52 MEMOIR OF DR WRIGHT. 



fencibles, which, concurring with the presence of a 

 French squadron in the Firth of Forth, created so 

 much alarm in Edinburgh in the year 1779. 



On their arrival at Hillsea Barracks, Portsmouth, 

 on the 23d of June, the troops were reviewed by Gene- 

 ral Monkton, and, on the 27th of July, they were 

 embarked on board the transports prepared for their 

 reception, which, with a fleet of merchantmen, amount- 

 ing in all to fifty-five sail of unarmed vessels, were 

 placed under the protection of the Ramilies 74, the 

 Thetis and Southampton frigates On the 29th, the 

 fleet was joined off Portsmouth by the Inflexible 74, 

 and two other ships of war, by whom they were at- 

 tended for eight days, until their force was strength- 

 ened after clearing the Channel, by a powerful arma- 

 ment under the command of Admiral Geary. On 

 board the Morant transport, in which Dr Wright 

 had embarked, he had for messmates Lieutenant- 

 Colonel Balfour, Captain Croker, and three sub- 

 alterns, besides the Adjutant of the regiment, his wife, 

 and four children. Two full companies of the corps, 

 with women and children, made the total number, ex- 

 clusive of mariners, amount to 202 persons on board 

 the Morant. The squadron under Admiral Geary, 

 with a fleet of Indiamen, soon afterwards parted com- 

 pany, so that the fleet from Portsmouth was again left 

 under the exclusive guardianship of the Ramilies, the 

 Thetis and Southampton. 



Two days after the separation, a dense fog arose, 

 and at day-break, on the following morning, when in 

 the neighbourhood of Cape St Vincent, the Morant 



