His majesty's sloop Rambler." We suppose, however, that both the Rambler and the Topaze, mentioned in the body of the letter, were gun boats. A little more explicitness would have enabled us to do justice to what appears to have been a very gallant exploit. Our contemporary seems also to have been led astray by the official letter. He says : " Captain Robert Hall, in the Rambler, a small brig of war, of 10 guns, took out of the river of Barbet, near Malaga, a French privateer, and some small vessels, with a degree of spirit and enterprise seldom exceeded."* No date is given but the year, and that is " 1809." On this point the official letter is clear ; as well as that one vessel only'was taken, and that Barbet was " to the westward," and not as Malaga notoriously is, to the eastward, ofthe rock of Gibraltar. On the 4th of November the 18-gun ship-sloop Blossom, Captain William Stewart, cruising off Cape Sicie, observed in the south-east and immediately chased a latteen xebec. At 4 p. m,, when the ship had arrived within four miles of the xebec, it fell calm. Captain Stewart despatched the cutter, under master's mate Richard Hambly, to reconnoitre the vessel, strictly charging him not to risk the life of a man, should he find her armed and disposed to make obstinate resistance. Almost immediately afterwards the Blossom's yawl, manned with volun teers, and commanded by the first Lieutenant Samuel Davis, having under him midshipman John Marshall, joined the * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 858. 1810. CAPTAIN FANE AT PALAMOS. 259* cutter ; and the two boats pulled with all their strength to over take the xebec. At about 7 p. M., just as the boats had arrived within gun shot, the privateer, which was the Cesar of Barcelona, of four guns and 59 men, opened a fire upon them; killing Lieutenant Davis and three seamen, and badly wounding (by a musket- ball through the collar-bone) Mr. Hambly and four men. With the 26 seamen and marines remaining, Mr. Marshall sprang on board of, and after a smart contest carried, the privateer ; but not without the additional loss of five men wounded. The pri vateer had four men killed, and nine wounded ; the greater part after boarding, as the seven marines divided between the two boats only fired twice before they and the seamen were on the xebec's decks. This was a very gallant exploit on the part of Mr. Marshall ;* and, had it been properly represented, he cer tainly would not have had to wait upwards of six years before he received a lieutenant's commission. On the 13th of December, at 1 p. m., Captain Thomas Rogers, of the 74-gun ship Kent, having under his orders, off the south east coast of Spain, the Ajax 74, Captain Robert Waller Otway, 40-gun frigate Cambrian, Captain Francis William Fane, and 18-gun sloops Sparrowhawk and Minstrel, Captains James Pringle and Colin Campbell, despatched the boats of the squa dron, containing 350 seamen and 250 marines, with two field- pieces, under the command of Captain Fane, to capture or destroy an enemy's convoy in the mole of Palamos ; consisting of one new national ketch mounting 14 guns, with 60 men, two xebecs of three guns and 30 men each, and eight merchant vessels laden with provisions for Barcelona : the whole protected by two 24-pounders, one in a battery that stood over the mole, and the other, with a 13-inch mortar, in a battery on a very commanding height; besides, from the best information then received, about 250 soldiers in the town. The boats, very soon after quitting the Kent, landed their men on the beach in the finest order, under cover of the Sparrowhawk and Minstrel, without harm, the French having posted them selves in the town ; from which they also retired on the approach of the British, and the latter forthwith took quiet possession of the batteries and the vessels in the mole. The mortar was spiked, and the cannon thrown down the heights into the sea, the magazine blown up, and the whole of the vessels, except two which were brought out, burnt and destroyed : in short, the object of the enterprise was completely fulfilled, and that with the loss of only four or five men from occasional skirmishing. But, in withdrawing from a hill occupied by a part of the de tachment,, to keep the enemy in check until the batteries and * The author of the " Royal Naval Biography," occasionally quoted in these pages. s 2 260 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. vessels were destroyed, the British retired in some disorder* thereby encouraging the French soldiers, who had just received a reinforcement from St.-Felice, to advance upon them. Instead of directing their retreat upon the beach, where the Sparrowhawk and Minstrel lay ready to cover their embarkation, the " brave but thoughtless and unfortunate men" passed through the town down to the mole. From the walls and houses, the French opened a severe fire upon the boats crowded with men, and in a dastardly manner fired upon and killed several who had been left on the mole and were endeavouring to swim to the boats. The result was that, out of the 600 British officers and men who had landed, two officers, 19 seamen, and 12 marines were killed, 15 officers, 42 seamen, and 32 marines wounded, and two officers, 41 seamen, and 43 marines made prisoners ; total, 33 killed, 89 wounded, and 87 (including one seaman that deserted) missing; comprising a full third of the party. Among the prisoners was Captain Fane himself, who, with characteristic firmness, remained on the mole to the last in the performance of his arduous duty. Because this was a defeat, we presume, not an officer is named in the official letter, or even in the returns of loss, except the commanding officer of the landed party, and Lieutenant George Godfrey, first of the Kent. On the 6th of April, while the British cutter Sylvia, of ten 18-pounder carronades and 44, out of a complement of 50 men and boys, commanded by Lieutenant Augustus Vere Drury, was proceeding through the Straits of Sunda, in the Indian ocean, an armed prow, of one long 6-pounder and 30 men, deceived by the cutter's insignificant appearance, swept out from under the isle of Cracatoa to attack her. The Sylvia soon drove on shore, cap tured, and destroyed the prow ; bringing away her 6-pounder. On the 7th an armed prow, of large dimensions, carrying two 6- pounders, with 30 men, approached so close to the Sylvia, that, judging it necessary to deviate from his course and destroy this pirate also, Lieutenant Drury detached a boat, with an officer and a party of volunteers, to harass the prow. The latter now endeavoured to escape, but was prevented by the brisk fire of musketry kept up by the boat; which, after killing two and wounding one of the pirates, took possession of their vessel without the slightest loss. On the 11th a large lugger-prow, armed with three 18- pounders and 72 men, weighed from under Cracatoa, and indi cated an intention of trying if she could succeed in capturing the British'cutter, now at an anchor. Lieutenant Drury placed on board the prize Sub-lieutenant John Christian Chesnaye and a party of volunteers, and sent her to attack the lugger. Mr. Chesnaye resolutely met the pirate, and compelled him to seek safety in flight. The intervention of a small island preventing the cutter from seeing the further progress of the action, Lieutenant Drury got under way with the Sylvia, and stood out to support his 1810. FRENCH FRIGATES AT THE ISLE OF FRANCE. 261 detached party. These were on the point of boarding the pirate, when the Sylvia arrived within gun-shot. The obstinate refusal of the enemy to yield compelled the cutter to open her fire ; and, from its effects, the lugger presently sank with the greater part of her crew. In this last affair, the Sylvia had one man killed and seven men wounded. On the 26th, at daybreak, while the Sylvia was cruising off Middleburgh island upon the coast of Java, three armed brigs, accompanied by two lug-sail vessels, were discerned in the vici nity of Edam island, hastening towards Batavia. The Sylvia instantly proceeded to attack the sternmost brig : and, after a sharp contest of 20 minutes' duration, captured the Dutch na tional brig Echo, of eight 6-pounders and 46 men, commanded by Lieutenant Christian Thaarup. This gallant little affair cost the Sylvia four men killed and three wounded, and the Dutch brig three killed and seven wounded. The instant that a separation could be effected between the Sylvia and her prize, pursuit was given to the two headmost brigs. But these, aided by a favourable breeze and an interven ing shoal, effected their escape to the batteries of Onroost ; leaving the Sylvia to take possession of the two lug-rigged tran sports, mounting two long 9-pounders and defended by 60 men each, out 12 days from Sourabaya, laden with artillery equipage and valuable European goods. Considering that the Sylvia's originally small crew had been reduced by 12 men disabled by previous wounds, the whole of this business reflects the greatest credit upon Lieutenant Drury, Sub-lieutenant Chesnaye, and the few remaining officers and men on board the cutter. The Sylvia was one of the 12 cutters built at Bermuda in the year 1805, ofthe pencil cedar, and measured only 111 tons. We little expected, certainly, to find one of this small class of vessel cruising and distinguishing herself in the seas of Java. On the 2d of May Lieutenant Drury, as he well deserved, was promoted to the rank of commander; but Sub-lieutenant Chesnaye, although spoken off in the highest terms by his commander, does not appear to have been rewarded with the rank of a full lieutenant until nearly three years afterwards. We last year left at Port Louis, in the Isle of France, the French 40-gun frigates Venus, Commodore Jacques-Felix-Em manuel Hamelin, Bellone, Captain Victor-Guy Duperre, and Manche, Captain Francois-Desire Breton.* The late Portu guese frigate Minerva, or Minerve as now named, had since been fitted out, and the command of her given to the Bellone's late first-lieutenant, Pierre-Francois-Henry-Etienne Bouvet ; a very active young officer, and who on the 1st of February was pro moted to the rank of capitaine de fregate. There could have been no difficulty in manning this fine frigate, as the Canonniere and * See p. 293. 262 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. Semillante, on their departure for Europe as merchant ships, had left behind the principal part of their crews. There was also, -we regret to have to state, another source whence the French at the Isle of France derived a supply both of sailors and soldiers, but chiefly the latter. When any prisoners were brought in, every art was made use of to inveigle them into the French service. As the bulk ofthe prisoners consisted of detachments of soldiers taken out of the Indiamen, and as the majority of those were Irish Catholics, an assurance that France had not yet abandoned her intention of conquering Ireland and restoring the Catholic religion, was generally found a successful expedient ; especially when coupled with threats of the most rigid confinement in case of refusal. Other deserters, no doubt, had not the excuse of the poor Hibernian to make. Nor were soldiers on this occasion the only traitors : between 20 and 30 of the late Laurel's crew entered with the enemy whom they had so resolutely fought. On the 14th of March, taking advantage ofthe absence ofthe British blockading squadron from the station on account of the hurricane season, Captain Duperre, with the Bellone and Minerve frigates, and the recaptured ship-corvette Victor, now commanded by Captain Nicolas Morice, the same officer, with a step in his rank, who had commanded her when captured as the Jena by the British frigate Modeste in October, 1808, sailed from Port-Louis on a cruise in the bay of Bengal. On the 1st of June, having taken and sent in two prizes, and there being no prospect of making any more this season, Commodore Duperr6 steered for the bay of St.-Augustin, island of Madagascar, to repair his ships and refresh his crews. Having accomplished this object, the French commodore, in the latter end of the month, again sailed, and stood leisurely up the Mosambique channel, until he came in sight ofthe island of Mayotta, when an occurrence hap pened, which proved that his cruising ground had been well chosen. On the 3d of July, at 6 a. m., or just as the day dawned, the island of Mayotta bearing east half north distant about 12 leagues, the three British outward-bound Indiamen Ceylon, Captain and senior officer Henry Meriton, Windham, Captain John Stewart, and Astell, Captain Robert Hay, steering their course to the northward, with a fresh breeze from the south- south-east, discovered about nine miles off in the north-north east, under a press of sail, close hauled on the larboard tack, the Bellone, Minerve, and Victor. At 6 h. 30 m. a. m., agreeably to a signal from the commodore, the three Indiamen hauled their wind upon the larboard tack, under double-reefed topsails, courses, jib, and spanker. At 7 h. 30 m. a. m. the Ceylon made the private signal to the three strangers, then passing on the op posite tack at the distance of about four miles. No answer being returned, the British ships cleared for action. At 9 h. 30 m. a. m., in consequence of the Astell making a signal that she was over pressed, the Ceylon and Windham shortened sail. 1810. BRITISH INDIAMEN AND FRENCH FRIGATES. 263 Captain Meriton now telegraphed his two companions : "As we cannot get away, I think we had better go under easy sail, and bring them to action before dark." The Astell answered, *' Certainly." The Windham replied : " If we make all sail and get into smooth water under the land, we can engage to more advantage." At 10 A. m. the three Indiamen, on account of the increasing power of the breeze, hove to and took in the third reef of their topsails ; and even then the ships lay over so much, and the sea ran so high, that they could not keep open their lowerdeck lee ports. At 11 h. 30 m. the Minerve tacked in the wake of the Indiamen and at the distance of about six miles from them ; and shortly afterwards the Bellone, about four miles upon the lee beam, and the Victor about the same distance upon the weather quarter, also tacked, Perceiving the Minerve coming up astern very fast, Captain Meriton telegraphed : " Form the line abreast, to bear on ships together, Ceylon in the centre." Accordingly the Windham, Ceylon, and Astell, formed a close line in the order named, and awaited the coming up of the enemy; the two nearest ships of which, the Victor and Minerve, were last approaching on the weather or starboard quarter. At 2 h, 15 m. p. m. the Minerve, having arrived abreast of the British centre, and as well as the Victor who was ahead of her, hoisted French colours, fired one shot at the Windham, and then her whole larboard broadside into the Ceylon. The latter was at this time so close astern of her consort as almost to touch her; but the Astell was considerably to leeward and astern of the Ceylon. The corvette opening her fire, the action became general between the Minerve and Victor on one side, and the Windham, Ceylon, and Astell on the other. The Ceylon, how ever, from her situation directly a-beam of the frigate, certainly bore the brunt of the engagement. In a little while, finding the fire of the British too heavy for her, the corvette bore up and passed to leeward of the Astell. At 3 h. 40 m. p. m. Captain Hay of the latter ship was severely wounded, and the command of the Astell devolved upon Mr. William Hawkey, the chief mate. At 4 p. m. the Minerve shot ahead, and then bore down as if with the intention of boarding the Windham. This being a mode of attack to which the Indiamen, from the number ot troops they had on board, were not much averse, the Windham, made sail for the purpose of striking the French frigate on the larboard quarter, and the Ceylon and Astell closed their consort to co-operate with her in the manoeuvre. But the Windham, having had her sails and rigging greatly damaged, did not possess way enough to accomplish the object, and the Minerve passed athwart her hawse at the distance of only a few yards. In the mean time all three Indiamen, by means of their troops, had maintained upon the Minerve an incessant and well-directed fire of musketry. Just as the latter got out of gun-shot, the 264 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. Astell hauled sharp up, and, passing astern of the Windham, became the headmost and weathermost ship. At 4 h. 30 m. p. m., having passed obliquely down the British line, the Minerve wore, with the intention of cutting off the Windham, who was now the sternmost and leewardmost ship. No sooner, however, had the Minerve hauled to the wind on the starboard tack, than her main and mizen topmasts came down close to the caps. A respite was thus afforded to the three Indiamen ; but it was not of long duration, for at 6 p. m. the Bellone, followed by the Victor, commenced a heavy and destructive fire on the Windham. Passing on, the Bellone took up a position on the lee beam of the Ceylon, as the commodore's ship ; directing her foremost guns at the Astell. Meanwhile the Victor kept up a smart, but, on account of the distance she maintained, not very effective, fire on the lee quarter of the Windham. At 6 h. 30 m. p. m., while endeavouring to close the French frigate, in order to give full effect to his musketry, Captain Meriton received a severe grape- shot wound in the neck ; and the command of the Ceylon, in consequence, devolved upon the chief mate, Mr. Thomas Widlock Oldham ; who, in a minute or two afterwards, being himself severely wounded, was obliged to leave the deck in charge of the second mate, Mr. Tristram Fenning. At about 7 p. m., having had her masts, rigging, and sails badly wounded and cut, all her upperdeck, and five of her lowerdeck, guns dis abled, and her hull so badly struck, that she made three feet water an hour ; and having also sustained a serious loss in killed and wounded, the Ceylon bore up and ceased firing, passing astern of the Bellone ; who was still engaging the Windham, at this time close abreast of the Astell to leeward, and consequently sheltering the latter from the fire of the frigate. The Windham, it appears, hailed the Astell repeatedly, proposing a joint attempt to board the Bellone ; but, not understanding, we suppose, the purport of the hail, the Astell put out her lights and made sail, and received, just as she had passed clear of her consort, a heavy parting fire from the frigate. At about 7 h. 20 m. p. m., being in the unmanageable state already described, the Ceylon hauled down her colours, and was taken possession of by a boat from the Minerve, then coming up on her starboard quarter. Shortly afterwards, in passing the Windham, the Ceylon hailed that she had struck. The Astell, just before she put out her lights, had received the same infor mation, and had then her fore and main masts badly wounded, and her rigging and sails greatly disabled. The Windham, who by the Astell's departure was now left quite alone, finding that her damaged masts and the state of her rigging would not admit of her making sail, continued the action, chiefly for the purpose of favouring the escape of the Astell ; when, at 7 h. 45 m. p. m., having had nine of her guns dismounted, and sus tained a serious loss in killed and wounded, the' Windham hauled 1810. BRITISH INDIAMEN AND FRENCH FRIGATES. 265 down her colours, and was taken possession of by the Bellone. In the mean time the Victor had proceeded in chase of the Astell ; but, owing to the time occupied in securing her two cap tured consorts and the extreme darkness of the night, the Astell effected her escape. The Ceylon, Windham, arid Astell were each 800-ton ships, and were armed nearly in the same ineffective manner. The force of the Windham has already appeared, and that will suffice for the force of either of her consorts. Commodore Duperre gave each of his prizes 30 guns ; whereas 26, we know, were all the guns that the Windham mounted, and we believe the Ceylon and Astell mounted no more Each Indiaman had on board a detachment of about 250 troops, exclusive of 100 Lascars, and from 12 to 20 British seamen. The Windham appears to have had only 12 British seamen and 160 effective soldiers : the remainder of the troops were probably sick. We have now to show the loss on board each ship. The Ceylon had four seamen, one Lascar, and two soldiers killed, her captain, chief mate, seven seamen, one Lascar, one lieutenant- colonel and 10 soldiers of the 24th regiment (one mortally) wounded ; total, six killed and 21 wounded. The Windham had one seaman, three soldiers, and two Lascars killed, seven soldiers, and two Lascars severely, and three of her officers and six others slightly wounded; total, six killed and 18 wounded. The Astell had four seamen and four soldiers killed, her captain^ fifth mate, nine seamen, one Lascar, five cadets, and 20 soldiers wounded ; total, eight killed and 37 wounded : making the aggregate loss on the British side amount to 20 killed and 76 wounded* The loss on the French side appears to have been as follows : Bellone, four killed and six wounded ; Minerve, 17 killed and 29 wounded ; Victor one killed and three wounded : total, 22 killed and 38 wounded. Great praise was undoubtedly due to the captains, officers, and crews of these three Indiamen, for their very gallant defence against a force so decidedly superior. Nor must we omit the officers in command of the troops and their men ; who, we have no doubt, by their steady fire, inflicted a great proportion of the loss which the enemy sustained. The East India company, to testify their approbation of the conduct ofthe crews of the three ships, presented each of the captains with the sum of 500/., and bestowed a handsome remuneration upon the remaining officers and men. The officers of the Astell certainly possessed a great advantage, in being able to publish their statement before the officers of the Ceylon and Windham could do so. As one proof of it a con temporary says thus: "The East India company settled a pension of 460/. a year on Captain Hay, and presented 2000/. to the officers and crew, as a mark of approbation for their dis tinguished bravery. Andrew Peters, one of the seamen of the 266 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. Astell, nailed the pendant to the maintopmast-head, and was killed as he descended the rigging. The lords commissioners of the admiralty, to testify their approbation of the defence of the Astell, granted to the ship's company a protection from impress ment for three years."* But our reliance upon this statement is somewhat shaken by the glaring inaccuracies contained in the following passages : " Du Perree, in the Bellone, of 44-guns, with the Victor corvette, came up about 4 p. M. The Minerve was still a long way astern. The weight of the battle fell on the Ceylon and Astell." — " She (the Bellone) bore up, ran to leeward, and in the act of wearing her topmasts fell." The loss of the Windham is also enumerated at only four men killed and four wounded. The colours of the Astell, it appears, were three times shot away. This may excuse M. Duperre, for stating in his official letter, that the Astell struck, but does not in the least justify the epithet, " indigne fuyard," which the French captain applies to her gallant, and, long before that time, disabled commander. Early in the morning of the 4th, the French commodore made sail with the two captured Indiamen, and on the next day anchored in the bay of Johanna, in tbe island of that name. Here it took M. Duperre so long to refit his ships, particularly the prizes, the masts of which had all to be fished, that he was not able to sail again until the morning of the 17th. In three days, however, the French squadron and prizes made the high land at the back of Grand-Port, or Port Sud- Est in the Isle of France. At this critical moment we must leave M. Duperre, until we have given some account of the naval occurrences at the isles of France and Bourbon, during his four months' absence from the station. In the latter end of March or beginning of April, a British naval force arrived off the Isle of France from the Cape, com manded by Captain Henry Lambert, of the 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Iphigenia, having under his orders the 50-gun ship Leopard, Captain James Johnstone, 12-pounder 36-gun frigate Magicienne, Captain Lucius Curtis, and one or two smaller vessels. The French force in Port-Louis harbour consisted, at this time, of the two 40-gun frigates Venus and Manche, and brig-corvette Entreprenant. On or about the 24th of April the 12-pounder 36-gun frigate Nereide, Captain Nisbet Josiah Willoughby, from the Cape of Good Hope, which she had quitted on the 10th, joined Captain Lambert's squadron, and was immediately detached to cruise off the south-east coast of the island. On arriving abreast of the en trance of Riviere-Noire, a ship was discovered at anchor there, moored in such a manner between the powerful batteries of the place, that her stern was alone visible to the Nereide. She was * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 463. 1810. CAPTAIN WILLOUGHBY AT JACOLET. 267 evidently a ship of war, and was supposed to be a corvette. The Nereide in working up to the spot, discharged several broadsides at the French ship, and received in return a fire from the neighbour ing batteries, but neither sustained, nor, it is believed, inflicted any injury. Instead of being a corvette, this ship was a fine French frigate of 1085 tons, the Astree, already mentioned as having quitted Cherbourg in company with the Nereide, a frigate of the same force. Having been, as soon as he made the south west point of the island, apprized by signal, that a British force was cruising off Port-Louis, Captain Breton had put into Riviere-Noire and moored the Astree in the manner above stated. On the 30th, while the British frigate Nereide was recon noitring the coast of this part of the island, a large merchant ship was discovered lying at the anchorage of Jacolet, within pistol-shot of two batteries, which commanded the entrance to the harbour. Notwithstanding these obstacles, having on board an excellent pilot, one of the black inhabitants of the Isle of France, Captain Willoughby resolved to attempt cutting the ship out. For this purpose he embarked in the boats at mid night, taking with him Lieutenants John Burns, Thomas Lamb Polden Laugharne, and Henry Collins Deacon, and Lieutenants of marines Thomas S. Cox and Thomas Henry William Desbri- say, together with 50. seamen and the same number of marines. Having with much difficulty found and entered the narrow and intricate passage into the anchorage, Captain Willoughby had just reached the only feasible spot for effecting a landing, and even there the surf was half filling the boats, when the French national schooner Estafette, of four brass 4-pounders and 14 men, commanded by Enseigne de vaisseau Henri Chauvin, and lying at an anchor close abreast of the battery on the left, shouted, and gave the alarm. Both batteries, assisted by two field-pieces, immediately played upon the spot on which the British were landing ; and, no sooner had the latter formed on the beach, than they became also exposed to a heavy fire of musketry. As every officer had already received his orders, the whole party was instantly upon the run, and in 10 minutes got possession of the nearest battery mounting two long 12- pounders. Having spiked the guns, Captain Willoughby and his men marched towards the guard-house in the rear; which was protected by two 6-pounder field-pieces, 40 troops of the 18th regiment of the line, 26 artillerymen, and a strong detachment of militia. This party, while the seamen and marines were taking the battery, had attacked the small division of men left in charge of the boats, and had driven them and their boats into the centre of the harbour. The same party now opened a fire upon the British main body. This was the signal for the seamen and marines to charge. Captain Willoughby and his brave followers 268 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. did so ; and the French and colonial soldiers instantly gave way, flying with a speed which the British could not equal, and leaving not only their two field-pieces, but their commanding officer, Lieutenant Rockman, of the 18th regiment, who was made a prisoner while in the act of spiking the two field-pieces ; and who, observes Captain Willoughby in his despatch, " de served to command better soldiers." Hitherto twilight had hid from view the force of the British, but full day now showed the Nereide's small band of volun teers to the enemy ; whose strongest battery was still unsubdued, and to gain which it was necessary to pass the river le Galet, running at the foot of a high hill covered with wood, and defended by the commandant of the Savannah district, Colonel Etienne Colgard, with two long 12-pounders drawn from the battery on the right, and a strong body of militia. Owing to the recent heavy rains, the river had become so swollen and its stream so rapid, that the tallest man could scarcely wade across. The short, however, were helped over; and the whole party, more than half of whom were upon the swim, and all exposed to a heavy fire, succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, but not without the loss of the greater part of the ammunition. No sooner was the river crossed, than three cheers warned the enemy to prepare for the bayonet. On the gallant fellows rushed : and the hill, the two guns, and the battery, with its colours, were carried "in style;" and the commandant, Colonel Colgard, was taken prisoner. " Nor," says Captain Willoughby, with the can dour of a brave man, " do I think an officer or man ofthe party, except myself, had an anxious thought for the result of this unequal affair." Having spiked the guns and a mortar, burnt and destroyed their carriages, also the works and magazine, and embarked the two field-pieces, with a quantity of naval and military stores, Captain Willoughby was upon the point of returning to the Nereide, when the party which had been driven from the first battery appeared to have recovered from their panic, and, strongly reinforced by the militia and the bourgeois inhabitants ofthe island, were drawn up in battle array on the left. Know ing that this was the first hostile landing which had ever been effected upon the Isle of France ; knowing, also, that its prin cipal defence consisted in its militia, Captain Willoughby resolved to run some risk in letting the latter know, what they were to expect if ever the island was attacked by a regular British force. He accordingly moved towards the assembled French militia and regulars; and these, on advancing within musket-shot, opened their fire. As a proof of his good general ship, Captain Willoughby resolved to get into the rear of his opponents in order to cut them off in the retreat, to which, he knew, they would again resort. The captain and his party imme diately turned into the interior, in an oblique direction tothe 1810. COMMODORE ROWLEY OFF ISLE OF FRANCE. 269 islanders, who at first halted and remained upon their ground. But the moment the British, by moving in quick time, disco vered their intention, the French militia, followed by the regulars, took to their heels, as had been conjectured, and, a second time, beat the British seamen and marines in fair running. On their way back to their boats, to reach which they had again to wade across the river Galet, the bold invaders burnt the signal-house and flagstaff, situated nearly a mile from the beach : a proof to what a distance the fugitives had led them. Having well sounded the harbour, Captain Willoughby took with him the French schooner, which the midshipman left in charge of the boats had secured just as she was sweeping to sea, and rejoined the Nereide in the offing. The ship, a fine vessel of 400 tons, proved to be an American: and, although she was detainable for a breach of blockade, Captain Willoughby did not capture her. This very gallant, and, as we shall see, far from unimportant enterprise, was executed with so comparatively trifling a loss, as one marine killed, Lieutenant Deacon (slightly), four seamen, and two marines wounded. The loss of the enemy could not be ascertained ; nor was it exactly known what force the British had defeated. From information, corroborated by what fell from the French officers, a body of 600 troops could reinforce the batteries at the post, by signal, within an hour ; and the signal for an enemy was flying during the whole four hours that the British remained on shore. Nor did the seamen or marines, much to the credit of themselves and their officers, commit the slightest injury to the houses or private property of the in habitants. As soon as the Nereide joined the squadron off Port-Louis, Captain Lambert sent in a flag of truce, with the captured militia commandant, lieutenant of infantry, and enseigne de vaisseau, and received in exchange for them 39 British seamen and soldiers. This was an immediate good result ofthe enterprise at Jacolet. The benefits of a more permanent nature, arising from the exploit of Captain Willoughby, were, an instance of the practicability, hitherto doubted, of making a descent upon the Isle of France, and a proof that the principal part of the troops in the island consisted of militia; of whose prowess, also, as defenders of any spot of ground, some very conclusive evidence had been obtained. Some time in the month of May Captain Josias Rowley, late of the 64-gun ship Raisonable, having by the orders of Vice- admiral William O'Brien Drury, the commander-in-chief at the Cape of Good Hope, superseded Captain John Hatley in the command of the 38-gun frigate Boadicea, arrived, with the latter frigate and the Sirius, off the Isle of France. The Raisonable in the mean time, being nearly worn out in the service, had sailed for England, commanded by Captain Hatley ; and the Leopard having also quitted the Isle of France station for the 27Q LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. Gape of Good Hope, the British force cruising off Port-Louis consisted of frigates and sloops only, the Boadicea, Sirius, Iphigenia, Magicienne, Nereide, Otter, and a few others. On the 15th of June, while Commodore Rowley, with the Boadicea and Nereide, was watering on Isle Platte, or Flat island, a small island close off the northern extremity ofthe Isle of France, preparatory to his departure for the Isle of Rodriguez, a very serious accident happened to the captain of the Nereide. Captain Willoughby was on shore exercising his men at small- arms, when a musket he was holding burst, and inflicted upon him a dreadful, and, as it was thought, mortal wound. His lower jaw on the right side was badly fractured, and his neck so lacerated, that the windpipe lay bare ; and the surgeon feared, for several days, that it would slougb away with the dressings, and of course end the life of the patient. For three weeks, Captain Willoughby could not speak. However, by the skilful attention of the surgeon, Mr. George Peter Martyn Young/ and a temperate habit of body, but not until a painful exfoliation of the jaw had taken place, the wound healed. We formerly gave the name of Captain (then lieutenant) Willoughby among the wounded at the unfortunate business of the island of Prota, during the still more unfortunate proceedings in the neighbour hood of Constantinople. The wound Captain Willoughby then received was by two musket or pistol balls : one struck his left cheek, and injured the jaw on that side ; the other entered his right nostril, and, from the upward position of his face at the moment, took a slanting direction towards the region of the brain. He lay, for half an hour, insensible on the ground, and was carried to the boats and the ship as one of whom no hopes were entertained. The surgeon introduced his probe several inches into the wound, but the bullet has not, we believe, yet been extracted. Having watered his two ships, and left the squadron off the Isle of France in the temporary charge of Captain Pym of the Sirius, Commodore Rowley made sail for the island of Rodri guez, a small uninhabited island situated about 100 leagues to the north-east of the Isle of France ; and which had recently been taken possession of by Lieutenant-colonel Keating, as a sort of barrack for the troops with which it was in contemplation to attack Isle Bourbon. On the 24th the Boadicea and Nereide anchored at Rodriguez; and on the 3d of July, having em barked as many of the European troops as they could stow, the two frigates sailed on their return, accompanied by 14 transports, having on board the remainder of the 3650 European and native troops, including 1850 ofthe latter, allotted for the expedition. On board the Boadicea were also as passengers, Lieutenant- colonel Keating, the commanding officer of the troops, and Robert Townsend Farquhar, Esquire, appointed to the govern ment of the island as soon as it should be captured. The 1810. CAPTURE OF ISLE BOURBON. 