After the squadron and convoy had passed up, which they did without
the loss of a single vessel or man, Rosas set to work to fortify the
cliffs of San Lorenzo. This he did in the most effectual way in his
power, by throwing up large works of earth, and in collecting guns
from every direction, and also in training his men to the use of
them. He had plenty of time to effect these objects, as the squadron
was detained some time at Corrientes, while the merchantmen were
disposing of their cargoes, and collecting fresh ones to to take back
in return. May 1846, indeed, had arrived, before the different
vessels of the convoy had settled all their affairs, and, to the
number of 110, were ready to descend the river.
In the mean time a constant communication had been kept up with the
Admiral at Monte Video by the men-of-war, which had on each occasion
to run the gauntlet of the batteries, and, in some instances, with
severe loss: their commanders at the same time affording a noble
display of gallantry in obeying the orders they had received.
Commander Sulivan, among others, made himself very conspicuous by the
accurate knowledge he possessed of the river, which enabled him to
pilot the ships up without risk.
The 'Philomel' having been despatched from Corrientes to Monte Video,
as she approached the batteries of San Lorenzo, Commander Sulivan
made preparations to pass them. Knowing that he could pass under the
cliffs, he judged it best to hug them as closely as possible, lest
any guns should already be mounted. Having made a barricade of
hammocks and bags for the helmsman, he sent all hands below to be out
of harm's way; he himself only and his first-lieutenant remaining on
deck to con the brig. Slowly and silently the little vessel drew
near the point of danger. A light and favourable air filled her
sails, and almost grazing the perpendicular cliff, she glided slowly
by. When the brig was close under the first battery, the enemy
opened their fire at her, but so near was she to the cliffs, that
they could not sufficiently depress their guns to touch her decks:
their lowest shot going through the boom mainsail, four or five feet
above the hammock-netting. They continued their ineffectual fire
till the gallant little 'Philomel' was quite clear and out of range.
H.M. steamer 'Lizard,' H. M. Tylden, lieutenant, commanding, which
was sent up the Parana on the 21st of April, was not so fortunate in
escaping without damage. When about six miles from San Lorenzo,
Lieut. Tylden observed that large batteries had been erected on a
commanding point, and that the adjacent coast was lined with
artillery and field-pieces. As the 'Lizard' approached the
batteries, Lieut. Tylden ordered three ensigns to be hoisted, as a
signal to the enemy that he intended to fight as long as his ship
floated. At half-past eleven A.M., the northern batteries opened a
heavy fire, and, on approaching nearer, the other batteries and
artillery commenced a quick and well-directed fire also, which was
returned by the 'Lizard' with rockets and her forecastle gun, until
the rocket-stand was shot away, and the gun could no longer be
elevated sufficiently to bear on the enemy. When the gallant
commander found that the heavy shot, grape, and musketry were
riddling his vessel from stem, to stern, he ordered the officers and
men to go below, with the exception of those absolutely required on
deck, in the hopes that they might thus escape injury. Scarcely,
however, had they gone below, when two shot entered the gun-room, one
of which killed Mr. Barnes, clerk in charge, and the other Mr. Webb,
master's assistant. Two seamen also were killed, and Mr. Miller,
assistant-surgeon, and three men were wounded. As the wind and
current were against her, and there was a great deal of water in the
hold, she made but slow progress, and it was not till 25 minutes past
one P.M. that she got out of fire. She received 7 shot between wind
and water, besides 9 cannon, 14 grape, and 41 musket balls, in the
hull and bulwarks, and 7 cannon and grape in the funnel and
steam-pipe; while her boats, mainmast, and rigging were shot through
and through by cannon.
H.M. steamer 'Harpy,' E. H. B. Proctor, lieutenant, commanding, went
up the river under similar circumstances on the 11th May. As she
passed the forts of San Lorenzo, a galling fire of musketry,
field-pieces, and other guns was opened on her within sixty yards.
The fire was kept up on her for upwards of an hour; and as she passed
slowly up the stream, she was followed by field-pieces and a large
body of troops, who, remaining concealed, lined the banks, keeping up
a constant fire of musketry. About ten minutes before she got clear
of gun-shot range, her gallant commander was hit in the fleshy part
of the right arm by a round shot. He immediately fell, and was
carried below, when Mr. Bruce, mate, took charge of the ship; while
Mr. Ward, second master, in the most cool and steady way,
notwithstanding the tremendous fire to which she was exposed,
attended to her steering. No other person on board the 'Harpy' was
hit; but she was greatly cut up about the rigging, and received many
musket balls and grape in her hull, funnel, topsails, and boats.
H.M. steam-sloop 'Alecto,' Commander F. W. Austen, had previously
early in April gone up, towing three heavily-laden schooners against
a current of three knots and a head wind. On approaching a place
called Tonelero, a number of workmen were seen throwing up batteries,
clearly for the purpose of annoying the convoy on their way down.
