[cruikshaxk] from ISLE AUX NOIX TO CHATEAUGUAY 163 



batteries and detachments of troops supported by the field guns were 

 detailed to occupy the most likely places for landing.* 



Some hours were prudently occupied by Chauncey in making a 

 personal reconnaissance. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Oneida 

 set her topgallant sails, and the whole squadron led by four schooners 

 armed with the heaviest long guns, steered directly for the harbour's 

 mouth. A gunboat lying in Collins's Bay and a fieldpiece on EvercU's 

 Point fired at them without anj^ apparent effect as they swept past. 

 At three o'clock the batteries on either side of the entrance began firing 

 on the leading schooner which went through untouched, followed in 

 quick succession by three other schooners and the brig and at a much 

 greater interval by the tw^o remaining schooners. Ten minutes later 

 a gun burst on the Pert at its third discharge, wounding her commander, 

 a midshipman, and three seamen. This accident put her out of action 

 for the rest of the day, and in going about, the wounded officer was 

 knocked overboard and drowned. The signal "engage closer" was 

 made from the flagship and several of the squadron came within easy 

 range of the Royal George and protecting batteries, upon which they 

 opened fire simultaneously with much vigour. At four o'clock the 

 Royal George slipped her moorings and was hauled in close to the wharf. 

 Firing continued until sunset when the American vessels hauled off 

 in succession and beat out of the harbour to an anchorage under Four 

 Mile Point where they remained over night. The Royal George lost 

 one man killed, a thirty- two pound shot lodged in her hull and her 

 rigging was much cut up. The Oneida had one seaman killed; three 

 others wounded and one gun dismounted; the Hamilton had a gun 

 disabled; the Julia had one man wounded; a round shot passed through 

 the magazine of the Growler without causing any explosion. All of 

 these vessels suffered some injury to their spars and rigging. f 



No damage of any consequence was done to the batteries on shore 

 as the fire of the assailants was chiefly directed against the Royal 

 George in the hope of destroying her. During the action 230 militia 

 came in from the adjoining country whom Vincent was unable to arm. | 



As the American squadron worked its way out of the port, the 

 little schooner Mary Hatt, from Niagara, ran into its midst and was 

 taken. The wind blew hard in squalls all night and Chauncey's chief 

 pilot anxiously warned him to seek safety at a greater distance from 

 shore. At daybreak he made sail and beat out into the lake. Some 



*Sheaffe to Prévost, Nov. 8; Vincent to Sheatïe, Nov. 11. 



fVincent to Sheaffe, Nov. 11 ; Chauncey to the Secretary of the Na\y, Nov. 13; 

 letter from an American officer in the Statesman of New York, Nov. 23; letter in 

 the Quebec Mercury, Dec. 8. Finan, Voyage to Quebec, pp. 235-241. 



Î Vincent to Sheaffe, Nov. 11. 



