THE SERVICES OE LIEUT.-COLONEL FRANCIS DOWNMAN, R.A. 437 
the night Admiral Barrington made every preparation in his power to 
receive the Frenchmen handsomely and give them a hearty welcome. 
Our transports as you will readily suppose were lying in great con¬ 
fusion some on the inner and others on the outer side of the men-of- 
war; these were also lying in much irregularity when the enemy first 
appeared, but before Mons. d’Estaing did them the honour of a visit 
they were ranged in a line across the entrance of the Cul de Sac, had 
got springs on their cables, and presented their fair broadsides to 
Monsieur, an inviting prospect to a Frenchman when the odds were 
so much in his favour. 
The French commander, however, merits the sincere thanks of 
every true Englishman for his politeness in not attacking us the in¬ 
stant he arrived when we were jumbled together in this great disorder. 
By not doing so he lost the fairest opportunity he ever had, and I 
hope ever will have, of conquering. Nothing but the interposition of 
Providence could have saved us if he had behaved as he ought to 
have done, and I have the vanity to think, had our situations been 
vice versa, destruction and ruin would have fallen on the head of Jack 
Frenchman. 1 
On the 15th, early in the morning, I received orders from General 
Grant to land immediately with all the artillerymen I had. Captains 
Williamson and Standish were at this time on board their ship the 
Lord Howe, that had been the whole night attempting to get into the 
Cul de Sac, but being an indifferent sailor and having but little wind, 
she had fallen much to leaward, and if the Admiral had not sent all 
his boats to her assistance this morning she would have undoubtedly 
been taken. When I had climbed and waded knee-deep through 
mud and clay to Morne Fortune, the General ordered me down to a 
battery by the waterside. Thither I slid and tumbled through roads 
worse if possible than that to the Morne. From thence I could see the 
whole fleet of d’Estaing, all his small vessels in the Gros Ilot, his line 
of battleships ranging themselves in order, and coming down along the 
shore toward us. We were ready to receive him before he approached. 
About 11 o’clock he passed our batteries at the Careenage. I saluted 
each as they advanced, but they were too far distant to fire at with 
any certainty of striking, yet some of them were struck. They re¬ 
turned the fire, particularly the Languedoe with 42-prs., but it was so 
wildly that it was hard to determine at what they aimed. On their 
getting near to our men-of-war they were again saluted by a battery of 
four 12-prs. [No. 6] the same that fired when we first entered the Cul de 
Sac. The enemy had spiked these guns, but on the night of the 14th 
they were made fit for service by Lieutenant Garstin who now com¬ 
manded the battery, and who was of so much service to Admiral Bar¬ 
rington during the engagement that he publickly gave him thanks. 
When the enemy’s ships were nearly opposite to this battery they 
bore away in a parallel to ours, and now commenced a glorious thun¬ 
dering cannonade from the English and a no less tremendous fire 
from the French, which continued without the smallest apparent in- 
1 Twenty years later Nelson demonstrated the soundness of this opinion at the battle of the 
Nile. 