Opening her fire on them, she soon put them to flight. She came up
to the batteries on the morning of the 6th, with a strong wind and
current against her, and the heavy schooners in tow. She had been
accompanied all the way by a squadron of cavalry, who kept pace with
her in an easy walk, halting every now and then. At two her crew
went to quarters; and at forty minutes past two, having before fired
a few shot, her three guns and rockets were got into full play. This
was answered by the lower guns on the batteries with round shot,
until she reached the narrowest part; when the enemy opened with
round shot and grape together. Their guns were raking her at this
time from head to stern, in such a way that none of her guns could be
brought to bear in return. In this state she remained for twenty
minutes, scarcely going a-head, and receiving the fire of seven
eighteen-pounders, several of which were pointed down on her decks.
During this time she fired away in return at the enemy, who appeared
abreast of her, every round of grape and canister on board, and was
then reduced to round shot. For a few minutes also she exchanged
with them a sharp fire of musketry. She then went gradually a-head,
and as the river widened, and the current decreased in strength, she
drew out of shot, having been an hour and fifteen minutes under fire.
Captain Austen, her commander, was the only person hurt, a spent
grape-shot having struck him a severe blow on the thigh. Commander
Mackinnon, then a lieutenant, who has written a most amusing account
of the affair, says, "that in going into action the men appeared to
take it as a matter of course; but as the plot thickened, and they
warmed at the work, they tossed the long guns about like playthings,
and indeed managed them in an admirable manner." This he attributes
to the system taught on board the 'Excellent.' The crews of the
Monte Vidian schooners were in a dreadful fright all the time,
expecting to be sent to the bottom. On sounding the well on board
the 'Alecto,' a considerable quantity of water was found in the hold.
When search was made, a shot-hole was discovered forward between wind
and water. This was speedily plugged. Just as she came in sight of
the convoy, after her long and tedious voyage, she got on shore, and
remained for some days before she was again floated off.
GALLANT EXPLOIT OF LIEUT. MACKINNON WITH HIS ROCKET
BATTERY AGAINST THE FORTS OF SAN LORENZO.
Santa Fe is situated on the east bank of the river. It is a place of
some size, built partly at the foot, and partly on the side of a
lofty hill, surrounded by _corrales_, where thousands of cattle are
slaughtered, their hides and the tallow being shipped from the port,
while vast flocks of vultures, carrion-crows, and other birds of
prey, hover over them to consume the refuse beef which there are not
human mouths sufficient to eat. As may be supposed, it is far from
an agreeable place. The greater part of the English and French
men-of-war were lying at Baxadar de Santa Fe, which was the appointed
rendezvous of the merchantmen. Here the greater number having
effected their object, collected towards the middle of May. The
difficulty was now to get the convoy safely back past the batteries
of San Lorenzo. Sir Charles Hotham had gone up to settle some
diplomatic affairs with the Government of Corrientes, and on the 16th
of May he returned in the 'Alecto.'
A plan had occurred to Lieut. Mackinnon of that ship by which the
passage of the convoy might be facilitated; and having proposed it to
Sir Charles Hotham, he, after a short consideration of its
possibility, expressed his willingness to have it carried out,
provided the ground was found as suitable as supposed.
Lieut. Mackinnon stated, "That opposite to the heavy part of the
batteries of San Lorenzo he had observed an island covered with long
reeds, grass, and small trees, but completely commanded by the guns
of the battery. He proposed, the night before the convoy was to
fight their way down, to take on shore a certain number of Congreve
rockets, to land them at the back of the island, and to place them
all ready in the course for being erected immediately. This, if
properly prepared, could be effected in a few minutes; then to dig by
the side of each rocket a hole, large enough to contain the men
working them, and to throw the earth up as a kind of barricade before
it. At the signal given by the Commander-in-Chief, when all the
enemy's batteries were fully manned, waiting for the convoy, to
commence a tremendous fire, which, being totally unexpected on their
part, would be proportionably effective and destructive. The chances
were that they would return this fire, which the prepared holes would
render harmless; and if the rocket-stands or tubes were hit--a very
difficult object--poles and instruments would be at hand to repair
them immediately. Besides, when the vessels were passing, the
chances were that, from the heights of the cliffs, the rockets would
strike the enemy over the mast-heads of the ships, thus causing a
double-banked fire of great force."
Sir Charles Hotham, having consulted Captain Hope and Captain
Trèhouhart, who highly approved of the plan, provided the ground when
reconnoitred was found as suitable as expected. The execution of it
was intrusted to Lieut. Mackinnon, of the 'Alecto,' with Lieut.
Barnard, of the 'Firebrand,' as his second. For several days the
preparations were going on; and on the 25th of May, all being ready,
the convoy and men-of-war, with the exception of the British steamer,
dropped down the river, and anchored about five miles above the
batteries of San Lorenzo.
