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As the two contending frigates were now crossing ahead of the Impétueux, Captain Wolfe burnt a second blue light, in the hope that, upon seeing the position of the French frigate, the Impétueux would run on board: an operation that, with the way then upon the 74, would have cut the frigate to the water's edge, and ensured her capture. Being now, however, very near the island, with a dark night to add to the difficulties of the navigation, the Impétueux, instead of doing so, wore round on the starboard tack, fired her larboard guns, and then, wearing again, followed the Aigle through the passage. The French frigate, shortly afterwards, as the only means of escaping from her persevering antagonist, ran with all sail set upon Pointe des Chats, on the isle of Groix, under very high and formidable batteries. The Aigle and .Impétueux shortly afterwards anchored to the south-west of the island, and were presently joined by the Saturn; who, as well as the Narcissus and Cuckoo, had also passed through between Groix and the main.

In this her gallant action with the French frigates and batteries, the Aigle was a considerable sufferer, having had three guns split and dismounted, a bower-anchor cut in two, and her mainmast and bowsprit irreparably injured. Her loss amounted to Captain Wolfe (severely in the left arm and hip), one Lieutenant (John Lamb), and 20 seamen and marines wounded; seven of them so badly that they were invalided as unservice

able.

On the next day, the 23d, at daylight, the Impétueux and squadron weighed and stood into the passage, and discovered the French frigate on Pointe des Chats, with her yards and topmasts struck, and her mizenmast cut or carried away, heeling very much. Several shells were thrown at the British ships from the batteries, but none struck them. In the course of the forenoon the people on board the Aigle saw seven coffins landed from the frigate, and carried to a church that stood on the top of a neighbouring hill: a tolerable proof that the shot of the Aigle had done some execution. By the aid of two large vessels and sundry smaller ones from the dock-yard at Lorient, this French frigate was at length got afloat and towed into Lorient. The other frigate, also, on the morning of the 29th, taking advantage of a shift of wind to the westward, slipped her cable, and in 20 minutes was safe at anchor in the same port. Although it is not in our power to state positively which of these two frigates it was that got on shore, we believe it to have been the Seine, as that frigate did not again go to sea, except as an armée en flûte, or store-ship.

Notwithstanding the fate of the "sloop of war" Lily,* vessels of that denomination, inferior in force to a gun-brig, were still suffered to remain in the British navy. One of the "cruisers" of this class was the Childers, a brig of 202 tons, built as

*See vol. iii., p. 271.

long ago as the year 1778; a vessel so unseaworthy as to have been obliged, on more than one occasion, to throw overboard her guns, 4-pounders, in order to save the lives of her crew. The brig at length became so crazy, that 18-pounder carronades were found too heavy for her, and she was fitted with fourteen 12pounders. In this state, and manned with a crew, nominally, of 86, but really of 65 men and boys, including only one lieutenant (there not being accommodation for more), the Childers, Captain William Henry Dillon, in the month of January of the present year, lay in Leith roads, waiting to give her "protection" to the trade proceeding to Gottenburg. But the merchants, the instant they knew the force and qualifications of the Childers, objected to place their property under her care; supposing, very naturally, that so small and ill armed a vessel was incapable of beating off the privateers that infested the northern waters. Ludicrous as the application would have appeared, the merchants, had they wished for a vessel of nearly double the force of the one they had rejected, might have requested the board of admiralty to appoint, instead of the "sloop of war" Childers, the "gun-brig" Insolent, then cruising on the Downs' station. What vessel the merchants at last obtained we know not; but the Childers proceeded by herself to the Baltic, to effect as much, in the way of annoying the enemy, as her small powers would admit.

On the 14th of March, at 4 P. M., as the Childers was standing towards the coast of Norway, with a fresh breeze from the eastward, a sail was discovered in-shore, and immediately chased. The stranger hauled in among the rocks, out of sight, for the purpose of taking shelter in the small port of Midbe. Immediately a number of boats came out, with the apparent intention of removing the vessel's cargo. To prevent this, Captain Dillon despatched the cutter, well armed, under the command of William Wilson, the master, accompanied by master's mate Thomas Edward Knight, also the jollyboat, with Robert Nicholl the gunner, and Augustus William Henry Le Neve the purser a volunteer. The near approach of these two boats was the signal for the shore boats to disperse; and, although opposed by the inhabitants with musketry, as well as with stones hurled from the top of the precipice under which the vessel lay, the British boarded and carried her. She proved to be a Danish galliot, partly laden with oil and fish.