271 regular force on Bourbon at this time amounted to only 576 rank and file ; hut there was an organized militia force of 2717 men. On the 6th, at 4 p. m., the expedition joined Captain Pym's squadron at tbe appointed rendezvous, about 50 miles to wind ward of Isle Bourbon ; and the Sirius, Iphigenia, and Magicienne received on board from the transports all the remaining European and a portion of the native troops, together with as many of their boats as might be required for landing the men. This done, the five frigates and transports, early on the morning of the 7th, bore away for the different points of debarkation. The first brigade, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Fraser, was to land at Grande-Chaloupe, a spot about six miles to the southward and westward ofthe town of St.-Denis, the capital of the island ; while the second, third, and fourth brigades, under the respective commands of Lieutenant-colonel Keating, Camp- hell, and Drummond, were to land at Riviere des Pluies, about three miles to the eastward of the town. The first of these points was on the lee, the other on the weather side of the island. While the main force drew the enemy's attention off Sainte- Marie, about two miles further to the eastward than Riviere des Pluies, Captain Pym, at 2 p. m., in the short space of about two hours and a half, effected the landing at Grande-Chaloupe, with out opposition, of the whole of Colonel Fraser's brigade, consist ing of 950 men, with some howitzers and the necessary ammuni tion. Owing to the able dispositions of Lieutenant John Wyatt Watling, second of the Sirius, who with a small detachment of seamen had charge of the beach, not an accident occurred to a single soldier, nor was any part of the ammunition injured. Lieutenant Watling, with his men, then kept possession, during the night, of a neighbouring height between the town of St.- Paul and Colonel ( Fraser's rear ; thereby preventing reinforce ments being sent from St.-Paul's to St.-Denis : he also drove in all the enemy's sharp-shooters, and took several cavalry horses. The Boadicea, Iphigenia, Magicienne, and Nereide, when it was supposed that the first landing had been effected, pushed for an anchorage, and were followed by the transports as they arrived. The weather, which until now had been favourable, began to change. The beach on this side of the island, being steep and composed of large shingles, is generally of difficult access; but Captain Willoughby having reported it practicable, a landing was attempted under this officer's direction. Embark ing on board the prize-schooner Estafette, Captain Willoughby (with the dressings still on his wound, and after a night's expo sure in an open boat) succeeded, with a small detachment of seamen and about 150 troops, in effecting a landing; but not without having the schooner, which belonged to the Nereide's ship's company, dashed to pieces in the surf, together with several 272 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 18 10. of the boats. Fortunately the only lives lost on the occasion were two soldiers, and two of the Nereide's seamen drowned. Lieutenant-colonel Keating considering it indispensable that a disembarkation should be effected on this most difficult side of the capital, a light transport brig, the Ulney, was run on shore as a breakwater ; but the stern cable parting, she formed only a momentary cover for a few boats ; and it was found necessary, at the close of day, to relinquish, for the present, any further attempts to land at this point. The small detachment on shore, having lost a great proportion of their arms, and had the whole of their ammunition spoiled, were now rather critically circumstanced ; especially as, on ac count of the bad state of the weather, no boat could push off to communicate with the squadron. At length, a gallant young officer pf the army, Lieutenant Foulstone, who was on board the Boadicea, volunteered to swim through the surf and convey to Lieutenant-colonel Macleod, the commanding officer of the de tachment, Colonel Keating's orders. He did so ; and the lieu tenant-colonel took quiet possession of, and occupied for the night, the fort of Sainte-Marie. On the morning of the 8th, the beach still appearing unfa vourable, the Boadicea, leaving behind the Iphigenia and tran sports, proceeded to Grande-Chaloupe ; where, at about 11a. m., Colonel Keating and the troops in the Boadicea disembarked. In the course of the day Captain Lambert succeeded in landing the troops from the Iphigenia and transports; but, in the mean time, after an outpost had been assaulted and carried by a de tachment from Colonel Fraser's brigade, the French commanding officer on the island, Colonel St.-Susaune, had requested a suspension of arms. This was agreed to, and at 6 p.m. the capitulation was signed, and Isle Bourbon became a British possession ; that, too, with so slight a loss as one subaltern, one sergeant, and six rank and file killed, two rank and file and two seamen drowned, and one major (T. Edwards, of the 86th), seven subalterns, two sergeants, two drummers, 66 rank and file, and one seaman wounded ; total, 22 killed and drowned, and 79 wounded. On the 9th Mr. Farquhar landed from the Boadicea, and, as had been previously arranged, assumed the government of the conquered island. A part of the duty of the Sirius frigate was to take possession of the shipping in the bay of St.-Paul. Observing a brig getting ready to sail, Captain Pym, at 11 p. m. on the 9th, despatched the barge under the orders of Lieutenant George R. Norman, to en deavour to bring the vessel out, or to cut her off should she attempt to escape. Finding, by boarding the other vessels in the bay /that the brig had sailed since 9 p. m., Lieutenant Norman pushed on, and, after a hard row of nearly 12 hours, overtook, boarded, and, with three men slightly wounded, carried in a most gallant manner, the Edward privateer, of Nantes, pierced for 16 1810. GOVERNOR FARQUHAR'S PROCLAMATIONS. 273 guns, but with only four 12-pounders and 30 men on board ; a fine brig of 245 tons, then on her way to the Isle of France with despatches from the government at home. Immediately after the surrender of the Isle Bourbon, the Sirius returned to her station off the Isle of France ; and, while standing along the south side, discovered a three-masted schooner making every exertion to haul herself on shore out of reach of the frigate. Captain Pym immediately despatched the cutter and pinnace of the Sirius, with 14 men in each, the former commanded by Lieutenant Norman, and the latter by Lieutenant John Wyatt Watling. The two boats hastened to the beach, and found the schooner fast aground, and under the protection of about 300 regulars and militia, with two field-pieces. Notwithstanding this, Lieutenant Norman and his little party succeeded, without sus taining any loss, in boarding and destroying the vessel, which was partly laden with supplies for the French army. While the ser vice was executing, the tide had ebbed considerably ; whereby the British, in their way back to their boats, were obliged to pass the whole posse militaire within half musket-shot. Unfortu nately, too, the pinnace was aground; and, in the efforts to get her afloat, one seaman was killed and a midshipman badly wounded. Soon after the boats had returned to the Sirius, the Iphigenia joined from Isle Bourbon ; as, in a day or two afterwards, did the Nereide and the Staunch gun-brig. On board the Nereide were 12 Madras artillerymen under Lieutenant Aldwinkle, and 100 choice troops, consisting of 50 grenadiers of the 69th regiment under Lieutenant Needhall, and 50 ofthe 33d, under Lieutenant Morlett, the whole commanded by Captain Todd of the 69th. This force had been placed on board the Nereide by Lieutenant- colonel Keating, in order to co-operate with Captain Willoughby, in an attack, in the first instance, upon Isle de la Passe, a small rocky island, situated upwards of four miles to the eastward of the town of Grand-Port, or Port Sud-Est,# on the south-east side of the Isle of France; and the narrow and intricate channel to the harbour of which town, one face of the battery on the above small island completely commands. The main object, in possessing this key to Grand-Port, was to enable Captain Willoughby, by the aid of a black pilot serving with him in the Nereide, to enter the intricate channel to the harbour, and accompanied by an adequate force, to land in the vicinity of the town before the post could be strengthened from head-quarters; and then to distribute among the inhabitants copies of a proclamation addressed to them by Governor Far- quhar of Isle Bourbon. This proclamation, like all others of the same kind, drew as frightful a picture of the present misery * Called also Port Imperial. VOL. V. T 274 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. of the inhabitants, as it did a flattering one of their future hap piness, provided, when the British came to conquer their country, they offered no resistance. In short, as the principal strength of the island, after its forts were carried, consisted in its unernbo- died militia, the object was, by sapping their integrity, to render them comparatively powerless. On the 10th of August, having left Captain Lambert, with *he Iphigenia, off Port-Louis, Captain Pym, with the Sirius, Nereide, and Staunch, arrived off Grand-Port. On the same evening the boats of the two frigates, containing about 400 sea men, marines, and soldiers, under the command of Captain Willoughby, were taken in tow by the Staunch, who had on board the Nereide's black pilot, and proceeded to attack Isle de la Passe. The night becoming very dark, and the weather extremely boisterous, so as to occasion several of the boats to run foul of each other and some to get stove, the pilot began to falter, and declared it was impossible to enter the channel under such disadvantageous circumstances. Captain Willoughby offered the man a thousand dollars, if he would persevere and carry the boats in ; but the pilot persisted in his declaration of the impracticability of the undertaking, and the enterprise was given up. Daylight on the 11th discovered the boats scattered in all directions by the weather, but the frigates and gun-brig at length picked them up. In order to lull the suspicions of the French as to any medi tated attack upon Isle de la Passe, Captain Pym bore away with his small force round the south-west end of the island, and joined Captain Lambert off Port-Louis. It was now arranged, to further the deception, that the two frigates should return off Isle de la Passe by different routes, the Sirius to beat up by the longest or eastern route, and the Nereide, accompanied by the Staunch, to proceed by the leeward or south-western route ; and, as the Nereide sailed very badly, it was calculated that the two frigates would arrive off Grand-Port nearly at the same time. Previously to the departure of the Sirius, two boats from the Iphigenia, under the command of Lieutenant Henry Ducie Chads, second of that ship, came on board to assist in the intended attack. On the 13th, in the afternoon, the Sirius arrived off Isle de la Passe; but the Nereide and Staunch, having to beatupfrom the south-west end of the Isle of France, were still at a great dis tance to leeward. Fearing that the French might gain some intimation of his intention, and thus render the enterprise doubly hazardous, and perhaps impracticable, Captain Pym resolved to detach his own boats on the service ; the more so, as the weather was unusually favourable, and as he had taken from the Nereide her black pilot. Accordingly, at 8 p. m., five boats, including the Iphigenia's two, containing between them 71 officers, seamen, 1.810. .CAPTURE OF ISLE DE LA PASSE. .275 And marines,* commanded by Lieutenant Norman, and assisted by Lieutenants Chads and Watling, and Lieutenants of marines James Cottell.and William Bate, pushed off from the Sirius. Of the nature of the fortifications upon Isle de la Passe we are not able to give so accurate a description as we could wish. The guns mounted upon the island consisted, we believe, of four 24, and nine 18-pounders, together with three 13-inch mortars and two howitzers. The landing-place was on the inner or north-west side of the island, and was defended by a chevaux de frise and the two howitzers. But, to get to this landing-place, it was necessary to pass a battery, on which most of the guns were mounted. The garrison on the island consisted, at this time, of two commissioned officers, and about 80 regular troops. Fortunately for the British, just as the boats were approaching the principal battery, a black cloud obscured the moon, which had been shining very bright, and concealed them from view. Lieutenant Norman had previously directed Lieutenant Watling, who was in the launch of the Sirius, to lead, and cover the landing with her 18-pounder carronade. Lieutenant Norman, with the pinnace, kept close to the launch ; and Lieutenant -Chads, with the Iphigenia's cutter and the two remaining boats, was close astern ofthe launch and pinnace. Just as the boats, in this order, were approaching the landing place, the enemy discovered them, and opened a fire, which killed two men and wounded three or four in the launch, and did nearly as much ^execution in the pinnace. Dashing on, however, the boats gained the landing place without further loss. Lieutenants Norman and Watling now attempted to scale the works, but failed in accomplishing their object. Lieutenant Norman was in the act of turning away to .try another spot, when the sentinel over head shot him through the heart. The man was immediately shot by one of the launch's men, and the seamen, headed by Lieutenant Watling, quickly scaled the walls. A stout resistance followed ; and it was not -until the British had lost, in all, seven men killed and 18 •wounded, that they succeeded in driving the French from the works. After rallying his men, Lieutenant Watling proceeded taattack the batteries on the south-east side, when he was met Jby Lieutenant Chads ; who had landed at another point of the island, and, in the most gallant manner, had stormed and carried •the works in that direction, without, as it appears, the loss of a man. The two lieutenants having united their forces, the French commandant offered no further opposition, but surrendered at (discretion. This he did in such haste as to forget to destroy * We' .formerly said 1 10, but ¦we are assured that the number in the text comprises all that embarked. t2 276 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. his signals, the whole of which fell into the hands of the con querors. We cannot understand how it happened, that the official account of this very dashing exploit did not find its way into the London Gazette. The following extract of a letter, from Com modore Rowley to Vice-admiral Bertie, shows that the first- named officer forwarded Captain Pym's letter : " I had the honour to transmit to you, on the 31st of August, Captain Pym's Teport of a gallant and successful attack by his boats on the Isle de la Passe, and I beg to second his recommendation of Lieu tenants Chads and Watling for their conduct on that occasion." As the names stand here, so was the seniority of these two Lieutenants ; and consequently, in our humble view, Lieutenant Chads took the command after the death of Lieutenant Norman. But here follows a paragraph in a document bearing the signature of Captain Pym : " I do further certify, that the conduct of the said Lieutenant Watling in the attack of I'lsle de Passe, under Lieutenant Norman of the Sirius, was truly gallant, and that after the latter was killed, by his (Lieutenant W.'s) side in the moment of victory, he took the command." As far as respects the merits of these two young officers, the question is of no moment : each was equally gallant and equally successful ; but still the responsibility, which in enterprises of this kind attaches to the commanding officer, confers upon him the paramount claim to reward. If Captain Pym, in his official letter placed his lieutenant the first, the board of admiralty, knowing that Lieutenant Chads was nearly two years senior to Lieutenant Watling, may, on that sole account, have withheld the publication of Captain Pym's letter. Whatever was the cause, the non-appearance of the letter in the Gazette was truly unfortunate ; as one of the two officers undoubtedly lost his promotion by it, and both were deprived of a strong public tes timonial in their favour. Considering it not unlikely that, from his long professional experience, the post captain, who is one of our contemporaries, would throw some light on the subject, we naturally turned to his pages. Our surprise may be judged, when we perused as follows : " Captain Pym, who had been stationed off the Isle of France, and particularly off Port Imperial, on the south-east or weather side of the island, conceived the possibility of more effectually preventing the ingress of the enemy's ships to the harbour, by occupying the Isle de la Passe, which completely commanded the narrows ; he therefore stormed and carried it with the loss of 18 of his men killed and wounded."* Let us hasten to do Captain Pym the justice to declare our persuasion that he had no share in this mistatement, by reason that a very different version of the affair is given in the captain's biography,-)* # Brenton, vol. iv., p. 465. f Marshall, vol. ii., p. 717. 1810. CAPTAIN WILLOUGHBY AT POINTE DU DIABLE. 277 although, as in most of his other cases, Mr. Marshall appears to have had a direct communication with his officer. On the 14th, in the morning, the Nereide and Staunch joined company; and on the 15th Captain Pym gave charge of Isle de la Passe to Captain Willoughby, and made sail to rejoin the Iphigenia off Port-Louis. On the 16th, which appears to have been as soon as Captain Pym's order reached him, Captain Willoughby, having got back his pilot, entered the channel and anchored the Nereide and Staunch in a small bight of deep water just at the back of the island. He then placed, as a garrison upon Isle de la Passe, 50 of his grenadiers, with Captain Todd as the commandant, and immediately proceeded, in company with Lieutenant Davis of the Madras engineers, to reconnoitre the enemy's coast ; where, like a second Lord Cochrane, Captain Willoughby soon began his bold and annoying attacks. On the 17th, at 1 a. m., having embarked in the boats Lieu tenants Morlett and Needhall, and 50 men of the 33d and 69th regiments, Lieutenant Aldwinkle and 12 artillerymen from the Staunch, Lieutenant Davis of the Madras engineers, Lieutenants of marines Thomas Robert Pye and Thomas S. Cox and 50 of their corps, Lieutenant Henry Collins Deacon, and acting Lieu tenant William Weiss, and 50 seamen, total 170 officers and men, Captain Willoughby proceeded to attack the fort on Pointe du Diable, commanding the small, or north-eastern passage into Grand-Port. Before daylight the captain and his party landed at Canaille du Bois, and after a march of six -miles reached the fort ; which they immediately stormed and carried without the loss of a man, although, in defending their post, the French commanding officer and three men were killed, and three gunners taken prisoners. Having, during a three hours' halt, spiked eight 24-pounders and two 13-inch mortars, burnt the carriages, blown up the ma gazine, and embarked a 13-inch brass mortar in a new prame well calculated for carrying troops or guns over flats, Captain Willoughby moved on to the old town of Grand-Port, a distance of 12 miles, leaving in the houses and villages through which he and his men passed, the proclamations with which he had been intrusted. On the whole of their way along the coast, the party were attended by three boats, two belonging to the Nereide and one to the Staunch, fitted as gun-boats and commanded by Lieutenant Deacon; who so completely covered the road of march, that, except on one occasion, no enemy could show him self. On that occasion a strong party, under General Vander- maesen, the second in command on the island, attacked the British detachment, but were soon put to the rout with the loss of six men killed and wounded. Having, by sunset, succeeded in every object for which the landing had been undertaken, and gained from some of the most respectable inhabitants and well- 278- LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE. SHIPS.. 18101 wishersto the English the most satisfactory information, Captains Willoughby returned on board the Nereide. On the- 1 8th, in the morning, wishing to learn the effect 'of the proclamations delivered on the preceding day, Captain- Willoughby again landed with the same force, taking the Staunch in with him, to support the detachment, and, if necessary, cover its- retreat. Captain Willoughby pushed forward, and destroyed the signal-house, staff, 8cc. at Grande-Riviere, and perceived that the enemy had 700 or 800 men in or near the battery, but upon' the opposite side of the river. He then returned to Pointe dm Diable, and, after continuing there three- hours, blowing up th© remaining works, moved on to Canaille du Bois ; whence tlie; captain and his party embarked at sunset, leaving the Staunch? at anchor near the spot. The gun-brig, however, soon after wards weighed and proceeded to Port-Louis. During the whole of this march of nearly 22 miles in an enemy's territory, Captain Willoughby sustained no greater loss than Lieutenant Davis slightly, and one private of artillery badly? wounded, and one sergeant of artillery missing, supposed to have deserted. This forbearance on the part of the islanders was in a great measure attributable, no doubt, to the orderly manner in which the British soldiers, marines, and seamen conducted them- selves> and to the strict attention they paid to their commander's orders, to abstain from giving offence to the inhabitants by pil fering the slightest article of their property. Even the sugar and coffee, laid aside for exportation, and '• usually considered as legi timate objects of seizure, remained untouched ; and the invaders^ when they quitted the shore for their ship,left behind them a hight character, not merely for gallantry, but for a rigid adherence to. promises. The success of the enterprise, however, would have beenvery problematical, had not the commanding officerpos- sessed qualities rarely found in one individual, an undaunted in* trepidity blended with the utmost suavity of manners. On the 19th and 20th Captain Willoughby again landed ; and-, as there were no more batteries in that quarter to attack and destroy, and no opposition was offered to him by either the regular troops in tbe vicinity, or by the inhabitants among whom, it may be said, he was sojourning, the trip on shore was consi dered in the light of a pleasant excursion, rather than a forced irruption into an enemy's territory; when, at about 10 a.m. on the last-named day, an event occurred which gave a. complete change to the aspect of affairs, and placed the whole party, who had hitherto considered themselves so secure, in the utmost jeopardy. This alarm was caused by the discovery of five ships, four of them large, away in the east-south-east or windward quarter,. standing down under easy sail for the Isle de la Passe channel to. Grand-Port. Leaving his remaining boats to get up in the best manner they could, Captain Willoughby hastened away in his. 1810. CAPTAIN WILLOUGHBY AT ISLE DE LA PASSE. 279 gig; and, after a hard pull of nearly five miles directly to wind ward, arrived, about noon, on board the Nereide. Considering that these ships, known to be French and suspected to be what they were, would, when united with the force in Port-Louis, which the Iphigenia, on the 18th, had telegraphed as being ready for sea, be a decided overmatch for Captain Pym's three frigates Captain Willoughby resolved to endeavour to entice the former into Grand-Port. For this purpose a French ensign and pendant were immediately hoisted by the Nereide : and French colours almost as quickly appeared on the flagstaff at the island, with the signal, " L'ennemi croise au Coin de Mire." "The enemy is cruising off the. Coin de Mire," a patch of rocks close off the northern extremity of the Isle of France. One of the French frigates then made the private signal, and was answered from Isle de la Passe. Upon which they severally announced them selves, by their numbers, as the Bellone, Minerve, Victor, and two prizes. The latter, as a reference to a few pages back will show, were the Windham and Ceylon.* At 1 h. 30 m. p. m. the Victor, under her three topsails, led into the channel, and passing the sea-battery, arrived within pistol-shot of the Nereide; when the latter, at 1 h. 40 m. p. m., substituting the union jack for the French ensign, opened her fire with such effect, that the Victor hailed that she struck, and anchored on the Nereide's starboard and outer quarter. Captain Willoughby immediately sent Lieutenant John Burns and Lieu tenant of marines Thomas Robert Pye, with a party of men, to take possession of the corvette. At 1 h, 45 m. p. m. the Minerve, followed by the Ceylon, both under their topsails, entered the channel, and were fired at ineffectually by the sea-battery of Isle de la Passe. While passing close to the Victor, after having ex changed broadsides with the Nereide, Captain Bouvet hailed Cap tain Morice, and ordered him to cut his cable, rehoist his colours, and follow. . Although the Nereide's boat was then alongside of her, the Victor did as she had been ordered, and was quickly in the wake of the Ceylon steering towards Grand-Port. Unfortunately a very serious accident had happened at the island fort. While one of the men was in the act of hauling quickly down the French colours, in order to substitute the English, and begin firing at the enemy, the cotton texture of the former became ignited by a match lying near the flagstaff, and instantly caused the explosion of more than 100 cartridges; whereby three men were killed, and 12 severely burnt. Five of the sea-battery guns were also dismounted at the first fire ; as was one of the four (two on open platforms), which protected the Nereide's anchorage. One of these, likewise, in the act of firing at the Minerve, mortally wounded a quartermaster in the boat of Lieutenant Burns, while on his way back from the un successful attempt to secure the Victor. See p. 266. 280 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. The situation of the Nereide was now, as may be supposed, a very critical one ; but the situation of her boats, with a great proportion of her crew on board, besides a party of soldiers and artillerymen, was still more critical. These were now pulling up the narrow channel, down which the Minerve and Ceylon were sailing, and their capture appeared inevitable. At this moment it was observed that the Bellone, instead of following the other ships through the channel, had hauled off on the larboard tack, as if intending, in company with the Windham, to ¦seek another port. Although in a 12-pounder frigate, with a great part of her crew absent, Captain Willoughby thought him self a match for the Minerve, Victor, and prize Indiaman, espe cially if he took on board the troops from the island. At 2 h. 30 m. p.m., just as the soldiers were about to remove into the Nereide, and the latter had loosed her sails, and was preparing to slip, the Bellone, having left the Windham steering under a crowd of sail to the westward, bore up for the passage. The plan of attacking the Minerve was now of course aban doned, and the Nereide began preparing to receive the Bellone. Just at this moment, to the surprise of all on board the Nereide, the boats were seen approaching, after having been passed, successively, by -the Minerve, Ceylon, and Victor. It appears that the boats were so near to the Minerve, as to be obliged to lay in their oars, and that the French officers and men were assembled on tbe gangway, looking down upon them : nay one boat actually struck against the frigate. But not a word was spoken by the frigate to the boats ; nor, as may be sup posed, by the boats to the frigate : an enigma in the former case, not tobe explained, especially when it is considered how promptly and collectedly Captain Bouvet had just before hailed the Victor, and desired her to follow him. Had he given the same orders to the boats, they must have obeyed ; otherwise, with the velocity with which they were sailing, tbe Ceylon and Victor could with ease have run them down. He did not do so ; and the boats, and the 160 or 170 officers and men they contained, reached the Nereide in safety. At about 2 h. 40 m. p. m. the Bellone let fall her topgallant- sails ; and, having exchanged a fire with the battery, hauled up a little for the Nereide, apparently to run her on board, but, as we conjecture, to be well to windward, in her passage down the channel, of a projecting part of the shoal. At all events the soldiers in the Nereide were drawn up in readiness upon her starboard gangway and forecastle, to repel any such attempt to board. But none was made ; for Commodore Duperr£, just as he was advancing upon the Nereide's starboard bow, kept more away. At 2 h. 45 m., when so close to each other that their yards almost touched, the Bellone and Nereide exchanged broadsides. By this fire the Nereide had her driver-boom shot away close to the jaws, her fore and mizen topgallant yards and 1810. CAPTAIN WILLOUGHBY AT ISLE DE LA PASSE. 28l main spring-stay shot away, some of her rigging cut, and her foremast badly wounded below the cat-harpins ; but her loss amounted to no more than two seamen killed and one marine wounded. This slight damage and loss was attributed to the circumstance of a sudden gust of wind laying the French frigate over, just as she was in the act of firing. What damage or loss, if any, the Bellone, or either of the other French ships, sustained has not been recorded. At 4 p. m. Captain Willoughby sent Lieutenant Deacon in the launch to Captain Pym, with a note, announcing the arrival of the French frigates, and offering, with one frigate besides the Nereide, to lead in and attack them. At 4 h. 30 m. p. m. the cutter, with Lieutenant Weiss, was sent upon the same errand, but at sunset returned, not having been able to pull ahead on ac count of the fresh breeze and rough sea. It may naturally be asked, why the Nereide, considering how exposed she lay to an attack by two heavy French frigates and other vessels, did not get under way herself and proceed to join the Sirius. The truth is, we believe, that Captain Willoughby, as he had been ordered to protect the newly acquired post of Isle de la Passe, was resolved to do so as long as he was able. The anchorage taken up by the French frigates being rather nearer than was safe or agreeable, Captain Willoughby ordered the artillery officer on the island to try the range of his mortars. This was done, and the first shell burst over the ships. Before many others could be thrown, Commodore Duperre either cut or slipped, and reanchored at a greater distance off; but still in a situation to watch the motions of the Nereide, and make an attack upon her if deemed advisable. At 9 a. m. on the 21st, to prove to Captain Duperre that the Victor had struck her colours, to impress upon him an idea of the confidence with which the Nereide maintained her position, and to reconnoitre and obtain a correct knowledge of that taken up by the French frigates, Captain Willoughby sent Lieutenant Burns and Lieutenant ,of marines Pye, under a flag of truce, with a letter to the Commodore, demanding the restoration of the Victor. Commodore Duperre replied that, before he could return an answer, he must send to the governor at Port- Louis on the opposite side ofthe island, a distance of nearly 25 miles ; and he desired Lieutenant Burns to come again at the same hour the next morning. In full expectation that an attack would be made upon him by the squadron at anchor in Grand-Port, Captain Willoughby and those under his orders used every means to strengthen their position and prevent surprise. There was no room on Isle de la Passe for any more guns ; but a breastwork was thrown up, to prevent the approach of boats. The Nereide herself was fully prepared to effect quite as much as could be expected from her ; 2S2i LIGHT, SQUADRONS AND SINGLE; SHIPS. 1810. and at night boats rowed guard between the frigate and the? enemy. The only time, indeed, when, any attack could bet made, was with the land wind in the morning, just at the fksfc peep of twilight. All eyes on board the.Ner6ide, and at the* island, were then directed to the north-west, and were only. relieved when broad day burst forth, and the sea breeze was- heard murmuring in the south-east. At 9 a.m. on the 21st, the boat with the flag of truce again? left the Nereide, and returned soon afterwards with such an answer as might have been expected : both the, governor and the: commodore were surprised at. " so extraordinary a demand.'