At length, on the night of the 1st of June, Sir Charles Hotham and
the French Captain, with some other officers, reconnoitred the
locality. Besides the island we have spoken of, there were several
others of nearly the same size, and at the same distance from the
western shore: to the eastward of them again was an immense
archipelago of low swampy islands, covered with brushwood, extending
in that direction six or eight miles between them and the main shore
of Entre Rios. There was just sufficient light for the reconnoitring
party to see their way as they steered through the intricate passages
to the east of the large islands. With muffled oars and in dead
silence they pulled on till they reached the island they wished to
examine, and as they shoved the boat's bow into the mud, a loud
rustling was heard in the brushwood, and a wild beast of some sort,
which they took for a tiger, rushed towards them. They dared not
fire, of course, and without allowing a moment's hesitation to
interfere with the service they were upon, proceeded to land
according to seniority. As the first officers leaped on shore, sword
in hand, the supposed tiger, with a loud snort, jumped into the
river, proving to be a harmless carpincho, or water-hog, peculiar to
the large rivers of South America.
They now advanced cautiously, among the reeds and brushwood, across
the island, when to their great satisfaction they found that the
river itself had performed the very work required, by throwing up,
when swelled by the rains, an embankment many feet high along the
entire length of the island, so as completely to screen them from the
enemy's batteries--a work, indeed, which many hundred men could not
so well have executed in a week: behind this the land rising, there
was consequently a large natural trench; here the rockets might be
placed in comparative safety; the only difficulty would be to get the
men into the trench, and to retire safely after the ammunition was
expended, and to avoid any suspicion on the enemy's part of the
proximity of such a foe. They then returned to the ship, and
completed the necessary preparations. The next night the
rocket-party, in the 'Alecto's' paddle-box boat, took their departure
under the command of Lieut. Mackinnon. He was accompanied by his
second in command, Lieut. Barnard, of the Marine Artillery, by Mr.
Hamm, the boatswain of the 'Alecto,' and Mr. Baker, the pilot, with
12 artillerymen and 11 seamen. Silent as the grave, they pulled
behind the islands, and without accident reached the appointed spot.
They first set to work to get the rocket-stands and rockets up to the
embankment; and very fatiguing work it was to the men, for they had
to carry them through a swamp, into which they sank up to their
knees, and then a considerable distance over rough and uneven ground,
among thick reeds and brushwood. A glass of grog, with some pork and
biscuits, set them to rights again; and without delay they planted
the rocket-stands, pointing them, so that the rockets might just
clear the top of the batteries. Fortunately, a few yards beyond the
little bay, where the boat had been lying all night, a large
willow-tree had fallen into the river, the exact length of the boat,
and beyond that was a point of land running out likewise; between
these the boat was swung. Branches of willow were stuck in all round
and inside the boat, which most effectually concealed her; so much
so, that when Lieut. Baker arrived the next night at the spot, he was
observed standing up in the stern-sheets of the gig, looking
wistfully towards the sandy beach, and seeing nothing of the boat,
though the starboard bow-oar of the gig splashed the water in Lieut.
Mackinnon's face. The latter officer whistled; upon which Lieut.
Baker pulled in and began conversing. All this time Lieut. Mackinnon
was standing with one leg on the gunnel of the boat and the other on
land, the boat's gunnel being flush with it; it had, therefore,
something the appearance of standing sidewise half into a tree, and
so completely deceived Lieut. Baker, that he exclaimed, "But where on
earth have you put the boat to?" The low laugh from the men who were
hid under a tarpaulin revealed where she was. When they were moving
about in daylight they were obliged to crouch down like a herd of
kangaroos, creeping behind the bushes and among the long grass, so as
not to be seen by the enemy, to whom the whole island was then
exposed to view. Had the Spaniards found out that they were there,
of course they would have sent boats across to attack them, and would
have fired on them from the forts; and though no doubt the
blue-jackets would have made a good fight of it with their rockets,
the plan for preserving the fleet must have failed entirely. The
first day all hands were roused from their sleep in the boat, and
mustered at 2 P.M.; their arms being examined, they were ordered to
remain at the boat in readiness for any emergency, while the officers
and two artillerymen relieved the look-out at the battery.
Twenty-eight embrasures, with heavy guns in them, were counted in the
enemy's forts; and so close were the party, that, with
pocket-telescopes, they could clearly distinguish the faces of the
people, and observed General Moncellia, the brother-in-law of Rosas,
drive up in his carriage with four horses, and, dismounting, inspect
the troops and guns. Little did he suspect the foe he had near him.