Scarcely had the Childers descried the galliot, thus taken by her boats, coming out from among the rocks, than she also observed a large brig, evidently a vessel of force, sail out of Hitteroe. The latter soon bore down towards the Childers, with the apparent design of fighting her and rescuing the prize. At about 6 P. M. the stranger, which was the Danish brig-corvette Lougen, mounting 18 long 18-pounders, and two long 6-pounders through the stern-ports, with a crew of 160 men and boys, commanded by Captain Wulff, got upon the weather beam of the Childers, at about gun-shot distance.

Being aware that the convoy, of which the Childers was to have been the escort, would very soon approach, Captain Dillon felt it incumbent upon him, notwithstanding the evident superiority of the Danish brig, to strive his utmost to drive her into port. By way of defiance, therefore, the Childers fired a shot over the Lougen; who immediately hauled close to the wind, and stood in-shore. As soon as she had secured her prize and hoisted in her boats, the Childers followed the Danish brig; and, when the two vessels were within half a mile of the shore, they exchanged broadsides, on opposite tacks, at about half gun-shot distance. Soon after the Childers had discharged her broadside, the Dane was discovered to be on fire forward; and, had the Childers been near enough to profit by the confusion evidently caused by the accident, the contest might have been brought to a speedy termination.

The Lougen now kept so near to the Norwegian shore, that she became hid from the view of the Childers, and could not at any rate be weathered by her. It was only, indeed, by the flash of the Lougen's guns, that Captain Dillon knew in what direction to fire his own. In this manner the engagement lasted for three hours; during which the heavy metal and well-directed fire of the Dane did the Childers considerable damage. Many of the Danish 18-pounders struck the British vessel between wind and water; while the shot of the Childers, being discharged from 12-pounder carronades, frequently fell short; a circumstance which must have greatly reanimated her opponent.

Despairing of accomplishing any thing while the wary Dane hugged the land so closely, the Childers stood out under easy sail, in the hope of enticing the Lougen to sea; where a close, and therefore a more equal, combat could not so well be avoided by the latter. At length the Lougen ventured from the land, and at 11 P. M. was three miles distant from it. The Childers now set her courses, and tacked, with the intention of weathering her antagonist; but the wind presently headed her and defeated the attempt. As the only alternative, the Childers passed close under the lee of the Lougen, and poured into her a broadside of round and grape; receiving in return many destructive shot, several of which entered between wind and water. The Lougen immediately tacked, and made sail to regain the shore; and the Childers, having her lower masts and bowsprit badly wounded, five feet water in the hold, her magazine afloat, and the water gaining on the pumps, was not in a state to renew the action.

Of her crew of 56 men and boys, the Childers had her captain's clerk (Joseph Roberts) and one seaman killed, and her commander (severely in both legs and in his left arm), two midshipmen (John Batten and Charles Parker), three seamen, two marines, and one boy wounded. The Lougen, from declining to continue the engagement, must have suffered some loss; but its amount we are unable to state.

After bearing up to join her prize, the Childers lay to all night on the starboard tack, to stop eight shot-holes between wind and water. This done, and being in too shattered a state to keep the sea, the Childers put back to Leith. In the mean time the merchant vessels from that port, having had the Lougen driven out of their track, and that by the very vessel whose services their owners had despised, passed in safety to their destination.

The gallantry of the Childers in this affair, obtained for her officers and crew the thanks of the admiralty, and for Captain Dillon himself the grand desideratum of a commander, postrank. Of his first and only lieutenant, Thomas Edmunds, Captain Dillon speaks in the highest terms. What honours fell to the share of Captain Wulff, for his conduct on the occasion, depended very much, no doubt, upon the story he told when he got safe into port.