." Neither this demand, nor the circumstance: whieh led to it, are touched upon in Captain Duperre's letter. He perhaps was, ashamed to acknowledge, that the Victor had hauled down her colours; and yet of the fact there cannot be a doubt.. We< gather from the French commodore's letter, that, when he saw the British colours hoisted at Isle de la Passe, and a fire opened upon the corvette, he considered that the whole windward side of the Isle of France was in the possession of the English, and* hauling off, made a signal to do the same to the Minerve and Ceylon ; but they had already entered the channel and could not put back. M. Duperre then resolved to force, the passage, and ordered the Windham to follow the Bellone ; but her prize master either misunderstood the signal, or considered the risks too great, and bore away for Riviere-Noire. We will now detail occurrences there> in order to lead progressively to the important operations of which we shall soon have to give an account. Early on the morning of the 21st, just as the Windham was about to enter Riviere-Noire, the Sirius, then cruising to. the south-west of Port-Louis, gained sight of her. Chase was instantly given : but the wind being off the land, the Sirius had no chance of cutting off the Indiaman from the formidable bat teries at the mouth of the river. Not considering the vessel, in the twilight of the morning, to be of the force she really was, Lieutenant Watling volunteered to overtake and board her with the gig. He instantly pushed off with five seamen, and was followed by the jollyboat with midshipman John Andrews and four men ; but, owing to some strange mismanagement, not a weapon or fire-arm of any description was put into either boat.. Daybreak discovered a ship of 800 or 900 tons, armed appa rently with from 30 to 34 guns, at the distance of at least three miles from the Sirius, and very near to the batteries of Riviere- Noire. Under these circumstances, Lieutenant Watling thought it best to wait for the jollyboat. In the mean time the Sirius- fired a broadside at the ship, but at so ineffectual a distance, that the- shot-nearly sank the gig. On the arrival of the jollyboat, young Andrews and his four hands entered cheerfully into Lieu tenant Watling's views, and the two boats hastened forwards 1810. CAPTAIN PYM AT GRAND-PORT. 283 The calm, state of the weather soon enabled them to reach the ship; and ther two officers and their brave little band, armed with the boats' stretchers only, fought their way up her side; Thus was the Windham, mounting 26 guns and manned by a lieutenant de vaisseau and at least 30 French sailors, captured by 11 unarmed British seamen, without the slightest loss ; and that, too, within gun-shot of several formidable batteries. As these batteries now began to fire at the ship, Lieutenant Watling was still in a very critical situation. At. length, after having sustained the fire for 20 minutes, and had the Wind ham's standing and running rigging greatly cut, some of her masts and yards injured, and one Frenchman and two or three Lascars wounded, Lieutenant Watling brought off his valuable prize in safety. Of this very gallant exploit, we can find no official account, beyond a passage in a letter to the admiralty, from commissioner Shield at the Cape, stating that the Windham had been recaptured by the Sirius. Captain Pym despatched the Windham to Commodore Rowley at St.4Paul's bay ; and, in consequence of the intelli gence communicated by the prisoners and others on board of her, he sent th<^ Magicienne, which had just joined, to bring the Iphigenia and Staunch to Isle de la Passe : whither the Sirius herself made all sail round the south side ofthe island. Captain Pym proceeded by this route to prevent suspicion; but it appears that General Decaen at Port-Louis did suspect what was going on, and sent an express across to Grand-Port. This it was that, in the course of the afternoon ofthe 21st, occasioned Commodore Duperre to remove his ships to a position close off the town of Grand-Port. There he moored them, with springs on their cables, in the form of a crescent ; stationing his van- ship, the Minerve, just behind a patch of coral, next to her the Ceylon, then the Bellone, and lastly the Victor, with her stern close to tbe reef that skirts the harbour. The Sirius picked up the Nereide's boat with Lieutenant Deacon on board; and on the 22d, at 11 h. 10m. a^m., arrived off the island and exchanged numbers with the Nereide, still at anchor within it; and who immediately hoisted the signals: "Ready for action;" " Enemy of inferior force." Having, from the situation of the French squadron, decided on an immediate attack, Captain Pym made the signal for the master of the Nereide. Mr. Robert Lesby accordingly went on board the Sirius, to conduct her, as he supposed, to the anchorage at the back of the island. The Sirius now made all sail, with the usual east-south-east or trade; wind, and bore up for the passage ; amid at 2h. 40 m p.m., agreeably to a signal to that effect from; the Sirius, the Nereide got under way, and, under her staysails only, stood after her consort down the channel to Grand -Port. At 4 p.m., having still the Nereide's. master- on board) braifrnot her black pilot, who; was the only 284 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. person that knew the harbour, the Sirius unfortunately grounded upon a point of the shoal on the larboard side of the channel ; and, having run down with her squaresails set, and consequently with a great deal of way upon her, the ship was forced a consider able distance on the bank. The Nereide immediately brought up, and Captain Willoughby went on board the Sirius, to assist in getting her afloat. Notwithstanding every exertion, this could not be effected until 8 h. 30 m. a. m. on the 23d ; after which the Sirius dropped anchor near the Nereide. At 10 a. m. the Iphigenia and Magicienne were seen beating up for Isle de la Passe ; and Captain Willoughby immediately sent his master, who had returned from the Sirius, to conduct them to the anchorage. At 2h. 10 m. p.m. the two frigates anchored in company with the Nereide and Sirius. Although it was not until 4 p. m. that the decks ofthe latter could be cleared of the hawsers and ropes which had been used in heaving the ship off the bank, at 4 h. 40 m. p. m., by signal from the Sirius, the four frigates got under way ; and, preceded by the Nereide with her black pilot on board, stood down the channel to Grand- Port. The order of attack, as previously arranged, was for the Nereide to anchor between the Victor, the rearmost ship, and the Bellone, the Sirius, having 18-pounders, abreast of the Bellone, the Magicienne between the Ceylon and Minerve, and the Iphigenia, having also 18-pounders, upon the broadside of the latter ship. The Nereide, still with staysails only, cleared the tortuous channel, and stood along the edge of the reef that skirts the harbour directly for the rearmost French ship. The Sirius, about a quarter of an hour or 20 minutes after she had weighed, keeping this time too much on the starboard hand, touched the ground. Very shoal water appearing ahead, the best bower anchor was let go ; but the velocity of the ship was so great, as to run the cable out in spite of stoppers and every other effort to check her way. The small bower was then let go, but to no purpose, the ship continued to tear both cables out with great rapidity ; and unfortunately, the helm having been put a-port, the ship struck on a coral rock, which, a minute or two before, must have been on her starboard bow. Just as the Sirius had taken the ground, the French ships began firing, and their shot passed over the Nereide. With the Sirius as a beacon, the Magicienne and Iphigenia successively cleared the channel; but at 5 h. 15 m. p. m., while steering for her station, and of course wide of the track in which the Nereide with the only pilot in the squadron was steering, the Magicienne grounded on a bank, in such a position that only three of her foremost guns on each deck could bear upon the enemy; from whom she was then distant about 400 yards. Seeing what had befallen the Magicienne, the Iphigenia, who was close in her rear, dropped her stream-anchor, and came to by 1810. CAPTAIN PYM AT GRAND-PORT. 285 the stem in six fathoms : she then let go the best bower under foot, thereby bringing her starboard broadside to bear upon the Minerve ; into whom, at a pistol-shot distance, the Iphigenia immediately poured a heavy and destructive fire. By this time the Nereide was also in hot action, and to her we must now attend. Just as, regardless of the raking fire opened upon the Nereide in her approach, he was about to take up his allotted position on the bow of the Victor, Captain Willoughby saw what had befallen the Sirius ; and, with characteristic gallantry, steered for, and in his 12-pounder frigate anchored upon, the beam of the Bellone, at the distance of less than 200 yards. Between these two ill-matched ships, at about 5h. 15m. p.m., a furious cannonade commenced, the Victor, from her slanting position on the Nereide's quarter, being also enabled to take an occasional part in it. At 6 h. 15 m. p. m., after having received an occasional fire from the bow guns of the Magicienne and the quarter guns of the Iphigenia, the Ceylon hauled down her colours ; and Cap tain Lambert and one of his lieutenants immediately hailed the Magicienne, to send a boat to take possession. At that instant the Ceylon was seen with her topsails set, running on shore. At 6 h. 30 m. the Minerve, having had her cable shot away, made sail after the Ceylon. Both these ships grounded near the Bellone ; but the Ceylon first ran foul of the latter, and compelled her to cut her cable and run also aground. The Bellone, how ever, lay in such a position, that her broadside still bore on the Nereide. Captain Lambert would have instantly cut his cable and run down in pursuit of the Minerve, had not a shoal intervened directly between the Iphigenia and the French squadron. At a few minutes before 7 p. m. the Nereide's spring was shot away, and the ship immediately swang stern-on to the Bellone's broadside. A most severe raking fire followed. To avoid this, and bring her starboard broadside to bear, the Nereide cut her small bower cable, and, letting go the best, succeeded so far in her object. At about 10 p. m., or a little afterwards, a piece of grape or langridge from one of the Nereide's guns cut Captain Duperre on the head, and knocked him senseless upon the deck. As the fire of the Minerve was now completely masked by that of the Bellone, Captain Bouvet removed from the former on board the latter and took the command. Since the early part of the action, Captain Willoughby had been severely wounded by a splinter on the left cheek, which had also torn his eye completely out of the socket. The first lieutenant lay mortally, and the second most dangerously wounded : one marine officer, and the two officers of foot and one of artillery, and the greater part of the remaining crew and soldiers were either killed or disabled. Most of the quarterdeck, and several of the maindeck, guns were dismounted ; and the 286 LIGHT S.QUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. U810. hull of the ship was shattered in all directions and? striking the ground astern. His ship being; in this state, and five hours having elapsed since the commencement ofthe action without the arrival of a single boat from any one of the squadron, Cap tain Willoughby ordered the now feebly maintained fire of the Nereide to cease, and the few survivors of the crew to shelter themselves in the lower part of the vessel. He then sent acting Lieutenant William Weiss, with one of the two remaining boats, on board the Sirius, to acquaint Captain Pym with tbe defence less state of the ship ; leaving it to bis judgment, as the senior officer, whether or not it was practicable to tow the Nereide beyond the reach of the enemy's shot, or to take out the wounded and set her on fire : an act that would have greatly endangered, and might have been the means of destroying, the Bellone herself, as well as the whole cluster of grounded ships, the situation of which cannot be better expressed than in the words of Captain Pym himself, " the whole of the enemy on shore in a heap." At about 10 h. 45 m. p. m. a boat from the Sirius, with a lieu tenant of that frigate, also Lieutenant Davis ofthe engineers and JVIr. Weiss, who had left his boat behind, came on board the Nereide, with a kind message from Captain Pym, requesting Captain Willoughby to abandon his ship and come on board the Sirius. But, with a feeling that did him honour, Captain Willoughby refused to desert his few surviving officers and men, .and sent back word that the Nereide had struck. Shortly after wards a boat from the Iphigenia came on board, to know the reason that the Nereide had ceased firing. At 11 p. m. Captain Willoughby sent an officer in a boat to the Bellone, who still continued a very destructive fire, to say that the Nereide had struck ; but, being in a sinking state from shot-holes, the boat returned without having reached the French ship. At about 30 minutes past midnight the mainmast of the Nereide went by the board. At 1 h. 30 rn. a. m. on the 24th several of the Nereide's xopes caught fire, but the flames were quickly extinguished. At about 1 h. 50 m. a. m., after having been repeatedly hailed without effect by one or the other of the 20 Ereneh prisoners who were on board the Nereide, the Bellone discontinued her fire. The Iphigenia and Magicienne, a portion of whose fire had already dismounted the guns at the battery dela Reine, then ceased theirs ; and all was silent. At daylight the Bellone reopened her fire upon the Nereide. To put a stop to this, French colours were Jashed to the fore risking.; but still the French frigate continued her fire. It was now surmised, and very naturally too, that the cause of this persevering hostility was the union jack at the mizen topgaltoiat- umst-hend. That could not be hauled dowu; for, by «me Account, it had been mailed there, and, Lfoy:anQther, which jtob tope is the more correct, the halliards had been shot away, as 1810. CAPTAIN JYM AT GRAND-PORT. 287 well as all the rigging and ropes by which the mast could be ascended. As the only alternative, the mizenmast was cut away, and the firing of the Bellone instantly ceased. Captain Pym, speaking in his official letter of the loss on board the Nereide, says : " Sorry am I to say, that the captain, every officer and man on board are killed or wounded." This information probably reached the Sirius by some of the men, about 15 in all, who took the opportunity, first of the Nereide's boat, and then of the boat of the Sirius, to escape the horrors of a French prison : they naturally would make the case appear as bad as possible to excuse, what might be considered, a desertion of their commander and comrades. But, even then, the ex pression is to be taken figuratively ; being meant to except all who, from the duties of their station, and in a frigate they are no small number, were attending below. In the statement we formerly gave, as gleaned from the ship's muster-book, that the killed amounted to 35, we were decidedly wrong, and shall now proceed to show, upon such authorities as have since come to hand, that the killed amounted to nearly three times that amount. The Nereide's established complement, deducting her three widow's men, was 251 men and boys: of this number, on quit ting the Cape in the preceding April, she was 23 men short. In skirmishes with her boats, the ship had lost, in killed and inva lided out of her, 10 men ; and had away in a schooner tender a master's mate and 15 men. This left her with 202 officers, men, and boys of her proper crew. But the Nereide had since received, as fher quota of prisoners obtained at Port-Louis in exchange for those she captured at Jacolet, 10 raw recruits going to India, and had also on board, 69 officers and men of the 33d and 69th regiments and Madras artillery ; making a total of 281 in crew and supernumeraries on board the Nereide when she commenced her action with the Bellone. Of those 281 men and boys, the Nereide had her first lieu tenant (John -Burns), Lieutenants Morlett of the 33d regi ment, and Aldwinkle of the Madras artillery, one midshipman (George Timmins), and about 88 seamen, marines, and soldiers killed ; her captain, second lieutenant (Henry Collins Deacon), one lieutenant of marines (Thomas S. Cox), her master (William Lesby), Lieutenant Needhall ofthe 69th regiment, her boatswain {John Strong), one midshipman (Samuel Costerton), and at least 130 seamen, marines, and soldiers wounded; total, in killed and wounded together, about 230 out of 281. Nor will 130 be considered a large proportion of wounded to 92 killed, when it is known that, in consequenceof the Nereide's upper- works being lined with fir, the splinters were uncommonly numerous. Captain Willoughby .received his dreadful wound £wm a splinter, and Lieutenant Deacon was wounded by splinters ha .the throat, breast, legs,.and arms. 288 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. The loss on board the only two remaining British ships that suffered any was of comparatively slight amount. The Iphigenia, out of a crew on board of about 255 men and boys, had five seamen killed, and her first lieutenant (Robert Tom Blackler) and 12 seamen and marines wounded. The Magicienne, out of a complement the same as that established upon the Nereide, had eight seamen and marines killed and 20 wounded. A portion of the Magicienne's loss, as here enumerated, was, we believe, sustained on the 23d. The Sirius, having, as it would appear, grounded out of range of shot, did not have a man of her crew hurl, nor, we believe, a rope of her rigging cut. We speak doubtfully of the situation of this frigate, owing to the statement in Captain Pym's letter in the Gazette, that the Sirius lay " within shot of all the enemy's forts and ships," and was only able to " return their fire with two guns." With an excel lent French chart of the harbour before us, we find the situation ofthe Sirius, as marked out by one of her officers, to have been at least a mile and a quarter from the French van-ship; and, it will be recollected, the Minerve cut or slipped almost at the commencement of the action. With respect to the " forts," we know of none except the battery de la Reine, mounting three or four guns, and situated a little to the eastward of the town. We believe, however, that some works were afterwards thrown up, and a few guns mounted, to annoy the grounded British ships. The loss on board the French ships, according to the official statement of Commodore Duperre, amounted to 37 killed, in cluding two lieutenants of the Bellone and one of the Victor, and 112 wounded. Nearly the whole of this loss, we believe, was sustained by the Bellone ; but we cannot help thinking it is underrated, chiefly because M. Duperre mentions the necessity he was under of receiving on board the Bellone fresh supplies of men from the Minerve, during the latter ship's state of inaction already adverted to. With the detachment acknowledged to have been received from the Manche and Entreprenant at Port- Louis, the complement of the Bellone could scarcely have been fewer than 400 or 420 men, and none were wanted to attend to the sails. However, the admitted loss, considering that it must nearly all have been inflicted by the Nereide, was highly creditable to the skill and exertions of that ship's officers and crew. At a few minutes past 4 a. m. Captain Lambert, having pre viously sent a boat to the Sirius for orders, was directed by Captain Pym, who had then considerable hopes of getting the Sinus afloat, to warp out of gun-shot. The Iphigenia imme diately commenced warping by the stern with the stream and kedo-e nnchors, and sent the end of her best bower cable on board the Magicienne, for her to endeavour to heave off by ; thereby leaving herself with only one bower anchor and cable. At daylight, when tlie Bellone, as already mentioned, recom- 1810. CAPTAIN PYM AT GRAND-PORT. 289 menced firing at the Nereide, the Magicienne renewed her fire at the French shipping and the shore; but the Iphigenia, being then in the act of warping, could not bring a gun to bear : indeed the Iphigenia, since soon after midnight, had been obliged to send to the Sirius for a supply of 18-pound shot. Having before 7 a. m. warped the Iphigenia to the eastward of the shoal, which had on the preceding evening prevented him from closing with the Minerve after the latter had drifted from her station, Captain Lambert was extremely desirous to run down and endeavour to carry by boarding the Bellone and the other grounded French ships. Lieutenant Chads, with a mes sage to this effect, and a proposal to take on board a portion of the crews of the Sirius and Magicienne, went immediately to Captain Pym ; who returned for answer, that Captain Lambert must continue warping out, as he and his officers had still hopes of getting the Sirius afloat. The French shot continuing to hull the Iphigenia, Captain Lambert sent Lieutenant Edward Grimes to Captain Pym, to say that he should be obliged to recommence the action in his own defence. Shortly afterwards Lieutenant Watling came from the Sirius, with a note from Captain Pym, ordering Captain Lambert to warp out. The Iphigenia accordingly resumed her labours ; and, as soon as she had hauled a little further off, the French directed the whole of their fire at the Magicienne. By 10 A. m. the Iphigenia had warped herself close to the Sirius ; and these two frigates com menced a fire upon the French, who were endeavouring to remount the guns at the battery on shore. Either because he was not willing to risk his boats while the British frigates still kept up their fire, or that his whole attention was taken up in preparations to resist an attack, ofthe nature of that contemplated by the Iphigenia's gallant captain, the French commodore did not send to take possession of the Nereide until nearly 3 p. m. Lieutenant Albert-Rene Roussin went on board the Nereide for that purpose ; and, having caused all the guns to be spiked, took with him the 20 Frenchmen who had been prisoners, and returned to the shore with every man of his party. This officer reported, that he found 100 dead or dying upon the Nereide's decks. " M. le Lieutenant de vaisseau Roussin," says Captain Duperre, " fut envoye amariner la Nereide. II la trouva dans un etat impossible a decrire ; 100 morts ou mourans etaient sur les ponts : son capitaine, M. Willoughby, etait blesse." We must suppose that, in the course of the 17 hours which had elapsed since the discontinuance of the action by the Nereide, a portion of her killed had been thrown overboard. This account of M. Roussin, therefore, tends greatly to confirm the statement we have given, ofthe Nereide's almost unexampled loss of men. It being found utterly impracticable to get off the Magicienne, who lay with between eight and nine feet water in the hold, exposed to a heavy fire from the enemy, without the means of vol. v. v 290 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. returning it except in a very partial manner, her officers and: crew were ordered to remove into the Iphigenia, preparatory t6 her being set on fire. The Iphigenia, meanwhile, owing to the strength of fhe breeze, had been unable to get beyond the stern of the Sirius ; where she accordingly brought up with her small bower in eight fathoms. The Iphigenia had previously lost her stream and kedge anchors ; but she had since hauled on board the stream and bower anchors of the Sirius. At 7 h. 30 m. p. m. the Magicienne was set on fire by Captain Curtis and Lieutenant Robert Smith; and at 11 p.m. blew up with her colours flying. On the 25th, at 4 a. m., the Iphigenia again began warping j and the French ships and a newly-erected battery on shore recommenced firing at her and the Sirius, which the latter returned with her forecastle guns. At7h. 30 m. a light air from the land enabled the Iphigenia to run completely out of gun-shot both of the ships and the shore. Every effort of her officers and crew to get the Sirius afloat proving utterly vain, Captain Pym came to the determination of destroying her. A great quantity of stores, including shot and cartridges, was now removed from the Sirius to the Iphigenia. At this moment a French man-of-war brig, of which we shall presently give some account, was observed in the offing, watching the 'motions of the two British frigates. At 9 a. m. the Sirius was set on fire, and her officers and men went on board the Iphigenia. Shortly afterwards, however, perceiving that the ship did not burn quickly, and that some French boats were stirring about the harbour, as if with the intention of boarding the Sirius and striking her colours, Captain Pym proceeded in the boats to dispute that point with them. Upon this, the French boats put back. Almost at the same moment the Sirius burst into flames, and at 1 1 a. m. blew up. The setting fire to this ship, while the sea-breeze was blowing fresh, caused great alarm to the French commodore ; who sent again on board the .Nereide, and made the unwounded prisoners on board wet her decks, to pre vent any ill effects from the explosion. A similar precaution was used on board fhe Bellone and her two companions. By the direction of the French officer, who had come last on board the Nereide, her remaining dead were this day buried, and they amounted to 75 ; a tolerable proof that the account given in a preceding page of that ship's loss has not been overstated. The Iphigenia continued during the afternoon to warp out ; but, owing to the foulness ofthe ground and the consequent loss of one of her bower anchors, the frigate made very little progress. At 8 p. m. Lieutenant Watling, bearing Captain Pym's despatches to the commander-in-chief, departed in the pinnace with nine bands. The Entreprenant, the French brig, cruising off Isle de la Passe, chased the boat ; but, by pulling in-shore among the breakers, Lieutenant Watling adroitly escaped from her, and 1810. CAPTAIN PYM AT GRAND-PORT..' 291 arrived at St.-Denis, Isle Bourbon, at 2 a. m. on the 27th. Meanwhile the Iphigenia continued her exertions to reach the anchorage under Isle de la Passe ; which post Captain Pym, on giving up the command after the loss of his ship, had recom mended Captain Lambert to support and protect. On "the 26th, at 4 a.m., the officers of the Iphigenia found that their ship had driven considerably during the night; also that the stock of the bower anchor was badly broken. The frigate now recommenced warping, but having fouled her stream cable, was obliged to get out an 18-pounder to heave ahead by to clear it. At noon the Bellone was observed to have hove herself afloat. At sunset Captain Lambert despatched Lieute nant Robert Wauehope, with the barge of the late Magicienne, to endeavour to reach Bourbon ; and at 8 h. 30 m. p. m. the Iphigenia came to with the bower and stream anchors, in 13 fathoms, at the distance of about three quarters of a mile from Isle de la Passe. On the 27th, at 8 a.m., while again warping and still making very slow progress, the Iphigenia discovered three strange frigates working up to Isle de la Passe. At noon the Entrepre- nant exchanged signals with them ; and all the ships in Grand- Port were seen to be afloat, the Bellone on the outside of them. The Iphigenia now cleared for action, and sent to the island as many men as left her with a crew of between 400 and 500, so as to be able to fight both sides of the ship at once. Unfortu nately, however, there was not ammunition enough on board to maintain an action of any continuance with one side only, the ship having, in all, only 35 broadsides of 18-pound shot, and about 15 of grape and canister, for the main-deckers, and 30 broadsides of 32-pound shot, and about 20 of grape and canister, for the carronades. We will now endeavour to show, how it happened that this second squadron of French frigates came thus to put an end to all hopes on the part ofthe Iphigenia. This French squadron, consisting, besides the Entreprenant, of the three frigates Venus, Astree, and Manche, had sailed from Port-Louis at midnight on the 21st, and was under the command of Commodore Hamelin, the senior French naval officer on the station. The sudden departure of these frigates was for the express purpose of relieving those in Grand-Port, under M. Duperre. On the 23d M. Hamelin, on his rout by the northern extremity of the island, fell in with and captured the English transport-ship Ranger, 24 days from the Cape, laden with nearly 300 tons of provisions for Commodore Rowley's squadron, and having onboard a frigate's three topmasts, three topsail yards, and one lower yard ; and consequently a prize of no. inconsiderable value in this quarter of the world. An officer and 12 men were put on board, and the Ranger was despatched to Port-Louis. Finding himself continually thwarted by head winds, M. Hamelin changed bis route, and steered to ~5aL 292 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. pass to windward of the island. On the 25th, just as the three frigates had arrived abreast of Port- Louis, the commodore received, by an aviso, intelligence of the successful issue of affairs at Grand-Port, with orders to possess himself of the Iphigenia, as well as of the island that protected her. On the 27th, at 1 p. m., the Venus, Astree, and Manche arrived and lay to off Isle de la Passe ; and at 5 p. m. Commo dore Hamelin summoned Captain Lambert to surrender at discre tion both his frigate and the island. Captain Lambert refused to do this, but offered to surrender the island in its present state, provided the Iphigenia was allowed with the officers and men on board of her, and upon the island, to retire to any British port that should be pointed out. At sunset the Iphigenia got close to Isle de la Passe, but not in a good birth. As soon as it was dark Captain Lambert sent the launch to Bourbon under the command of Mr. John Jenkins, the late master of the Sirius. On the 28th, at daylight, it was found that, owing to her insuf ficient tackle, the Iphigenia had drifted out into the middle of the passage. At 7 h. 30 m. a. m. a second flag of truce came from the frigates outside. By this the French commodore urged his previous demand, and promised that the officers and men in the frigate and on the island should be allowed their parole. At the moment that the flag of truce arrived from Commodore Hamelin, another was seen pulling from the harbour of Grand- Port. At 9 a. m. this came on board, and proved to be a sum mons from Governor Decaen. To Commodore Hamelin, Cap tain Lambert replied, offering to surrender the Iphigenia and Isle de la Passe on the next day at 10 a. m., provided the French government, would furnish, within a month, a conveyance for the crew of the frigate and the garrison of the island to the Cape of Good Hope or any other British possession. To the governor-general, Captain Lambert sent copies of his correspond ence with Commodore Hamelin, and expressed a hope that his excellency would require no alteration in the terms proposed. At 1 p.m. came a second letter from the governor-general. In this M. Decaen pledged the faith of his government that, within a month, he would send the crew of the Iphigenia, and the garrison of the little island under which she lay, either to the Cape of Good Hope or to England, on condition of not serving till regularly exchanged. A threat, we believe, accom panied this summons, to the effect that, if Captain Lambert did not accede to the terms proposed by General Decaen, the French frigates both without and within the harbour, would commence an attack upon the Iphigenia and Isle de la Passe ; and, on carrying them, of which there could be no doubt, would put the crew and garrison to the sword. In this extremity, with only 16 tons of water to support upwards of 800 officers and men, including nearly 50 wounded and sick : surrounded by a force amounting, were she in the best state of equipment, to a fivefold 18,10. CAPTAIN PYM AT GRAND-PORT. 293 superiority ; and yet having scarcely ammunition enough left to maintain an action of half an hour with even an equal force, the Iphigenia had no alternative but to haul down her colours. Thus, in a single enterprise, four frigates, two of them (Sirius and Iphigenia) very fine ones, were lost to the British navy ; coupled, too, with a loss of life unusually and lamentably severe. Had the British ships, from previous acquaintance with the difficult navigation of the place, been enabled to take the sta tions severally assigned them, the enterprise, we have not a doubt, would have been crowned with success, and a very serious blow been inflicted upon the French naval power in these seas. While on this subject, we must be allowed to express our opinion, little weight as it may have, that too much precipitation was used ; that, had the attack, instead of taking place an hour Or two before dark while the breeze was blowing fresh, been postponed till early next morning, when the water was smooth and the shoals easily distinguishable, the British commanding officer would have written his letter under very different feelings from those which must have possessed him, when writing the account of a defeat so complete, so calamitous, and so uncalled for, as that we have just detailed. Commodore Duperre, as may indeed be expected, wrote a very triumphant letter on the occasion. After stating that, in conse quence of the Minerve and Ceylon having had their cables cut and been forced on shore, the Bellone singly stood opposed to the enemy, he says : " This unexpected event gave him every ad vantage. Three of his frigates presented their broadsides to us; one only had touched forward and was unable to bring all her guns to bear." " Cet evenement inattendu lui promettait tous les avantages. Trois ses fregates nous presentaient le travers ; une seule avait touche par l'avant et ne pouvait jouer de toute sa batterie." If ever Rear-admiral le Baron Duperre, as he now is, should honour these pages with a perusal, he will, we are sure, regret that he was induced to write so unfair an account of the victory which the shoals and rocks of Grand-Port, rather than the prowess of French seamen, or the cannon of French ships, gained for him. A modern French writer, whose works bear a deservedly high character in this country as well as in his own, has travelled a little out of his road to commit a sad, and, we must be permitted to add, not a very liberal mistake, in reference to the action at Grand-Port. He says : "The number of killed and wounded is greater on the part of the French, but the attii bute of perseverance less on the part of the enemy." " Le nombre des morts et des blesses est plus grand du cote des Frangais ; mais la Constance est moins grande du cote des enne- mis."* We wish M. Dupin, before he penned this passage, had * Voyages dans la Grand Bretagne par M. Charles Dupin, Force Navale, tome ii., p. 85. 294 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. had a few minutes conversation with Rear-admiral Duperre. On that point, at all events, the baron would have done justice to a British officer, for whom, we are sure, he has the highest respect. Unfortunately we are not permitted to dismiss this case, with out an observation or two upon the English accounts of it. With respect to the official account, even did it contain more inaccu racies than it does, every allowance ought to be made for the peculiar circumstances under which Captain Pym wrote his letter. Few cases, it must be owned, have come forth officially in a more imperfect state ; and yet no case, of which we are aware, more deeply affects the- character of the British navy, than the defeat it sustained at Grand-Port. Supposing that an historian, pos sessed of the esprit de corps for an additional stimulus, would make it a point of his ambition to elucidate a case, of which, to do justice to the parties, so much remained to be told, we turned- to tbe pages of Captain Brenton. The following are among the one or two paragraphs that are new to us: " Captain Willoughby made the signal that he was ready for action, and that the enemy was inferior in force to the two British frigates, and the master of the Nereide assuring Captain Pym that he could lay him along side the Bellone, an attack was immediately decided on." " No part of her (the Nereide) was sheltered ; the shot of the enemy penetrated to the hold, and the bread-room, where a young mid-- shipman was killed, as he lay bleeding from a previous wound. Captain Willoughby, having lost an eye aud being otherwise- severely hurt, was removed from the bread- room to the fore part of the hold, as less exposed to shot"* The signal, " Ready for action," was made to counteract the effect of an indication to the contrary, by the appearance of a stage up the Nereide's foremast. The reason for hoisting the other signal, we cannot so readily explain; but, that Captain Pym had previously made up his mind to attack the French squadron in Grand-Port, is clear from the commencing words of his letter to Commodore Rowley : " By my last you were informed of my intention to attack the frigates, corvette, and Indiamen in this- port." He says further : " At noon the Nereide made signal^ 4 Readv for action :' I then closed, and, from the situation of the enemy, decided on an immediate attack." How Mr. Lesby could undertake to act as " pilot" in a harbour which, according to our information, he never entered, we cannot conceive. The midshipman (Timmins) was wounded at his quarters on the main deck, and had his head shot off while sitting at the door of one of the cabins in the 'tween decks. Desperately wounded as Captain Willoi^bbv was, the surgeon was justified, nay, he was bound to place hmi iii am part of the ship where bethought he would be safe : but, from the concurring testimony of all the surviving officers ef the Nereide, including Dr. Young himself, Captain * Brenton, vol. iv, p. 169. 