54g 
Trois Amis, transport, nothing in ; 
and the schooner Mary Sally, who 
has between 40 and 50 barrels of 
powder. Gen. D’Henin has given 
me regular receipts for the garrison, 
which amounts in all to 850 men. 
I have farther to inform you, Sir, 
that on the 5th we captured the na- 
tional schooner Le Courier de Nantes, 
of 2 guns and 4 swivels, and 15 
men, commanded by an ensign de 
vaisseau, from Port-au-Prince, with 
a supply of 30 barrels of flour and 
sundry other articles, for St. Marc. 
LT inclose a weekly account, and have 
great satisfaction in stating, that we 
are almost well again: not one of 
the men who came from the hospi- 
tal has died.—I am, &c. 
Jas. Walker. 
Rear-Adm. Duckworth, &c. 
Letter from Capt. Bligh to Admiral 
Duckworth. 
Theseus, Port Dauphin, St. Do- 
mingo, Sept. 8. 
Sir, 
Having found extreme difficulty 
in preventing small vessels from 
passing into Cape Frangois, with 
provisions, from the little ports on 
the northern part of the island, in 
consequence of their finding a safe 
retreat from our pursuit under the 
batteries of Port Dauphin, and con- 
ceiving that port to be of the utmost 
importance to the enemy, I deemed 
it necessary to make some efforts for 
the reduction of the place, and the 
capture of a ship at anchor there.— 
As soon as the sea-breeze, this 
morning, rendered it impossible for 
the enemy’s frigates to leave their 
anchorage, I proceeded to Mancher- 
mel Bay, leaving the Hercule and 
Cumberland on their station. The 
water being sufliciently deep to als 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
low me to place the ship within 
musket-shot of Fort Labouqie, si- 
tuated at the entrance of the har- 
bour, our fire was so well directed, 
that it was impossible for the guns 
of the battery to be. pointed with 
any precision, the colours of which 
were struck in less than. half an 
hour. Another fort in the harbour, 
and the ship, being the next objects 
of our attention, the Theseus enter- 
ed the port, with the assistance of 
the boats; and, having fired a few 
shot at the ship of war, she hauled 
her colours down, and proyed to be 
La Sagesse, mounting 20 eight- 
pounders on the main-deck, and 3 
four-pounders on the quarter-deck 
and forecastle, commanded by lieut. 
J.B. Baruesche, and having only 
75 men on board. The command- 
ant, conceiving the place no longer 
tenable after the loss of the ship, and 
being under some apprehensions of 
being exposed to the rage of the 
blacks, whom he considered as a 
merciless enemy, claimed British 
protection, and surrendered the 
fort and garrison at discretion,— 
Having spiked the guns and destroy- 
ed the ammunition, the garrison and 
inhabitants, many of whom were 
sickly, were embarked, and landed 
under a flag of truce at Cape Fran- 
cois. Being informed, by the pri- 
soners, that their gen. Dumont and 
his suite had lately fallen into the 
hands of the blacks, and that they 
were in the most imminent danger, © 
I was induced, from motives of hu- 
manity, to solicit their freedom from 
the chief of those people; and I 
had the satisfaction of having my 
request immediately complied with : 
they accompanied the rest of the 
prisoners into Cape F'rangois. 
Tam, &e . John Bligh. 
Letter 
