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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 increased 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 Cæsar, 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 Cookesley of Gibraltar, were exposed to imminent danger in their endeavours to regain the advanced frigates. They had to pull against a strong tide and rough sea, which nearly swamped many of the boats; and they were also endangered by flights of rockets, many of the latter, from having been placed in the rigging of the 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 Cæsar; 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 firevessels, and the reflection of the 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

fleet, not even the explosions, loud as they were, could be heard. One of their early effects, however, was to lull the breeze considerably. What other effects the fire and explosion vessels produced, 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., according to 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'étais dans cette position, à trois encablatures et demie de mon escadre, l'amiral dans mes eaux, lorsque nous distinguâmes à 9 heures et demie, sous notre bossoir de tribord, un corps flottant à l'estacade. L'explosion s'en fit tout-à-coup et vomit quantité de fusées artificielles, grenades, et obus, qui éclatèrent en l'air sans nous faire le moindre mal, cependant nous n'en étions qu'à une demie-encablature." What then becomes of the statement of Mr. Fairfax, the master of Lord Gambier's fleet, that the explosion-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 admits 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 observe, in passing, that, although in point of absolute time the Indienne and Impérieuse 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 explosionvessels, 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." But it was not because the fusees had been fired too early, as stated by Lord Gambier's witnesses, nor because the fusees had burnt too rapidly, as generally understod, but because the boom had interposed to stop the progress of the vessels. 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 followed in 10 minutes by a second, which was even greater and more terrific than the first? At 9 h. 45 m. P. M. the Mediator 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-of+ Ibid., p. 131.

* See Minutes, &c., pp. 177, 178.

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 bro adsides 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 Régulus, 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 Tourville. The Océan 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 Océan. We veered out several fathoms of our north-west cable, but the vessel was still nearing us. The Régulus had just cut her cables, and was endeavouring to get clear of a vessel which threatened to burn her. This movement of the Régulus obliged us to cut our north-west cable. We set the mizen topsail 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. Providence 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 fireship 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 Patriote 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

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 constantly firing, even on English boats towing some of the firevessels. 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 Foudroyant; who had, we believe, cut her north-west cable, and was now riding by her south-east one. By midnight the whole of the remaining 13 French ships were aground; and the following were their situations at daylight on the 12th, as described by the French themselves.

The Océan 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 Océan 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 "à bord du vaisseau l'Océan en rade de l'îsle d'Aix."

At about 500 yards to the south-west of the Océan, upon a rocky bed named Charenton, lay the Varsovie and Aquilon, and close to them, but upon somewhat better ground, the Régulus 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 extremity of the opposite side of the same river. This ship, since 2 A. M., had thrown all her guns overboard except 10 of her 36pounders, 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

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 Tourville 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 Océan, 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 Impérieuse 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 Impérieuse, 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 Impérieuse 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 Impérieuse, 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; 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

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