GENERAL HISTORY. 



[Ill 



of 18 guns, and a schooner. They 

 were however soon silenced and 

 taken possession of by the first di- 

 vision of boats, and the troops 

 landing upon the islands of Ports- 

 mouth and Ocracoke, became mas- 

 ters of them without opposition, 

 and thus command was ob- 

 tained of the channel between 

 tliem and the coast, through 

 which the inland navigation was 

 conducted. 



The adventurous spirit of British 

 seamen and marines, when acting 

 on shore, has seldom been more 

 strikingly displayed than in the 

 capture of Fiume, in the gulf of 

 Venice. Admiral Freemantle re- 

 ports to sir Edw. Pellew, that on 

 July 2nd, with the squadron under 

 his command, he anchored oppo- 

 site Fiume, which was defended 

 by four batteries, mounting 15 

 heavy guns. On the 3rd, the ships 

 weighed to attack the sea-line of 

 the batteries, whilst a detachment 

 of seamen and marines was to 

 storm at the Mole-head. The wind 

 permitted only one ship to get up, 

 which silenced the second battery; 

 when, the signal being made to 

 storm, captain Rowley, at the head 

 of the marines, carried the fort, and 

 capt. Hoste took the first battery. 

 Capt. Rowley, without loss of time, 

 dashed on through the town, dis- 

 regarding the fire from the win- 

 dows, and a field-piece placed in 

 the centre of the principal street ; 

 and the seamen and marines drove 

 the enemy before them with his 

 field-piece, till he came to the 

 square, where he made another 

 stand, taking post in a large house. 

 From this he was at length ex- 

 pelled ; and the different parties of 

 assailants making a junction, the 

 batteries, field-piece, stores, and, 

 shipping were taken possession of, 



the governor, officers, and soldiers 

 of the garrison having all fled from 

 the town. This success was ob- 

 tained with a very trifling loss ; 

 and it was highly to the credit of 

 captains Rowley and Hoste, that 

 although the town was stormed in 

 every part, not an individual was 

 plundered, norwas anything taken 

 away except what was afloat, and 

 in the government stores. Of 90 

 vessels captured, more than half 

 were restored to their owners ; 4-3 

 were sent to Lissa, laden with oil, 

 grain, powder, and merchandize. 

 A number of guns were rendered 

 useless, and others were carried 

 away, and 500 stand of arms, with 

 powder and military stores, were 

 destroyed. On the 5th, the ships 

 moved to Porto Re, the forts of 

 which had been abandoned by the 

 enemy. The destruction of the 

 guns, works, &c, being completed 

 by the seamen, the squadron re- 

 turned to its station. 



An instance of similar enterprise 

 was reported on August 18th, by 

 capt. Usher, of the Undaunted, off 

 Marseilles. An attack was made 

 on the batteries of Cassis, between 

 that port and Toulon, protecting a 

 bay in which were a number of 

 small vessels covered by gun-boats. 

 Light winds not permitting the 

 Undaunted to take her intended 

 anchorage, the whole business was 

 effected by a party of marines un- 

 der captain Coghlan, who carried 

 the citadel battery by escalade, and 

 drove the French at the bayonet's 

 point from all their defences to the 

 heights above the place ; after 

 which the mole was entered by 

 the ship's boats, and all the vessels 

 within it were brought out or de- 

 stroyed. 



The capture of an American 

 sloop of war in St. George's chan- 



