Capt. Weir
---- Dunsmuire
---- Minto
---- Knox
---- Wolfe
---- Torkington
---- Williams.
Lieut. Noble
---- Hare
---- M'Carthey
---- Pearce
---- Burford
---- Short
---- Wills
---- Harvey
---- Scobill
---- Adair
---- Burne
---- Jones
---- Walker
Lieut. Hart
---- Collins
---- Jewell
---- Toomer
---- Perroll
---- Millar
---- Buzon
---- Wright
---- Wheeler
---- Ross
---- Wyemyss } Adjutants
---- Tyldsley }
---- Vyvion, Quarter-master.
Four hundred Portugueze Marines were also landed, which, joined to
500 Swiss, 450 Russians, and 70 Greeks, formed a total of 2170,
besides Officers.
Captain Hood took possession of the Castles of Ovo and Nuovo, in
which he was placed with a garrison of Seamen, and in his public
character preserved the peace of that turbulent Capital, during the
whole series of that trying duty.
Captain Trowbridge, of the Royal Navy, conducted with much ability
those military operations, which may be said to have reinstated the
Neapolitan King upon his throne.
At five on the morning of the 30th of June, he marched from
Castle Nuovo, with the British and Portugueze Marines, was joined
by the Russians in Naples, and proceeded instantly against St.
Elmo, whose Commandant he summoned to surrender. Being answered
in the negative, that zealous and spirited Officer lost no time
in erecting batteries against the Castle. Between the 3d and 5th
of July, nine heavy cannon and eight mortars were opened on its
garrison and works, which played incessantly, in the hope of
effecting a breach sufficient to storm. On the 6th, four mortars
were added, and by the indefatigable labours of the Seamen, six
36-pounders were dragged to the summit of an almost inaccessible
precipice, which soon compelled Monsieur Mejan to capitulate. The
Marine Grenadiers marched into the Castle on the 12th, and the
enemy, upwards of 1500, were allowed the honours of war.
On the 13th, the main body of the army returned to Castle Nuovo,
from whence they advanced against Capua, that key to Naples, upon
the 19th, where they arrived on the 21st, pitched their tents near
to its walls, and in a short time opened batteries, which continued
to play against the town until the 27th, when terms were discussed
and agreed on.
On the 29th, the French, to the number of 1500, marched out, and
were conveyed to Naples, under an escort of 400 Marines, and two
squadrons of General Acton's Cavalry.
The conduct of Captain Trowbridge was prompt and animated, and he
spoke highly of the unremitting attention and discipline of Colonel
Strickland, Major Creswell, the Officers and men. The exertions of
those of the allied troops were also highly meritorious.
Returning to Naples, an embarkation took place against Gaieta
on the 30th of July, where they landed on the 3d of August,
gained possession of its gates on the next day, and upon the 5th,
delivered up the town to the loyal subjects of his Majesty the King
of Naples.
The retreat of the French armies was felt throughout Italy, and
their disasters roused the Tuscans to arms, who drove them from
their bosom. Florence was abandoned, and Leghorn was evacuated;
but Rome was unsubdued. Its besiegers had been driven from its
walls, and every effort to reduce it was ineffectual. It did
not, however, resist against the tenders of British honour; for
on Captain Trowbridge appearing off the mouth of the Tiber, and
a summons being sent to General Garnier, he agreed to surrender
Rome, Civita Vechia, and every dependency within the state, to that
Commander.
Some Seamen, and the Marines of the Culloden and Minotaur, occupied
Corneto and Tolsa, as well as Civita Vechia, during the 29th and
30th of September, while the enemy, amounting to 5000, were sent
off, agreeable to the terms of capitulation.
Captain Trowbridge maintained the acknowledged faith of his
Country, in every article, with a dignity becoming the high
character in which he stood. Colonel Strickland supported that
discipline in his Corps, which must have ensured success against
a contending enemy. This train of important services, derives a
double merit, from that rapidity with which they were performed.