1810. CAPTAIN PYM AT GRAND-PORT. 295 Willoughby, after leaving the quarterdeck, was not in any other part of the ship than the cockpit and gun-room. Captain Willoughby being now a prisoner, a council was held by the French governor, to determine whether or not he should be punished for having distributed proclamations among the in habitants subversive of tl.eir allegiance. It was decided that, as the late captain of the Nereide, whatever may have been his previous liability, had been taken in honourable fight, he should be treated as a prisoner of war. His wounds not admitting of his removal, Captain Willoughby remained at Grand -Port, and, we believe, was treated passably well. Not so with his brother officers. Captains Pym, Lambert, and Curtis, with their respec tive officers and men, were removed round to Port-Louis, and were treated in the harshest manner. But, as men, they could pot complain ; for, several ladies, taken out of the captured In diamen, were thrown into the same prison and suffered the same privations. Where was General Decaen ? Where was that " gallantry" of which Frenchmen are so apt to boast? What has M.- Dupin, the advocate of French humanity, to say to this 1 Females made prisoners of war ; nay, treated like criminals, and that by Frenchmen, — Frenchmen, who will not, even now, scruple to tell an Englishman, that their country is half a century more forward in civilization than his. Let us quit the sickening subject. We cannot, however, part with Commodore Hamelin, the hero of Tappanooly,* without stating that the officers and, men under his orders plundered the British of almost every thing, and added personal insult to the brave Captain Lambert. In spite of the solemn pledge given by General Decaen, that the prisoners who capitulated to him on the 28th of August, should be sent home on parole or exchanged in the course of a month, they were found at the Isle of France upon its capture by the British in the succeeding December. Soon after this, to them and their fellow captives, most fortunate occurrence, Cap? tains Pym, Lambert, Curtis, and Willoughby, and their several officers and men, were tried by court-martial on board the Illus trious 74, in Port-Louis harbour, for the loss of their respective ships, and were most honourably acquitted. The sentence upon. Captain Willoughby being rather of a special nature, we shall here give a copy of it. " The court is o,f opinion, that the con-r duct of Captain Willoughby was injudicious in making the sig nal, ' Enemy of inferior force,' to the Sirius, she being the only fhip in sight, and not j ustifiable, as the enemy evidently was su perior. But the court is of opinion, that his Majesty's late ship Nereide was carried into battle in a most judicious, officer-like, and gallant manner; and the court cannot do otherwise than exr pi;ess its high admiration of tbe noble conduct of the captain, officers, and ship's company during the whole of the unequal * See p. 200. 296 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. contest, and is further of opinion that the Nereide was not sur rendered to the enemy until she was disabled in every respect, so as to render all further resistance useless, and that no blame whatever attaches to them for the loss of the said ship." To this testimony in favour of the Nereide, we shall merely add, that the noble behaviour of her officers and crew threw such a halo of glory around the defeat at Grand-Port, that, in public opinion at least, the loss of the four frigates was scarcely considered a misfortune. The arrival of the Windham recaptured Indiaman in the bay of St-Paul, Isle Bourbon, on the evening ofthe 22d of August, informed Commodore Rowley of Captain Pym's projected attack upon the French frigates in Grand-Port, At this time, in con sequence of a previous arrangement between Lieutenant-colonel Keating and the commodore, the flank-battalion of the 86th regiment was held in readiness to embark on board the Bombay transport, in order to establish a strong military post upon Isle Platte, or Flat island. With the view of co-operating more effectually with Captain Pym, the Boadicea took on board two of the flank companies and a detachment of artillery, and sailed the same evening ; and the Bombay, with the remainder of the force, and a supply of provisions both for Isle de la Passe and Flat island, was directed to follow as expeditiously as possible. Owing to baffling winds, the progress of the Boadicea became Tery tedious ; and on the 27th, in the morning, she picked up the Magicienne's barge, with Lieutenant Wauchope and 14 men, despatched bv Captains Pym and Lambert, with letters (part of them duplicates of those brought by Lieutenant Watling), acquainting the commodore with the unfortunate issue of the attack npon the French squadron in Grand-Port. On the 29th, at daylight, the Boadicea made Isle de la Passe, and perceived two frigates lying to off the island. These were the Venus and Manche ; the former still engaged in receiving prisoners from the Iphigenia and Isle de la Passe. The Astree had, the preceding evening, been detached to cruise between the isles of France and Bourbon, but was seen to wind ward by the Boadicea, as the latter, with signals flying, ap proached the Iphigenia, under a hope that she was still in Captain Lambert's possession. When the Boadicea was nearly within gun-shot, the Venus, making a signal to the Manche, that the admiral's motions were to be disregarded, crowded sail after the British frigate. The Boadicea thereupon tacked and stood off: and presently the Venus made a signal to her consort to join in the chase. In a short time the two French frigates hauled od' from the Boadicea; but, wishing to draw them down s* tar as possible from their station, in order to give the Bombay an opportunity to succour the Iphigenia, and to favour the escape and five soldiers killed, her captain (mortally), first and second lieutenants (Joseph Crew Tullidge and Robert Forder, severely), first lieu tenant of marines (James Jackson, this time* severely), two master's mates (JohnTheed and Jenkin Jones), two midshipmen (Charles Mercier and Robert Leech), one lieutenant of the army, (Home), 76 seamen, 12 private marines, and 17 soldiers (leaving only three out ofthe 25 in an effective state) wounded; total, 49 killed and 114 wounded. Captain Corbett had his leg ampu tated below the knee during the action, and died about six hours after the operation had been performed. Had he survived, he must have submitted to a second amputation above the compound fracture. The surgeon, although a skilful man, was himself a * See p. 299. 1810. AFRICAINE WITH IPHIGENIE AND ASTREE. 303 cripple, and very sickly ; and, for want of sufficient assistance, had his attention too much distracted by the number of wounded officers and men that, in rapid succession, were brought to the cockpit. The Astree, when subsequently captured by the British, mounted 44 guns, similar to those carried at this time by other French frigates of her class ; and she had, it appears, on com mencing the action with the Africaine, a complement of 360 men and boys. The Iphigenie carried her English armament, con sisting of 42 guns, similar to those of her class ;* with a com plement, as acknowledged, of 258 men and boys. The loss sustained by the French frigates, as stated in the letter of Commodore Bouvet, amounted to nine men killed, and one officer and 32 men wounded, on board the Iphigenie, and one man killed and two wounded on board the Astree ; total, 10 killed and 35 wounded. The damages of the French frigates bore a proportion to their loss of men. The Astree was very slightly injured in hull or spars. The Iphigenie had her masts, yards, and rigging more or less wounded and cut, but none of her masts so dangerously struck as to require renewing. The twofold disparity, against which this action was fought, is as palpably conspicuous, as the valour that commenced, and the firmness that continued it; and yet the judgment of Captain Corbett, in not waiting the arrival of the Boadicea, has been questioned. Had the Africaine shortened sail for that purpose, there can be little doubt that the French frigates, who had clearly seen the Otter and Staunch in the morning, would have pursued their course to Port-Louis. A near approach would soon have discovered to them, that the supposed Indiaman was a real frigate, and a large one too ; and Commodore Bouvet, brave as he undoubtedly was, would, we think, have declined engaging two British frigates, a frigate-built sloop of war, and ah armed brig ; and who could blame him ? With respect to the conduct of the Africaine in commencing the action, it is not easy at all times to distinguish between discretion and shyness ; and the very thought of such an imputation, as the mildest of the two terms may convey, is enough to fire the blood of any man who holds his gallantry sacred. Ten frigates, lost like the Africaine, weigh less, as a national misfortune, than one frigate given up without any, or even with an inadequate, resistance. Nb sooner was the Africaine in possession of her captors, than her shot-lockers were ransacked to supply the Iphigenie, whose guns were of the same caliber ; but only 50 round shot remained of the former's originally ample store. That they had been ex pended in the action is certain ; but there is reason to believe, that the Africaine's crew had been very little, if at all, exercised at the guns : consequently that, in nine time's out of ten, the * See vol. iv., p. 156. 304 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. men might as well have fired blank cartridges as shot. A proof of this has already appeared in the trifling execution done to the two French frigates. That the Iphigenie, although mounting English guns, had stood in no actual need of shot for them, we infer, because not a complaint of the kind is discoverable in Captain Bouvet's account ofthe action. On the other hand, the French could have had but a very small quantity of English round shot left, and would naturally be anxious to procure as many of the Africaine's shot as they could, in order that the Iphigenie might be ready to defend herself in case of being attacked. At a few minutes before the Africaine hauled down her flag, a breeze began to swell the sails of the Boadicea ; and the latter, very soon after daylight, " passed within musket-shot of the enemy." It was now discovered that the Africaine was a prize to the two French frigates, and greatly disabled, while they appa rently had suffered but little. At 6 a. m. the Boadicea tacked and stood to windward of the Iphigenie and Astree, to look for the Otter and Staunch; whose very bad sailing was at this time particularly unfortunate. At 6 h. 10 m, a. m. the Africaine's foremast was seen to fall by the board ; at 7 a. m. her mizenmast and main topmast, and at 8 a. m. her mainmast. Her bowsprit, or the head of it, also, we believe, went; and thus was the Afri caine a totally dismasted hulk. We regret to find, that the only paragraph in Commodore Rowley's letter respecting the state of the Africaine's masts is the following : " Day dawned and showed us the result ; the enemy appeared to have suffered little ; the Africaine was in their possession, with no apparent loss but that of her mizen topmast." To this we cannot do better than oppose, in addi tion to the facts we have gleaned from the Boadicea's log, an extract from the official letter of Lieutenant Tullidge. " Ofthe Africaine's subsequent recapture by the Boadicea, their lordships must of course have been informed by Commodore Rowley. I must add, however, that her remaining masts and bowsprit fell over the side soon after our quitting her." But, as Lieutenant Tullidge's letter, owing to the unfair and impolitic practice of suppressing the official details of a defeat, simply because it is a defeat, never appeared in the London Gazette, the contradiction, we fear, comes too late to produce much effect. In saying that the Africaine, when first seen by the Boadicea in the grey of the morning, had all three of her lower masts standing, Commodore Rowley was correct ; but he omitted to mention, what all on board the Boadicea must have seen, or the entries would not have been in her log, that, within three hours afterwards, the Africaine was totally dismasted. At 7 h. 30 m. A. m, the Boadicea discovered the Otter and Staunch to windward, and at 10 A. m. was joined by them. At 40 minutes past noon the Boadicea and her two companions 1810. AFRICAINE RECAPTURED. 305 bore up, with a fine breeze from the south-south-east, for the two French frigates and the wreck of the Africaine. At 1 h. 30 m. p. m. the Boadicea hauled up her foresail, and came to the wind on the larboard tack. At 3 h. 30 m. p. m. she and her consorts again bore up; and in ten minutes afterwards the Astree, taking the Iphigenie in tow, abandoned the Africaine and made sail to windward. At 5 p. m., by which time the Boadicea had arrived close abreast of the Africaine, the latter fired two guns and hauled down the French colours. The surprising spectacle was now seen of several of the Afri caine's late crew swimming off from her to the Boadicea. Upon their arrival on board, the men expressed the utmost eagerness to renew tbe action with the two French frigates, under an officer whose mild system of discipline had been made known to them through the same channel, as that by which they had formerly learnt the very opposite system pursued by the commander, whom they were compelled to receive as the successor of Captain Raggett. If the act of the late Africaine's sailors, in swimming to the Boadicea, betrayed the nature of their feelings respecting Captain Corbett, it as decidedly showed, that, although their ship had been captured, their spirit was unsubdued. On board the Africaine, at her recapture, were found about 70 of her wounded and 83 of her remaining crew, with the French prize-master and his nine men. At 9 p. m., the two French frigates still in sight working to windward, the Boadicea took the Africaine in tow; and, accompanied by the Otter and Staunch, proceeded towards the bay of St.-Paul. On the 14th, at day light, the Astree and Iphigehie were again descried by the Boadicea and her crippled and two remaining consorts, and continued tobe seen until 11 A. m. ; when they disappeared, but were again discovered at 5 p. m., and remained in sight till dark. On the 15th, at noon, Commodore Rowley anchored in St.- Paul's bay ; but in the evening, weighed with the Boadicea, Otter, and Staunch, and made sail to the north-east. On the 16th, at daylight, the two French frigates were seen close oft' Castle St.-Bernard. The latter then stood away to windward, and the British ships steered for the road of St.-Denis. On the 17th, at daylight, the two frigates were discovered to windward; in company with an armed brig. At 9 h. 40 m. the Iphigenie and Astree bore up, as if with the intention of attacking, but more probably to reconnoitre, the Boadicea and her two consorts ; who were then waiting off St.-Denis for the return of a boat which Commodore Rowley had sent to the shore. At 1 1 h. 20 m. a. m. the French ships hove to, and shortly afterwards made sail to windward. At 2 p. m. Commodore Rowley put back toward St.- PauPs ; at 6 p. m. lost sight of the two French frigates ; and on the 18th, at 5 a. m., reanchored in the bay. The armed brig, seen with the Iphigenie and Astree, was the honourable company's cruiser Aurora, of 16 guns and 100 men, which they had just vol. v. x 306 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. before captured. On the 22d, in the morning, Captain Bouvet, with his two frigates and prize, anchored in the harbour of Port- Louis. We shall by and by see, that the French commodore would have done better had "he remained another day cruising off Isle Bourbon. By way of excuse for the abandonment of his first prize on the approach of the Boadicea, accompanied by a sloop of war and a gun-brig, Commodore Bouvet thus expresses himself: "I thought it best not to wait for the enemy in the unrigged and dismantled state in which I found myself. I was therefore com pelled, much to my regret, to abandon to him my prize, although but a hulk, filled with the dead and the dying." " Je jugeai a, propos de ne pas attendre l'ennemi dans l'etat de delabrement et de denuement ou je me trouvais. Je fus aussi constraint, a mon grand regret, de lui abandonner ma prise, quoique ce ne fut qu'une carcasse chargee de morts et de mourans." We are somewhat fearful of pressing too hard upon the French commodore, lest he should turn upon us and say, that, being crippled and deficient of ammunition, the Iphigenie could have made but a feeble resistance against the Otter and Staunch, while Commodore Rowley, with the Boadicea, might have gone in chase of the Astree ; and that admitting the latter to have escaped to windward, the Iphigenie, whose rate of sailing at best was but indifferent, would, now that her rigging was in disorder, undoubtedly have been recaptured. In justice to Captain Rowley, however, it becomes us to add, that he could have had no knowledge of the low state of the Iphigenie's ammunition; and, considering that the Boadicea was at this time the only British frigate upon the station, and that two French frigates, the Venus and Manche, were cruising in the neighbourhood, it behoved the commodore to be particularly cautious in risking the loss of the small force left under his orders. We, at a former page, attributed the little execution done by the Africaine to her two opponents, to the unskilfulness of her crew in gunnery. As one proof that the men had not been exer cised at the guns, they frequently during the action threw the quoins aside, or put them in on their edges ; in the one case ele vating, in the other depressing, the guns beyond all mark. It is the general belief, we know, that the Africaine's crew were dis affected, on account of the ill treatment they had experienced from their captain. We regret to have to state, that the more our inquiries have been extended on that point, the more they have convinced us, that Captain Corbett was an excessively se vere officer. We trace him in his career of cruelty, from the Seahorse to the Nereide, from the Ner6ide to the Bourbonnaise, and from her to the Africaine. If, in the Africaine, he flogged less than he did on board the Nereide, it was because the crew of the former, taken generally, were much better seamen than the crew of the latter, 1810. CEYLON AND VENUS. 307 There are many who will insist, that Captain Corbett's death- wound was inflicted by one of his own people. Had the wound been caused by a musket or pistol ball, a possibility might exist that such had been the case ; but what becomes of the assertion, when the wound, and that the partial excision of a limb, was inflicted by a cannon ball? Others, and some of them officers of known veracity, have informed us that, unable to brook his defeat, Captain Corbett, during the temporary absence of an attendant, cut the bandages from his amputated limb, and suf fered himself to bleed to death. A contemporary, in the state ment, " Captain Corbett did not (we fear would not) survive his capture,"* appears to be of the same opinion. Still, looking to the source whence we derived it, we are disposed to consider our first information as the most correct, that the want of proper surgical aid, coupled with the existence of a compound fracture above the amputated limb, was the immediate cause of Captain Corbett's death. On a subsequent day, April 23, 1811, the surviving officers and crew of the late Africaine were tried by a court-martial for the loss of their ship, and most honourably acquitted ; and Lieu tenant Tullidge was declared to have behaved "in the most gallant and determined manner, although he had received four severe wounds during the action." We are happy to add, that, on the 1st of the succeeding August, this brave and deserving officer was promoted to the rank of commander. Returning to the proceedings ofthe year 1810 off the Isle of France, we have to state, that on the 17th of September, in the morning, the British 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Ceylon, Captain Charles Gordon, from Madras on her way to Isle Bourbon, arrived off Port-Louis, in the expectation of falling in with the squadron under Commodore Rowley. After reconnoitring the harbour, and, on account of the many large ships within it, estimating the French force of seven frigates and a large corvette, Captain Gordon bore up and made all sail on his course along shore towards Isle Bourbon. Since 8 a. m., when off Canonnier point, the Ceylon had been descried from the signal-posts ; and, although at first taken for an enemy's cruiser, was afterwards, chiefly on account of her having a poop, believed to be an India- man with troops on board. The French men of war at this time in Port-Louis were the Venus, Manche, and Victor, and at 1 h. 15 m. p. m. Commodore Hamelin weighed and put to sea with the Venus and the corvette, in pursuit of the Ceylon, then nearly abreast of Morne-Brabant, at the south-western extremity ofthe island. This will be the proper place to show how the parties, now on the eve of coming to blows, stood in point of relative force Some time in the year 1805 the British government authorized * Brenton, vol. iv, p. 477. 308 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. the purchase in India, among other ships, ofthe Bombay, a frigate- built Indiaman of 672 tons. The ship was immediately put upon the establishment of a first-class 32-gun frigate, and armed with 24 long 18-pounders on the main deck, and two long nines and 14 carronades, 24 pounders, on the quarterdeck and fore castle, total. 40 guns. In consequence of a 74 ofthe name of Bombay, being laid down at Deptford, the name of the newly purchased frigate was changed to Ceylon. Her established complement appears to have been 235 men and boys. Of this number, the Ceylon, on quitting Madras, was 47 men short ; but she there took on board 100 soldiers of the 69th and 86th regiments, a portion of whom were to serve as marines. So that, with Major-general Abercromby and six or seven other pas sengers, the Ceylon had on board a total of about 295 men and boys. The Venus was armed precisely as the Minerve* and other frigates of that class, and had a regular crew of 380 men and boys. The Victor was the same Jena of which we have before spoken ;y a mere shell of a vessel, not to be compared, in point of size or efficiency, with the 18-gun brig class, although carry ing -the same armament. At all events it is certain that, although, when fitted out in the British service, she was esta blished with the old Victor's sixteen 32-pounder carronades and two sixes, yet Captain Morice, when he again commissioned her as a French corvette, landed two of her guns ; thus leaving her with only 16, which were full as many as the ship could carry, with ease to herself, and security to her people. At 2 p.m. the Ceylon descried tbe Venus and Victor in chase of her, and continued steering west by south, under all sail, with a fresh breeze at east-south-east. At dusk, observing that the headmost ship was considerably ahead of her consort, the Ceylon shortened sail, to allow the former to close ; but at 10 p.m., dis covering in the moonlight that the Venus had reduced her sail, as if to await the coming up of her consort, the British frigate again made all sail to keep the two ships apart. The Venus, as may be supposed, sailed much faster than the ci-devant India- man ; and at 15 minutes past midnight, upon the near approach of the former, Captain Gordon, having previously made all clear, shortened sail to begin the action. In five minutes more the Venus passed under the stern of the British frigate ; and, after hailing and discharging two muskets, and receiving the fire of her stern-chasers, the former ranged up on the Ceylon's star board quarter. The mutual discovery now made, of the immense disparity in size and apparent force between the two ships, although it may not have disheartened the one, must have greatly animated the other. However, a severe conflict ensued, and continued until * See vol. iv, p. 232: + See d. 73. 1810. CEYLON AND VENUS. 309 about 1 h. 15 m. a. m. ; when, having by this time ascertained clearly enough, that her opponent was a ship of war, the Venus wore round and dropped astern. The Ceylon was thus afforded an opportunity of repairing her damaged rigging, and of making sail to escape from an antagonist, who, although singly not what a British frigate would consider a decided overmatch, was deemed too powerful to be engaged when likely so soon to be aided by a consort, believed to be, at the least, of equal force. The same superiority of sailing, which had first enabled the Venus to overtake the Ceylon, brought her again alongside; and at2h. 15m. a.m. the action recommenced. It was now maintained with such renewed vigour on both sides, that, by a little after 3 a. m., the Venus had lost her mizenmast and her fore and main topmasts and gaff". The standing and running rigging of both frigates was also much cut, and the courses of the Ceylon were torn nearly to pieces by the fall of the topmasts. In this unmanageable state, the two frigates continued engaging until a few minutes past four, when the Venus dropped about 450 yards to leeward, and fired only at intervals. At this time the Victor was seen from the Ceylon, coming down under a crowd of canvass. At about 4 h. 30 m. a. m., having passed close to windward of the Ceylon, the Victor placed herself athwart the latter ship's bows, as if intending to rake her. At this moment, being unable in her totally ungovernable state, to evade a lire which, as coming from a ship supposed, even yet, to be a second Venus in point of force, might have been very destructive, the Ceylon showed a light as a signal of having struck. At 5h. 10 m. a. m. a lieutenant, with a party of men, came on board from the corvette and took possession of the prize : and Captain Gordon, his first and third lieutenants (George Henry Campbell and Edmund Malone), and Major- general Abercromby and the other army-officers, were taken on board the Venus. The loss of the Ceylon's topmasts has already been stated : her lower masts were also much injured; and her loss of men amounted to six seamen and four soldiers of the 69th regiment, acting as marines, killed, her captain, master (William Oliver, both severely), Captain Ross of the 69th regiment, her boat swain (Andrew Graham), 17 sailors, one marine, and nine soldiers wounded; total, 10 killed and 31 wounded. The principal damage done to the Venus consisted in the loss of her mizenmast and topmasts, as already described; but her loss of men, although, in all probability, full as severe as that on board the Ceylon, we are unable to state, owing to the silence of the published accounts, and the failure of our efforts to obtain the particulars from any private source. It is generally an advantage to a well-disciplined ship to engage at night ; because, in case of being assailed by a superiority of force, she may reduce the odds, nearly if not 310 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810.' quite, to the level of her own powers by a superiority of tactics; But the Ceylon would have done better, bad she fought her action by daylight ; not owing to any lack of skill in her crew, as the damages of her antagonist testify, but because the obscu rity of night caused her to overrate, far to overrate, the force of that antagonist's unengaged consort. Had the Victor been rigged with two masts instead of three, as, with one or two exceptions, all similarly armed vessels in the British navy at that time were, her real insignificance would have discovered itself even in the dark, and her approach been greeted with a broadside, which would probably have sent the Victor to the bottom, or, at all events, have disabled her from offering any effectual resistance. What resources would then have remained to the Ceylon, it is difficult to say ; but, undoubtedly, she was in no worse state than the Venus ; and, had a suspension of the firing continued a few hours longer, the appearance of the British force, whose arrival we shall presently have to announce, would have preserved the Ceylon's flag from falling, and would have prevented a French 16-gun corvette from claiming the honour of having summoned, successfully summoned, a British frigate to surrender. At 7 h. 30 m. a. m. Commodore Rowley, whom with the Boadicea, Otter, and Staunch, we left at anchor in the road' of St.-Paul, first descried the two French ships and their prize, then abreast of St.-Denis, and about three leagues distant from the shore. At 7 h. 40m. a.m., having received 50 volunteers from the Africaine, the Boadicea, accompanied by her two con sorts, got under way and made sail in chase ; and the Victor, who at 8 A. m. had discovered and signalled the British vessels as they cleared the bay, hastened to take the Ceylon in tow, and follow the Venus, now using her best endeavours to get back to the Isle of France. Scarcely had the Victor made sail with the Ceylon, than the tow-rope broke ; and it was not until nearly noon that the prize was again secured. The corvette, with the wind fresh from the east-south-east, again steered after the Venus; who was standing on the starboard tack, under her foresail and mainsail, and a small sail upon the stump of her mizenmast. At3h. 30m. p.m., being too small and light to tow the Ceylon with any effect, the Victor slipped or cast off the hawser; and, waiting only till he had taken his officer and men out of the prize, Captain Morice hauled up towards the Venus. The latter wore to join her consort, and then came to on the larboard tack, with her head towards the Boadicea ; while the Victor herself, as ordered by Commodore Hamelin, stood away to the eastward. As soon as the Victor got out of gun-shot, the Ceylon re hoisted the colours which had been struck in the morning, and was again a British ship of war under the temporary command of Mr. Philip Fitz-Gibbon, the second lieutenant. At 4 h. 40 m. 1810. CEYLON AND VENUS. 311 p. m. the Boadicea ran the Venus alongside ; and, after a 10 minutes' mutual cannonade, in which the Boadicea had her bowsprit badly struck and two men wounded, and the Venus nine men killed and 15 wounded, the French frigate hauled down her colours. Soon after the Boadicea had taken her prize in tow, the Otter, by signal, rendered the same service to the Ceylon ; and Captain Gordon, having by this time returned on board with his first and third lieutenants, resumed the command of his recovered frigate. The Victor being too far off to be pursued with any chance of overtaking her, Commodore Rowley returned with his prize and recapture to the bay of St.-Paul. In order to show what an important discrepancy occurs between the French and English official accounts of the capture ofthe Ceylon, we here subjoin an extract from each. Captain Morice says : " At this moment I discovered that the two vessels had lost their topmasts and one her mizenmast; each was at quarters,* and ready for action ; the fire at length ceased, and I recognised the Venus ; I passed within pistol-shot ofthe enemy without being fired at ; I wore round on the other tack, and again passed him at the same distance without receiving any fire. I closed the commodore, who ordered me to. demand of this vessel whether or not she had surrendered ;. I immediately executed the service, and returned to the commotlore with information that she had struck ; I then lay to and sent a boat commanded by M. Menager, enseigne de vaisseau; to take out the officers of this vessel, and convey them on board the Venus ; that order was executed. Daylight came ; and I perceived that these vessels had fought with all sail set, from seeing a fore- topmast studding-sail hanging from the enemy's fore yard- arm."f Here follows an extract from the official letter of Captain Gordon : " At 5 A. m., the enemy's fore and main masts standing with the assistance of his foresail, enabled him to wear close under our stern, and take a raking position under our lee quarter. His majesty's ship lying an unmanageable wreck, I directed the mizen topsail to be cut away, and endeavoured to set a fore staysail, in hopes of getting the ship before the wind, but without effect. The second ship having opened her fire with the great advantage the enemy had by having both his ships under command, enabled him to take and keep his raking position, and pour in a heavy and destructive fire, while his majesty's ship could only bring a few quarter guns to bear. In the shattered and disabled state of his majesty's ship, a retreat was impossible. The superiority of the enemy's heavy and destructive fire left me no hopes of success. Reduced to this * The lights in the ports would discover this. f For the original extract, see Appendix, No. 14. 312 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1810. distressed situation, feeling the firmest conviction that every energy and exertion was called forth, under the influence of the strongest impression I had discharged my duty and upheld the honour of his majesty's arms, feeling it a duty I owed to the officers and crew, who had nobly displayed that bravery which is so truly their characteristic, when I had lost all hopes of saving his majesty's ship, to prevent a useless effusion of blood, I was under the painful necessity of directing a light to be shown to the second ship that we had struck." The following is an extract from the log of the Ceylon, authen ticated in the customary manner : "At 4, enemy having dropped to leeward two cables' lengths, his fire nearly done, saw his consort coming down under all sail. The ship at this period being entirely unmanageable, on tbe second ship crossing our bow, apparently to rake us, to prevent a further and unnecessary effusion of blood, struck our colours to enemy about | past 4. At 5, 10, a lieutenant and party of men came on board from the sloop of war Victor, of 18 guns." According, therefore, to the concurrent testimony of the French captain's account and the British ship's log, but in opposition to the British captain's public letter, the Ceylon struck to the Victor without being fired at by her. We must, however, in justice to Captain Gordon remark, that the expression, " enabled him to take and keep his raking position, and pour in a heavy and destructive fire," appears to refer to the Venus, and the previous expression, " having opened her fire," to the Victor. A little more pains, in framing his letter, would have prevented this obscurity. With respect to the exact time of surrender, that is of little conse quence ; but the " showing of a light" proves that day had not quite broken, and consequently that it could not well have been after " 5 a. m." Next to the loss of his frigate, the greatest misfortune that has befallen Captain Gordon, is the zeal with which a brother- officer of his, and a contemporary of ours, advocates his cause. "She (the Ceylon) mounted," not 40 but, "30 guns."— "On the 17th of September, she arrived off Port-Louis, and disco vered seven sail of French frigates, and a corvette, lying in the harbour. The British squadron not being in sight, "Captain Gordon made all sail for the island of Bourbon, pursued by two ofthe frigates, one of which brought him to close action, which was maintained for an hour and ten minutes. About midnight the enemy hauled off and dropped astern, but renewed the action at two in the morning, accompanied by the second frigate, who was very soon reduced to a mere wreck by the gallant fire of the Ceylon ; and she fell astern with her mizen mast, and fore and main topmasts over the side. Unfortunately, the united fire ofthe two frigates shot away the topmasts ofthe Ceylon about the same time, and she became unmanageable. The action was still continued until five a. m. when one of the frigates with her 1810. CAPTURE OF GUADALOUPE. 313 fore and main mast standing, took a raking position under the quarter ofthe British ship, where she kept up a fire, unchecked by any return from the Ceylon, whose gallant captain directed the mizen topsail to be cut away, to enable the ship to get before the wind. This resource failing, and every thing having been done for the preservation of the ship, the colours were hauled down to superior force. The frigates were the Venus, of 44 guns and 380 men, and the Victor (formerly English), of 16 guns and 120 men."