forcements

across to Flush

Gallant conduct

1809. Cadzand, who, until noon on the 30th, had with him Aug. only 300 men, and even after that day received but

scanty reinforcements. They were sufficient, how. ever, to enable him to take advantage of the seeming remissness of his enemy, and to send across

reinforcements to the garrison of Flushing. By Rein- means of small schuyts, aided by a southerly wind,

he succeeded, on the 1st and 2d of August, in thrown 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 Hancheit. ing. 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. Raven In 10 minutes after she had weighed, the Raven brig. became exposed to the fire of the Breskens battery,

mounting, according to the french accounts, 20 heavy
cannon and six enormous mortars. The brig re-
turned the fire, and, as she entered the Scheldt,
received the fire of four other batteries on the Cad-
zand 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 twojust above the cap, and which, in
falling, carried away the fore topmast. In this dis-
abled 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 1809, little sail she could set, drifted the Raven clear of

Aug. the 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 of the 6th, as many as 3143 men had crossed over; a reinforcement which augmented the garrison of Flushing to 7000 men.

The surrender of the fort of Rammekens having opened to the British the passage of the Șloe channel, immediate measures were taken to get the flotilla, which had acted against Veer, into the Flushwestern Scheldt; in order that a portion of it might blockprevent any further succours from being thrown into aded. Flushing, either from Cadzand or the canal of Ghent, and another portion proceed up the western Scheldt, to cooperate with that under rear-admiral sir Richard Keats. Bad weather and the intricacy of the navigation made it the 7th of August before the seablockade of Flushing, by means of the flotilla, could be effectually established. 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:

On the 11th, in the afternoon, a light air from the

force the

On Don the

1809. westward springing up, lord William, with his squaAug. dron, in the following order of battle in line ahead, British Lavinia, Heroine, Amethyst, Rota, Nymphen, Aigle, frigates Euryalus, Statira, Dryad, and Perlen, forced the

passage between the batteries of Flushing and Cadpassage zand ; and, although from the lightness of the wind Scheide and an adverse tiče 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, Amethyst, one seaman killed and one
wounded; Heroine two wounded, and Perlen the
same; and Aigle one marine killed and one lieu-
tenant of marines, (Henry Loveday Vine,) one school-
master, (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 ships had been made by rear-admiral Missiessy's flotilla above upon the fort of Balthz; and the increased strength

of the british flotilla, commanded 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

French

well. Tind. under part

Antwerp.

across.

Preparation to can

Flush

off a

It had been arranged that the squadron of seven

effective or full-armed line-of-battle ships, under the nonade command of rear-admiral lord Gardner, lying at ing.

anchor in the Deurloo passage, off Dykeshook, should
cooperate with the army in cannonading Flushing.
Accordingly, on the 12th, rear-admiral sir Richard
Strachan hoisted his flag on 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, con-
sisted of the

On the 13th, at 1 h. 30 m. P. M., a fire was opened British upon Flushing from 52 pieces of heavy ordnance, and boats in the evening from six additional 24-pounders. A attack division of bomb and gun vessels, under the com- town. mand of captain Cockburn of the Belleisle, who had removed for the purpose on board the 18-gun shipsloop Plover, captain Philip Browne, was stationed off the south-east, and a similar division, under captain Owen of the Clyde, off the south-west, end of the town; both divisions maintaining an incessant and well-directed fire. Owing to the scantiness of the wind, sir Richard Strachan's squadron could not get under way when the bombardment commenced on the part of the army; but on the 14th, at 10 A. M., the ships, in the following order, St.-Domingo, Blake, line-ofRepulse, Victorious, Dannemark, Audacious, and battle Venerable, weighed and stood in. The St.-Domingo, make soon after she had opened her fire, grounded on the their inner edge of the Dog sand; and the Blake, in attempting to pass inside of her leader, of whose grounded

state she was not aware, was equally unfortunate. The remaining ships, by signal, then hauled off and anchored. In about three hours the St.-Domingo and Blake got off and anchored with the others. At, P. M. the fire of the garrison ceased. A summons was immediately sent in; but, no satisfactory answer being returned, the bombardment recommenced at night, and was kept up, without intermission, until 2 P. M. on the 15th, when the french commandant, general Monnet, offered to surrender. The terms of capitulation were agreed to in the course of the renders

attack,

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1809, day, and at 3 A. M. on the 16th the ratifications were Aug. exchanged.

The loss sustained by the British, in reducing this british important place, was, comparatively speaking, of in

considerable amount. The St.-Domingo and Blake,
being, from their having grounded, by far the most
exposed, were the only ships of the squadron that
suffered any loss, and that consisted of only two meni
killed on board the Blake, and 18 (nine each) wounded
between them. The Blake was several times set on
fire by hot shot, and was considerably damaged in
hull, masts, and rigging. The loss on board the
flotilla amounted to one lieutenant (George Rennie)
and six men killed, and one lieutenant, one surgeon,
(Robert Russel and Robert Burnside,) and 20 men
wounded; and the loss on the part of the brigade
of seamen serving on shore under captain Richardson,
and who greatly distinguished themselves, was one
midshipman (Edward Harrick) and six men wounded.
This, with the Raven's loss and the loss by lord
William Stuart's frigate-squadron, makes nine killed
and 55 wounded as the aggregate loss on the part
of the navy. The lieutenants, serving in the above
brigade of seamen engaged at the batteries before
Flushing, appear to have been, John Wyborn,
Richard St.-Loo Nicholson, Eaton Travers, Stephen
Hilton, John Allen Meadway, and John Netherton
O'Brien Hall. The army appears to have sustained,
at the bombardment and at the different skirmishes
that had preceded it, a loss of 103 killed and 443
wounded; making the total loss on the british side,
up to the surrender of Flushing, 112 killed and 498
wounded.

Of the french loss no account has been given, side. except on one extraordinary occasion. On the 16th of

August the british 38-gun frigate Impérieuse, captain
Thomas Garth, in ascending the Scheldt after the
other frigates, entered by mistake the Terneuse, in-
stead of the Baerlandt channel, and became, in
consequence, exposed to the fire of the Terneuse

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