During the present year Earl St. Vincent resigned the command of
the Mediterranean Fleet. The system by which he maintained its good
order, is worthy of being adopted by every Officer in the British
Navy.
One of the most gallant boarding contests took place upon that
station, during the day of the 9th of June, which appears on the
face of this war. It was cutting out a Spanish polacre of 10 guns
and 113 men, from the port of La Selva, supported by a heavy
battery, and a large body of men under arms on the shore, by the
boats of the Success, carrying only 42 men.
Lieuts. Facey and Stupart, of the Navy, and Lieut. Davison, of my
Corps, headed this daring enterprize. They were all distinguished;
but limiting the detail of it to my peculiar province, I am led to
notice the cool courage of that promising brother Officer, who,
taking a steady aim with a pistol amidst this confused scene, shot
a Swiss Soldier in the mouth, who had levelled his musket at Mr.
Pomeroy Peter, a brave young Midshipman, in the act of boarding
over a high close netting. Mr. Peter did the rest with a pike. A
gallant Marine, Thomas Needham, having his right arm broken by
a grape shot, on being asked by Lieutenant Facey, if it was not
disabled? answered "Yes, but, thank God, I can pull a trigger with
my right, and with my left hand I can still manage a cutlass." In
this state he continued to fight until the vessel was carried.
In the West Indies the Dutch Colony of Surinam was taken without
opposition. Lieutenant M'Gee, of Marines, and his party from the
Trent, behaved most handsomely, in union with their brethren
the Seamen, by storming a battery in a bay near Cape Roso, and
afterwards bringing from under it a large Spanish ship and schooner.
It was on the morning of the 25th of October that Captain (now Sir
Edward) Hamilton, at the head of 100 Seamen and Marines, attacked
and carried the Hermione, of 44 guns, after having killed and
wounded 216 men, with the single loss of Lieutenant J. Busey,
acting Lieutenant of the Surprize. After the greatest feats of
valour in all, he brought her out from under the formidable
batteries of Porto Cavallo. John Ingram and Joseph Titley,
private Marines, were wounded upon this honorable occasion, which
sufficiently speaks its own praise.
In the East, La Forte, of 50 guns, was captured by the British
Sybille, after a desperate resistance, during which Captain Cooke
unfortunately fell.
Every domestic event of this year sinks, in consequence, when
compared to the expedition against Holland. Its details, however,
do not properly fall within my narrative. After having gained
possession of the Helder, the duties allotted to the Marines,
were to garrison its forts, while the Army, under Sir Ralph
Abercrombie, penetrated into the Country. These my corps performed
with their usual alertness and zeal, and much to the satisfaction
of their superiors. Unfortunate as was the issue of the attempt,
originally undertaken at a late season of the year, and against a
dangerous coast, still the very important capture of the remains
of the Batavian Navy, amply compensated for its final miscarriage.
An unsurpassed unanimity between the land and naval services
prevailed, and English valour was conspicuous throughout.
A garrison of Seamen and Marines having been placed at Limmen Town,
in West Friezland, under Captain Boorder, of the Navy, consisting
of only 157 men, was attacked at five on the morning of the 11th
of October by more than 700 of the enemy, in four quarters. Their
advanced party against the North battery was surrounded and taken
by the seamen, and after a long contest, the whole gave way. The
Marines immediately pursued, killed and wounded more than 40, and
would have taken their colours and cannon if they had not, in the
rout, broken down a bridge, which checked our progress. Captain
Boorder says, "that Lieutenants Wyburn, Howel, Higginson, and
Gardner, of Marines, behaved with honour to themselves, and credit
to their Country, and that their men distinguished themselves
in a most gallant manner." The names of Captains Mortlock, Sir
Harry Neale, Winthorp, Bolton, Macnamara, and Cuninghame, with
their Officers, Seamen, and Marines, stand meritedly high in the
subordinate catalogue of this year's naval deeds.