APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE, 



251 



and equipped; and, although im- 

 peded in its progress by calms 

 and adverse winds, has poured 

 the vengeance of aji insulted na- 

 tion, in chastising the cruelties of 

 a ferocious Government, with a 

 promptitude beyond example, and 

 highly honourable to the national 

 character, eager to resent oppres- 

 sion or cruelty, whenever prac- 

 tised upon those under their pro- 

 tection. 



Would to God that in the at- 

 tainment of this object I had not 

 deeply to lament the severe loss 

 of so many gallant officers and 

 men ; they have profusely bled in 

 a contest which has been pecu- 

 liarly marived by proofs of such 

 devoted heroism as woidd rouse 

 every noble feeling, did I dare 

 indulge in relating them. 



I'heii- Lordships will already 

 have been informed, by his Ma- 

 jesty's sloop Jasper, of my pro- 

 ceedings up to the 14th instant, 

 on which day I broke ground 

 from Gibraltar, after a vexatious 

 detention, by a foul wind of four 

 days. 



The fleet, complete in all its 

 points, with the addition of five 

 gun-boats, fitted at Gibraltar, de- 

 parted in the highest spirits, and 

 with the most fa^curable prospect 

 of reaching the port of their desti- 

 nation in three days ; but an ad- 

 verse wind destroyed the e.\pec- 

 tation of an early airival, which 

 was the more anxiously looked 

 for by myself, in consequence of 

 healing, the day I sailed from 

 Gibraltar, that a large army had 

 been assembled, and tliat veiy 

 considerable additional works 

 were throwing up, not only on 

 both Hanks of the city, but also 

 immediately about the entrance 



of the Mole : from this I waa ap- 

 prehensive that my intention of 

 making that point my principal 

 object of attack had been dis- 

 covered to the Dey by the same 

 means he had heard of the expe- 

 dition. This intelligence was, on 

 the foilov\'ing night, greatly con- 

 firmed by the Prometheus, which 

 I had dispatched to Algiers some 

 time before, to endeavour to get 

 away the Consid. Capt. Dash- 

 wood had with difficulty succeeded 

 in bringing away, disguised in 

 midshipman's uniform, his wife 

 and daughter, leaving a boat to 

 bring off their infant child, coming 

 down in a basket with the sur- 

 geon, who thought he had com- 

 posed it, but it unhappily cried 

 in the gate-way, and in conse- 

 quence the surgeon, 3 midship- 

 men, in all 18 persons, were 

 seized and confined as slaves in 

 the usual dungeons. The child 

 was sent off next morning by the 

 Dey, and as a solitary instance of 

 his humanity, it ought to be re- 

 corded by me. 



Capt. Dashwood further con- 

 firmed, that about 40,000 men 

 had been brought down from the 

 interior, and all the Janissaries 

 called in from distant garrisons, 

 and that they were indefatigably 

 employed in their batteries, gun- 

 boats, &c. and eveiy where 

 strengthening the sea-defences. 



The Dey informed Captain 

 Dashwood he knew perfectly well 

 the armament was destined for 

 Algiers, and asked him if it was 

 true ; he replied, if he had such 

 information he knew as much as 

 he did, and probably from the 

 same source — the public prints. 



The ships were all in port, and 

 between 40 and 50 gun and mor- 

 tar- 



