HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



265 



fire on the pirates till not a vestige 

 of them remained to be seen. The 

 whole of those barbarous wretches, 

 to the number of four hundred, 

 xvere liilher killed with balls, or 

 drowned. 



After the reduction of the Isle 

 of France, three frigates were dis- 

 patched on an expedition against 

 Tametava, on the coast of Mada- 

 gascar, and to go from thence to 

 root out the French from the Isle 

 of Almerante, and some other 

 little nestling places of theirs. 



But the great object of the ex- 

 pedition was, to destroy the batte- 

 ries of Tametava, under cover of 

 which the French vessels were 

 wont to be victualled and repaired, 

 when they could not reach the 

 Isle of France ; and to trade with 

 these isles, where they procured 

 salt fish, cocoa-nuts, and tortoise 

 shells. On the 10th of January, 

 1811, there did not remain to 

 France any territory in either of 

 the Indies, or ship in the Indian 

 ocean. 



The Dutch settlement of Am- 

 boyna, with its dependent isles, 

 was surrendered on the 17th of 

 February, to a detachment of an 

 European regiment, with artillery, 

 from Madras, together with 300 

 seamen from British ships of war. 

 On the night of the 8th of Au- 

 gust, a handful of British seamen, 

 not more than 180, led by cap- 

 tain Cole, of the Caroline frigate, 

 took Banda, the principal of the 

 Dutch spice islands. The guns of 

 fort Belgia, at Banda Neira, near 

 which the scaling ladders were 

 placed, fortunately burnt priming, 

 owing to the heavy rains. The 

 Dutch garrison were panic struck, 

 and fled in all directions, leaving 



the colonel commandment and ten 

 men killed. A Hag of truce was 

 dispatched to the governor, offer- 

 ing protection of private property, 

 on the surrender of the island; 

 which was refused. However, 

 one shot from fort Belgia, and a 

 threat to storm the town, and fort 

 Nassau, both of which lay imme- 

 diately under its guns, produced 

 an immediate and unconditional 

 surrender ; and 700 regular troops 

 and 300 militia, grounded their 

 arms. Banda Neira, and its de- 

 pendencies, exported 900,000/. 

 worth of spices annually to Bata- 

 via. The conquerors found about 

 400,000/. worth of spices at the 

 time of the capture. 



But the highest degree of 

 bravery and enterprize could not 

 protect the whole of our nu- 

 merous ships of war from acci- 

 dent and disaster. A part of the 

 squadron, stationed at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, fell, August the 2Srd, 

 into the hands of the enemy. Four 

 English frigates, the Sirius, the 

 Magicienne, the Nereide, and the 

 Iphigenia, determined to attack 

 the harbour of Sud-Est, opposite 

 to the Isle of Passe, into which 

 three F'rench frigates had taken 

 two of our Indiamen, and in which 

 the French ships of war were sta- 

 tioned. Unfortunately the Sirius 

 and Magicienne ran aground on 

 shoals, with which the pilots were 

 unacquainted; and the crews, after 

 burning them, returned in the 

 Iphigenia, which they took in tow 

 to the Isle of Passe. TheNereide, 

 having proceeded nearer to the 

 inner harbour, was also stranded 

 and shattered almost to pieces; 

 yet the captain, Willoughby, 

 though exposed not only to the 



