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og a of T the Fal - 31 01 ated to

1808. with provisions, part of a convoy lying at Flodstrand, April. and destined for the relief of Norway. It being an Lieut. important object to attempt getting hold of these Elliott vessels, captain Mason, on the evening of the 25th, boats detached three boats from the Daphne and two from detach- the Tartarus, under the direction of lieutenant WilFlod- liam Elliott, first of the former; accompanied by Mr. strand. Hugh Stewart, master, lieutenant Richard Boger of the royal marines, and midshipmen

George Beazeley, James Durell, Thomas Elliott, John Moore, and George H. Ayton, belonging to the Daphne, and lieutenants Richard Gittins and William Love Patterson, and midshipmen John Septford, Charles Lutman, and Francis Andrews, belonging to the Tartarus.

The five boats, towed near the shore by the furess. Forward, proceeded to the attack. Lieutenant

Elliott and his party found the vessels, consisting of
seven brigs, averaging about 160 tons, three galliots
of about 110 tons each, and one schooner and one
sloop of about 90 tons each, all of which, except
two of the brigs, were deeply laden with grain and
provisions, moored close under the fort of a castle
mounting 10

guns, and made fast to the shore by
hawsers; but, the moment the alarm was given by
some of the danish boats, the Danes abandoned their
vessels and fled. No sooner, however, had the British
set foot in the vessels, than a heavy fire of round,
grape, and musketry opened upon them from the castle
and from another battery of three guns, as well as from
the crews of the vessels assembled on the beach. Many
of the shot struck the hulls and went through the sails
of the vessels ; but the British maintained their
footing, and the five boats, along with the 10 laden
vessels, cleared the harbour with so slight a loss as
five wounded, including lieutenant Elliott and the
Daphne's master; one of the seamen “ of a punc-
tured wound in the neck by one of the Daphne's
crew, having mistaken him for a Dane.”

A danish boat, with five men in her, having the temerity to persist in endeayouring to retake one of

the

at En.

the vessels, although repeatedly warned by lieu- 1808, tenant Elliott, the latter was obliged with his people April. to fire in self-defence. The consequence was, that Bravethree of the five Danes, whose determined conduct in so laudable a cause deserved a better fate, fell Danes. to rise no more.

The enterprise, upon the whole, was skilfully planned and gallantly executed, and did credit to all who were engaged in it:

On the 29th of April the british 16-gun ship- Falcon sloop Falcon, acting commander lieutenant John stroys Price, being off the island of Endelau, discovered boats nine large boats on the beach. Observing some delay. troops near them, lieutenant Price detached three boats, and succeeded in burning and destroying eight of the danish boats, the soldiers on the island making a poor attempt to defend them. At the island of Thunoe six other small-craft were destroyed by the Falcon's boats without any resistance. On the 3d of May a large man-of-war schooner attempted to escape from Arbures; but, after a long and circuitous chase by the Falcon, she was forced back into her port, where lay three other armed vessels.

Learning from a market-boat he had taken, that Her the entrance of the harbour of Kyeholm on the island of Samsoe was being strongly fortified ; that ture 50 pieces of heavy cannon had already been mounted vessels on the batteries, and tħat vessels were expected wide from Callundborg with mortars for the same pur-nance, pose, lieutenant Price detached the boats of the &c. at Falcon in-shore every night, in the hope to intercept them. On the 7th the boats, which were under the command of Mr. James Ellerton, the master of the Falcon, discovered the two vessels they were seeking at anchor close under the batteries of Lundholm. The vessels were boarded and carried in an instant, under a heavy but ill-directed fire of great guns and musketry. One of the boats, which contained a 13inch mortar with all its equipment, and 400 shells, grounded in the way out; and, as she lay within

boats cap

Samsoe

Lieut.

teries of

to the

'1808. range of the batteries, Mr. Ellerton found it neces-
April. sary to destroy her. The other vessel, similarly

laden, was brought safe out; and the whole service
was performed with so trifling a loss to the British
as one seaman slightly wounded with a musket-ball
in the arm.

One Dane, who being the artillery
officer placed in charge of the mortars and mortar
stores, felt it incumbent upon him to persevere in
resisting after all resistance was vain, was unfor-
tunately killed.

On the 24th of May, at noon, the british hired cutter Lancas

, Swan, of ten 12-pounder carronades, and 40 men and ing des boys, lieutenant Mark Robinson Lucas, being off the patches decoys

island of Bornholm, on her way to rear-admiral sir a yes. Samuel Hood with despatches from the commander under in chief, observed a cutter-rigged vessel standing the bat- from the land towards her. The Swan immediately

hove to, and hoisted a dutch jack for a pilot. This Bom decoyed the strange cutter so far from the shore

that, at 2 P. M., the Swan found herself in a situation
to chase with a prospect of overtaking the vessel
before she could get back.

