délabrement où elle était la compromettrait, lui fit le signal de s'éloigner, et que lorsqu'il la vit hors de danger, il amena son pavillon: c'est dans ce sens que vous devez en parler.' The last sentence of this account would lead us to infer, that Buonaparte had, in reality, received no intelligence, but was inventing a story to deceive his minister of marine, and, through him, the public.

Our assertion, that the Cambrian had parted company from the Leander on the night of the 15th, and, at the moment of the Ville-de-Milan's capture, was in the act of coming to an anchor in a harbour of the Bermudas, may not carry conviction to the quarter intended; but the depositions of the two principal surviving officers, late belonging to the French frigate, probably will. Both of them, then, have sworn and certified, and the documents are at hand to be referred to, that no other ship than the Leander was present, either at the recapture of the Cleopatra or at the capture of the Ville-de-Milan. That the Villé-deMilan's late officers were not the authors of the misstatement is clear from the fact, that the writer in the "Victores et Conquêtes" complains of having no French official account to resort to, and of his consequent inability to specify the loss which the Ville-de-Milan had sustained.

Sir Robert Laurie, in his official letter, rather incautiously stated, that the Ville-de-Milan had "been intended for a 74." This, as being contrary to the fact, very naturally gave umbrage to the French. The truth is, the Ville-de-Milan was a regular frigate, and instead of being, as a contemporary states, "1200 tons,' was even a trifle smaller than several French frigates which had previously been captured. The ship was afterwards purchased for the British navy, and classed, under the same name, or rather, under that of Milan, as a 38-gun frigate. It affords us pleasure to state, that the first captain appointed to her was Sir Robert Laurie himself; and that Lieutenant Balfour, late senior lieutenant of the Cleopatra, and already named among her wounded, received the promotion which he had so honourably earned.

On the 20th of March the 18-gun ship-sloop Renard, Captain Jeremiah Coghlan, being in latitude 21° 14' north, longitude 71° 30′ west, discovered a ship to leeward, standing under easy sail to the north-west. The Renard immediately chased, and the stranger, which was the French privateer Général-Ernouf, Captain Lapointe, shortened sail to engage. At 2 h. 25 m. P.M., 2 Brenton, vol. iii., p. 509.

1 Précis des Evènemens, tome xi., p. 259.

being on the weather bow of the Général-Ernouf, the Renard received her fire; but the latter reserved hers until she had -dropped within pistol-shot of her opponent. The Renard then opened her broadside with such effect, that in 35 minutes the Général-Ernouf was set on fire, and in 10 minutes more blew up with a tremendous explosion. Every exertion was now made by the British to save the lives of their late enemies, and the only boat that could swim was launched for the purpose. By this means 55 persons that were floating on the scattered remains of the wreck, the survivors of a crew of 160, were rescued from a watery grave.

The Renard's establishment of guns was 16 carronades, 18-pounders, with two long sixes, and a complement of 121 men and boys; none of whom are represented to have been hurt in the action. The Général-Ernouf had been the British sloop-of-war Lily, and was armed with 18 English 12-pounder carronades (four more than she mounted when captured by the Dame-Ambert1), and two long 6-pounders. The fatal precision of the Renard's fire shows the high state of discipline of her crew; and the already-established gallantry of her commander 2 needs no assurance that, had the Général-Ernouf been even more formidably armed, her officers and crew would have found it a difficult task to avoid becoming the prize of the Renard. It has appeared somewhere in print, that the Général-Ernouf, on first coming alongside, hailed the Renard, in English, desiring her to strike, and that Captain Coghlan replied, he would strike, and d- -d hard too. If the account be true, the captain amply fulfilled his promise.

On the 23rd of March, as the British 18-gun ship-sloop Stork, Captain George Le Geyt, was cruising off the port of Cape Roxo in the island of Porto-Rico, a large armed schooner was discovered lashed alongside a brig in the harbour. For the purpose of cutting out this vessel Captain Le Geyt, in the evening, despatched the pinnace and cutter of the Stork, containing between them 18 men, under the command of Lieutenant George Robertson, assisted by Lieutenant James Murray.

As the schooner, which was the Dutch privateer Antelope, was preparing to heave down on the following day, her five guns were on board the brig, and the two vessels were defended by 40 out of her 54 in crew. Both the schooner and the brig were boarded simultaneously by the two boats, and gallantly carried, without any other casualty to the British than Lieu

1 See vol. iii., p. 276.

2 See vol. ii., p. 50.

tenant Murray and one seaman slightly wounded. The privateer's men having taken to the water soon after the boats got alongside, 15 prisoners were all that were secured.

On the 5th of April, as the British 22-gun ship Bacchante, Captain Charles Dashwood, was cruising off Havana, island of Cuba, information was received that there were three French privateers lying in the harbour of Mariel, a small convenient port situated a little to the westward, and defended by a round tower nearly 40 feet high, on the top of which were three long 24-pounders, and round its circumference numerous loop-holes for musketry. The daring and piratical conduct of these privateers, who plundered and maltreated Americans as well as Englishmen navigating the gulf, determined Captain Dashwood, notwithstanding the strength of their position, to endeavour to cut them out. Accordingly, in the evening, he despatched on that service two boats, containing about 35 seamen and marines, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Oliver, assisted by Lieutenant John Campbell, with directions to attack and carry the fort previously to entering the harbour, so as to secure a safe retreat.

