anticipate an actual rupture before the month of 1803. September. War was, however, declared by Eng- May. land, virtually on the 16th of May, when letters of marque and general reprisals were ordered, and formally in two days afterwards; and, had the declaration bore date in the preceding February, no one, acquainted with the avowed intentions of Buonaparte, could say it had issued a day too early. Simultaneously with the order for reprisals against french ships, issued one for detaining ships belonging to the batavian republic, Holland being to all intents purposes a province of France. and Convinced that the peace of the world is generally held by a thread, which the caprice of a minister may almost at any time break, we shall not puzzle ourselves, or the reader, with endeavouring to investigate the causes of the war which commenced in the year 1803, but shall plunge at once into the details of its operations; such operations at least as lie within our province, those in which the navies of the several belligerents take a part. On the 17th of May, at 7 P. M., admiral the honourable William Cornwallis, in whose able hands the command of the Channel fleet still remained, having his flag on board the Dreadnought 98, sailed from Cawsand bay, with a fleet of 100 sail of the line and frigates, to cruise off Ushant and watch the motions of the french ships in Brest harbour, five or six only of which were in a state to put to sea. Of the remaining 21 ships of the line which the port contained, some were fitting, others repairing, and three were still upon the stocks, but on the eve of being launched. Could, therefore, a greater force than 10 sail of the line have been sent to cruise off Brest, it would, in the divided state of the french navy, have been wholly unnecessary. Owing to the very reduced state of the batavian navy, which, including three or four ships in the ports of Spain, now consisted of not more than seven sail of the line and a few frigates in a serviceable May. 1803. state, three british ships were all that were required in the North Sea. Four or five others were in the Irish Channel; about an equal number cruised to the southward of Brest; and, of those remaining in Plymouth and Portsmouth, upwards of 20 were fitting for sea, as fast as the dearth of seamen, and unfortunately, of stores too, would admit. July. Although the watchfulness of admiral Cornwallis, who, on the 9th of July, shifted his flag from the Dreadnought to the 112 gun-ship Ville-de-Paris, precluded any addition to the Brest fleet from without the port, two fine ships joined it from within. Both were launched on the same day, the 15th of August; one the Cassard 74, the other, the celebrated three-decker on hand since the year 1794, and ing of which, under such highly-wrought feelings, was then ordered to be named the Vengeur, to commemorate the supposed martyrdom of the 74 of that name, captured and sunk in lord Howe's action.* Launch Ven geur. The summer passed, and the year nearly closed, without any material change in the relative positions of the Brest and Channel fleets. On Christmas-day, however, the strong south-west gales, which with short intermissions had blown for some weeks, increased to so alarming a height, that the blockading ships, one and all, were compelled to retire from the french coast, and seek safety in Plymouth and other british ports. At this time lay in the outer road of Brest, ready for sea, the Vengeur threedecker, bearing the flag of vice-admiral LaurentJean-François Truguet, an 80, with rear-admiral Ganteaume's flag, and six 74s, attended by about an equal number of frigates and corvettes, but they made no attempt to sail out. Before the end of the year there were several other of the continental ports opening into the ocean, which, besides Brest, contained french ships of the line, and in sufficient number when united to excite * See vol. i. p. 248. some attention. At Rochefort had recently arrived, 1803. along with some frigates, two of the nine sail of the line, already mentioned as at, or coming from, the island of St.-Domingo when the war broke out. In Ferrol and Corunna were lying five other of those line-of-battle ships, and a sixth ship, (making the eighth in the whole,) the Aigle 74, had put into Cadiz. To guard all these ports, except the last, was a part of the duty of the commander in chief of the Channel fleet; and, as soon as practicable, they were watched by british squadrons corresponding in force with the french squadrons within them. Although a single gun-boat is not of a force to excite alarm, several scores of such vessels, united in a fleet, are sufficiently formidable to call for the fullest attention of an enemy. With this view the british government, very soon after war was declared, stationed cruisers, commanded by active and experienced officers, in front of all those ports along the Channel frontier of France, from Ostende to Cape La Hougue, and thence to Granville, at