At 4 P. M. the Swan got within gun-shot; when antes the strange cutter opened her fire. The battery of sinks Bornholm also commenced firing at the Swan, then

about a mile from the beach. Attempting now to
get a long gun in her stern to bear upon her pursuer,
the strange cutter was caught in the wind. This
accident enabled the Swan to get within musket-
shot; and, after an action of 20 minutes, her antago-
nist blew up and sank. As the Swan now lay nearly
becalmed under the land, and as the batteries were
still firing, and several boats approaching from the
shore, lieutenant Lucas was under the necessity of
quitting the wreck without saving the life of a single
individual of the crew. The danish cutter appeared
to be a vessel of about 120 tons, mounted eight or
10 guns, and was apparently full of men. Neither
the Swan nor a man on board of her sustained the
slightest injury.

case

the 10

En

her.

In transmitting to the secretary of the admiralty 1808. the letter of lieutenant Lucas detailing this action, May. sir James Saumarez begins by stating, that the lieu- Upitenant was the bearer of despatches from himself to sir nion of Samuel Hood; and yet the vice-admiral concludes James his letter thus : “ Great praise is due to lieutenant SaumaLucas for his spirited attack of a vessel of superior the force under the protection of the enemy's batteries.” subject Here then, upon an important point of service, is an opinion at complete variance with that which, it is pretended, would have been expressed by admiral Cornwallis, had the Æolus, when bearing her despatches, such as they were, pursued and engaged the Didon. Much as we have reason to be satisfied, as regards both weight and number, with the private opinions, which the complaints against us, for dragging into the light that hitherto concealed case, have eliciter, the few words just quoted from the letter of sir James Saumarez, in reference to an exactly similar case, are all that we are at liberty to publish.

On the 10th of May the british 18-pounder 32- Tartar gun frigate Tartar, captain George Edmund Byron from Bettesworth, sailed from Leith roads, to cruise off Leith, North Bergen and endeavour to intercept a frigate stated to be lying in that harbour. This was the dutch frigate Guelderland, captain Pool, of 36-guns, 12 and 6 pounders; which, with a convoy of three or four ships in charge, had sailed from the Texel on the 8th of March, bound to Batavia, but, having sprung a leak, had since put into Bergen to get it stopped.

. On the 12th the Tartar arrived off the coast of Arrives Norway, but, on account of a very thick fog, could coast of pot stand in until the 15th. On that day the frigate made the islands to the westward of Bergen; and, on hoisting dutch colours, was boarded by some Norwegians, who came off iftwo boats; and, informed the officers, that the Guelderland, with her small

off the

Norway.

VOL. V.

May.

Bettesworth in his boats to

1808. convoy, had sailed for the East Indies eight days

before. By the aid of these men as pilots, the Tartar steered through a most intricate and rocky passage,

until she arrived within five or six miles of Bergen, when the Norwegians refused to take the

ship any further. Capt. It being captain Bettesworth’s intention, now that

the frigate had escaped him, to proceed off the town, goes and bring away the shipping in the harbour, among

which were three privateers, the Tartar anchored

in the straits; and in the evening captain BettesBergen

worth, accompanied by his first and third lieutenants, Herbert Caiger and Thomas Sykes, and Mr. John Jervis White the master, went up to the town in the frigate's boats. An indiaman lying under the battery would now probably have been cut out, had not the guard-boat, which was without her, fallen in with and fired upon the launch commanded by lieutenant Sykes. The launch's crew returned the fire, and, after wounding all the men in the guard-boat severely, took

her. This proceeding alarmed the town's people, turns who, sounding their bugles, flew to the batteries, board. Finding that the shipping was protected by a chain,

captain Bettesworth, with all his boats except the launch left to watch the enemy's motions, pulled back to the frigate.

The Tartar now got under way, with the intention of cannonading the town and batteries. Owing,

however, to the intricacy of the passage and the reach lightness of the wind, the ship, although with a town. strong current in her favoúr, had only been able to

reach half the distance, when, lying quite becalmed in Is at- a narrow rocky strait without any anchorage, she was tacked attacked by an armed schooner and five gun-boats, boats." each of the latter carrying two long 24-pounders,

along with a detachment of troops. Having taken their station under a rocky point within half gun-shot of the Tartar, who by the set of the current kept gradually nearing them, these vessels maintaived, with

Re

Tartar attempts to