The boats pushed off, and, on nearing the tower, were discovered and fired at. Seeing that no time was to be lost, Lieutenant Oliver, without waiting for his companion, who was astern, pulled rapidly for the shore, in the face of a heavy fire, which badly wounded one man. Leaving in the boat a midshipman, the Honourable Almeira de Courcy, and three men, including the one wounded, Lieutenant Oliver, then, with 13 men, gallantly rushed to the foot of the tower, and, by means of a ladder which his men had brought, scaled, and without any further loss carried, the tower, although garrisoned by a Spanish captain and 30 soldiers, of whom two were killed and three wounded. Having performed this noble exploit, left a sergeant of marines and six men as a guard at the fort, and been joined by Lieutenant Campbell and his boat's crew, Lieutenant Oliver proceeded to execute the second branch of the duty assigned him. To the mortification, however, of both lieutenants, the three privateers had, the day previous, sailed on a cruise.

Not to quit the harbour empty-handed, Lieutenant Oliver took possession of two schooners laden with sugar; and which he gallantly brought away from alongside a wharf, in spite of several discharges of musketry from the troops and militia that were pouring down in numbers from the surrounding country. The name of Thomas Oliver among the commanders of the year

shows that this officer's conduct, as all similar conduct ought, excited the notice of those to whom the power belonged of dispensing rewards to the brave and meritorious.

On the 8th of April, at 1 P.M., the British 12-gun schooner Gracieuse, midshipman John B. Smith, tender to the 74-gun ship Hercule, the flag-ship of Rear-admiral Dacres at Port Royal, Jamaica, cruising off the city of Santo-Domingo, fell in with and captured a large Spanish schooner, bound from that port to Porto-Rico, with passengers. On the 9th, at 6 A.M., the Gracieuse chased and fired at a French sloop within gun-shot of the forts of Santo-Domingo, but could not succeed in overtaking her.

At 4 h. 30 m. P.M. an armed schooner was seen coming out of Santo-Domingo, as if to attack the Gracieuse. The latter, accompanied by her prize, immediately hauled off shore, in order to have sea-room, should the schooner attempt to retreat. At 8 P.M. the Gracieuse shortened sail and hove to, with her prize, the Spanish schooner, under her lee-quarter. At 8 h. 30 m. P.M. the armed schooner, which, according to the report of the Spaniards late belonging to the prize, was a French national vessel, edged down within musket-shot, and opened upon the Gracieuse a very heavy fire of musketry and great guns. This the latter quickly returned, and a smart action ensued. At 9 P.M. the schooner bore down with an intention to board the Gracieuse; but, seeing the opposition she was likely to experience, hauled her wind and renewed the cannonade. At 9 h. 20 m. the attempt was repeated, but again failed. Upon this the schooner made all sail to escape, firing her stern-chasers and musketry. At 11 P.M. she tacked and stood in for the land; and, after receiving from the Gracieuse a heavy fire of grape, canister, and musketry until 3 h. 30 m. A.M. on the 10th, the schooner ran on shore upon Point Vizoa.

Finding it impossible to close with the schooner on account of a reef that intervened, the Gracieuse hove to about half a mile off. At 4 h. 30 m. A.м., observing the schooner afloat again, and sweeping alongshore, the Gracieuse filled and proceeded in chase, and finally compelled the schooner, at 8h. 15 m. A.M., to run on shore upon Point de Selma. The Gracieuse stood in ; and, having anchored with a spring in four fathoms, Mr. Smith sent a boat with a hawser, for the purpose of getting off the vessel, whose crew had by this time landed from her bowsprit. The attempt, however, was found impracticable, the schooner having already filled from the number of shot-holes in her hull.

Her force was found to consist of one long brass 12-pounder, mounted on a circle amidships, two long brass 4-pounder carriage-guns, and four brass 3-pounder swivels, with a crew of 96 men. On the next day, the 11th, Mr. Smith, by means of his boats, brought away the long twelve, and set fire to and destroyed the vessel. The service, thus creditably performed, cost the Gracieuse no heavier loss than one midshipman (Robert Marley) and two seamen wounded.

On the 15th of April, while the 14-gun brig-sloop Papillon, Captain William Woolsey, was lying at an anchor in the harbour of Savana-la-Mar, island of Jamaica, intelligence was received that a Spanish felucca-rigged privateer was cruising off the west end of the island to the great annoyance of the coast. Being apprehensive that, if the Papillon stood out after her, the privateer would make her escape, Captain Woolsey borrowed a shallop from one of the merchant-ships in the port, and disguising her as a drogger, despatched her with Lieutenant Peter Stephen Prieur and 25 men, including the purser, Mr. John Christie, who volunteered his services on the occasion, to endeavour to take the privateer by stratagem.

At 8 P.M. the drogger fell in with the privateer close under the land; and Lieutenant Prieur, with great coolness, allowed her to run alongside and make herself fast. He then ordered his men from below, fired a volley of musketry, and boarded, and in four minutes carried, the Spanish privateer Concepcion, of one brass 3-pounder and 25 men, well armed and equipped. In this ably-conducted little enterprise the British sustained no greater loss than two men slightly wounded; but the Spaniards suffered severely, having had seven men killed and drowned, and eight badly wounded.

On the 6th of May, in the morning, Cape François in the island of St. Domingo bearing south-west by south distant eight or nine leagues, the British 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Unicorn, Captain Lucius Hardyman, discovered a French armed cutter, distant seven or eight miles on her larboard bow. The prevailing calm rendering a chase by the ship impracticable, Captain Hardyman despatched four boats, under the command of Lieutenant Henry Smith Wilson, assisted by Lieutenant James Tait and Henry Bourchier, Midshipman Thomas Tudor Tucker (a passenger from the Northumberland), Lieutenant of marines Walter Powell, and the purser Charles Rundle. After a pull of several hours, the boats reached the object of attack, and in the face of a heavy fire of great guns and musketry, boarded and