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On the day after the capture of Garrickfergus, the French sent 

 one of their officers with a letter to the sovereign of Belfast, say- 

 ing — " Send us 30 hogsheads of wine, 40 of brandy, 60 barrels 

 of beer, 6,000 pounds of bread, and 60 bullocks, if you don't 

 do this immediately, we intend burning Carrickfergus, and then 

 doing the same to Belfast." A considerable portion of these 

 supplies were sent. During the next few days the alarm spread 

 over the country, and a number of regiments were set in mo- 

 tion to march towards Carrickfergus from different parts of Ire- 

 land. Some four or five thousand of a very irregular kind of 

 local militia assembled in Belfast ; these latter showed a consider- 

 able amount of prudence ; they formed an entrenchment near the 

 Milewater Bridge, and marched down along the shore each day to 

 within about two miles of Carrickfergus, and then marched care- 

 fully back again at night. The French would not come out to be 

 killed, and they retained undisturbed possession of Carrickfergus 

 till the evening of Tuesday, the 26th, when Thurot embarked his 

 whole party and sailed away ; when the wind being contrary to his 

 making his way down channel, he bore away for the Scottish coast, 

 and cast anchor in the bay of Luce. In the meantime, Captain 

 Elliot, who was lying in the harbour of Kinsale, with his frigate, 

 the sEolus, and the frigates Brilliant and Pallas also under his 

 command, received news on the 24th of Thurot's invasion, he 

 sailed the same evening, and on the 26th was at the entrance of 

 our bay. On v the 28th, he fell in with Thurot's squadron between 

 Galloway and the Isle of Man, and after a short, but desperate 

 conflict, the three French ships surrendered to the three British 

 ones. The prizes were first taken into Ramsay Bay, from whence 

 the prisoners were dispatched to various places. On the 1st of 

 March, the Pallas arrived at Carrickfergus, and landed 15 officers 

 and 216 private men of the French prisoners, who were sent to 

 Belfast. Thurot, who has always been regarded as the hero of the 

 expedition, was killed early in the engagement; his men hastily 

 stitched up his remains in one of the silk velvet carpets of his cabin 

 and cast him into the sea. For a number of days after the fight, 

 dead bodies came rolling in on the waves between Eggerness and 