* A "frigate," indeed ; such a frigate as Captain Brenton him self would have gladly met in the Merlin sloop ;f such a frigate as he would have thought it a step to have been removed from into the Amaranthe brig ;{ such a frigate, in short, as the old 16-gun schooner Netley, with her non-recoil carronades, would have been ashamed to run from. As far as we can judge from the context, by the ship that, previously to midnight, sustained a close action of" an hour and ten minutes " with the Ceylon, is meant the Victor, "of 16 guns." If so, this is paying a high compliment to the French commander, and places in no very creditable light the conduct of his antagonist. Such, however, was evidently not the writer's intention ; and it is perhaps not the least fortunate circumstance connected with Captain Bren- ton's narrative of operations in the vicinity ofthe Isles of France and Bourbon, that it is so confusedly put together, and contains so many contradictions and absurdities, as considerably to weaken its misleading powers. The Boadicea's prize was a fine frigate of 1 105 tons ; and, to commemorate the gallant defence of the Nereide at Grand-Port, Vice-admiral Bertie named the Venus after her. For the cap ture of the Ceylon by the Venus and her consort, Captain Gordon, his officers, and crew were tried by court-martial on board the Illustrious 74 belonging to the Cape station, and honourably acquitted. COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — WEST INDIES. On the 27th of January a combined naval and military expe dition, under the respective commands of Vice-admiral the Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane, and Lieutenant-general Sir George Beckwith, anchored off the town of Gosier, island of Guadaloupe. On the 28th the troops landed without opposi tion: one division, commanded by Major-general Hislop, at the village of Sainte-Marie, under the direction of Commodore William Charles Fahie, of the 74-gun ship Abercrombie ; and the other division, commanded by Brigadier-general Harcourt, a * Brenton, vol. iv., p. 473. f See vol. iii., p. 206. J See p. 86. 314 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — EAST INDIES. 1810* league or two to the northward of Basse-terre, under the di rection of Commodore Samuel James Ballard, of the 74-gun ship Sceptre. On the 3d of February an engagement took place between Brigadier-general Harcourt's division, and a body of French troops on the ridge Beaupere St.-Louis, and again in the evening between the British reserve under Brigadier-general Wale, in forcing the passage of the river de la Pere. In both cases the British were successful ; and on the following morning, the 4th, the French hoisted flags of truce in all their positions ; on the 5th the terms of capitulation were settled ; and on the 6th the island of Guadaloupe surrendered to the British arms. In justice to the governor, General Ernouf, and the French troops on the island, it must be stated, that a great proportion of the latter were sick : that the force opposed to them, even in the first instance, was an overwhelming one ; and that, as in the case at Martinique in the preceding year, there was a defection among the colonial militia. The British army sustained a loss of 52 officers and privates killed, 250 wounded, and seven privates missing. The navy, not having been engaged, suffered no loss. That on the part of the French troops is represented to have been between 500 and 600 in killed and wounded. Before the 22d of the same month of February the same two commanders followed up their success, with obtaining the peace able surrender of the Dutch islands at St.-Martin, St.-Eustatius, and Saba ; thereby completing the reduction of all the French and Dutch colonies in the Antilles. EAST INDIES. The British commander-in-chief on this station, Rear-admiral William O'Brien Drury, being resolved to endeavour to possess the principal settlement of the Dutch in the Molucca sea, intrusted the enterprise to Captain Edward Tucker, of the 38-gun frigate Dover, with directions to take under his orders the 44-gun frigate Cornwallis, Captain William Augustus Montagu, and 18-gun ship-sloop Samarang, Captain Richard Spencer. On the 9th of February, off the island of Amboyna, the first object of attack, the Dover and Samarang were joined by the Corn wallis ; and the three ships, proceeding up the outer harbour of Amboyna, anchored, the same day, in Lsetitia bay, with the view of examining the defences of the place. The principal was the castle of Victoria, and the batteries to the right and left of it, mounting altogether 215 pieces of cannon (of all calibers from 32 to half pounders), with an extremely strong sea-face. A little further to the right of the fort, close on the beach, was the Wagoo battery, mounting nine guns, consisting of four 12, one 8, and two 6 pounder long guns, and one brass 32-pounder carronade ; and, far out in the sea, built upon piles, was a battery 1810. CAPTURE OF AMBOYNA, &C. 315 mounting nine long 12-pounders and one brass 32-pounder car ronade, both batteries with very thick parapets. There were also two batteries on the heights : one, named Wannetoo, mounted five 12, two 8, and two 6 pounders, and two b\ inch brass how itzers; the other, named Batto-Gautong, and situated about 1500 yards from the former, mounted four 12, and one 9 pounder. Both the last-named batteries commanded, as well the town of Amboyna, as the castle and anchorage of Victoria and the anchorage at Portuguese bay. The several forts were garrisoned by 130 European, and upwards of 1000 Javanese and Madurese troops ; exclusively of 220 officers and seamen, many of whom were Europeans, late belonging to the three vessels sunk in the inner harbour, and exclusively, also, of the Dutch inhabitants and burghers. On the 16th, in the morning, the plan of attack was arranged ; and, at 2 p. m., every thing being in readiness, the Dover, Corn wallis, and Samarang weighed and stood across the bay, with the apparent intention of working out to sea. But the ships, by keeping their sails lifting, and other manoeuvres, contrived to drift towards the spot fixed upon for a landing; the boats, all the while, remaining on the opposite side of the ships out of sight of the enemy. Upon a nearer approach, the three ships, by signal, bore up together, with a fine breeze ; and, passing within a cable's length of the landing-place, slipped all the boats at the same moment, also by signal. The ships then opened their fire ; and a smart cannonade was kept up between them and the different batteries on the shore. The party in the boats, consisting of a detachment of 46 offi cers and privates from the honourable company's coast artillery, 130 officers and privates of the Madras European regiment, and 225 officers, seamen, and marines belonging to the ships, in all 401 men, under the command of Captain Major Henry Court of the first-named corps, landed without opposition. Immedi ately a division of 1 80 men, under the command of Captain Phillips of the Madras European regiment, marched to the at tack of the battery at Wannetoo; which, after a determined opposition, was carried, with a loss to the garrison of two officers killed and one desperately wounded. Under the able direction of Lieutenant Duncan Stewart, of the artillery, who, although wounded, continued at his post, three of the Wannetoo guns were brought to bear upon the enemy in his retreat, and subsequently upon the position at Batto-Gautong; which had opened a fire upon the British, the instant the latter had taken possession of Wannetoo. With the remaining force, Captain Court proceeded along the the heights, to turn the enemy's position at Batto-Gautong. This division endured, with the greatest spirit and patience, a most fatiguing march; ascending and descending hills, over which there -were no roads, and many of which were so extremely 316 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — EAST INDIES. 1810. steep that the men had to help themselves forward by the bushes. By a little after sunset, however, the British reached an eminence that commanded Batto-Gautong ; whereupon the enemy, after spiking the guns, retreated, and the battery was entered without opposition. After the cannonade between the ships and batteries had con tinued for two hours and a half, during which the former, having drifted very close in, had been exposed to a very heavy fire, partly with red-hot shot, the ships took advantage of a spirt of wind off the land, and anchored in Portuguese bay, now freed from further annoyance by the success of the party on shore. In the course of the night, 40 men were landed from the Samarang and two field-pieces from the Dover, under the direction of Captain Spencer; and the seamen succeeded in getting the guns up the heights, over a heavy and difficult ground. During the night, also, one 9, and two 12 pounders in the Batto-Gautong battery were unspiked, and on the following day brought to bear on Fort Victoria. The fire of the British from the two captured bat teries caused the enemy to abandon the Wagoo and the water battery, and finally to capitulate for the surrender of Fort Victoria and of the whole island of Amboyna. This important capture was effected with a loss to the British of only two privates of the Madras regiment, one marine, and one seaman killed, one lieutenant and one corporal of artillery, four privates of the Madras regiment, and four seamen wounded. We must not omit to state, also, that Lieutenant Jeffries, of the Dover, while serving on shore, received a concussion in the breast from a spent grape-shot, but remained at his post. The three Dutch national vessels that had been sunk in tbe inner harbour were the brig Mandarin, Captain Guasteranus, of 12 guns (after wards weighed by the British), cutter, name unknown, Lieute nant Haum, of 12 guns, and San-Pan, Lieutenant Dukkert, of 10 guns. The success of the British in this quarter led to the surrender, in a few days afterwards, of the valuable islands of Saparoua, Harouka, Nasso-Lant, Bouro, and Manippa, all without blood shed or resistance. After sending all the Dutch officers and troops from Amboyna to Java, Captain Tucker proceeded in the Dover to the Dutch port of Gorontello, in the bay of Tommine, on the northern part of the island of Celebes ; and, on or about the 16th of June, succeeded in persuading the sultan and his two sons, who represented the Dutch company, to haul down the Dutch, and substitute the British colours ; a ceremony complied with under every demonstration of attachment to the British government. Having thus opened a large proportion of the Celebes to the English trade, Captain Tucker set sail for Manado ; and, arriving there on the 2 1st, sent a flag of truce on shore, with a summons to the governor of Fort Amsterdam, on which and some adjacent 1810. CAPTURE OF BANDA-NEIRA. 317 batteries were mounted 50 pieces, of various, but chiefly very light calibers. The terms offered were immediately acceded to ; and the Dutch garrison, numbering 113 officers and men, laid down their arms. Along with Manado fell its dependencies, the ports of Kemar, Le Copang, Amenang, and Tawangwoo. On the 1st of March the Cornwallis chased a Dutch man-of- war brig into a small bay on the north side of the island of Amblaw, in the neighbourhood of Amboyna. As the wind was light and variable, and night approaching, Captain Montagu sent the yawl, cutter, and jollyboat, under the command of Lieu tenant Henry John Peachey, assisted by Mr. John Garland the master, and master's mate William Sanderson, to endeavour to bring the vessel out. After a fatiguing pull during the whole night, the boats found themselves, at daylight, close to the vessel : which was the Dutch national brig Margaretta, mounting eight, but pierced for 14 guns, with a crew of 40 men. In the face of a heavy fire of grape and musketry, and of a brave defence by pikes and swords, Lieutenant Peachey and his party boarded and carried the brig, and that with so comparatively slight a loss as one man danger ously, and four slightly wounded. The Dutch had one officer killed and 20 seamen wounded. On the 10th of May the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Caroline, Captain Christopher Cole, 38-gun frigate Piemontaise, Captain Charles Foote, 18-gun brig-sloop Barracouta, Captain Richard Kenah, and transport-brig, late Dutch prize, Mandarin, Lieutenant Archibald Buchanan, the two frigates having on board about 100 officers and men of the Madras European regiment, to be landed at Amboyna, and the transport a supply of specie and provisions for the same destination, set sail from Madias roads. Captain Cole had previously obtained from Rear-admiral Drury permission to make an attack upon some of the enemy's settle ments that lay in his route to Amboyna; but that permission was accompanied by a friendly warning of the great strength of Banda, in reference especially to the small force then on board the frigates. On the 30th, after a very fine passage, the ships arrived at Pulo-Penang or Prince of Wales's island, in the Straits of Malacca. Here, having made up his mind to attempt the reduction of tbe spice islands, and communicated his inten tions to Captains Foote and Kenah, Captain Cole gained some slight information respecting Banda-Neira, the Dutch seat of government, but failed in obtaining what he most wanted, a plan of the island. On the 10th of June, having been supplied by the Penang government with 20 artillerymen, two field-pieces, and 20 scaling-ladders, Captain Cole departed from the island, to make a passage into the Java sea against the south-east monsoon. On the 15th, when in the Straits of Sincapore, the ships fell in with . the Samarang, and learnt from Captain Spencer, among 318 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — EAST INDIES. 1810. other particulars, that the force at Banda, according to a return found at the capture of Amboyna, consisted of more than 700 regular troops. On the 25th the ships anchored, for a short time, under the north end of the island of Borneo, chiefly that the Piemontaise might repair her mainmast, which had been much damaged by lightning. Apprehensive that Daendels, the Dutch captain-general of Java and the Moluccas, might succeed in throwing supplies and reinforcements into Banda before the arrival of the expedition, Captain Cole, the more quickly to get into the Soolo sea, entered the dangerous passage between Borneo and the small island of Malwalli. The coral reefs were innumerable; and most of them just covered with water, and not easily seen until the sun had risen considerably above the horizon. By a good look out and strict attention, the ships, in the course of 48 hours, had nearly cleared the shoals called by Dalrymple Felicia Proper, and the pilot had reported all danger as passed, when, right ahead, a ship was seen, wrecked on a coral reef just below the water's edge, and surrounded by piratical proas, that fled as the frigates approached. Captain Cole went in his boat to examine the shoal and wreck, and found the deck of the ship streaming with fresh blood, and saw locks of human hair in several places; a sufficient indication that there had been a severe contest about the plunder. The Piemontaise, having in the mean while been ordered to proceed ahead with the Mandarin in tow, now made the signal for shoals in every direction between the north-east and south east. This and the approach of night prevented any pursuit of the proas ; and Captain Cole, on his return to the Caroline, found a much more important object to attend to. Indeed, nothing short of the greatest activity and perseverance, on the part of all three captains and their respective officers and crews, could have saved the ships. At 6 p.m. the small islands off the south-west end of Cagayan-Soolo were descried ; and, as the only directions published for the Soolo sea mention the pro bability of a ship's being to the eastward of the shoals off the north-east coast of Borneo when these islands are in sight, Captain Cole decided to run on, instead of anchoring till morning. The ships accordingly placed themselves under easy sail ; and the Barracouta, leading, was followed by the others in her track. The night, which was rainy, dark, and squally, was passed by all the ships in sounding as quickly as the lead could be sent to the bottom, and in momentary expectation of the signal for danger. But the small island of Manbahenawan, close to them in the morning, gave a respite to the anxieties of every person on board ; as it brought the assurance, that the greatest difficulties in the navigation had already been overcome. On the 5th of July the ships anchored at Soolo ; where they obtained a supply of water, fresh meat, and vegetables. While 1810. CAPTURE OF BANDA-NEIRA. 319 here, to give a more imposing appearance to the enterprise, the Barracouta was converted into a ship; an alteration that oc cupied her crew no longer than from daylight till breakfast time. On the 9th the ships quitted Soolo, and on the 10th entered the Pacific Ocean between the islands to the eastward of Soolo, and which are in sight of Basseelan. On the 21st, after a very favourable run, the ships gained a sight of the Cape of Good Hope (new) on the coast of New-Guinea ; and on the 23d, late in the evening, having worked through Pitt's Straits against an adverse wind, entered the Java sea. It took the ships nearly a fortnight to beat up to the island of Goram, although distant only four degrees of latitude from Pitt's Straits ; and on the 7th they communicated with the shore, but, owing to the rapidity of the current and the strength of the monsoon, not without considerable difficulty. The rajah of the island now furnished Captain Cole with two Malay guides, who professed to have a knowledge of the roads and batteries of Banda-Neira; and the same evening the ships bore up for the Banda islands, which, with the prevailing wind, were only a 36 hours' sail from Goram. The weather on the 8th was very fine, with a haze round the horizon, which favoured the approach of the ships ; who were now under easy sail, to prevent as much as possible their being discovered. The final preparations for the attack were this day made ; and at 2 p. m. the boats of the ships were hoisted out, and one day's provisions and 50 rounds of ball cartridge for each man put on board of them. At 5 p. m. the ships brought to. At 5 h. 30 m. the small island of Rosensgen became just visible through the haze ; and at 6 p. m. Great Banda appeared at the distance of 10 or 11 leagues, towards the lee or eastern point of which the ships immediately bore up. At 9 p. m. two shots were fired at the British from the island of Rosensgen ; an unexpected occurrence, no intimation having been received that an outport was stationed there. This circum stance, added to the fineness ofthe night and brightness of the moon, frustrated the plan of a surprise by the ships ; and, against a place of such alleged strength as Banda-Neira, an attack in open day, by all the force which the little squadron could muster, promised very little success. At 9 h. 30 m. p. m. the ships again brought to, and at 10 p. m. the moon set. Soon afterwards the night became dark and squally. This sudden change in the weather suggested to Captain Cole the idea of a surprise by boats ; for, although the Dutch had seen the ships, it was fairly inferred that they would not give the British credit for making, under all the circumstances ofthe case, so hazardous an attempt. The excellent arrangements that had been adopted rendered signals unnecessary ; and the ships closed near enough to each other, to receive directions by the trumpet. Scarcely had the 320 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — EAST INDIES,, 18l0. men rested half an hour with their arms by their sides, than they were summmoned to the boats ; and at a little before 1 1 p. m., the ships having then dropped within two cables' length of the shore, about 400 officers and men, under the immediate command of Captain Cole, pushed off from the Caroline, shaping their course towards the east point of Great Banda. It is doubt ful if there were quite so many as 400 men ; for some of the soldiers intended to be of the party were left on board the Caroline for want of room in the boats, and the launch of the Piemontaise, in the dark and tempestuous weather which pre vailed, went adrift with only half her allotted number. The badness of the weather, and the increased darkness of the night, made it next to impossible for the boats to keep together; and, by 3 a. m. on the 9th, none of the party had assembled at the point of rendezvous, except Captains Cole and Kenah, in their respective gigs. About this time the three ships suddenly made their appearance within 100 yards of the two gigs ; and Captain Cole, on going alongside the Piemontaise, had the satisfaction ' to learn from Captain Foote, that he had passed some of the boats at a short distance astern. Pulling in that direction, Captain Cole soon met a portion of his boats ; and, receiving from the men in them the most animated assurances of support, he resolved to make the attack, without waiting for the remainder of the party. This was a measure the more necessary, as the boats had still to pull three miles, to the point of dis embarkation ; and that darkness, on which their success rested, was fast disappearing before the grey tints of the morning. The commencing twilight now discovered the shore of an island, known to be Banda-Neira ; and the two large fires, blazing near the north point of it, indicated that the Dutch, as Captain Cole had judged would be the case, were collected there, in expecta tion that the attack, for which the two signal guns at Rosensgen had prepared them, would be made on the same spot on which Admiral Rainier's forces had formerly landed. The group of islands, of which Banda-Neira is the capital, are 10 in number ; six of which are named, Lontor, or Great Banda, Goonong-Api, Rosensgen, Pulo-Ay, and Pulo-Rhun. Banda-Neira is about two miles long and about three quarters of a mile wide ; is extremely mountainous, and contains many excellent positions for repelling an invading force. At the time in question it possessed 10 sea-batteries, exclusive of Casteel- Belgica and Casteel-Nassau. The first of these castles, mounting 52 pieces of heavy cannon, commanded the other, as well as all the sea-defences at that extremity of the island, and was deemed, by the Dutch at least, an impregnable fortress ; and the whole number of guns mounted for the defence of the island was 138. The garrison of Banda-Neira, as we shall by and by satisfactorily show, amounted to 700 regular troops, and at least 800 militia; making a total of 1500 men. The party, 1810. CAPTURE OF BANDA-NEIRA. 321 now rapidly and silently advancing to surprise this force, con sisted of 140 British seamen and marines, and about 40 soldiers of the Madras European regiment, under the command, as already stated, of Captain Cole, assisted by Captain Kenah, and by the following officers: Lieutenants Thomas Carew, Samuel Allen, George Pratt, Robert Walker, and Edmund Lyons, of the navy, Captain-lieutenant Nixon, Lieutenants Charles W. Yates, Philip Brown, and William Jones Daker, and ensign Charles Allen, ofthe Madras troops. Just as a black cloud, attended by wind and rain, had thrown a temporary darkness over the island of Banda-Neira, the British boats grounded on a coral reef, situated within 100 yards of the shore, and, although unknown at the time, directly opposite to the battery of Voorzigtigheid, mounting 10 long 18-pounders. Such, however, was the violence of the storm, that the garrison at this battery remained in utter ignorance of what was going on so near to them ; and the officers and men, leaping into the water, launched their boats over the reef. Shortly afterwards the British landed in a small sandy cove bordered with jungle; and the men were quickly formed, as well as the pitchy dark ness ofthe morning would admit. That done, Captain Kenah and Lieutenant Carew, at the head of a party of pikemen, advanced to take the battery in the rear. This service was so promptly and effectually executed, that the sentinel was killed, and an officer and 60 men made prisoners, without the firing of a pistol, although the enemy was at his guns with matches lighted. Captain Kenah had been directed to storm the next sea-battery, also mounting ten 18-pounders; but Captain Cole, being resolved to take the bull by the horns, or, in other words, to attempt carrying the castle of Belgica by a coup-de-main, recalled Captain Kenah and his party, and, leaving a small guard at the captured battery, pushed on, with the aid of one of his native guides, through a narrow path that skirted the town, towards the Dutch citadel, about half a mile distant. The sound of the bugle was now spreading the alarm over the island; but, favoured by the storm that was raging over head, and making a rapid march, the British arrived within 100 yards of the citadel-ditch before they were discovered. An ineffectual fire of musketry was now opened from the ramparts. Regardless of this, the brave fellows rushed up the steep ascent; and, placing their scaling-ladders between the guns upon the outer pentagon, which, owing to the rain, burnt priming, were in an instant in possession of the lower works. The ladders were quickly hauled up and placed against the inner wall, but were found too short. This appeared to inspire the besieged with fresh courage, and three guns and several volleys of musketry were discharged ; but the stormers soon found another way into the heart of the citadel. Just at this moment the gate was opened by the Dutch guard, to admit the Colonel-commandant, vol. v. y 322 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — EAST INDIES. 1810. During, and three other officers, who lived in houses at the foot of the hill. At that gateway the British now made their rush. The Dutch colonel fell, covered with honourable wounds ; and, after a slight skirmish, in which 10 others of the garrison shared the fate of their commanding officer, the British colours waved at the flagstaff of the castle of J3elgica. " With such examples," says Captain Cole, in allusion to his officers, " our brave fellows swept the ramparts like a whirlwind ; and, in addition to the providential circumstance of the service being performed with scarcely a hurt or wound, I have the satisfaction of reporting, that there was no instance of irregu larity arising from success." A part of the garrison, in the panic that prevailed, escaped over the walls ; and the remainder, amounting to four officers and about 40 artillery-men,* sur rendered themselves prisoners. Just as all this had been accom plished, " the day beamed on the British flag," and discovered to the new garrison of Belgica, the fort of Nassau, the town, and the different sea-defences, at their feet; but, as some drawback to the joy of the British at their extraordinary success, no ships were to be seen, nor even the boats containing the remainder of the landing party. While a flag of truce is being despatched to the Dutch governor-general, we will pay some attention to the Caroline and her consorts, and also to the missing boats. Immediately after the boats, containing Captain Cole and his party, had pushed off from the Caroline, the latter made a; short stretch off; then tacked, and at 1 a. m. on the 9th, followed by the Piemontaise, rounded the east point of Great Banda, close to the shore, and entered the outer harbour, or that formed by the north-west side of Great Banda, by the islands of Goonong-Api and Neira, and by the two still smaller islands of Pulo-Ay and Pulo-Rhun tothe eastward ofthe latter. The wind now became so baffling, and was attended with such heavy gusts, that the ships were frequently obliged to lower their topsails ; not being able, in their short-manned state, to work the yards quick enough to keep them trimmed to the breeze. At 2 a. m. the Piemon taise hailed the Caroline, and informed Lieutenant John Gilmour, the officer in charge of her, that Captain Cole had hailed to say, that he and Captain Kenah had missed the boats at the ren dezvous ;-j- and that, meaning to defer the attack till a more favourable opportunity, he wished the Caroline, who had a pilot on board, to lead in to an anchorage. Every exertion was now used to approach the land; and the Caroline frequently got within her own length of it, but could not find bottom with the deepest line. Then a squall would pay her head right off, and in another moment she would be becalmed and ungovernable. At one time the Piemontaise, baffled in a similar manner, made * The official account, by mistake, says two officers and 30 men. + See p. 320. 1810. CAPTURE OF BANDA-NEIRA. 323 stern-way at the rate of seven or eight knots an hour, and only avoided running foul of the Caroline by bearing up : the conse quence of which was, that the Piemontaise lost as much ground in a few minutes, as she had been all the night toiling to gain. As the Caroline, soon after daylight, approached Banda-Neira, several ofthe forts fired at her; but, not being able to spare any hands from working the sails, the frigate made no return. For tunately for her, one shot only took effect ; nor did that do any greater damage, than entering the quarterdeck bulwark and carrying away the midship spoke of the wheel. At 7 a. m. the Caroline descried the castle of Belgica; and, about the same time, a well-directed shot from the latter silenced the sea-battery, which had annoyed her the most. It was now that a small English jack discovered itself above the Dutch colours; and all on board the Caroline used increased exertions to reach the spot, where their gallant comrades had effected so much, and where they might yet have to effect more. As the flag of truce had not yet returned from the governor, another was sent to say that, unless all hostility immediately ceased, Fort Nassau, at whose flagstaff the Dutch colours were still flying, would be stormed by the British, and the town laid in ashes by the cannon of Belgica. This decisive message pro duced the immediate and unconditional surrender of Banda- Neira and its dependencies ; and the Caroline, j ust before she anchored off the town, saw the Batavian flag lowered from Fort Nassau and the British hoisted in its stead. About the same time that the Caroline came to, some ofthe missing boats, after a night of great hardship and suffering, entered the harbour. The remainder of tbe boats had got on board the Piemontaise; who, as well as the Barracouta and Mandarin, anchored a little before noon with the Caroline. In the course of this day 1500 regulars and militia, 400 of the former from the north point, laid down their arms on the glacis of Fort Nassau ; a clear proof, coupled with the manifest strength of the defences, that the force of Banda-Neira had not been overrated. Viewed in every light, the taking of the Banda isles was an achievement of no common order. Where are we to find, even in the annals of the British navy, more skill and perseverance than was employed in overcoming the difficulties of the navi gation to the scene of conquest ? Or where a greater share of address and valour, than was displayed by Captain Cole and his 180 brave associates, more than three fourths of them seamen and marines, in the crowning act of their bold exploit? Without seeking to discover shades of difference between two cases in their general features alike, we may point to the conquest of another Dutch colony ; a conquest which, in the manner of its execution, spread as much renown over the British name in the western, as this was calculated to do in the eastern, hemisphere : let no one, then, call up to his recollection Captain Brisbane and y 2 324 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS. — EAST INDIES. 1810. Curacoa, without affording an equal place in his esteem to Cap tain Cole and Banda-Neira. For the valuable and important conquest he had achieved, Captain Cole received the thanks of his commander-in-chief, of the governor-general of India in council, and of the lords of the admiralty ; but we question if the sentiments contained in any one of the three letters, although forcibly expressed in all, went so straight to the heart, as the contents of the letters addressed to Captain Cole by his shipmates and partners in glory. The first was from Captains Foote and Kenah, presenting a silver cup ; the second from the lieutenants and other officers of the three ships, presenting a sword of a hundred guineas value ; the third from the officers of the honourable company's troops engaged in the enterprise, presenting a sword of the same value ; and the fourth from the crew of the Caroline, accompa nied by a similar token of their admiration and esteem. These testimonials concur in vouching for one fact, which Captain Cole's modesty has induced him to refrain from stating, or even hinting at, in his official letter, the personal share he took in the con flict. The letter signed " The Caroline's" affords an unequivocal proof of another trait in their captain : it shows that he was as kind as he was brave.* When we last quitted the neighbourhood ofthe Isle of France, the French frigate' Venus, newly named Nereide, and the recaptured frigate Ceylon had just been added to the force on the station under Commodore Rowley .f In a week or two after wards that force was augmented by the arrival of several frigates ; and it was at length determined, as soon as an expedition of suf ficient strength could be assembled, to attempt the reduction of the Isle of France ; in the principal port of which island, Port- Louis, now lay the five French frigates, Bellone, Minerve, Manche, Astree, and (late British) Iphigenie, also the Victor ship-corvette, brig-corvette Entreprenant and another of the same class, quite new, besides several French merchant vessels. Two only of the frigates, the Astree and Manche, were in a state of readiness for sea; and after the 19th of October these were blockaded by the three British frigates Boadicea, Nisus, and Nereide, under the command of Commodore Rowley of the former. By the 21st of November all the different divisions of the ex pedition, except that expected from the Cape of Good Hope, had assembled off and at the anchorage of the island of Rodriguez ; and, it being considered, on account of tbe lateness of the season, unadvisable to wait for the arrival of the Cape division, the re maining divisions of the naval portion under the command of * For copies of the several letters see Marshall's Royal Naval Biography, vol.ii., pp. 511, 512. f Seep. 313. 1810. CAPTURE OF THE ISLE OF FRANCE. 325 Vice-admiral Bertie, and the military under Major-general Abercromby, on the morning of the 22d set sail for the Isle of France, but, owing to the light and baffling winds, did not, until the evening ofthe 28th, arrive in sight of the island. The whole of the ships of war attached to the expedition, including a portion that blockaded Port-Louis, consisted as follows : Gun-ship 74 Illustrious Gun-frig.' 44 Cornwallis Africaine Boadicea 38-j Nisus . Clorinde Menelaus _ Nereide . oc ( Phcebe . 