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rigged vessels, having assembled at Languelia and 1812. Allassio, captain Campbell of the Leviathan, having May. under his orders the Impérieuse, captain Duncan, Capt. 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Curaçoa, captain John Owen Tower, and brig-sloop Eclair, detached the marines and under captain Owen, who, covered by the fire of the drives Eclair, effected a landing between the two towns. troops Scarcely had the marines formed on the beach, ere from they were attacked by treble their number; but battenothing could withstand the bravery of the officers and men, who dashed at the french troops with the bayonet, and drove them from two batteries into the town, killing many and making 14 prisoners.

french

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Ships

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town.

After spiking the guns, consisting of nine and a mortar, and destroying the carriages, the marines unable embarked; but, although the three ships had an- french chored within less than musket-shot of the two vessels towns, and the Eclair had kept on her sweeps, going under where she could be of most effect, and although the the launches and other boats, under the command of lieutenant Dobbs, had with their carronades maintained a heavy fire, the french troops could not be expelled from the houses so as to enable the boats, without a very great risk, to bring off any of the vessels; which were made fast to the shore in all manner of ways, and had their sails unbent and rudders unshipped. The loss already incurred was sufficiently severe, amounting to one seaman and three marines killed, and lieutenant William Walpole, one seaman, and nine marines wounded.

convoy

guerite

On the 11th of June the french brig-corvette Renard Renard, of fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two long sixes, commanded by lieutenant de vaisseau driven Charles Baudin des Ardennes, and schooner Goéland, under of twelve 18-pounder carronades and two sixes, Marcommanded by enseigne de vaisseau Belin, along ya with some gun-boats, and a convoy of 14 vessels british laden with naval stores for Toulon, sailed from the dron. port of Genoa. On the 15th M. Baudin and his charge were driven for shelter under the island of

squa

low

reconnoitres

1812. Sainte-Marguerite by a british squadron, consisting of June. the America 74, Curaçoa frigate, and brig-sloop Swallow, of sixteen 32-pounder carronades and two long sixes, captain Edward Reynolds Sibly. While the 74 and frigate kept in the offing on account of the shoal water, the Swallow, by signal, stood in to Swal- reconnoitre the convoy. On the 16th, at daybreak, the vessels of the latter were observed to be getting under way; and the Renard and Goéland, having a them. light breeze in-shore, soon made all sail in chase of the Swallow, who lay nearly becalmed. At about 6 A. M., however, finding that the Swallow was benefiting by a light breeze which had just sprung up from the south-west, the french brig and schooner hauled their wind, tacked, and used every exertion, by sweeps and boats to effect their escape. Having at last accomplished their object, they and their convoy stood towards the bay of Fréjus.

Com

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Captain Sibly had now very small hopes of bringing on an action; when, at a few minutes past noon, action on the breeze freshening, the Renard and Goéland, Renard having received on board from Fréjus a number of volunteers, along with a detachment of soldiers, land. again stood off on the starboard tack, the schooner keeping a little to-windward of her consort. The Swallow being at this time ahead on the opposite tack, the two parties neared each other fast. At 1 P. M., finding she could weather the Renard, the Swallow closed, and, passing her to-windward within 30 yards, gave and received a broadside. Captain Sibly then wore close under the french brig's stern, in the hope of keeping her head off shore; but, having had her own head-braces shot away, the Swallow was not able to lie so close to the wind as her

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captain intended. The Renard consequently got round on the larboard tack, and in that position was liged to haul off furiously cannonaded by the Swallow to-leeward. The the fire Goéland, meanwhile, had taken an annoying position of the out of the reach, except occasionally, of the british ries. brig's guns. After the Swallow had sustained, during

from

batte

40 minutes, the close and defermined attacks of her 1812. two opponents, the larger of whom made several June. attempts to board, the proximity of the shore, and the strength of the batteries that lined it, compelled captain Sibly to haul off and rejoin his commodore in the offing. The Renard and Goéland then stood on under all the sail they could set, and were presently at anchor with their convoy in the bay of Grimaud.

