Lieutenants of marines Thomas Moore of the Amphion, and Jeremiah Brattle of the Cerberus; also by master's mate Charles H. Ross, and midshipmen Joseph Gape, Thomas Edward Hoste, Charles Bruce, and Cornwallis Paley, schoolmaster James Leonard Few, and volunteer Samuel Jeffery, of the Amphion; and, belonging to the Cerberus, the gunner, John Johnson, and midshipmen John Miller, George Farrenden, Joseph Stoney, George Fowler, William Sherwood, Charles Mackey, and Lewis Rollier, pushed off, and before daylight on the morning of the 29th landed, without the firing of a musket, a little to the right of the town.

Advancing immediately to the attack of the town, above which the vessels lay moored, the British were met, about the dawn of day, by a body of troops and peasantry; who opened a very destructive fire, and obliged the former to retire to the shelter of some hillocks. Conceiving that their opponents were retreating to their boats, the French quitted their advantageous position, and charged with the bayonet. They were received with the bravery and steadiness so characteristic of British seamen and marines, and a lieutenant, a sergeant, and 38 privates of the 81st regiment of French infantry were made prisoners. Lieutenant Slaughter and his party now entered the town, and took possession of the vessels, 25 in number. At about 11 A. M. a detachment of the 5th regiment of French infantry, consisting of a lieutenant and 22 men, entered Groa from Maran, a village in the interior.

They were instantly attacked by the force that was nearest to them, consisting of a division of seamen and marines under Lieutenants Slaughter, Moore, and James Mears of the Active, whose boats had landed just as the men of the Amphion and Cerberus had achieved their exploit. The same intrepidity, which had ensured success on that occasion, produced it on this; and the 22 French troops, with their officer, laid down their arms and surrendered. Every exertion was now made to get the convoy out of the river; but, it being almost low water, that object could not be effected before 7 P. M.; and then not without great labour and fatigue, the men having to shift the cargoes of the large vessels into smaller ones, in order to float the former over the bar. By 8 P. M., however, the whole detachment and the prizes reached the squadron, which had anchored about four miles from the town.

The loss on the part of the British, in performing this very gallant service, amounted to four marines killed, one lieutenant of marines (Brattle), three seamen, and four marines wounded; and the loss sustained by the French amounted to 10 killed, eight by bayonet wounds, a proof of the nature of the conflict, and eight wounded. Of the captured vessels, 11 were burnt in the river, because too large to pass the bar in the state of the

tide, five were brought out and sent to Lissa with cargoes; as were also 14 or 15 small trading craft, laden with the cargoes of the burnt vessels.

The British official acount is, as it ever ought to be where practicable, very precise in enumerating the force of the opposite party we wish it had been equally so in stating the numerical amount of the attacking force. There is one part of captain Hoste's letter, which we should like to see oftener "No credit," he says, imitated. 66 can attach itself to me, sir, for the success of this enterprise; but I hope I may be allowed to point out those to whose gallant exertions it is owing." Captain Hoste then gives the christian as well as surnames of all the officers engaged; a plan that has enabled us, without that difficulty which we almost on every other occasion experience, to do the same.

In the autumn of the present year the French force cruising in the Adriatic was under the orders of Commodore Bernard Dubourdieu, and consisted of the two French 40-gun frigates Favorite (the commodore's ship, Captain Antoine-FrancoisZavier La Marre-la-Meillerie, and Uranie, Captain Pierre-JeanBaptiste Margollé-Lanier, the Venetian 40-gun frigate Corona, Captain Paschaligo, and 32-gun frigates Bellona and Carolina, Captains Baralovich and Palicuccia, along with the brig-corvettes Jéna and Mercure. The duty of watching this squadron was intrusted to Captain Hoste, with his three frigates already

named.

