aban out the 1809. and having her yards and topmasts down, there was Aug. no possibility of getting off the brig. Finding this Are ob- to be the case, captain Willoughby gave orders to liged to take out the prisoners, all of whom had been secured don the in the hold, and burn the vessel. As, however, brig. the prisoners, many of whom were wounded, could Tow not in the emergency of the moment be removed, lugger the brig was abandoned; and the three boats, taking under a 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 continually throwing up false fires of a superior description, which illumined the whole river. heavy fire. Com para slight casion. Under all these circumstances, it was rather tively surprising that no greater loss was sustained by loss on captain Willoughby and his party, than one man the oc- 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 Rivière-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. Medi tated The harbour or bay of St.-Paul at Isle Bourbon attack having long been the rendezvous of french cruisers upon on the indian station, and, in particular, having, as Paul's has just appeared, afforded shelter to the Caroline bay. and her two valuable prizes, commodore Josias St. 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 1809. colonel Henry S. Keating, commanding the troops Sept. 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. at Ro Accordingly, on the 16th of September, a detach- Troops ment of 368 officers and men embarked at Fort embark Duncan, island of Rodriguez, on board the 12-pounder driguez 36-gunfrigate Néréide,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 Néréide; captain Corbett's perfect acquaintance with the coast rendering him the fittest person to undertake the important service of landing the detachment. Thus prepared, the squadron, in the evening, stood towards Bourbon, and early on the following morning, the 20th, arrived off the east end of the island. ma and seamen Isle On approaching the bay of St.-Paul, the Néréide, Troops, to prevent suspicion, preceded the other ships; and, rines, on the 21st, at 5 A. M., having anchored close to the beach, the frigate disembarked the troops, land on without causing any alarm, a little to the southward Bourof Pointe du Galet, distant about seven miles from bon. 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 causeways that extend over the lake, before the French could discover their approach. This important object the British fully accomplished; nor had the French time 1809. to form in any force until after colonel Keating and his party had passed the strongest position. Sept. Gal beha Wil. by. By 7 A. M. the troops were in possession of the first lant and second batteries, (Lambousière and la Centière,) viour and immediately captain Willoughby, with his detachof capt. ment of seamen, turned the guns of those batteries lough- 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 Centière, 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 reinforced from the hills, and having also received 110 troops of the line from the Caroline frigate, the guns of the first and second batteries were now spiked, and the All the seamen sent to man the battery of la Neuf; which batte ries soon opened its fire upon the Caroline and her carried consorts. The fourth and fifth batteries shared the Squa cap Caro line, &c. fate of the others; and, by 8 h. 30 m. A. M., the town, batteries, magazines, eight field-pieces, 117 new and heavy guns of different calibers, and all the public stores, with several prisoners, were in the possession of lieutenant-colonel Keating and the little army he commanded. In the mean time the british squadron, having dron stood into the bay, had opened a heavy fire upon tures 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 side. capture of the only safe anchorage at Isle Bourbon, 1809. together with its strong defences and shipping; and Sept. that after a loss by no means so great as might have Loss on been expected. Of the naval detachment serving on british shore, there were two seamen and five marines killed, one lieutenant, (Edward Lloyd, Raisonable,) two lieutenants of marines, (Thomas Robert Pye, Boadicea, and Mathew Howden, Raisonable, the. latter mortally,) two seamen, and 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. 66 The captured ships were the Caroline french Prizes. frigate, Grappler," 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 British french force collecting upon the hills induced the again land stores. lieutenant-colonel and commodore to reland the and detachment of marines, accompanied by a few destroy 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 indiamen, 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 reembarked without the slightest casualty, although almost within gun-shot of a much superior force. French deli pro 1809. On the 23d, at daybreak, the troops, marines, Sept. and seamen were all in the boats ready again to land, under cover of the Néréide, when it was discapitu- covered that general Desbrusleys, the governor of late for Bourbon, had, in the course of the night, retreated very of across the island to St.-Denis. The commandant of public the town of St.-Paul, captain St.-Michel, being now perty. 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 indiamen. Captains Dale and Gelston were then reinstated in the command of the Streatham 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. 4 The Caroline, a tolerably fine frigate of 1078 tons, launched at Antwerp in August, 1806, was commissioned under the appropriate name (a Caroline being already in the service) of Bourbonaise, and Promo-captain Corbett was appointed to command her. The tion of vacancy in the Néréide was immediately filled up captain by giving post-rank to captain Willoughby, who had lough- so gallantly and so successfully exerted himself by. Capt. on the occasion; and of whom lieutenant-colonel Keating and Captain Rowley, in their several despatches, speak in the highest terms. The above, in substance, is as the account of the Bren- expedition to St.-Paul's bay stands in our first edition; ton's but a contemporary has given a somewhat different count. version of it. He names captain Corbett as captain Willoughby's assistant on shore, although the former never quitted the Néréide; and, had he landed, would of course, from his superior rank, have assumed |