On the 19th of June, at 2 P. M., the Nase of Norway bearing west-north-west seven or eight leagues, the British 16-gun brigsloop Seagull (fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two sixes), Captain Robert Cathcart, discovered in-shore, running to the eastward, with a fresh breeze at west-south-west, the same Danish 20-gun brig Lougen, of whom mention has just been made. The Seagull crowded sail in chase; and at 4 h. 30 m. P. M., having arrived within gun-shot, hoisted her colours. The Lougen did the same, and, knowing that a long range suited her best, immediately opened a fire from her starboard guns. It now falling nearly calm, the Seagull was obliged to use her sweeps, in order, by getting between her antagonist and the shore, to prevent the latter from entering Christiansand harbour, off the mouth of which she lay; and more particularly, that the former might gain a position near enough for her carronades to produce effect.

At 5. P. M. the British brig got within musket-shot of the Dane and commenced the action, but soon had most of her sweeps, and the greater part of her rigging, shot away by the Lougen's fire. After the engagement had continued in this way for 20 minutes, six Danish gun-boats, each armed with two long 24-pounders, and manned with from 60 to 70 men, and which until now had been concealed behind the rocks, pulled towards the Seagull. They soon swept up, and, taking a position on each quarter, raked the Seagull at every shot; while the Lougen was doing the same on the British brig's larboard bow. By 6 h. 30 m. P. M. five out of seven of the Seagull's carronades on the larboard side were dismounted. Every effort was now used to get the brig round; but, as her sweeps were all destroyed, and her rigging and sails, even had there been a breeze to use them, cut to pieces, that object could not be effected. After sustaining the heavy fire of her numerous antagonists until 7 h. 30 m. P. M., at which time she had five feet water in the hold, the Seagull struck her colours.

Out of her 94 men and boys, the Seagull lost her second lieutenant (Abraham Harcourt White), master (Andrew Martin), three seamen, and three marines killed, her captain (severely), first lieutenant (Villiers T. Hatton, dangerously), boatswain (Thomas Wilson), 11 seamen, and six marines wounded. Scarcely could the wounded and the remaining survivors of her crew be removed, ere the Seagull went down; thereby affording an incontestable proof, that her damages had been of the utmost magnitude, and that, in protracting their resistance so long, her officers and crew had acquitted themselves like British seamen. The Lougen out of her 160 men and boys, appears to have had one man killed and 13 wounded, and was much damaged. The loss sustained by the gun-boats cannot be ascertained. The Seagull was afterwards weighed by the Danes, and added to their navy. For his gallant defence of her, Captain Cathcart, as soon as he returned home, was promoted to post-rank.

On the 22d of March, at 2 P. M., the British 64-gun ships Stately, Captain George Parker, and Nassau, Captain Robert Campbell, proceeding towards the Great Belt, descried and chased a strange sail. At 4 P. M., Greenall on the Jutland coast bearing north-west by west distant 40 miles, the stranger was made out to be an enemy, and at 5 P. M., a Danish ship of the line, having evidently the intention, if no other mode of escape offered, of running herself on shore.

At 7 h. 40 m. P. M. the Nassau got up with, and opened her fire upon, the Danish 74-gun ship Prindts-Christian-Frederic, Captain Jessen; and, in a few minutes afterwards, the Stately closed and did the same. A running fight was thus maintained, with great obstinacy on the part of the 74, until 9 h. 30 m. P. M., when the Prindts-Christian-Frederic struck her colours. At this time the latter was within less than 500 yards of the shore of Zealand; and, before the first lieutenant of the Stately, Mr. David Sloan, who had gone on board to take possession, could cut away her anchor, the prize grounded. The two British ships, fortunately for them, had already brought up near her. The remaining part of the night was employed in removing the prisoners; but it was found impossible to get the captured ship afloat. On the 23d, in the evening, as the Danes were preparing their artillery on the coast, and as the wind blew strong on the shore and a good deal of sea was running, the Prindts-Christian-Frederic was set on fire by her captors, and in a short time blew up.

The loss on the part of the Stately was two seamen and two marines killed, and one lieutenant (Edward Cole), the boatswain (John Liming), one master's mate (James Davis), 23 seamen, and two marines wounded. The Nassau had one seaman killed and one missing, and one first-class volunteer (Edward J. Johnson), 10 seamen, and five marines wounded; total, on the side of the British, five killed and 45 wounded and missing. The

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