On the 29th of September the Franco-Venetian squadron sailed from Chiozzo, and arrived in a few days afterwards at Ancona; where, accompanied by a schooner and a gun-vessel, the squadron was descried, on the morning of the 6th of October, part under sail and part in the act of weighing, by Captain Hoste; who, having detached the Cerberus to Malta, had then with him only the Amphion and Active. The wind was blowing a fine breeze from the south-east, and Ancona bore from the two British frigates south-south-west distant four leagues. At noon, having collected all his ships, Commodore Dubourdieu made sail in chase of the Amphion and Active; one division of three ships stretching out on the starboard tack, add the remainder of the squadron standing close hauled on the larboard tack, ready to take advantage of any change of wind. Captain Hoste stood towards the Franco-Venetian squadron, until he had distinctly made out its force. Finding the enemy's superiority to be such as it would be impossible to overcome, he then, at 1 P. M., tacked and stood to the north-east. Fearful either of an increasing gale, or of being drawn off the land, Commodore Dubourdieu, at 2 P. M., tacked and stood in towards the harbour of Ancona. Having seen this squadron of bold cruisers safe at anchor in their port, Captain Hoste steered for the island of

Lissa; and, arriving on the 9th, was so fortunate as to find the Cerberus, who had called there on her way to Malta.

On the 12th, having been joined by the 18-gun ship-sloop Acorn, Captain Robert Clephane, Captain Hoste put to sea, with his little squadron of three frigates and one sloop, and steered straight for Ancona, in quest of Commodore Dubourdieu, with his five frigates and two 16-gun brigs. A strong northerly wind, and then a calm of three days' continuance, made it the 20th before the Amphion and her consorts obtained a view of Ancona. M. Dubourdieu was not there. Concluding that he had gone to Corfu, Captain Hoste instantly put about, and crowded sail in that direction, intending to call off Lissa by the way. On the 21st, in the evening, when in sight of that island, the Active, looking out in the south-east, boarded a Sicilian privateer, that had been chased by the enemy, and had lost sight of him only six hours before off Vasto, steering under a press of sail to the south-south-east.

There was now just time before dark to recall the Cerberus, who had been despatched to Lissa for intelligence. The privateer's information confirming Captain Hoste in the opinion that M. Dubourdieu had gone to Corfu, particularly as the wind at this time was from the westward, the British squadron steered south by east all night, with almost a certainty of discovering the Franco-Venetian squadron at daylight between Pelagosi and St.-Angelo. Daylight on the 22d came, but no sail was in sight, except three fishermen off Pelagosi; who, on being spoken, said they had left Lissa on the preceding day, but had seen nothing of the enemy. Little doubt now remained, that the enemy was still ahead of the British; who, consequently continued working to the south-east all that day and all the 23d. On the 24th the squadron came in sight of Brindisi; and, as the wind was then blowing fresh from the south-east, the commodore thought it likely that M. Dubourdieu, finding the wind foul for Corfu, would stretch over to the Albanian coast, and perhaps rendezvous at Bocca de Cattaro; where it was known that a convoy for Corfu were to assemble from Spalatro. Hearing no tidings of the enemy at Cattaro, and judging from the increased force of the south-east wind, that the French commodore was still to leeward, Captain Hoste retraced his steps to the northward. While this zealous and able officer is hastening towards Lissa, we will endeavour to trace the movements of the object of his anxiety.

It was on the 18th of October that M. Dubourdieu, having on board a battalion of the 3d regiment of the line, sailed from Ancona. He then steered alongshore to the southward; and on the 21st, in the night, was informed by a fisherman, that the English squadron had gone to the southward upon a cruise. Having now little to fear, Commodore Dubourdieu crossed over

from the coast of Apulia, and in the forenoon of the 22d arrived off Port St.-George, island of Lissa. Hoisting English colours, he entered the harbour with the Favourite, Bellona, and Corona; leaving the Uranie and the three remaining vessels to cruise in the offing, and give notice of the approach of any strangers. At 15 minutes past noon the three frigates anchored and debarked the troops. The commodore then, as he represents, took possion of 30 vessels, of which 10 were "superb" privateers, mounting altogether 100 guns, burnt 64, of which 43 were laden, and restored several other vessels to French, Illyrian, Italian, and Neapolitan subjects. The troops are stated to have taken the island without resistance, and to have made prisoners of the English "garrison," numbering 100. All this appears to have been the work of only six or seven hours; for the Franco-Venetian squadron, by dark the same evening, had re-embarked the troops and made sail out of the harbour: a sudden step for which we may presently be able to account.