36 \ Doris . f Cornelia 32? sh.i0m.AM. Carol. J& Faio. t\ft shore A Flcrr ^ Cow -A- Y. Danae While the Cerberus was in the act of wearing, her rudder became choked by a shot. This occasioned the Volage to get round before her, and that ship consequently took the lead on the larboard tack ; on which board, being close to the wind, the four ships fell into a bow and quarter line. Sheltered as she had been in some degree by her leader, the Flore was in much better trim for performing any evolution; and, now that the British line had stood off from the land, Captain Peridier found no difficulty in passing under the stern of the Amphion. The Flore then opened her first fire, and immediately afterwards hauled up on the larboard tack upon the Amphion's lee quarter. Almost at the same moment the Bellona hauled up on the Amphion's weather quarter, and both ships opened upon her a heavy fire. See the diagram on the following page. By this time the Danae, carefully avoiding the Active's line of fire, had wore on the larboard tack, followed by the Corona and Carolina. Thinking to make an easy conquest of the Volage, the Danae took up a station abreast of her. Thug honoured with occupying a frigate's post, the Volage bravely vol. v. 2 a 354 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. maintained a frigate's character, and poured in her 32-pound shot with steadiness and precision. Finding the unexpected weight of these, and soon discovering that they proceeded from carronades, the Danae hauled off to a greater distance ; where lier long 18s could produce their full effect, but where carronades could not reach. The Volage was now obliged to increase the charge of powder for her carronades ; and they, in consequence, broke their breechings and upset. So that, at last, the 6-pounder on the forecastle was the only gun which this gallant little ship bad to oppose to the 14 long 18-pounders of her wary antagonist. While the Volage and Danae were thus employed, the Cerberus and Corona were not looking inoffensively at each other. In a little time, however, the Cerberus, who was upwards of 90 men short of complement, became greatly shattered in hull, and nearly disabled in rigging, by the heavy and well-maintained fire of the Corona; with whom the Carolina co-operated only in a slight degree, that ship not appearing very ambitious of closing. At length the Active, who had been striving her utmost to get to the assistance of her two friends in the van, approached under a press of canvass. The moment they saw her coming up, the Danae, Corona, and Carolina made all sail to the eastward. The following diagram will serve to illustrate this period ofthe action ; the date of which we may fix at from 10 to 10 h. 30 m. A. m. 3/..V. f If! Bel. iah. 3Ci-m. AM. , '\. Carol. / '"•¦//->¦ ... '••, Corona lls.nao Elore. >£?• \ <~^ .r. Cert). ^. \ W\ ,^,Tii: Suffering greatly from the fire ofthe two ships that had placed themselves on her quarters, the Amphion gradually bore up to close her heaviest and most, annoying opponent. Having passed so close ahead as almost to touch the Flore, the Amphion, at about 11 h. 15m. a.m., came to the wind on the same tack as before, with her larboard broadside bearing directly on the French ship's starboard and lee bow.* So well-directed a fire was now opened upon the latter, that, in about five minutes, the Flore ceased firing and struck her colours. Immediately after the Amphion had bore up, the Bellona did the same; and, placing herself across the former's stern, maintained a heavy * See diagram at p. 356. 1811. ACTION OFF LISSA. 355 and destructive fire. Although particularly careful not to fire into her late consort, some of the Bellona's shot appear to have struck the Flore, who had imperceptibly forereached upon the Amphion. Conceiving the shot to come from the Amphion, one of the officers of the Flore took the French ensign, halliards and all, and, holding them up in his hands over the taffrail, as if for the Amphion's people to witness the act, threw the whole into the sea. After an ineffectual attempt, owing to the damaged state of her rigging and yard-tackle, to hoist out a boat to take posses sion of the Flore, the Amphion bore up to close and silence the Bellona. Having wore round on the starboard tack, and taken a position on the Bellona's weather bow, the Amphion poured in one or two broadsides ; and at a few minutes before noon compelled the Bellona to haul down the Venetian, as the Flore had the French colours. In the mean time the Mercure brig had also been firing occasionally at the Amphion; but an 18-pounder was at length brought to bear upon her, and the brig soon swept herself beyond the reach of either giving or receiving annoyance. Lieutenant Donat Henchy O'Brien, by Captain Hoste's orders, now went with two seamen in the punt, and took possession ofthe Bellona. Having secured this prize, the Amphion wore round ; and, making the signal for a general chase, brought to on the lar board tack, a little to leeward of the Cerberus and Volage, whose greatly disabled state had obliged them to bear up. The Amphion had now the mortification to see her first and most valuable prize, tbe Flore, out of gun-shot on her weather bow, making sail for the island of Lessina ; and towards whom the Danae presently edged away, as if to encourage the Flore's commander in the dishonourable act : dishonourable indeed, for the French ship, had lain, for some time, at the mercy of the Amphion. The Active also, until she made sail after the Corona, might have sunk the Flore, and probably would have taken possession of her, but that it did not comport with Captain Gordon's spirit, to stay by a beaten enemy, while a fighting enemy remained te be subdued ; above all, when a friend stood in need of his assistance. Had even the Cerberus or Volage been aware that the prize was not secured, either ship, as the Flore passed them, might have sent a boat and taken possession of her, having had her rigging sails cut to pieces, and expecting her foremast every moment to fall, the Amphion was as much incapacitated from giving chase as the Cerberus and Volage. The surrender of the Flore and Bellona, the escape of the former, and the closing of the Active with the Corona, we have attempted to show by the following diagram. 2a2 1811. 356 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. A'.V.flT Corona'"-'- 7YSS- r .... _, cc-b. ----- %L.>- r;< ¦: • 'Vy "X Act. l"-~KjtyyJ- - -..-•''' y°[-A ' Bel. ''--ijV3 — -. Hh.lSm.,-" ,--"" """'¦--... V>1- N.oo»r V< Having her sails and rigging in a more perfect state than either the Cerberus or Corona, the Active soon passed to windward of the former, and at about 30 minutes past noon, when just in midchannel between Lissa and Spalmadon, received the fire of the Corona ; a most galling fire too, as the Active could not bring any number of her own guns to bear, without keeping off the wind, and of course losing way in the chase. At length, at about 1 h. 45 m. p. m., the Active closed the Corona to leeward. A spirited action now ensued between these two frigates, and continued until 2 h. 30 m. p. m., when the Corona surrendered, after a resistance highly honourable to the Venetian flag ; and which resistance she had protracted until almost within reach of the batteries of Lessina. The Carolina and Danae, the latter of whom, had she supported the Corona, might perhaps have saved her from capture, were already in safety under the guns of those batteries, and just about to enter the road. The whole of the Venetian small -craft also effected their escape in different directions. The Amphion had all her lower masts badly shot through, particularly her foremast as already stated, her larboard main •yard-arm and mizen topmast shot away, and her sails and rig- iging much cut. Her loss, out of a complement of 251 men and boys, amounted to her boatswain (Richard Unshank), two "midshipmen (John Robert Spearman and Charles Hayes), seven seamen, and five marines killed, her captain (in his right arm, and with some severe contusions, but he would not quit the deck till the action was over), one lieutenant (David Dunn, severely), one ¦ captain of marines (Thomas Moore), two midshipmen (Francis George Farewell and Thomas Edward Hoste), one captain's clerk (Frederick Lewis), two first-class volunteers (Charles Buthane and the Honourable William Waldegrave), 34 seamen, and four private marines wounded ; total, 1 5 killed and 47 wounded. The Active, whose damages were compara tively slight, out of her complement of 300 men and boys, had four seamen killed, one lieutenant of marines (John Meares), 18 1811. ( ACTION OFF LISSA. ' 357 seamen, and five private marines wounded ; total, exclusive of a subsequent loss, which will be noticed presently, four killed and 24 wounded. The Cerberus, although without a stick shot away except her mizentopsail yard, was a good deal battered in the hull, as her loss will testify. Out of a complement the same originally as the Amphion's, but since reduced by absentees to about 160 men and boys, the Cerberus had her purser (Samuel Jeffery), one midshipman (Francis Surrage Davey), eight seamen, and three marines killed, one lieutenant (George Cumpston), 33 seamen (one mortally), and seven marines wounded ; total, in the action, 13 killed and 41 wounded. The Volage had her main yard shot away in the slings, and lost her fore topgallant- mast: she was also greatly damaged in sails, rigging, and masts. Her hull, on the larboard side especially, was completely riddled, and her loss of men was in proportion : in reference, indeed, to her complement, it was far more severe than that of any one of her consorts, except the Cerberus. Out of a crew of 175 men and boys, the Volage had one midshipman (John George), 10 seamen, and two private marines killed, one lieutenant of marines (William Stephens Knapman), 27 seamen, and four private marines wounded ; total, 13 killed and 33 wounded : making the total loss of the British, in the action, 45 killed and 145- wounded. : Contrary to what is customary, the British official account makes not the slightest allusion to the loss sustained by the opposite party ; a circumstance attributable, no doubt, to the difficulty of ascertaining it, and to the necessity of forwarding the despatch, in all possible haste, to Captain Eyre of the Mag nificent, the British commanding officer in the Adriatic, in order that he might adopt measures to complete the capture or destruction of the enemy's squadron. Moreover, when he dictated the despatch, Captain Hoste was lying in his cot under severe sufferings from his wounds. Nor, minute as it is in other respects, does the French official account enumerate the killed and wounded on board the Favorite. We may gather, however, that, as 200 of her men were all that remained after the action, about the same number comprised the killed and badly wounded. Among the former were Commodore Dubourdieu and Captain Meillerie, the first lieutenant, and other of the principal officers; so that the command at last devolved upon Colonel Gifflenga, with an enseigne de vaisseau to direct the working of the ship. The Corona had her rigging and sails cut to pieces, her masts all badly wounded, and her hull shattered in every direction ; and appears, from subsequent inquiry, to have sustained a loss of upwards of 200, in killed and wounded together. The Bellona had 70 officers and men killed, and about the same number badly wounded, including Captain Duodo himself, who died of his wounds. This ship's masts and yards, at the close of the action, were all standing j but her hull, a mere shell in 358 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. point of scantling, and at which principally the Amphion had directed her shot, was pierced through and through. The hull of the Flore was also the part in which she had suffered the most ; and her loss of men, which was known to include her captain badly wounded, must have been tolerably severe. At 4 p. m. the Favorite, having been set on fire by her sur viving crew, blew up with a great explosion. Both the Corona and Bellona were very near sharing her fate, and placed in considerable jeopardy the lives of all that were on board of them. As soon as Lieutenant O'Brien arrived on board the Bellona to take possession, he interrogated the gunner as to the state of the magazine. The latter privately informed him, that Captain Duodo, at the commencement of the action, had ordered to be placed in the small bower-cable tier two or three barrels of gun powder; intending, as soon as all hopes of further resistance were at an end, to set fire to the train, and, if not blow up the ship, to intimidate the British from taking possession, and thus enable the survivors of tbe crew to effect their escape. But Captain Duodo's wound came opportunely to prevent the fruc- tuation of his diabolical design ; and the officers of the Bellona themselves probably had, for their own safety, watched very narrowly the movements of their captain. Lieutenant O'Brien visited the cable-tier, saw the barrels of gunpowder, and, placing one of his men as sentry over them, proceeded to the cabin ; where lay the mortally wounded projector, wholly unconscious of the discovery of his plot. Captain Duodo expressed his gratitude, in the strongest manner, for the attention paid by the British officer to a " beaten foe," but said not a word about the powder ; nor were his dying moments disturbed with the slightest allusion to the circumstance. The Corona was much nearer destruction. At 9 p. m., when in tow by the Active, the prize caught fire in the main top ; and the whole of her mainmast, with its rigging, was presently in flames. The Active immediately cut herself clear, and the Corona continued burning until 11 h. 30m. p. m. ; when, owing to the prompt and energetic exertions of Lieutenants James Dickinson of the Cerberus, and George Haye of the Active, and their respective parties of seamen, the flames were got under, but not without the loss ofthe ship's mainmast, and, unfortunately, of some lives. Four seamen and one marine of the Active were drowned, and Lieutenant Haye was severely burnt; as were midshipman Siphus Goode and two seamen belonging to the Cerberus. In reviewing the merits of the action, although we might easily show that, in point of force, the Amphion and Cerberus were both inferior, and the Active herself not more than equal, to any of the four 40-gun frigates on the opposite side, and that the •Bellona and Carolina were either of them a decided overmatch for the Volage, we shall consider that the seven larger ships 1811. ACTION OFF LISSA. 359 agreed with each other in force, and that the three smaller ones did the same. There were also, it will be recollected, one Vene tian 16-gun brig, one armed schooner, one xebec, and two gun boats, mounting altogether 36 guns, and perhaps equal, in the light winds that prevailed, to a second Bellona or Carolina, or, at all events to a second Volage. The number of men in the British squadron appears to have been about 880, and the num ber in the Franco- Venetian squadron, at the lowest estimate, 2500. Hence the British had opposed to them, a force in guns full one- third, and in men nearly two-thirds, greater than their own ; and the whole of that force, as far as the number and appearance of the vessels could designate its amount, was plainly discovered, as the Amphion and her three consorts advanced to the attack. But the foe was met, the action fought, and the victory won ; and fresh and unfaded will be the laurels, which Captain Hoste and his gallant companions gained at Lissa. The extraordinary circumstance, of a naval official account emanating from the pen of a colonel of infantry, would, of itself, justify a slight investigation of its contents; and really, if every officer, commanding a detachment of troops on board a French frigate, could make up so good a story as Colonel Alexandre Gifflenga, it would be well for the glory of the French navy that he, and not the captain of the ship, should transmit the particu lars of the action. For instance, Colonel Gifflenga says: "At daylight we perceived the English division, consisting of a cut- down ship of the line and three frigates." The colonel then wishes to make it appear that, owing chiefly to the lightness of the breeze, the attacking ships went into action one by one. He proceeds : " At half-past ten, the masts of the Favorite having fallen, Ensign Villeneuve announced to me that he could no longer steer the ship. We at that moment struck upon the rocks off the island of Lissa. I ordered the people to be debarked : I took possession of several vessels, and caused the frigate to be blown up." " Je m'emparai de plusieurs batimens et je fis sauter la fregate." " The English, in the utmost distress," adds the colonel, " entered the port of St.-George, after they had set fire to the Corona and one of their frigates : the cut-down line-of- battle ship, after being wholly dismasted, ran upon the rocks of the island, and in all probability was lost. The result of this action is the loss, on our part, of two frigates, and, on the part of the English, of one frigate and one cut-down ship of the line. It is the opinion of the sailors, that, if Captain Dubourdieu had kept his squadron together, we should have got possession of two English vessels, although the enemy had two cut-down ships of the line." To show that these extraordinary statements really form part of the colonel's letter, we subjoin the whole of the original passage. " Les Anglais sont entres dans le port de Saint- Georges dans le plus mauvais etat, et apres avoir mis le feu a, la fregate la Couronne et a une de leur fregates : le vaisseau rase, 360 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. d&mfite de tous ces mats, etait 6choue sur les roches de Pile. ¦ II doit s'etre perdu. Le resultat de ce combat est, pour nous, la perte de deux fregates qui ont peri, et pour les Anglais la perte d'une fregate et d'un vaisseau rase. L'opinion de tous les marins est que, si le Capitaine Dubourdieu avait bien rallie sa division, nous prendrions deux batimens anglais, quoique l'ennemi eut deux vaisseaux rases." . It is not a little extraordinary that Colonel Gifnenga's " vais seau rase" was at this time within five or six of being the smallest ship of the numerous class of British 38-gun frigates ; but she was larger, undoubtedly, than either of the two 32-gun frigates associated with her. The Active measured 1058, the Amphion 914, the Cerberus 816, and the Volage 529 tons. Yet the Active was a smaller ship than the Corona, which measured 1094 tons, and than either the Favourite, Danae, or Flore ; not one of which, we believe, measured less than the Corona. Why, therefore, the Active should have been so avoided during the battle, and so magnified in force after it was over, we cannot conceive. The fire on board the Corona accounts, in some degree, for what is stated respecting that ship ; and had any one of the British ships merely touched the ground, there would have been a pre text for the colonel's assertion on that head ; but no accident of the kind occurred. In stating, at the commencement of his letter, that the British had one " cut-down ship of the line," and at the end of it, that they had two, the writer reminds us of that prince of braggarts Falstaff and his men of buckram. Leaving the letter of Colonel Alexander Gifflenga to the con tempt it merits, we shall make a few admissions, which, even in the opinion of a reasonable Frenchman or Italian, will outweigh all the colonel's rodomontade. Commodore Dubourdieu advanced to the attack in a brave and masterly manner ; and, had the Fa vorite escaped being driven on shore, a much more serious task, in the nature of things, would have devolved upon Captain Hoste. Captain Peridier also deserves credit, for the gal lant manner in which he seconded the views of his unfortunate chief; and, as the captain was badly wounded and below at the time the Flore struck to the Amphion, we should be disposed to exculpate him from the dishonourable act of making sail after his ship had so unequivocally surrendered. Of the Danae 's captain, we are unable to state the name ; and perhaps it is better for him that we are so. With respect to the Corona's captain, no officer^ to whatever navy he may belong, could have fought his ship bet ter. The Corona, it will be recollected, was not subdued by one opponent : she had two frigates upon her in succession ; and both, the first in particular, felt the effects of her steady and well- directed fire. By his gallant behaviour in the action, and his frank and manly deportment afterwards, Captain Paschaligo mot only afforded a bright example to the little navy of Venice, and ennobled an already noble name, but gained for 1 8-1-1 * ACTION OFF LISSA. 361 himself the hearts of those into whose temporary custody he had fallen. After the destruction of the Favorite, the 200 survivors of her late crew retired to Lissa : in which port lay two prizes to the 'Active, in charge of two of her midshipmen, James Lew and Robert Kingston. These enterprising young men, assisted by come privateer's men, actually summoned the 200 French sea men and troops to surrender. As a contrast to this very gallant behaviour, a Sicilian privateer-brig, of 14 guns, commanded by Clemento Fama, lying in the port, hauled down her colours to a one-gun Venetian schooner: and that in the face of the British squadron. This was " Fama" indeed ! The Active's two mid shipmen, with the true Gordon spirit, went on board and took charge of the brig, beat off the schooner, and prevented her from destroying the British and Sicilian vessels in the bay. On the 15th Captain Hoste sent a letter by a flag of truce to Captain Peridier of the Flore, at anchor in the road of Lessina, demanding restitution of the frigate in the same state as when she struck to the Amphion. This letter was replied to by the cap tain of the Danae; who, in consequence of the wounds of M. Peridier, had assumed the command of the Franco-Venetian squadron. He declared that the Flore did not strike her colours, but had them shot away, and requested Captain Hoste, if he had any thing further to say, to address himself to the French go vernment. This letter was neither signed nor dated ; and Cap tain Hoste sent it back, repeating his demand to have the Flore restored to him. Thus ended the business. The Danae, Flore, and Carolina remained at Lessina about a week, and then pro ceeded to Ragusa. The Corona was a remarkably fine frigate, built early in the preceding year at Venice, and became added to the 38-gun class of the British navy by the name of Daedalus. The Bellona, a ship of 692 tons, was purchased for a troop-ship, and named Dover. Each of the four captains present at the Lissa action received a medal : and the first lieutenants of the ships, David Dunn of the Amphion, James Dickinson of the Cerberus, Wil liam Henderson of the Active, and William Wolrige of the Volage, were each promoted to the rank of commander. If only to add another to the many proofs which the world has witnessed, that the boldest heart in deeds of arms is generally the most alive to the softer impulses of humanity we subjoin an extract from a letter of condolence addressed by Captain Hoste to a near relative of John Robert Spearman, one of the two young midshipmen killed on board the Amphion. " It is impos sible I can describe to you the exemplary conduct of the poor lad I am now writing to you about. If it is any consolation to his friends to learn how he behaved, tell them that, even in those days when all strove to emulate, he distinguished himself amongst his shipmates in the post where honour or danger was 362 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. ill view. And, I assure you, not only am I deprived of a most excellent youngster, and one whom I dearly esteemed, but his country, as far as his youth may speak for him, has lost one of its brightest hopes : indeed, he is deeply lamented by all." On or about the 25th of March the two french 40-gun frigates Amelie and Adrienne, accompanied by the 20-gun store-ship Dromadaire, laden with 15,000 shot and shells of various sizes, and 90 tons of gunpowder, escaped out of Toulon, bound to the island of Corfu. On the 26th, Admiral Sir Charles Cotton. detached the 74-gun ship Ajax, Captain Robert Waller Otway, and the 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Unite, Captain Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, to the eastward in pursuit. On arriving off Corsica, Captain Otway sent the Unite round Cape Corse, and with the Ajax pushed through the straits of Bonifacio. On the 30th, when off the isle of Elba, the Unite fell in with and was chased by the three French ships ; who, on hauling off from her, steered for the Piombino passage, and were left working through it. On the same evening the Ajax joined company, and the two British ships proceeded in chase under all sail. On the 31st, at daylight, Captain Otway discovered the objects of his pursuit to windward. Owing to the short distance they were from the land, the Amelie and Adrienne effected their escape into Porto-Ferrajo ; but the Dromadaire was overtaken and captured. She was a fine ship of 800 tons, and had a com plement of 150 men, commanded by a lieutenant de vaisseau. The two French frigates afterwards got into Genoa ; and thence reached Toulon in the succeeding July, as already mentioned.* In the latter part of the month of April the two armed store- ships Giraffe and Nourrice, each mounting from 20 to 30 guns, the first with 140, the other with 160 men, having in their com pany a merchant ship, also armed, and laden, as they also were, with ship-timber for the dock-yard at Toulon, lay at anchor in the bay of Sagone, island of Corsica, under the protection of a battery, mounting four guns and one mortar, and of a martello tower above the battery, mounting one gun. On the 30th, in the evening, the British 38-gun frigate Pomone, Captain Robert Barrie, the frigate Unite, and the 18-gun brig-sloop Scout, Captain Alexander Renton Sharpe, arrived off the coast, with the intention of attacking these ships. The French Commodore well imagining what was meditated against his ships, moored them within a stone's throw of the battery, each with two cables on shore, so as to present their broadsides to the narrow entrance ofthe bay. As an additional defence, the Nourrice landed her quarterdeck guns ; and about 200 regular troops, along with her marines and those of the Giraffe, were posted on the neigh bouring heights. All these preparations were seen from the British ships on the * See p. 829. 1811. ACTION IN THE BAY OF SAGONE. 363 morning of the 1st of May, and only rendered those on board of them the more anxious to commence operations. Notwith standing the strong position of the three French ships, the crews of the two British frigates and brig came forward in the most noble manner, and volunteered their services to land, or, as it was quite calm, to attack the enemy by boats. Neither of these methods being considered practicable, Captain Barrie re solved, as soon as a breeze sprang up, to make the attack by the ships. Finding, by 5h. 30 m. p. m., that the calm still continued, and fearing that any longer delay would enable the French to increase their force, the Pomone, Unite, and Scout, in the most animated manner, were towed by their respective companies, in the face of a heavy raking fire, into a position within range of grape ; when, at 6 p. m. the British ships opened their broad sides. The mutual cannonade lasted, without any intermission, until 7h. 30 m. p. m. ; when the Giraffe, bearing a commodore's pendant, and then the Nourrice, was observed to be on fire. Afterwards the brands from the Nourrice set fire to the mer chantman, and in 10 minutes all three ships were completely in a blaze. The Pomone and her consorts now quickly towed themselves out of danger from the explosions ; the first of which, that of the Giraffe, took place at 8 h. 50 m. p. m., and that of the Nourrice a few minutes afterwards. Some of the timbers of the latter, falling on the tower, entirely demolished it, and the sparks set fire to the battery below, which also exploded. The object of the attack having thus completely succeeded, the three British vessels stood out to sea, to repair their damages ; which, except as to the Pomone, who, having had to choose her station, became of course exposed to the brunt of the action, were not very material. The Pomone had two seamen killed, and 10 seamen (four dangerously), seven marines (one dangerously), and two boys wounded ; the Unit6, one midship man (Richard Goodridge), one seaman, and one marine slightly wounded ; and the Scout, her first lieutenant (William Neame), severely, and her boatswain (James Stewart) and one seaman slightly wounded ; total, on board the three British ships, two killed and 25 wounded. The loss on the part of the French could not be ascertained, but, in all probability, was very severe. On the 4th of May, at 10 a. m., the British 38-gun frigates Belle-Poule, Captain James Brisbane, and Alceste, Captain Murray Maxwell, being off the coast of Istria, discovered and chased a French man-of-war brig, of 18 guns, which shortly afterwards hauled into the small harbour of Parenza. Having received intelligence that a vessel of that description was ex pected at Ragusa, with supplies for the French frigates Danae> and Flore, which had escaped from Captain Hoste off Lissa, Captain Brisbane resolved to attempt the capture or destruction of the French brig. Although there was only 15 feet of water in the harbour, and therefore no passage for the frigates, it was 364 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. ascertained that the brig could be cannonaded with effect where she was then lying. Accordingly the Belle-Poule, followed closely by the Alceste, stood in within a cable's length of the rocks at the entrance of the harbour, and opened an animated fire, as well upon the brig as upon a battery under which she lay ; and, after an hour's cannonade, compelled the brig to haul on shore under the town, out of gun-shot. In this attack the two frigates had been frequently hulled, but sustained no other damage than could be immediately repaired, and no greater loss than the Belle-Poule one, and the Alceste two, seamen slightly wounded. All further efforts on the part of the ships being useless, the ' Belle-Poule and Alceste, after the close of the day, anchored about five miles from the shore ; and Captain Brisbane deter mined to take possession of an island that lay in the mouth of the harbour, and was within musket-shot ofthe town. Accord ingly at 11 p.m., the boats of the two frigates, containing 200 seamen and the whole of the marines (about 100 in number), under the orders of the Belle-Poule's senior Lieutenant John M'Curdy, assisted by Lieutenants Richard Ball Boardman, Edward A. Chartres, and Alexander Morrison, and midshipmen, Hamilton Blair, Charles Matthew Chapman, Edward Finlay, Henry Maxwell, John Hall, and Arthur Grose, of the Belle- Poule, and Lieutenants John Collman Hickman and Richard Lloyd, Mr. Howard Moore the master, and Messieurs James Adair, Charles^ Croker, and Thomas Redding, midshipmen, of the Alceste, proceeded and took quiet possession of the island. By 5 a. m. on the 5th, with incessant labour, and the most extraor dinary exertions, a defence was thrown up, and a battery of four pieces, two howitzers and two 9-pounders, mounted on a com manding position. A field-piece was also placed at some distance on the left, to divide the attention of the enemy ; who, aware of the operations ofthe British, had been busily employed during the night in planting guns in various parts of the harbour. Soon after 5 a.m. the French opened a cross fire from four different positions which was immediately returned ; and the mutual cannonade continued, with great vigour, during five hours. At the end of that time, the French brig being cut to pieces and sunk, and of course the object of making the attack accomplished, the British re-embarked with their guns and ammunition; after having sustained a loss of four men, the gunner and one seaman of the Belle-Poule, and two marines of the Alceste, killed, and one man slightly wounded ; making the total loss to the British on the occasion four killed and four wounded. On the 26th of May, at daybreak, the British 18-gun brig- sloop Alacrity (sixteen 32-pounder carronades and two sixes), Captain Nesbit Palmer, cruising off Cape St.- Andre, island of Corsica, with the wind a moderate breeze from the eastward, 1811. ALACRITY AND ABEILLE. 365 discovered about six miles to leeward, and immediately chased, a large man-of-war brig, which proved to be the French brig- corvette Abeille, of 24-pounder carronades, commanded by acting Lieutenant de vaisseau Ange-Rene-Armand De Mackau. Observing that the vessel approaching was a brig, Lieutenant De Mackau knew at once the extent of her force ; and accord ingly shortened sail, hoisted his colours, and fired a gun of defiance. By manoeuvring skilfully, the Abeille managed to pour into the Alacrity one or two raking fires. The French brig now tried for the weathergage, and having obtained it, passed and engaged her opponent on the opposite tack ; then bore up, and running close under the Alacrity's stern, raked her. The Abeille afterwards hauled up on the same (the larboard) tack as the Alacrity, and engaged her to leeward, keeping just upon the British brig's quarter ; so that, while her own guns were playing havoc upon the decks of her antagonist, the Alacrity had scarcely a gun which she could bring to bear. In a vessel whose tiller works on deck, the quarter is much more decidedly the " point of impunity," than in a vessel whose tiller works below. For instance, in the Alacrity and brigs of her class, the space between the aftermost port and the stern is upwards of 11 feet, to allow room for the sweep of the tiller, consequently, the whole of the space, one ninth part of the length of the deck, is without a gun. The damaged state of the Alacrity's rigging soon obliged her to drop astern, and thereby afforded her the opportunity of bestow ing a few shot in return for the many she had received ; but the Abeille quickly freed herself from the effect of those by ranging ahead, and placing herself upon the Alacrity's starboard bow. The latter, feeling sensibly the ill effects of this diagonal fire, threw all back, and endeavoured to pass astern of her anta gonist ; but the Abeille saw the well-meant manoeuvre, and at once frustrated it by bearing up. The two brigs continued thus engaged, side by side, for a few minutes longer; when the Alacrity, having had her sails and rigging cut to pieces, fell off, with her stern completely exposed to the Abeille's broadside. In this defenceless state the British brig remained, until, having had all her officers killed or driven from the deck but the boat swain, she was compelled to haul down her colours. This took place about three quarters of an hour after the commencement of the action. The Alacrity, out of a crew on board of 100 men and boys, including 13 of the latter, had her first and only lieutenant (Thomas Gwynne Rees) and four seamen killed, her captain (slightly), master (David Laing), one and her only master's mate (Mr. Warren, mortally), surgeon (William Turner, slightly, while dressing the wounded), boatswain (severely), and eight seamen and marines wounded. Lieutenant De Mackau, in his letter, as given in the Moniteur, enumerates 15 killed and 20 366 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. wounded ; but the account, as we have stated it, may be depended upon as correct. The Abeille, whose crew amounted to at least 130 men and boys, lost, according to the acknow ledgment of her officers, seven seamen and marines killed and 12 wounded. Neither brig, as far as it appears, had any mast shot away; although both, particularly the Alacrity, had received damage in them, as well as in the rigging, sails, and hull. Here were two brigs, when the action began, about equally matched, and, when it ended, nearly equal sufferers in point of numerical loss : a circumstance that renders the termination of it, by the capture of one of them, so much the more extraordinary. It was, however, in numbers merely, that the loss came so near to an equality ; as the Alacrity's almost unparalleled loss of officers has already in part shown, and as the further explanation, which our duty calls upon us to give, will completely establish. Out of her full net complement of 120 men and boys, the Alacrity sailed upon her last cruise with only 101 men and 13 boys. Falling in with and detaining a Greek ship, rather largely manned, Captain Palmer sent on board his second lieutenant, Mr. Alexander Martin, a skilful and zealous officer, and 13 able seamen, with orders to carry the ship to Malta. This was in the beginning of May. Thus left with all her boys, and with very little more than four fifths of her men, the Alacrity encountered the Abeille in the manner already stated. In the early part of the action, Captain Palmer received a lacerated wound in his hand and fingers, and went below, and remained below. The command, in consequence, devolved upon Lieutenant Rees, and a more efficient officer could not be found. Presently Lieutenant Rees had his leg badly shot, and was borne to a carronade-slide. There he sat, persisting in not being carried below, and animating the men by every means in his power, until a second shot laid him dead on the deck. His place was filled by Mr. Laing, the master. While he was in command, the master's mate, Mr. Warren, received his mortal wound ; and at length Mr. Laing got wounded also, by a contusion in the upper part of the thigh, and he went below. The men on the quarterdeck now called out, that there was no officer to command them. Instantly James Flaxman, the boatswain, stepped aft, who, although he had received a painful wound in the left arm by a nail and been knocked into the waist by a splinter, was again at his post on the forecastle cheering the people. Here, again, all might have gone on well, in spite of the disheartening effect produced upon the crew by the absence of their finger-wounded captain. Although his hand had been dressed, the latter was so stomach-sick, or so sick somewhere else, that he remained below ; and, whether it was that a shot, which about this time wounded the surgeon in the cockpit, alarmed the captain in the cabin, or that the latter began to com- 1811. ALACRITY AND ABEILLE. 