which divisions of gun-vessels were known to be constructing or fitting out. Buonaparte's plan, for the employment of this apparently insignificant description of force in the invasion of England, was not matured until the ensuing year; but, in the mean time, considerable activity prevailed among the different entrepots along the above line of coast. On most occasions, when any of the flotilla ventured from under the protection of their batteries, they were met, and either captured or driven back, by the blockading force; and were sometimes attacked with success, even when moored, as they considered, beyond the reach of british enterprise. We mean now to embody the most interesting of the skirmishes that ensued, during the present year, between british cruisers and the french invasion-flotilla. On the 14th of June, in the morning, the bri- June, tish 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Immortalité, captain June. Cap abord mode. 1803. Edward William Campbell Rich Owen, and 18-gun brig-sloops Cruiser and Jalouse, captain John Hancock and Christopher Strachey, chased the two french ture of gun-vessels, Inabordable schooner and Commode the In- brig, each carrying one 18, and three 24 pounder able & long guns, on shore upon the east part of Cape Com- Blanc-Nez. As soon as the flood-tide made, the Cruiser and Jalouse stood in, and, anchoring with springs, commenced engaging the batteries under which the gun-vessels had grounded. At the end of an hour's mutual cannonade the batteries were silenced; and, in the face of a heavy fire of musketry from the cliffs, by which Mr. Charles Adams, master's mate of the Jalouse, the only person hurt, was badly wounded, the boats of the three british vessels boarded and brought off the french brig and schooner. Aug. Boats near Hâvre. On the 1st of August a french armed lugger, which the british 38-gun frigate Hydra, captain of the George Mundy, had prevented from entering the port Hydra of Hâvre, having hauled close to the beach about two miles to the westward of the river Touque, captain Mundy despatched the Hydra's boats, under the orders of lieutenant Francis M'Mahon Tracy, assisted by messieurs John Barclay and George French midshipmen, to endeavour to bring off or destroy her. On the near approach of the boats the crew of the lugger, which was the Favori, of four carriageguns, commanded by a lieutenant de vaisseau, abandoned her and retreated to the shore; where, in concert with a party of military, they posted themselves behind some sand-banks that lay abreast and within musketshot of their vessel. From this position the french soldiers and sailors kept up a constant fire upon the people in the boats and on board the Favori; and received a return from the british marines, until the lugger, by the exertions of the prize-master and his men, had gained a safe distance from the shore. One seaman killed was the extent of the loss on the british side. نہ Dieppe, On the 14th of September, at 8 A. M., the Immor- 1803. talité frigate, in company with the bomb-vessels, Sept. Perseus, captain John Methuist, and Explosion, cap- Bomtain Robert Paul, commenced an attack upon the bardbatteries that protect the town of Dieppe, also on 17 ment of gun-vessels building in the port. The firing was continued on both sides until 11h.30 m. A.M.; when, the lee-tide making strong, and the town having taken fire badly in one place, and slightly in two others, the frigate and bomb-vessels weighed, and proceeded off St.-Valery en Caux, where six gun-boats were St.-Vaconstructing. At 3 P. M. the British opened a fire lery en upon that place, and continued it for an hour, apparently with some effect: captain Owen then retired, with the loss of one man missing and five men wounded. Caux, ville. On the 13th of September, in the evening, the british 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Cerberus, captain William Selby, bearing the flag of rear-admiral sir James Saumarez, anchored as close to the town of Granville as the tide would admit, having only 16 Granfeet under her keel at low water. In company with the Cerberus were the sloops of war, Charwell and Kite, captains Philip Dumaresq and Philip Pipon, Ealing schooner, lieutenant William Archbold, and "Carteret" cutter, with whose commander's name we are unacquainted. As soon as the bomb-vessels Sulphur and Terror, captains Daniel M'Leod and George Nicholas Hardinge, which were hourly expected, should arrive, it was intended to bombard the port of Granville, in the hope to destroy some of the numerous gun-boats lying within the pier. At 11 P. M. the Terror came up; but, having as well as the Cerberus grounded at low water, it was not until 2 a. m. on the 14th, that captain Hardinge could get to the station assigned him. Being then judiciously placed by her commander, the Terror commenced throwing shells from her two mortars, and received an immediate return from the gun and mortar batteries on the heights near the town, |