APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 



61 



Edge, of the Alert, to whom I had 

 confided the iir.portant service of 

 closing our retreat, andbrinfniig off 

 our detached paities, which were 

 saved to a man. I was scrry to find 

 myself deprived of the farther str- 

 vices of captain Hare : he had per- 

 formed that of placing his fireship 

 to admiration, but was blown into 

 the water, and much scorched, by 

 the explosion of her priming, when 

 in the act of putting the match to 

 it. Lieutenant Gore was also m,uch 

 burnt, ur.d 1 was consequently de- 

 prived of him also, which I regret- 

 ted the more, from the recollection 

 of his bravery and activity in the 

 warm service of Fort Mulgrave. 

 Mr. Eale?, midshipman, vVho vvas 

 also with him on this occasion, de- 

 serves my praise for his Conduct 

 throughout this service. The guns 

 of the fireship going off pn both 

 sides as they heated, in the direc- 

 tion that was given them, towards 

 those quarters from whence w>ewere 

 most a])prthei)sive of the Ij'nemy 

 forcing their way in upon us, check- 

 ed their career. Their shouts a: d 

 republican songs, which we could 

 hear distinctly, continue<i till they, 

 as well as ourselves, wore in a man- 

 ner thunderstruck by the explofipti 

 of some thousand baTrels of powder, 

 on board the Iris frigate, lying in 

 the inr.er road, without us, and 

 v.'i'.ich had been unjudiciouslv Bet on 

 fin? by the Spanish boats, in going 

 off, instead of being suiik as ordered. 

 The concmsion of air, andthe shower 

 of falling timber on fire, was such 

 -as nearly to destroy the whole of us. 

 Lieutenant P-.itey, of the Terrible, 

 W'ith his whole boat's crew, nearly 

 perished : the boat vvas blovv'n to 

 pieces, but the men were pick d 

 up alive. The Union gun -boat, 

 ivhich was nearest .to the Ins, suf- 



fered considerably, Mr. Young be- 

 ing killed, with three men, and the 

 vessel shaken to pieces. I had given 

 it in charge to the Spanish officers, 

 to fire the ships in the bason before 

 the town, but they returned, and 

 reported that various obstacles* had 

 prevented their entering it. We 

 attempted it together, as soon as we 

 had completed the business in the 

 arsenal, but were repulsed in our 

 attempt to cut the boom, by repeat- 

 ed vollies of musquetry from the flag 

 rhip and the wall of the battery 

 Royale. The cannon of this bat- 

 tery had been spiked by the judicious 

 precaution taken by the governor 

 previously to the evacuation of the 

 town. 



The failure of our attempt on the 

 ships in the bason before the town, 

 owing to the insufficiency of our 

 force, made me regret that the 

 Spanish gun boats had been with- 

 drawn from me to perform other 

 sc-vicc. The adjutant don Pedro 

 Cotiella, don Francisco Riguielme, 

 and don Francisco Truxillo, remain- 

 ed with me to the last; and I feel 

 bound to bear tertimony of the zeal 

 and activity with, which they per- 

 foiined the inost essential services, 

 during the whole of this business 

 as far as the insufficiency of their 

 force allowed it, being reduced, by 

 the retreat of the gun-boats, to a 

 single felucca, and a mortar-boat, 

 which had expended its ammuni. 

 tion, but contained 30 men with 

 cutlasses. 



We now proceeded to biirn the 

 Hero and Thcmistocles, two 7% gun 

 ships, lying in the inner read. Our 

 approach to them had hitherto been 

 impracticable in boats, as the French 

 prisoners, who had been left in the 

 latter ship, were still in possession of 

 her, and iiad shewn a determination 



to 