367 passionate others, as well as himself, Captain Palmer sent up orders to strike the colours. No sooner was the order announced on the quarterdeck, than, snatching up a pistol from off the binnacle, the boatswain swore he would blow out the brains of the first man who attempted to execute it. The threat had its effect, and the ensign of the Alacrity continued to wave at her gaff-end. In a very short time, however, while the intrepid Flaxman was standing near the main hatchway, exhorting the crew to act like British seamen, the gunner, who ranked above the boatswain, and seems to have caught the captain's infection, hauled down the brig's colours. It was as fortunate for the memory of the Alacrity's late commander, as, in reference to the merits of this action, it was unfortunate for the cause of truth, that he died a month after wards of a locked jaw brought on by his originally insignificant wound. Every person does not know that, in warm climates, a comparatively slight cut between the thumb and fore-finger will frequently produce locked jaw; and therefore the undisputed fact, that Captain Palmer " died of his wounds," not only exonerated him, in public opinion, from all blame, but stamped his character with a quality, to which, as is now evident, he had not a pretension. Let those who maintain, that the dead are not to be spoken ill of, answer the question, whether the good of the individual should not give way to the good of the many? Whether, in short, it is not more consonant to justice to show, that a certain mishap or calamity arose from the defection of one man, than leave it to be inferred, that 1 00 men failed in their duty? But, there were gems in the British character, that, had the Alacrity not met the Abeille, and had the captain of the former not behaved as he did, would perhaps for ever have lain hid. Lieutenant Rees, for instance, might never have had an oppor tunity of displaying the trait of heroism which caused his death ; nor James Flaxman, the boatswain, the undaunted spirit that animated him, and which at least delayed, although it could not prevent, the surrender ofthe British brig. Satisfied we are that, if the details of every British naval defeat were fully made public, instead of, as is usually the case, suppressed or but par tially given, sufficient glory would be elicited to counteract the disgrace, which the unexplained result of the action is, in almost every case, calculated to produce. Before we dismiss the action of the Alacrity and Abeille, let us do justice to the officers and crew of the latter. They did their duty like brave men and good seamen ; and, as an addi tional proof that they were brave men, treated their prisoners with attention and kindness. With respect to the Abeille's commander, he obtained the-promotion to which his gallantry so justly entitled him : he was immediately confirmed in his ap pointment of a lieutenant de vaisseau, and made a member of 368 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. the legion of honour. On the 7th of February, 1812, Lieutenant De Mackau was made a capitaine de fregate ; soon afterwards a baron of the French empire ; and on the 1st of September, 1819, a capitaine de vaisseau. On the 30th of May, 1814, on board the Gladiator at Ports mouth, a court-martial sat on the surviving officers and crew of the Alacrity. The court acquitted them of all blame, and attri buted the brig's loss to so many of her officers having been killed or wounded, and to the " captain's not returning on deck after having had his wound dressed by the surgeon." The courti also, greatly eulogized the conduct of James Flaxman, the boatswain ; and he now, we believe, fills a similar station on board a line-of-battle ship. The French official account states the force of the Alacrity at " 20 carronades, 32-pounders." For this there was some ground, the brig having really mounted two small brass guns, 2 or 3 pounders, abaft. But there were no shot for them ; they were the captain's playthings, and served occasionally to exercise the crew in the necessary art of polishing. Of this oversight, or whatever it may have been, in Captain De Mackau, we feel the less disposed to complain, because he fairly states the force of his own brig at " 20 carronades, 24-pounders." A French writer, whose works are of deservedly high repute in this country, has selected about four cases out of the mass to be found in these pages, in order to show, that " French valour can triumph over British bravery," " la vaillance francaise pouvait triompher de la bravoure britannique."* Far be it from us to discourage the laudable endeavours of M. Dupin to reanimate the drooping navy of his country : we heartily wish he may succeed, because we are convinced that, unless the French navy thrives, the British navy will droop. By the French the British can afford to be beaten occasionally ; and, had the British been oftener defeated during the six years that preceded, they would, we are sure, have been oftener successful in the three years that followed, the 18th of June, 1812. However, not to lose sight of M. Dupin, let us remark that, in stating the broadside-force of the Alacrity at 127 " kilo grammes," and that of the Abeille at 109, he proves the in accuracy of his information respecting the mounted force ofthe two vessels. M. Dupin may correct his error by reducing the following into French weights : Alacrity, broadside-force 262 lbs., Abeille, same, 260 lbs. In stating that the French brig Renard was of the same force as the Abeille, M. Dupin is also wrong, owing probably to his being unacquainted, that the Abeille was not a regular-built French corvette, but a large American brig, purchased at some port in the Mediterranean and fitted out by the admiral at Toulon as a cruiser.- The very circumstance of # Dupin, Force Navale, tome ii., p. 85. 1811. GUADELOUPE WITH TACTIQUE AND GUEPE. 369 her having mounted, before carronades were so much in use in the French navy, 18 long 8-pounders and two brass 36-pbunder carronades,16 shows that the Abeille must have been a brig of very large dimensions ; especially when it is considered, that the Alacrity's class, averaging 383 tons, was originally designed to carry 18 long 6-pounders. On the 2?th of June, at 11 h. 30 m. a. m., the British brig- sloop Guadeloupe, of 14 carronades, 24-pounders, and two sixes, with 102 men and boys, Captain Joseph Swabey Tetley, being off Cape Creus at the north-eastern extremity of Spain, with the wind a fresh breeze from south-south-east, discovered and chased two strange sail in the north ; which afterwards proved to be the French brig-corvette Tactique, of 16 carronades, 24-pounders, and two long 8-pounders, with at least 150 men and boys, and the armed xebec Guepe, of two long 18-pounders and six 18 or 12 pounder carronades, with 65 or 70 men and boys. At about 15 minutes past noon the brig and xebec tacked and stood in shore ; and in another quarter of an .hour all three vessels hoisted their colours. At Oh. 40 m. p.m. the Guadeloupe, who had previously shortened sail, received the Tactique's starboard broadside; then, passing under the latter's stern, returned it- with interest, and immediately afterwards lay her opponent close alongside to leeward. A spirited action now ensued ; in which tbe xebec took a safe, but at the same time very effective part, by raking the Guadeloupe astern. At 1 h. 30 m. p. m. the Tactique made an attempt to-board the British brig, but was repulsed with con siderable slaughter. The French brig then passed the stern of the Guadeloupe : on which the latter bore up to close and renew the action. About this time two batteries near the town of Saint- Andre, one of four, the other of nine guns, opened a distant fire upon the Guadeloupe. Shortly afterwards the two brigs again came to close action, and continued engaged until 2 h. 15m. p.m.; when the Tactique, having had quite enough of fighting, bore up, set her topgallantsails, and stood in-shore under the batteries, whither the Guepe had just before fled for shelter. The Guadeloupe, from whom the town of Vendre at this time bore south-west by south distant not more than two miles, gave the French brig a parting broadside from her lar board guns, then hauled to the wind and stood off-shore. The Guadeloupe was a good deal cut in her sails and rigging but not materially damaged in her hull : her loss amounted to one man killed, her first lieutenant and nine men severely, and two or three others slightly wounded. Although the Tactique did not appear to have had any of her spars shot away, the damages in her hull may be gathered from the extent of her loss, as it was afterwards reported to the British. The account re- * See vol. iv., p. 233. vol. v. 2 n 370 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. ceived by the Guadeloupe's officers made the Tactique's loss 1 1 men killed and 48 wounded, including 16 of the number mor tally. Even admitting the amount to be somewhat overstated, enough remains to show, that the Guadeloupe performed her part in a very gallant and efficient manner, evidently beating off, without reckoning the xebec, a French brig superior in force to herself ; and which brig the Guadeloupe would in all probability have captured, had the action been fought at a greater distance from the shore, where the Tactique had no bat teries to fly to for protection. It has already appeared that Captain Tetley, in a month or two after this action, commanded a British frigate and behaved with great judgment and firmness.* On the 7th ofthe succeeding January, as the lists inform us, he was confirmed in his post-rank. On the 4th of July, at daylight, the British 18-pounder 36- gun frigate Unite, Captain Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, being off Port Hercule on the Roman coast, despatched, to cut out an armed brig at anchor there, a part of her boats, under the orders of Lieutenant JosephWilliam Crabb, accompanied by Lieutenant of marines George Victor, master's mates Michael Dwyer and Henry Collins, and midshipman Duncan Hutchinson. On approaching the coast, the boats were vigorously attacked by the brig, which was the Sti-Frangois de Paule, mounting four 6- pounders, four 3-pounders, and a quantity of small-arms, pro tected by a battery of two 8-pounders on the beach. Very light and variable winds preventing the ships from closing to co operate, Captain Chamberlayne detached the launch under Lieutenant John M'Dougal, to support the other boats ; but ere she could reach them, Lieutenant Crabb and his party, without the slightest loss, had driven the crew from the brig, and were bringing her out, in a very handsome manner, under showers of grape from the battery. At 7 a. m. the prize, which was partly laden with ship-timber, joined the Unite ; and, although the brig was materially damaged in her hull, masts, and rigging, no person on board was hurt by the fire of the battery. At 9 A. m. the 18-gun brig-sloop Cephalus, Captain Augustus William James Clifford, joined company ; and the British frigate and sloop stood along the coast. At 5 p. m. several vessels were discovered at anchor between Civita-Vecchia and the mouth of the Tiber. Captain Clifford, in a most handsome manner, offered to lead into the anchorage, and to head the boats in any enterprise which to Captain Chamberlayne might appear prac ticable. The Cephalus then, by the latter's directions, stood in, and, pointing out the soundings by signal, came to an anchor under the fire of a battery of four 8 and 6 pounders ; by a grape- shot from one of which, Mr. Isaac Simon, the brig's master, was slightly wounded. The Unite shortly afterwards anchored * See p. 330. 1811. BOATS OF UNITE, THAMES, &C. ON ROMAN COAST. 371 in four fathoms, and the French were quickly driven from their guns at the battery. The boats of the Unite, commanded by the same officers who had distinguished themselves in the- morning, then joined the boats of the Cephalus, under Captain Clifford ; and the whole went in and brought out, without the slightest loss, although exposed to a smart fire of musketry from their crews, and from a party of soldiers drawn up on a height above them, three merchant-vessels. The remainder of those at anchor in the road proved to be fishing-vessels. On the 21st of July, at 5 p.m., the British 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Thames, Captain Charles Napier, joined the Cephalus off Porto del Infreschi, into which port the latter had the day before compelled a French convoy of 26 sail to run for shelter. The Cephalus, followed by the Thames, then stood in and anchored : and the two opened a heavy cannonade upon 1 1 French gun-boats and a felucca, mounting between them six long 18-pounders, two 12-pounder carronades, three brass and two iron 6-pounders, and manned with 280 men ; moored across the port, for the protection of 15 merchant vessels, and of 36 spars for the line-of-battle ship and frigate building at Naples. The fire ofthe gun-boats, as well as of a round tower, and of a body of musketry on the adjacent hills, was soon silenced ; and, while the boats, under Captain Clifford, took possession of the vessels of war and merchantmen, the marines, under Lieutenant David M'Adams, landed, and stormed and carried the round tower, making an officer and 80 men prisoners. Within two hours from their anchoring, the Thames and Cephalus were again under way, with all their prizes in company, and all the spars alongside, except two which could not be got off. Nor did this dashing and important enterprise cost the life of a man; the whole loss sustained amounting to the boatswain (Hood Douglas) and three seamen of the Cephalus wounded. On the 27th of July the British 38-gun frigate Active, Captain James Alexander Gordon, anchored off the town of Ragosniza on the island of that name in the Adriatic, and despatched her boats, with the small-arm men and marines, under the orders of Lieutenant James Henderson, assisted by Lieutenants George Haye, who, though an invalid, very handsomely volunteered, and Robert Gibson, Lieutenant of marines Peter Mears, master's mate Charles Friend, and midshipmen Henry Lew, Redmond Mori- arty, Norwich Duff, William Simpkins, Joseph Camelleri, Nathaniel Barwell, Charles Bentham, George Moore, William Wood, and William Todd Robinson, to attack a convoy of 28 vessels, laden with grain for the garrison of Ragusa, which had run up above the island and taken shelter in a creek on the main. The creek being very narrow at its entrance, and protected by three gun-boats, as well as by a force of armed men on each 2b2 372 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. point, reported to amount in the whole to 300, Lieutenant Hen derson, accompanied by Lieutenants Haye and Mears and Mr. Friend, and the small-arm men and marines, landed on the right, in order to take possession of a hill that appeared to command the creek ; leaving Lieutenant Gibson to push for the gun-boats, the moment a concerted signal should be made from the top of the hill. After dislodging several soldiers, who fired upon them during their ascent, Lieutenant Henderson and his party gained the summit, and found themselves immediately above the gun-boats and convoy. Having made the preconcerted signal, Lieutenant Henderson descended the hill, exposed to the fire of one of the gun-boats and several soldiers ; but the attack had been so well planned, and was so nobly executed, that the boats under Lieutenant Gibson boarded the gun-vessels imme diately after Lieutenant Henderson's men had fired two volleys into them. Being attacked so warmly, the crews of the gun boats, except three men and several others that were wounded, jumped overboard and got on shore just as the frigate's boats came alongside. The guns in the vessels were immediately turned towards the flying enemy ; and the British, without experiencing any further resistance, took possession of the whole convoy. Ten of the latter were burnt by the captors, and -the remaining 18 vessels, along with the three gun-boats, were brought safely out ; nor was there the usual drawback of a serious loss to lessen the value of the exploit, four men only having been wounded in the British boats. On the 26th of May, in the morning, the British 18-gun brig-sloop Pilot, Captain John Toup Nicolas, observing four settees on the beach almost immediately under the town of Strongoli, near the entrance of the gulf of Taranto, despatched her boats to bring them off, under the orders of Lieutenants Alexander Campbell and Francis Charles Annesley, Mr. Roger Langland the master, master's mate Henry Pierson Simpson, midshipman John Barnes (the second), and Mr. Scotten the carpenter. The Pilot herself at the same time anchored off the spot, but, on acount of the shoal water, not so close as was' desirable. In spite of an opposition from 75 gens d'armes, all dragoons, and 30 regular foot soldiers, sent from Cotrone, and above 40 of the civic militia, Lieutenant Campbell and his party effected a landing; and, after dislodging the enemy from an advantageous position behind a bank and in a tower within half musket-shot of the beach, launched three of the vessels, and destroyed the fourth, because unable from shot-holes to float. The whole of this service was executed with no greater loss than one marine slightly wounded. On the 6th of September, early in the morning, the Pilot, cruising off the town of Castellan in the same neighbourhood, observed an armed ketch secured to the walls of the castle of 1811. BOATS OF IMPERIEUSE AND THAMES AT PALINURO. 373 that name. The brig immediately anchored close to the town ; and, having by her guns driven away the troops there collected for the protection of the ketch, Captain Nicolas despatched the boats, under the orders of Lieutenant Campbell, to bring out the vessel. This officer and his party gallantly landed under the ruins of the castle, and after some opposition, advanced to the town ; whence the few troops remaining there precipitately fled. Finding the ketch bilged, he threw her guns overboard and set her on fire. The seamen then, while the marines took post at the castle, loaded their boats with a quantity of corn and flax, and returned on board the sloop by 4 p. m. without having sustained the slightest loss. On the 11th of October, in the morning, the British 38-gun frigate Imperieuse, Captain the Honourable Henry Duncan, being off Possitano in the gulf of Salerno, discovered three gun- vessels, of one long 18-pounder and 30 men each, moored under the walls of a strong fort. At 11 a. m. the Imperieuse anchored within range of grape, and in a few minutes sank one of the gun boats and silenced the fire of tbe fort ; but a shot from tbe latter had previously cut away the frigate's foretopsail yard. The fort being walled all round, the ship could not dislodge the soldiers and crews of the gun-vessels, who had sheltered themselves within it ; and yet that measure became necessary, before pos session could be taken of the two remaining gun-boats. Captain Duncan therefore despatched the boats of the Imperieuse, under the orders of Lieutenant Eaton Travers, first of the frigate, assisted by Lieutenant of marines Philip Pipon. These two gallant officers, at the head of a detachment of seamen and the whole of the marines, forced their way into the battery, under a heavy fire of musketry from more than treble their numbers ; all of whom, except about 30 men left behind, with 50 stand of arms, the British compelled to fly in every direction. The guns mounted on the battery, which were 24-pounders, were then thrown over the cliff, the magazines destroyed, and the two gun-vessels brought off: nor was any greater loss sustained, in executing the whole of this dashing exploit, than one marine killed and two wounded. The Imperieuse, however, had had her rigging damaged, and, as already stated, her foretopsail yard shot away, by the commencing fire of the battery. In a few days afterwards the Imperieuse was joined by the 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Thames, Captain Charles Napier; and on the 19th the two frigates anchored close to the shore near Palinuro on the coast of Calabria. The boats, commanded by Lieutenant Travers, then landed under cover of the fire of the ships, and launched and brought off, without the slightest casualty, 10 armed polacres laden with oil, although the vessels, for their better security, were banked up with sand, and were defended by a large detachment of Neapolitan troops. On the 2 1st the Imperieuse and Thames discovered 10 Neapo- 374 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811, litan gun-boats lying in the port of Palinnro, together with a number of merchant vessels, also a quantity of spars hauled up on the beach, intended for the equipment of the Neapolitan navy. From the strength and situation of the harbour, Captain Duncan did not consider that he had a sufficient force to make the attack with a prospect of complete success. He therefore sent the Thames to Sicily, to request Lieutenant-general Maitland to lend him a detachment of soldiers. On the 28th the Thames returned, with 250 of the 62d regiment under Major Darby; but, as this was just at the commencement of a south-west gale, no operation could for the present be carried on. On the 1st of November, in the evening, the time proving favourable, the troops under Major Darby, together with the marines of both frigates under Lieutenant Pipon, and a detach ment of seamen under Lieutenant Travers, the whole commanded by Captain Napier, were disembarked from the Thames at the back of the harbour. The British immediately ascended and carried the height in a very gallant style, under a heavy fire from the French, who had assembled in force to oppose them, and who, soon after dark, endeavoured to retake their position j but one well-directed volley obliged the enemy to retire. The Imperieuse, meanwhile, had been endeavouring to occupy the attention of the gun-boats and battery in front ; but the light and baffling winds prevented the frigate, during the evening, from getting nearer than long range. On the 2d, in the morning, finding that nothing could be done on tbe land side against the battery and a strong tower that pro tected the vessels on the beach, and within pistol-shot of which the gun-boats were moored, Captain Duncan ordered the Thames to close, and Captain Napier to return to her from the shore. This done, the two frigates bore up at the commencement of the sea-breeze, and, running along the line of gun-boats within half musket-shot, sank two and obliged the remainder almost in stantly to surrender. The Imperieuse and Thames then, an choring close to the fort, silenced it in 15 minutes, and in 15 minutes more compelled the garrison to haul down the colours. The fort was instantly taken possession of by Lieutenant Travers : who, on seeing the ships stand in, had most gallantly pushed down the hill with a party of seamen and marines, and was waiting almost under the walls of the fort, ready to take advantage of any superiority the ships might gain over it. The guns at the fort, 24-pounders, being thrown into the sea, and the gun-boats secured, the crews of both frigates proceeded to launch the vessels and the spars. This could not be accom plished until the afternoon of the 3d ; when the troops, who had all this time remained in undisturbed possession of the heights, were re-embarked, and the marines withdrawn from the tower. The tower was then completely blown up, together with two batteries, and also a signal-tower on the hill. The two ships, 1811. CAPTURE OF THE CORCEYRE. 375 accompanied by their prizes, consisting of six gun-boats of one long 18-pounder each, 22 feluccas laden with oil, cotton, &c, and 20 large spars brought off from the beach, put to sea with the land breeze. Four other gun-vessels, one with two long 18-pounders were also destroyed ; but this very dashing service was not executed without loss, Lieutenant Kay of the 62d regi ment and four men being killed, and Lieutenant Pipon of the marines and 10 men wounded. The commanding officer of the gun-boats was Captain Caraccioli, and the troops and armed peasantry, estimated at 700 men, were commanded by General Pignatelli Cercaro. Although Lieutenant Travers was an older lieutenant than many who were at that time commanders, and although Vice-admiral Sir Edward Pellew, the Mediterranean commander-in-chief, requested the attention of the lords of the admiralty to " the distinguished services " which he had on that and on former occasions performed, Lieutenant Travers, as we observe by the list, was not made a commander until the 15th of June, 1814. On the 27th of November, at 9 a. m., Fano in the Adriatic bearing south-east distant four leagues, the British 74-gun ship Eagle, Captain Charles Rowley, discovered and immediately chased three vessels in the north-west quarter. These were the French 40-gun frigate Uranie, the armed en flute frigate Cor ceyre, and brig-corvette Scemplone, from Triest on the 13tb, bound to Corfu. In the course of a short time the brig sepa rated from her two companions ; and the Eagle continued in pursuit of the latter down the north-east coast of Italy until about 7 h.30m. p. m.; when, having lost her fore topmast by an overpress of sail, and been otherwise crippled by the 74's fire, the Corceyre hauled down her colours. Owing to the extreme darkness of the night and the necessity, in the disabled state ofthe prize and the strength and direction of the wind, for the Eagle to stay by the Corceyre to prevent her going on shore near Brindisi, the Uranie effected her escape, as was supposed, into that port. The Corceyre is represented to have been pierced for 40 guns, and to have mounted 26 long 18- pounders on the main deck and two 6-pounders on the quarter deck, with a crew of 170 seamen and 130 soldiers; of whom she had three men killed and six or seven wounded, including her commander, Lieutenant de vaisseau " Longlade." The Corceyre was laden with 300 tons of wheat, and a quantity of military and other stores. On the 28th of November, at 7 a. m., while the British 38- gun frigates Alceste and Active, Captains Murray Maxwell and James Alexander Gordon, 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Unite, Captain Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, and 20-gun ship Acorn, Captain George Miller Bligh, were lying in Port St.-George, island of Lissa, the telegraph on Whitby hill announced three suspicious sail south. Captain Maxwell, the senior officer in the 376 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. port, immediately unmoored the squadron and prepared to go in pursuit of what was supposed to be a French squadron from Triest bound to Corfu, consisting of the 40-gun frigates Danae and Flore and 32-gun frigate Carolina, the fugitives from Captain Hoste in the preceding March. As a strong French force was at this time assembled at Scisina, for the avowed purpose of making an attack upon Lissa, Captain Maxwell could not leave the island without providing for its defence. Accordingly a lieu tenant, midshipman, and about 30 seamen, from the Alceste and Active were embarked on board three prize gun-boats lying in the port; and the whole ofthe marines belonging to the Alceste, Active, and, we believe, Unite, were landed as a garrison for the two batteries erected on Hoste island at the entrance ofthe har bour. Leaving, then, the direction of affairs to Captain Bligh of the Acorn, Captain Maxwell, with the Alceste, Active, and Unite, began warping out of the harbour against a fresh east-north-east wind ; and by 7 p. m., after very great exertions on the part of their officers and crews, the three British frigates were at sea. At 9 h. 30 m., when close off the south end of Lissa a strange vessel to windward fired two guns, and the Unite boarded her. She proved to be a neutral, on board of which Lieutenant John M'Dougal, of the Unite, had taken his passage to Malta. On that same morning, about 40 miles to the southward, this vessel had discovered three French frigates. Lieutenant M'Dougal instantty obliged the master of the neutral to put back, in order that the squadron might be informed of the circumstance, and the vessel was on her return to Lissa when thus fallen in with by the squadron. With the cheering prospect in view, Lieutenant M'Dougal resumed his station on board the Unite ; and the three British frigates were soon under all the sail they could carry, against the fresh wind that now blew from the east-south-east. On the 29th, at 9 h. 20 m. A. m., the island of Augusta in sight, the Active made the signal for three strange sail in the east-north-east. At 10 A. m. the strangers were made out to be frigates, and were in fact, not the three French ships already named, but the 40-gun frigates Pauline, Commodore Frangois- Gilles Monfort, aine, and Pomone, Captain Claude-Charles- Marie Ducamp-Rosamel, and the frigate-built store-ship Per- sanne, of 26 guns, Captain Joseph-Andre Satie, from Corfu since the 16th, going to join the French squadron at Triest ; for which, and for the batteries of the place, they had on board a quantity of iron and brass ordnance; At first the three French frigates formed in line on the larboard tack, and st.ood towards the British ships ; but, ou making out the latter to be an enemy's squadron, M. Monfort bore up to north-west, and set studding- sails, followed, under an equal press of canvass, by the Alceste and her two companions. At about 11 a.m., finding that she could not keep way with the Pauline and Pomone, the Persanne separated from them and 1811. ALCESTE AND ACTIVE WITH PAULINE AND POMONE. 377 stood to the north-east. The Active now steered for the Per- sanne,' but was immediately recalled, and the Unite detached after her. In the mean time the Alceste and Active continued in pursuit ofthe Pauline and Pomone, and, especially the Alceste, were rather gaining upon them. At 11 h. 50m. a.m. Captain Maxwell telegraphed the Active, " Remember the battle of Lissa." At 30 minutes past noon, just as the rocky island of Pelagosa bore from the Alceste south-west distant five leagues, tbe Persanne was seen to fire her stern chase-guns at the Unite, and to receive in return a fire from the latter's bow- chasers. At 1 h. 20 m. p. m. the Alceste, then running above nine knots an hour with the wind on the larboard quarter, fired a shot from her foremost gun on the starboard side directly into the larboard quarter of the Pomone; who immediately hoisted a French ensign -and pendant, and fired a single shot, which splintered the Alceste's main topgallantmast. The Pauline, who was close ahead of the Pornoue, also hoisted her colours, with a commo dore's broad pendant. At 1 h. 24 m., being still under a crowd of sail to get to the French commodore, the Alceste opened her broadside upon the Pomone, and received a fire in return. At 1 h. 40 m., when directly a-beam of the Pomone, with every prospect of quickly reaching the Pauline, who had taken in her royals to keep nearer to her consort, the Alceste received a shot from the Pomone, which carried away her main topmast just above the cap. As the wreck, with the topgallant and royal studding-sails, fell over on the starboard side, and the Alceste in consequence dropped a little astern, " cheers of ' Vive l'em- pereur!'" says Captain Maxwell, " resounded from both ships: they thought the day their own, not aware of what a second I had in my gallant friend Captain Gordon, who pushed the Active up under every sail." At about 2 p. m., having gained a station on the starboard or lee quarter of the Pomone, the Active brought that frigate to close action. At about 2 h. 20 m. p. m., resetting his royals, the French commodore braced up, and presently tacked and stood for the weather beam of the Alceste. At 2 b. 30 m. the latter and the Pauline became closely engaged. At about 3 h. 5 m. p. M., seeing that the Pomone stood no chance with the Active, and observing, probably, the British 18-gun ship-sloop Kingfisher, Captain Ewell Tritton, approaching in the distance, the French commodore set all sail and stood to the westward. Shortly afterwards the Active, although with all three topsails to the mast, unavoidably shot ahead of her antagonist, and a suspen sion of the firing ensued. At about 3 h. 40 m. p. m., just as the Alceste had arrived up and opened a fire from her starboard broadside, the main and mizen masts of the Pomone came down by the board ; and almost immediately afterwards the French frigate hoisted a union-jack as the signal of his having struck. 378 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. Neither of the two British frigates being now in a condition to make sail in pursuit, the Pauline effected her escape. The Alceste, whose crew, after deducting those left on shore at Lissa, amounted to only 218 men and boys, had one mid shipman (Charles Nourse) and six seamen killed, one lieutenant (Andrew Wilson), 11 seamen, and one marine wounded. The Active, who had about the same number of men absent as her consort, lost one midshipman (George Osborne), five seamen, and two marines killed, her captain (leg amputated), two lieu tenants (William Bateman Dashwood, arm amputated, and George Haye), 21 seamen (one mortally), and three marines wounded. It was about the middle of the action that Captain Gordon received his wound : he was standing on a shot-bag and leaning on the capstan, giving his orders in his usual collected manner, when a 36-pound shot came in through a port-hole, grazed the carriage of a carronade, took off a seaman's leg, and struck the captain on the knee-joint ; carrying all off as if it had been done with a knife, and leaving the leg hanging by the tendons. Although, of course, he instantly fell, Captain Gordon did not become insensible, but calmly directed the first lieutenant, Mr. Dashwood, to fight the ship ; and, as he was being carried below, told the second lieutenant, Mr. Haye, who commanded on the main deck, to do his best, should any mischance befal his senior officer. Shortly afterwards Lieutenant Dashwood had his right arm shot away; and Lieutenant Haye, taking the command, fought the Active, although himself wounded, until her opponent's colours came down. The damaged state of the Pomone at her surrender clearly proved, that her colours had not come down until all further resistance was vain. Her main and mizen masts fell, as we have stated, during the action, and her foremast very soon shared their fate. The hull of the Pomone was so shattered by the Active's quick and well-directed fire, that the ship had five feet water in the hold ; and her loss, out of a crew of 332 men and boys, amounted, as acknowledged by her officers, to 50 in killed and wounded, including Captain Rosamel himself by a grape- shot in the mouth. With respect to the damage or loss of the Pauline, nothing can be stated with certainty ; but it was after wards understood, that she entered Ancona in a very disabled state from her sufferings in the action. Here were two pairs of combatants, as equally matched, all circumstances considered, as could well have been brought together ; and here was an action gallantly fought, we were going to say, on both sides. As, however, the French commodore cer tainly abandoned the action before the fall of his consort's masts had given the British a superiority, we feel disposed to concur in opinion with Captain Rosamel, that his commodore shamefully deserted him; and that, at one time, there was every probability, that a spirited co-operation on the part ofthe Pauline 1811. ALCESTE & ACTIVE WITH PAULINE & POMONE. 