The French commodore concludes his letter to Prince Murat by stating that the English squadron, composed of three frigates, one corvette, and "two brigs," avoided measuring strength with him, although his officers and crews were all extremely eager for the combat. "La division anglaise, composée de trois frégates, une corvette, et deux bricks, a évité de se mesurer avec nous. Je puis assurer à V. A. que les états-majors et équipages étaient dans les meilleures dispositions et fort désireux de se battre." He had previously described his own squadron, as consisting of "trois frégates, deux corvettes, et deux bricks. Thus representing, that the difference of force was only one "corvette;" a name applied, with singular propriety, to ships like the Bellona and Carolina, measuring 700 tons, and mounting 36 guns, including 24 long French 12pounders on the main deck. The whole of this statement conveys a vile insinuation; and, if the paragraph, as it here stands, really formed part of the original letter, and was not superadded by the Moniteur, it leaves an indelible stain upon the character of M. Dubourdieu. With respect to the strong desire in the French officers and men to have a meeting with the British squadron, we may yet have to show how amply that desire was gratified.

We have given the Moniteur's version of the proceedings of Commodore Dubourdieu's squadron at Lissa: we will now state the circumstances as they really occurred. On the morning of the 26th Captain Hoste arrived off Port St.-George; and his disappointment may be conceived on learning what had happened. The French commodore landed from 700 to 800 troops, and took possession of the port. A midshipman of the Amphion, who had been left in charge of some prizes, retired to the mountains with almost all the inhabitants and the crews of the privateers; and, when the enemy's troops disembarked, none but

66

the constituted authorities remained in the town. In the afternoon the three firshermen, spoken by the squadron of Captain Hoste that same morning off Pelagosi, arrived in the harbour. The information they brought, of the British being so near, produced the utmost confusion on board the squadron that was so desirous to meet them ;" and, after destroying two British and three Sicilian privateers, Commodore Dubourdieu got under way and departed with no other trophies of his exploit, than two detained vessels belonging to the British squadron and a privateer schooner. The precipitate retreat of a force, apparently so formidable, left upon the inhabitants of Lissa so unfavourable an impression of French naval prowess, that they almost all began to take up arms; and had the British squadron made its appearance off the island, the French would have found a resistance where they little expected it.

Without waiting to hear the details of what had taken place, Captain Hoste crowded sail to the north-west. But he was too late; for before the British squadron had even lost sight of the island of Lissa, the Franco-Venetian squadron was entering the harbour of Ancona: a harbour which we doubt if it ever would have entered, had the Active not fallen in with the Sicilian privateer. The arrival in the Adriatic of the 74-gun ship Montagu, Captain Richard Hussey Moubray, to take the command of the British squadron, and be ready for the new 74-gun ship Rivoli, expected soon to put to sea from the port of Venice, left M. Dubourdieu with a real excuse for remaining, during the rest of the year, quiet in Ancona.

On the 25th of July, at daybreak, as the British 12-pounder 32gun frigate Thames, Captain Granville George Waldegrave, and 18gun brig-sloop Pilot, Captain John Toup Nicolas, were standing along the coast of Naples, the 18-gun brig sloop Weazle, Captain Henry Prescott, appeared off Amanthea, with the signal flying for an enemy's convoy, consisting, as afterwards discovered, of 32 transport vessels from Naples, laden with stores and provisions for Murat's army at Scylla, and escorted by seven gun-boats, mounting one gun each, all long 18-pounders but two, which were brass 36-pounder carronades, four scampavias, or armed vessels, also of one gun each (8, 6, and 4 pounders), and an armed pinnace with swivels. Immediately on perceiving that the British ships were approaching towards them, the transports ran upon the beach under the town of Amanthea, where they were flanked by two batteries; while the gun-boats and other armed vessels, under the command of Capitaine de frégate Caraccioli, drew themselves up in a line for the protection of the former.

The weather being nearly calm, it was 2 P. M. before the frigate and the two brigs were enabled to form in a close line; when running along within grape-shot distance, they presently drove the Neapolitans from the vessels, and then anchored.