Having remained some time, the officers crawled back to the boats to
take some rest; but they were far too anxious to sleep long; and the
next night was passed, as before, in paying constant visits to the
rocket-battery. Once they were nearly discovered, from one of the
men incautiously exposing himself. As Lieut. Mackinnon was watching
the battery, he observed the sentry suddenly stop and eye the spot
narrowly. "Hold fast," he whispered to the man; "Don't move, as you
value your life." The man obeyed, and to the Lieutenant's infinite
relief, he at last saw the sentry move on. Daybreak of the 4th came
at length; the wind blew fair down the stream, and every one was on
the tiptoe of expectation, listening for the signal of the two guns,
the preconcerted signal of the fleet being about to sail, It was a
time of the greatest anxiety, for any moment, if discovered, the 28
pieces of ordnance might have commenced playing on them, and blown
them all to atoms; but fortunately the eyes of the enemy were turned
up the stream, towards the point from whence the fleet was expected
to appear. Slowly the hours seemed to pass, till at length, at 9
A.M. the welcome sound of the two guns came booming along the water,
and immediately the men proceeded from the boat to the rocket-stands,
creeping along like a band of North American Indians on a war
expedition to surprise a sleeping foe. A long pole, with the British
flag made fast to it, had been prepared, on the elevation of which
the first discharge of rockets was to take place. The squadron of
men-of-war and merchantmen now approached, the 'Gorgon,' 'Fulton,'
and 'Alecto' leading. Majestically they glided on till they came
within range of the batteries, at which they commenced firing their
shells with admirable precision. The long and anxious moment at
length arrived for the discharge of the rockets. Lieut. Mackinnon
waved his cap aloft; at this signal Lieut. Bernard planted the
British flag under the nose of the enemy, and, taking off his cap,
made them a low bow; up went a flight of rockets; two of them flew
into the very centre of the most crowded part of the batteries,
completely clearing them of their defenders, two went over their
heads, and two stuck in the cliffs beneath them. The elevation of
the four stands, which were wrongly pointed, being rectified, they
were once more charged, and as soon as the enemy had returned to
their guns, and were looking along the sights to take aim at the
steamers, Lieut. Mackinnon, jumping up on the embankment, thoughtless
of how he was exposing himself, sung out, "Pepper, lads! pepper,
lads! pepper, pepper, pepper!" and pepper away the men did with a
vengeance. The crash was tremendous; the enemy with dismay deserted
their guns, and terrific must have been the slaughter among them, for
in one minute 40 rockets, admirably directed, were poured in among
them; to add to their confusion, a rocket had penetrated an
ammunition-cart, which, blowing up with a prodigious sound, filled
the air with smoke. At the same time, the dry grass about the seamen
catching fire, they were surrounded by so dense an atmosphere that it
was impossible for some moments to see what was going forward; the
wind, however, soon blowing aside the murky veil, the fleet of
merchantmen were seen passing quickly down, while the steamers took
up their position directly under the batteries. On this up went
another shower of rockets, which continued without cessation, filling
the air with long delicate threads of smoke, under which the vessels
passed in safety, the effect being most beautiful. These events
occupied some time, and as soon as the stern-most ships of the
squadron were well out of range of shot, the 'Gorgon' hoisted the
signal for their return. The enemy's guns, as soon as they had no
floating opponents directly in front, directed their fire at the
island, and misled by the flagstaff, peppered away at that, to the
great delight of the rocket-party, who were safe behind the bank;
however, the enemy discovered their mistake, and turned their guns in
the proper direction of the rocket-battery. The shot was harmless,
as it either stuck in the bank or passed over the men's heads like
cricket-balls. Now and then a single rocket was sent into some of
the enemy's embrasures, which accelerated a return of shot. When the
little 'Dolphin' came down, leading the convoy, at the order, "Cover
the 'Dolphin,'" another volley and running fire burst forth,
accompanied with loud cheers for the gallant little vessel, which
passed down with slight damage. Preparations were made for
decamping, and, as a last salute, the flag-staff was waved in the
face of the enemy, which appeared to annoy them much, as a heavy fire
was drawn towards the retreating party; but as they spread out wide
apart, the shot passed through without touching a single man or
article belonging to them. The boat was soon reached, the willows
cast off, and all hands got on board, when, "Out oars!" was the word,
and away they pulled down the stream to join the fleet.
So effectual had been the fire of the rockets that not a man in the
squadron was hurt by the enemy; three of the merchantmen, by keeping
too much over to the east, got on shore on the end of the large
island to the south of the one where the rockets had been fired. Two
of them were got off, the other was burnt, and the fleet, with flying
colours, proceeded on their voyage down to Colombo and Monte Video.
After these events the British and French squadron relieved Monte
Video from an attack made on it by some of the allies of Rosas, and
for some time their marines and seamen occupied it, and assisted in
placing it in a better position of defence.
Since then Rosas has been compelled to fly the country; but though
the commerce of those magnificent regions has increased and extended
in consequence of the operations we have described, peace and
tranquillity are still very far from being established in the country.