379 would have enabled both French frigates to have effected their escape. The best voucher an officer can obtain of his good conduct in action is the testimony of his enemy ; but, unfortunately, it is not every heart that can cherish such a sentiment, nor every understanding that can perceive how much it redounds to true glory, to give to that sentiment free and unrestrained utterance. Captain Rosamel, however, had the happiness to fall into the hands of an officer, who both felt, and publicly expressed, what was due from one brave enemy to another. Captain Maxwell thus expresses himself on the subject : " Captain Rosamel fought his ship with a skill and bravery, that has obtained for him the respect and esteem of his opponents." That this act of justice emanated solely from principle, may be gathered from the following well-attested anecdote. According to the etiquette of the service, Captain Maxwell, as senior officer of the two British frigates, became entitled to the sword of the French captain : indeed, the French captain would deliver his sword to no one else; but, no sooner did Captain Maxwell receive it, than, con sidering the Pomone to be the fair trophy of the Active, he sent, or rather took, the sword to Captain Gordon, as his by right of conquest. It was about noon when the Unite so far closed in the wake of the Persanne, whose end-on appearance indicated that she also was a frigate, as to exchange bow and stern chasers ; but the variable state of the wind, which shifted from south to east, and the continuance of the Persanne in a course that kept the Unite directly astern, made it nearly 4 p.m. before the latter got close enough to open a part of her broadside. As soon as this was done, the Persanne fired a broadside in return, and hauled down her colours. The masts, yards, sails, and rigging of the Unite were more or less cut by the galling stern-fire to which she had been exposed ; but her loss was restricted to one seaman severely wounded. The Persanne was also tolerably damaged aloft; and, out of her 190 men in complement, had two killed and four wounded. Animated by the same spirit of fairness which, as we have shown, characterized his commodore, Captain Chamberlayne says in his official letter, that Captain Satie's " masterly manoeuvres and persevering resistance, for nearly four hours reflect great credit on him." The Pomone was one of the largest class of French frigates, and had in her hold 42 iron guns, chiefly 18-pounders, and nine brass guns, besides 220 iron wheels for gun-carriages. The Persanne, whose 26 guns were 8-pounders, was a ship of 860 tons, and had in her hold 130 iron 24-pounders, and 20 brass 9-pounders. The Pauline, in all probability, had on board a quantity of the same description of warlike stores. The Pomone was built by the citizens of Genoa at the commencement of the 380 LIGHT SQUADRONS AND SINGLE SHIPS. 1811. war of 1803, and presented to Jerome Buonaparte on his being appointed a capitaine de fregate:* Like most of these presented ships, the Pomone had been rather hastily runup, and, on being brought to England in September, 1812, was found defective and taken to pieces. The Persanne was not a ship calculated for the British navy : she was therefore sold to the Bey of Tunis. Lieutenant Wilson, first of the Alceste, was promoted to the rank of commander on the 17th of September, 1812. The second lieutenant was James Montagu, and the acting third lieutenant, James Adair. Lieutenants Dashwood and Haye, first and second of the Active, were made commanders on the 19th of May, 1812. The officer, acting as third lieutenant of the Active, was Redmond Moriarty. The first lieutenant of the Unite was Joseph William Crabb, already named in these pages ; and who, to our great surprise, still appears with no higher rank than he held when the Unite captured the Persanne. Captain Chamberlayne, therefore, had some reason for dwelling upon the " extreme disappointment" it was to his officers, on finding, when the latter ship surrendered, that they had been opposed to a vessel of inferior force. On the 26th of May, in the evening, the 16-gun brig-sloop Sabine, Captain George Price, cruising on the Cadiz station, detached her boats, five in number, under tbe orders of Lieu tenant William Usherwood, assisted by Lieutenant Patrick Finucane, and Mr. Thomas Settle the master, also by some of the warrant-officers and midshipmen, (we wish Captain Price had enabled us to give their names,) to attempt cutting out five French privateers at anchor in the port of Sabiona. They were small fast-sailing vessels, of two 4-pounders and 25 men each, and had been very destructive to the commerce on that part of the coast. The boats entered the port ; and, although the privateers were moored under a battery, the attack had been planned with so much judgment, and was executed with so much promptitude and gallantry, that each British boat succeeded in capturing a privateer, and that without the slightest loss. Two of the pri vateers were afterwards dragged on shore, by means of a hawser made fast to the lower gudgeon ; and, in repulsing the French soldiers and crews with the cutlass, one British marine was wounded by a musket-ball. The three remaining privateers were brought safe off. Although the crews of the five privateers considerably outnumbered the whole complement of the Sabine, and although Captain Price describes his first lieutenant, who headed the party that performed the exploit, as " an excellent officer," the name of William Usherwood still appears among the lieutenants belonging to the British navy. * See vol. iv., p. 205. APPENDIX. No. 1. See p. 1. No French or Spanish ship of the line or frigate (properly so called) captured, &c. during the year 1807. A list of ships of the line and frigates late belonging to the Dutch navy captured, destroyed, wrecked, foundered, or accidentally burnt, during the year 1807. Name. How, when, and where lost. Gun-ship r ... Pluto (Destroyed, in December, at Greisse 68J < in Java, by a British squadron under (_ ... Revolutie ' Vice-admiral Sir Edward Pellew. Gun-frig. J" Captured, January 1, by the Arethusa {(H) Halstaar 4 and squadron at the island of L Curacoa. Utrecht £ Wrecked, February 2, on one of the ( Orkney isles. A list of ships of the line and frigates late belonging to the Turkish navy, captured, destroyed, wrecked, foundered, or accidentally burnt, during the year 1807. Name. How, "when, and where lost. Gun-ship 64 Name unknown , Gun-frig. 40 Ditto Ditto 36 { Ditto 3a Ditto . Destroyed, February 19, off Point • Pesquies, Dardanells, by Sir John Thomas Duckworth's squadron. 382 APPENDIX. No. 2. Seep. 1. A list of ships of the line and frigates late belonging to the Danish navy, captured, destroyed, wrecked, foundered, or accidentally burnt, during the year 1807. Gun-ship Name. How, when, and where lost. 80 64 (K) Christian VII Waldemar Neptunos (M) Dannemark „ Norge (N) Arve-Prindts „ Justitia „ Kron-Prindts „ Kron-Princesse „ Odin „ Princesse-Sophia-Frederica „ Skiold „ Tre-Kronen (Oj Princesse-Carolina „ Fyren (P) Syeren ... Dittsmarchen Gun-frig. (Z) 38 36<4 Perlen Rota (JB) Freija „ Har-Fruen „ I"S (C) Nijaden „ Nymphen .. . (Z>) Venus Captured, September 7, at the sur render of Copenhagen, by the combined military and naval forces under General Lord Cath- cart and Admiral James Gambier. 32 (H) Frederickscoarn . Captured, August 16, by the British 22-gun ship Comus, off Marstrand, Cattegat. An abstract of Dutch, Danish, and Turkish ships of the line and frigates captured, &c. during the year 1807. Lost through the enemy. Lost through accident. Total Total lost added to the to the Du. Da. & British Capt. Dest. Wrecked. Foundered. Burnt. T. navies, navy, C Du. . . 2 Ships ofthe line \ Da. 17 .. ^Tu. .. 1 (Du. 1 .. Frigates . . . \ Da. 9 . . I Tu. . . 4 2 17 I 29 4 15 1 Total. 27 35 25 APPENDIX. 383 No. 3. Seep. I. A list of ships and vessels late belonging to the British navy, captured de stroyed, wrecked, foundered, or accidentally burnt, during the year 1807. Name. Commander. How, when, and where lost. Gun-ship (L) Ajax Hon. Henry Blackwood., 74-d (M) Blenheim j S,ir^- Trowbridge, Bt.v.-ad *- ' I Austin Bissell, captain Gun frig. 44 (W) Anson....Charles Lydiard. 38 (A) Blanche ....Sir Thomas Lavie. (G) Java George Pigot 32 (H) Orpheus...Thomas Briggs. Gun-p.-sb. (M) Boreas... George Scott. 22 (.R) Nautilus ..Edmund Palmer.. Gun-sh.-slp. 18 (S) Dauntless.. Christopher Stracey , Gun-b.-slp. "00 Leveret... Rich. Jas. Laurence O'Connor. 18 (Z) Busy Richard Keilly . 16 (a) Atalante.... John Bower. „ Cesar....... .(name unknown). {. „ Moucheron, James Hawea. f Burnt by accident, Fe- J bruary 14, in the Me- "l diterranean : 250 of L her crew perished. {Foundered, date un known, off the island Rodrigue, East In dies : crew perished. f Wrecked, Dec. 29, on J a sand-bank off Hel- "\ stone, Mount's bay : (. crew,except60,saved. f Wrecked, March 4, off J Ushant : crew,except | 45 seamen,saved, but L made prisoners. ( Foundered, with Blen- ( heim : crew perished. f Wrecked, January 23, J on the Coral reef, Ja- j maica station : crew L saved. f" Wrecked, December 5, J on the Hannois rocks, } nearGuernsey : crew, L except 68, perished. f Wrecked, Jan. 4, on Ce- J nigotto,abarrenrock J in the Levant : part L only of crew saved. C Captured, May 26, by < the French, at the C surrenderofDantzic. C Wrecked, November < 10, on the Galloper C rock : crew saved. f Foundered, date un- J known, on the Ha- I lifax station : crew l_ perished. f Wrecked, in February, J at Rochefort : crew ] saved, but partly L made prisoners. f Wrecked, in March, on J the coast of Gironde: | crew, except 45, pe- L rished. C Wrecked, date un- < known, in the Me- t diterranean. 384 APPENDIX. No. 3 — continued. Name. Commander. Gun-bg.slp. 14 (b) Pert Donald Campbell..., '(d)Explosion,Edward Ellicot. Bb. „ Prospero.. William King , Gun-bri ; 1(f) Pigmy George Montagu Higginson., " Speedwell.William Robertson (. „ St. -Lucia.. Hon. Michael De Courcy . 124 (g) Ferreter... Henry Weir...,. „ Griper Edward Morris. Inveterate.George Norton. „ Jackall ....Charles Stewart. Gun -cut. I 14 (i) Netley William Carr -< ~ (k~)Elizabetk....3o\m Sedley. Felix Robert Clarke. 124 " Fire-fly.... Thomas Price- How, when, and where lost. f Wrecked, Oct. 16, on j the island of Santa- j Margarita : crew, ex- |_ cept II, saved. I" Wrecked, September j 10, on Lundy island, i by the ignorance of l_ the pilot : crew saved . ( Foundered, February ( 18, in the North sea. f Wrecked, March 2, J off Rochefort : crew j saved, but made pri- L soners. C Foundered, February I 18, off Dieppe. {Captured, date un known, on the Lee ward-island station. Captured, March 31, by seven Dutch gun boats, and carried t into the river Ems. ["Wrecked, February 18, off Ostend : crew pe rished. f Wrecked, February 18, j near Saint Vallery , en Caux : crew, ex cept four, saved, but made prisoners. Wrecked, May 29, near Calais : crew saved, r but made prisoners. Captured, December 17 (180G), by the French frigateThetis ! and brig Sylphe, ^ West Indies. J Foundered, date un- j known, in the West Indiesxrew perished. Wrecked, January 23, «j in the bay of St. An- ! dero : crew, except three, perished. Foundered, Oct. 17, in a hurricane off the Spanish Main: crew, except the surgeon and three men, pe rished. I APPENDIX. 385 No. 3 — continued. Name. Commander. How, when, and where lost. g.-cut. -(1) Barbara ...Edward A. D'Arcey., 10i „ Cassandra . George Le Blanc . „ Crafty Richard Spencer . . „ Maria John Henderson . 8 (m) Subtle William Dowers , (o) Jackdaw. ..Nathaniel Brice , „ Magpie ....Edward Johnson . Pike John Otley . „ Wagtail ...William Cullis . ,, Woodcock. Isaac Charles Smith Collett F. V. (w) Ignition.. .Philip Griffin ("Captured, September 17, J by the French privateer | General-Ernouf, in the L West Indies. ("Foundered, date un- , i known, off Heligo- V. land : crew saved. fCaptured, March 9, by . -, three privateers in the I Straits of Gibraltar. f Foundered, date un- . { known, in the West L Indies : crew perished. (Wrecked, October 26, . ] on the rocks off Ber- *- muda : crew saved. f Captured, January, by a J Spanish row-boat : and | retaken, Feb. 15, by ^ the Minerve. fCaptured, February 19, J at Perros, where she j was driven through J: stress of weather. J Captured, April 20, by .. j the Murat French pri- 'i. vateer, off Altavella. J Wrecked, February 13, " j at St. Michael's : crew y saved. tl Wrecked, February 19, off Dieppe : crew, ex cept four, saved. ABSTRACT. Lost through the enemy. r—~A , Capt. Dest. Lost through accident. ,'¦ Wrecked. Foundered. Burnt. Total. 9 112 21 7 .... 37 9 21 8 1 39 VOL. V. 2c 386 APPENDIX. No. 4. See p. 2. For the pay and maintenance of 98,600 seamen and 31,400 £ s. d. marines 6,337,500 0 0 „* the wear and tear of ships, &c. 5,070,000 0 0 „ the ordinary expenses of the navy, including half-pay to sea and marine officers 1,142,959 19 10 „ the expense of sea-ordnance 591,500 0 0 „ the extraordinaries, including the building and repair ing of ships, and other extra work 2,351,188 0 0 „ the expense of the transport-service, and the mainte nance of prisoners of war, in health and sickness .... 2,313,000 0 0 „ sick and wounded seamen 281,400 0 0 Total supplies granted for the sea-service £18,087,547 19 10 Owing to an oversight apparently, the item marked * has been carried out in the London Gazette as 5,000,070, instead of what it is ; and the mistake has even extended to the total, which stands at 18,017,617/. 19s. Wd. No. 5. See p. 8. Lord CollingivooaVs General Order. From every account received of the enemy, it is expected they may very soon be met with, in their way from Corfu and Tarentum, and success depends on a prompt and immediate attack on them. In order to which it will be necessary, that the greatest care be taken'to keep the closest order in the respective columns during the night, that the state of the weather will allow, and that the columns be kept at such » sufficient distance apart, as will leave room for tacking or other movements ; so that, in the event of calm or shift of wind, no embarrassment may be caused. Should the enemy be found formed in order of battle with his whole force, I shall, notwithstanding that, probably not make the signal to form the line of battle, but, keeping the closest order, with^the van squadron attack the van of the enemy, while the commander of the lee division takes the proper mea sures, and makes to the ships of his division the necessary signals, for com mencing the action with the enemy's rear, as nearly as possible at the same time that the van begins : to his signals, therefore, the captains of that divi sion will be particularly watchful. If the squadron has to run to leeward to close with the enemy, the signal will be made to alter the course altogether ; the van division keeping a point or two more away than the lee, the latter carrying less sail, and, when the fleet draws near the enemy, both columns are to preserve a line as nearly parallel to the hostile fleet as they can. APPENDIX. 387 In standing up to the enemy from the leeward upon a contrary tack, the lee line is to press sail, so that the leading ship of that line may be two or three points before the beam of the leading ship of the weather line, which will bring them to action nearly at the same period. The leading ship ofthe weather column will endeavour to pass through the enemy's line should the weather be such as to make that practicable, at one- fourth from the van, whatever number of ships their line may be composed of. The lee division will pass through at a ship or two astern of their centre, and. whenever a ship has weathered the enemy, it will be found necessary to shorten sail as much as possible, for her seeond astern to close with her, and to keep away, steering in a line parallel to the enemy's, and engaging them on their weather side. A movement of this kind may be necessary, but, considering the difficulty of altering the position of the fleet during the time of combat, every endeavour will be made to commence battle with the enemy on the same tack they are ; and I have only to recommend and direct, that they are fought with at the nearest distance possible, in which getting on board of them may be avoided, which is always disadvantageous to us, except when they are flying. The enemy will probably have a convoy of ships carrying troops, which must be disabled by the frigates or whatever ships are not engaged, or whose signals may be made to attack the convoy, by cutting their masts away and rendering them incapable of escaping during the contest with their fleet. In fine weather the watch are to bring their hammocks on deck with them in the night, which are to be stowed in the nettings, so that on any sudden discovery of the enemy, they will have only to attend to the duty ou deck, while the watch below clear the ship for action . If any ship is observed by her second ahead to drop astern during the night to a greater distance than her station is, she is to notify it to her by showing two lights, one over the other, lowered down the stern, so that it may not be seen by ships ahead ; and, should a ship not be able to keep her station, those astern of her are to pass her and occupy the place she should have been in. I 2c2 388 APPENDIX. No. 6. See p. 94. A list of ships of the line and frigates, late belonging to the French navy, captured, destroyed, wrecked, foundered, or accidentally burnt, during the year 1808. How, when, and where lost. Gun-ship 80 ...Neptune.... .. Algesiras ... ..Argonaute. ..Heros ...Pluton Atlas 74<| I... Gun-frig. -40< (Z)Piemontaise. „ Thais ... Artemise Captured, June 14, in Cadiz harbour, by tbe Spaniards. J off Guadaloupe, by the f(g) Maria James Bennett ^ French corv£Ue ^. l_ partement des Landes {Wrecked, July 10, on theLeeward-island sta tion : crew, except nine, perished. f Destroyed, May 18, by j the batteries in the . Henry Baugh \ Tagus, while attempt- j ing to cut out two va- L luable merchantmen. f Wrecked, January 15, on j the coast of Holland : Sparkler... J. S. A. Dennis < crew, except fourteen, 1 saved, but made pvi- L soners. C Captured, June 4, in the Tickler J. W. Skinner ) Great Belt, by four ( Danish gun-boats. {Captured, August 2, in sixteen Danish 'gun- vessels. f Captured, June 10, in Turbulent. George Wood \ ^f™^* "Destroyed, February 15, after running aground on a shoal near Car- thagena, to prevent capture. Netley. Rapid. 12J 10 (h) Raposa James Violett., 392 APPENDIX. No. 8 — continued. Name. Commander. How, when, and where lost. Gun-cut, 12 (k) MiUbrook.James Leach'. "I f(l) Bacchus. ..Henry Murray.. Pickle Moses Cannadey.... (m) Firefly,... (-name unknown). Capelin. 8 L bour : crew saved. (Wrecked, October 26, on Crane Joseph Tindale \ the rocks at the West {. Hoe : crew saved. r Captured, in October, off Rook James Lawrence ) St.-Domingo, by two £ French privateers. r Foundered, on her pas sage from Bermuda to England : crew pe- L rished. fWrecked, April 20, on •i the coast of Scotland : L crew saved. Tang (name unknown) J Wigeon,... George Elliott.. ABSTRACT. Ships of the [line „ under the line Total Lost through accident. * Capt. Dest. Wrecked. Foundered.Bumt. Total. 9 2 22 "i Z 34 & 2 22 I ... 34 APPENDIX. 393 No. 9. See p. 94. For the pay and maintenance of 98,600 seamen and £ s. d. 31,400 marines 8,112,000 0 0 „ the wear and tear of ships, &c 3,295,500 0 0 „ the ordinary expenses of the navy, including half-pay to sea and marine officers 1,408,437 13 9 „ the expense of sea-ordnance 591,500 0 0 „ the extraordinaries, including the building and re pairing of ships, and other extra work 2,296,030 0 0 „ the hire of transports 3,000,000 0 0 „ the maintenance of prisoners of war in health and sickness 556,000 0 0 „ the same of sick and wounded seamen 314,000 0 0 „ enabling his majesty to provide a compassionate list for the navy and marines 5000 0 0 Total supplies granted for the sea-service . . £19,578,467 13 9 No. 10. See p. 140. Owing to the bookseller from whom we obtained the loan of the work . entitled, " Victoires et Conquetes des Francais," having disposed of it, and our inability to procure the use of another copy without sending over to ¦ France, we are obliged to omit the original extract referred to in the body of this volume. 394 APPENDIX. No. 11. See p. 214. A list of ships of the line and frigates late belonging to the French navy, captured, destroyed, wrecked, foundered, or accidentally burnt, during the year 1809. How, when, and where lost. Gun-ship 80\ a t t> { Wrecked, June 20, in the Rio 64 (P) Agamemnon.Jonas Rose < , , t>, . j ^ ' ° ( de la Plata : crew saved. Gun-frig. fCaptured, December 13, by the 38 (Z) Junon John Shortland J French frigates Renommee (. and Clorinde, West Indies. f Captured, February 28, by the f (.E) Proserpine... Charles Otter J French frigates Penelope and I. Pauline, off Toulon. 32 < 18 (.F)Alcmene.Wm.Hy.BrownTremlett5 Wreck?d> APril 29' on a rock V ( on JNantes : crew saved. f Wrecked, Oct. 4 (1808), on (#)Greyhound.Hon.Wm.Packenham,| the coast of Luconia : crew, (_ except one seaman, saved. • „ Solebay Edwd.Hy. Columbine 5 Wrecked, July u> on th,e coast (ot Atrica : crew saved. G.-sh.-slp. f Foundered," August 8, off Cape 18 (i^)Lark Robert Nicholas. .A Causada: crew, except two L or three, perished. G-bg.-slp. r Foundered, August 31, on her '(F) Foxhound James Mackenzie < return from Halifax: crew L perished. - Harrfer Thomas R" RidSe | FXSlnd£.SUPP0Sed " „ Magnet George Morris \ Wreckedjanuary 11, on the ice '¦ ° b ( in the Baltic : crew saved. ["Wrecked, January 22, on the „ Primrose James Mein J Manfle rocks> near Fal" 1 mouth . crew, except one (. boy, perished. fCaptured, November 28, by . „ Victor Edward Stopford *j the French frigate Bellone, (. bay of Bengal. ("Captured, August 10, by two f(a)Alaart James Tillard J Danish br,'Ss of JaI and v j some gun-boats, off Frede- t ricksvaern. Cwieux Hon.Geo.Moysey \ Wrecked, November 3, in the I West Indies : crew saved. f Wrecked, Dec. 23 (1808), in Fama Charles Tapping J the Baltic: crew, except I eight, saved. C Wrecked, in November, in Glommen Charles Pickford < Carlisle bay, Barbadoes : (. crew saved. 16-4 APPENDIX. 397 No. 12 — continued. Commander. How, when, and where lost. Bb. (d) Proselyte H.James Lvfoid | W^^ ™J™^' in the Gun-brig f Wrecked, Dec. 26 (1808), on '(g) Bustler Richard Welsh... < the coast of France, crew l_ saved. Contest John Gregory $ Foundered, as is supposed, on ° J I her passage from America. Wrecked, December 14, on Cob „ Defender John Geo. Nops < point, near Folkstone : crew l_ saved. f Captured, September 2, by six nr. „ t tji J Danish gun-boats, off the Minx George Le Blanc -i o „r ,^„„ , ' „„ „t„ Morne-Fortunee. John Brown < nique: crew, except nine- U< •> Minx George Le Blanc ^ ^ ^ she- ^ ^ [_ tioned with a light. f Wrecked January 9, off Marti nique: crew, - teen, perished. f Foundered, December, on her „ Pelter WilliamEvelyn...< passage from Halifax to Lee- L ward-islands. ,- . rp, ^ n i Burnt, May 31, at Basse-Terre, " Um1ue Thomas Fellowes | Guadalo(lpe.' Gun-cut. f Foundered, in August, near 14 (i) Dominica Charles Welsh... .< Tortola : crew, except three, [_ perished. r n\ r,i j- i DV m T i ^ Wrecked, January 20, off Nor- f(l) Claudia A. Bliss W . Lord 1 ' J, ' j n J I way : crew saved. ) „ , * j rv ^ Wrecked, December 22, in the I ~ Saloman Andrew Duncan j Baltic : crew saved. f Wrecked, February 5, on the -(o) Carrier William Milner... i French coast: crew saved, I but made prisoners. {Captured, January 30, by the French 16-gun brig Genie, Channel. f Wrecked, January 15, near „ Pigeon Richard Cox J Margate: crew, except two, L saved. „ C Wrecked, June 18, in the North „ Sealark James Proctor.... < gga> , s„, ,. T T„ ., ., (Destroyed, April 11, as a fire- T.S.(q) Mediator Jas. Wooldridge £ ship in Basque-roads. H 398 APPENDIX. No. 12 — continued. ABSTRACT. Lost through Lost through the enemy. accident. , -" , * > Capt. Dest. Wrecked. Foundered. Burnt. Total. ~ ... 1 ~. ~ 1 under the line 6 1 17 6 1 31 Total 6 1 18 6 1 32 Ships of the line . No. 13. See p. 215. For the pay and maintenance of 113,600 seamen and £ 31,400 marines 7,799,187 „ the wear and tear of ships, &c. . . . . - . • 3,295,500 „ the ordinary expenses of the navy, including half-pay to sea and marine officers 1,511,075 „ the expense of sea-ordnance 591,500 „ the extraordinaries, including the building and re pairing of ships and other extra work 1,841,107 „ the hire of transports 2,760,000 „ the maintenance of prisoners of war, in health and sickness 806,000 ,, the same of sick and wounded seamen 370,750 s. d. 10 0 0 0 15 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total supplies granted for the sea-service £18,975,120 5 JI No. 14. Seep. 311. Extract of letter from Captain Morice. " Dans ce meme moment, je m'appercus que ces deux batimens dtaient demates de leurs mats d*hunes et un deson mat d'-artimon ; chacun etait a son poste et pret a. combattre ; le feu cessa alors et je reconnus la Venus ; je passai a portee de pistolet de l'ennemi sans qu'il tirat sur moi, je laissai arriver lof pour lof, et lui passai encore a la meme distance sans qu'il tirat ; je vins aupres du commandant, qui m'ordonna de demander a ce batiment s'il gtait amene, j'executai l'ordre sur-le-champ, et vins lui rendre compte que l'ennemi s'etait rendu : je mis aussitot en panne, et j'envoyai un canot com mands par M. Manager, enseigne de vaisseau, pour prendre les officiers de ce batiment et les transporter a. bord de la V£nus : cet ordre fut executed Le jour se fit, etje m'appercus que ces batimens avaient combattu sous toutes voiles, en voyant encore une bonnette de hune en pendant a la vergue de misaine de l'ennemi."— Mon. December 18, 1810. APPENDIX. 399 No. 15. See p. 327. A list of frigates late belonging to the French navy, captured, destroyed, wrecked, foundered, or accidentally burnt, during the year 1810. How, when,.and where lost. Gun-frig. 40 (Z) Venus. Astree Bellone MancheMinerve ... Eliza l_ ... Canonniere, enfMte 36 $ (c) Jphiginie \ ... Nereide . 28 Necessity •I Captured, September 18, by the British frigate Boadicea, off Isle-Bourbon. Captured, December 6, in Port- Louis (with two frigates named below, three armed brigs, prize Indiamen, mer. chant-vessels, &c), by the British forces employed in reducing the Isle of France. Wrecked, December 25, be tween Tatihou and Lahougue, coast of France, and burnt by the boats of the British frigate Diana. ( Captured, February 3, by the ,\ British 74, Valiant, off Belle- t Isle. ' > Captured with Astre"e, &c. ("Captured, March 21, by the J British frigate Horatio, lati- | tude 33° 10' north, longitude L 29° 30' west. No Russian, Dutch, or Danish vessel of war higher than a sloop captured, &c. this year. An abstract of French frigates captured, &c. during the year 1810. Lost through the enemy. * ., Lost through accident. A, Capt. Dest. Wrecked.Foundered.Burnt. Total Total lost added to the to the French British navy.J ; navy. 10 400 APPENDIX. No. 16. See p. 327. A list of ships and vessels late belonging to the British navy, captured, destroyed, wrecked, foundered, or accidentally burnt, during the year 1810. Commander. How, when, and where lost. Gun-ship74 (N) Minotaur John Barrett -{ 36 f Wrecked, December 22, on the Haak sands, at the mouth of the Texel: 360 of her crew perished. Gun-frte. f Wrecked, August 26, on some 38 (Z) Lively George M'Kinley< rocks near Malta: crew L saved. 'Wrecked, August 23, in the harbour of Grand-Port, Isle- de-France, when advancing to the attack of a French squadron. {Captured, August 28, by a French squadron at Isle-de- la-Passe, off Grand-Port. Wrecked along with Sirius. Captured, by the French squa dron on the same occasion. /Wrecked, December 18, at the Nymphe Edw. Sneyd Clay J .entrance of the Frith of 32 (JB) Pallas Geo. Paris Monke "1 Forth: the crews of both, L except one or two men, saved. ?flSh/i& ct' 7 n rr ' ( Wrecked, May 24, off the river 16 (V) Fkche George Hewson.. j Elbe ; 'cre/save'd. 16bg(a)' Satellite WilloughbyBertie ) Foundered, in December, in the (2?) Sirius Samuel Pym. (C) Iphigenia Henry Lambert. (D) Magicienne Lucius Curtis ... - i • „ Nereide N. J. Willoughby) Channel. Wreckedj date unknown, in the West Indies : crew saved. Wrecked, in February, on a rock between Scilly islands and the main. Foundered, November 9, in the bay of Biscay. Wrecked, May 24, on the coast of France : crew saved, but made prisoners. C Captured, May 24, by several ( Danish gun-boats. f Wrecked, in May* at the island Diana Wm.Kempthornes of Rodrigue, East Indies: L crew saved. Wrecked, April 4, at Calant- zoog, near Haerlem : crew saved, but made prisoners. G.-b.-slp. f(c) Achates Thomas Pinto. H [_ „ Wildboar ThomasBurton G.-brig 12 (g) Conflict Joseph B. Batt G.-cut. 12 (k) Racer Daniel Miller. ¦i Alban Samuel Thomas. (o) Cuckoo S.Hiscutt Paddon) APPENDIX. 401 No. 16 — continued. ABSTRACT. Lost through Lost through the enemy. accident. Capt. Dest. Wrecked. Foundered. Burnt. Total. Ships of the line 1 ... .... i „ under the line 3 .... 11 2 ... 16 Total 3 ... 12 2 ... 17 No. 17. Seep. 327. For the pay and maintenance of 113,600 seamen and £ s. d. 31,400 marines 7,799,187 10 0 „ the wear and tear of ships, &c 3,675,750 0 0 „ the ordinary expenses of the navy, including half- -pay to sea and marine officers 1,578,113 0 0 „ the expense of sea-ordnance 659,750 0 0 „ the extraordinaries ; including the building and re pairing of ships, and other extra work 2,046,200 0 0 „ the hire of transports 2,752,662 6 0 „ the maintenance of prisoners of war, in health and sickness 924,336 19 8 „ the same of sick and wounded seamen 352,462 6 0 „ the salaries, contingencies, &c. in the transport-office 32,388 8 4 ,, superannuations in ditto 1,150 0 0 Total supplies granted for the sea-service .• £19,822,000 10 0 VOL. V. 2 D NOTES TO ANNUAL ABSTRACTS. NOTES TQ ABSTRACT No. 16. a The Atlante ; built at Bermuda, of the pencil-cedar. b Number of hired vessels about 52. NOTES TO ABSTRACT No. 17. a Ordered in theyear 1794, to be laid down at Plymouth yard, as a 100- gun ship, but in the following year altered to a 120-gunship. The Caledonia did not, however, begin building until January, 1805; but she then proceeded rapidly, and was launched on the 25th June, 1&08. This ship was constructed from a draught prepared by Sir William Rule, at this time one of the sur veyors ofthe navy. An account of some of her dimensions and peculiarities of structure, as compared with those of the Hibernia, will be found in vol. xxviii., p. 126, of Mr. Gold's Naval Chronicle. Principal dimensions of the Caledonia. ft. Length on the range of the first or lower gun-deck, from ) „„,. the rabbet of the stem to the rabbet of the stern-post . J 8 2 10 0 Breadth extreme 53 Depth of hold 23 Light draught of water | Ab°r^ ' \\\\\\\\ \q Burden in tons 2615 87-94ths. 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Pdrs. *irstdeck . 32 long 32 Second deck 34 ,24 Third deck 34 lg Quarterdeck 6 ',' 12 10 carrs. 32 Forecastle 2 long 12 2 carrs. 32 Roundhouse 2 „ 18 122 ^ Net complement of men and boys 866; subsequently augmented to 891 , including 39 boys and 160 marines. The Caledonia stowed 360 tons of iron ballast, 421 tons of water, and six months' provisions for her crew. ft. Load draught of water for channel service, \ iorwarcI 24 £ abaft 26 Height of midship firstdeck port from water's edge . 5 The result of several trials has proved, that this fine three-decker rides easy at her anchors, carries her lee-ports well, rolls and pitches quite easy, generally carries her helm half a turn a- weather, steeis, works, and stays remarkably well, is a weatherly ship, and lies to very close. in. W 1 6 Her rate of sailing is as follows ; Close hauled, under whole or single-reefed topsails Ditto double-reefed ditto Ditto under courses . . Large, under all sail that can with propriety be set Before the wind, under similar circumstances . . knots. iathoms 9 0 7 0 4 0 11 6 9 4 The Caledonia's best point of sailing is two points from the wind ; and, in a fresh breeze, few line-of-battle ships can beat her. This noble first-rate has thus, on trial, showed herself to be one of the finest, as she and her five sister- vessels, subsequently built, continue to be the largest, ships belonging to the British navy. In point of dimensions the Caledonia was rather exceeded by the Com merce-de-Marseille, the latter having been 3 feet 4 inches longer on deck, 1 foot 1^ inch broader in beam, and 1 foot 10£ inches deeper in hold : which made her measure 2747 tons. And we believe there is now constructing at Toulon, under the able directions of Mons. Barrallier, late an assistant surveyor to the British navy, a ship, named the Royal-Louis, that will con siderably exceed the Caledonia, or even the Commerce-de-Marseille, in dimensions. Her numerical force will, of course, be proportionably greater, but it is doubtful whether she will carry any heavier metal on the third deck. Hitherto, except perhaps in the case ofthe Imperial (see vol. iv., p. 195), the French have made the " rentree," or inward curve of the top-timbers, of their three-deckers so considerable, that no larger gun than a 12-pounder had room to recoil. 404 NOTES TO ANNUAL ABSTRACTS. b The Victory was ordered to be classed as a second rate, and consequently the two ships building from her draught, the Boyne and Union, must accom pany her : these, indeed, in the official lists, had always classed as 98s. It frequently happens that ships are rated (yachts for instance) more in reference to the pay of the officers, than to any quality possessed by the ship ; a prac tice which, as it destroys all method and consistency, ought to be abolished. c The Dreadnaught, Neptune, and Temeraire ; whose anomalous arma ment has already been remarked upon. The exchange of their third deck 1 8- pounders for 12s was considered an improvement : all three ships did not un dergo the change in the year 1808; but, to prevent multiplying the classes unnecessarily, tne whole are removed in the present Abstract. d The Martin ; built at Bermuda of the pencil-cedar. e This was the first time that the British navy could boast of a " 10-gun sloop of war." The establishment of the class was eight 18-pounder carronades and two long sixes, with a complement of 75 men and boys. These " sloops of war," therefore, were inferior in force to the generality of gun-brigs, and not superior, except in point of size, to many of the 10-gun schooners or cutters. Surely, if the number of guns must be limited to 10, the carronades should have been at least 24-pounders. The size of the vessels, 235 tons, was quite equal to that caliber, and no one can dispute that they would have been much more effectively armed. In addition to all this, the whole class turned out very dull sailers ; proving, that as little judgment had been em ployed in modelling the hull as in establishing the armament. ' Number of hired vessels about 60. NOTES TO ABSTRACT No. 18. a Number of hired vessels about 64. NOTES TO ABSTRACT No. 19. a The Queen- Charlotte, built from the draught of a ship of the same name, accidentally burnt in the year 1800. See vol. iii., p. 6. Hence, a British lirst-rate is launched in 1810, which was designed in 1779 or 1780. Surely, it is sufficient to perpetuate the name without the faults, of an old ship. The first Queen-Charlotte was never an extraordinary sailer, and her lowerdeck ports were only four feet and a half from -the water : the incon venience she suffered on that account, in the action ofthe 29th of May, 1794, may be seen stated at vol. i., p. 139. b Number of hired vessels about 60. THE END OP VOL. V. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSrc, STRAND. 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