board

board

Goé

The Swallow was much cut up in sails, rigging, Loss on masts, and hull; and, of a crew of 109 out of 120 Swalmen and boys, lost six seamen and marines killed, low. and 17 wounded, including the purser, Mr. Eugene Ryan, who had gallantly volunteered to serve on deck. The Renard was much injured in her masts Also on and most severely shattered in her hull; especially Renard on the starboard side. Her loss, out of the 94 men and that constituted, as it appears, her regular crew, was land. 14 men killed and 28 wounded; including among the latter her gallant commander, who was struck by a splinter upon the stump of the arm which some years before he had honourably lost. The total number of persons on board the Renard at the commencement of the action, consisting partly of troops as already mentioned, is represented to have been 180. The loss sustained by the Goéland, whose crew is stated to have consisted of 113 men, does not appear in M. Baudin's letter; and yet, as the schooner, at one time in particular, was exposed to a close and welldirected fire from five of the Swallow's carronades, loaded each with 64 pounds of double canister and 32 of musket-balls, making 96 pounds in all, a considerable slaughter must have ensued.

on M.

pin's

That this was an affair very creditable to captain Remarks, Sibly, the officers, and crew of the Swallow, cannot admit a doubt; and that the latter would have Dumade a prize of the Renard, had she not run for protection to the batteries, is, from a review of all count the circumstances, equally clear. And yet some action. dozens of cases have been passed over, to celebrate

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1812. this as an action glorious, in the extreme, for the Aug. navy of France. "The Renard," says a well-known french writer on english subjects," of the same force as the Abeille, escorting a convoy in the gulf of Genoa, meets the Swallow, of the same force as the Alacrity. A frigate and an english ship of the line are in view; it matters not: the Swallow must fly, or be taken, before she can be succoured. A furious combat ensues between the two brigs, and the Swallow avoids her inevitable capture, only by flying for protection, under all sail, to the two large vessels, who are also crowding sail to save her."* This is M. Dupin; who reads english, and writes liberally, except where national self-love sways his

Minstrel

and

mel

pen,

On the 10th of August the british 20-gun ship Minstrel, captain John Strutt Peyton, and 18-gun Philo- brig-sloop Philomel, captain Charles Shaw, observed block-three small french privateers in the port of Biendom, three near Alicant; where they were protected by a castle french mounting 24 guns. As a further security, two of the priva- vessels were hauled on shore, and a battery formed inBien- with six of their guns, which were manned with their

ade

teers

dom.

Mr.

with

men,

united crews, amounting to 80 men, chiefly Genoese. Under these circumstances the british ship and brig could only blockade the privateers; and, to do this more effectually, a boat was sent from one or the other of them every night, to row guard near the shore.

On the 12th of August a boat, with midshipman Dwyer (or rather lieutenant, for he had been promoted since seven the 21st of the preceding March, but had not yet attacks received his appointment) Michael Dwyer and seven and seamen, departed from the Minstrel upon this service. a bat- Considering that, if he could take the battery on the tery. beach, he might succeed in capturing the privateers,

carries

the midshipman questioned the Spaniards, who came off in boats from the town; and they all agreed in the

*For the original passage see Appendix, No. 4.

relation, that the French had retreated, leaving but 1812. 30 men in the battery and 20 in the castle. Relying Aug. upon the tried courage and steadiness of his seven men, Mr. Dwyer resolved, notwithstanding the numbers of the enemy, to attempt carrying the battery by surprise. With this view, at 9 h. 30 m. P. M., he and his little party landed at a spot about three miles to the westward of the town; but scarcely had they done so, than they were challenged by a french sentinel. The midshipman, with much presence of mind, answered in spanish, that they were peasants. The British were suffered to advance, and, arriving at the battery on the beach, attacked it without hesitation. After a smart struggle, the garrison, consisting not of 20, but of 80 Genoese, abandoned the battery to Mr. Dwyer and his seven seamen.

French

com

render.

The British were a few minutes only in possession, Is surbefore they were surrounded by 200 french soldiers. ed by Against these Mr. Dwyer and his seven men de- 200 fended themselves until one of the latter was killed, and the midshipman shot through the shoulder, and pelled seaman through the eye, and all their ammunition to surexpended. The moment the firing ceased, the French rushed upon the garrison with their bayonets. Mr. Dwyer was too weak, from loss of blood, to sustain a hand-to-hand fight; and, after he had been stabbed in 17 places, and all the men except one severely wounded, the French recovered possession of the battery. The gallant fellow who was wounded in the eye, on recovering from the stupefaction caused by the wound in his head, deliberately took his handkerchief from his neck, and, binding it over the wound, said, "Though I have lost one eye, I have still one left, and I'll fight till I lose that too." The admiration of captain Foubert and his troops, he a detachment from the 117th regiment of voltigeurs, viour at the invincible courage of the little band of British, was unbounded; and when the latter, in their comwounded state, were conveyed to the head-quarters in offof general Goudin, the french commanding officer in cer.

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