same cause has prevented much communica- 
tion here. E 
f have not received any reports from the 
Roompot ; but I send an extract of a letter 
from Commedore Owen, addressed to Rear- 
Acmiral Otway, which will inform you of 
the proceedings of that Officer with the force 
ender his orders. 
I have the honour to be, &c. 
(Signed) R. J. STRACHAN. 
Cesar, Flushing Roads, Dec. 11, 1809. 
Srr,—I have the honour to communicate 
te you such circumstances as have occurred 
previous to your arrival, and subsequent to 
my ‘last oficial communication. 
[he transports necessary for the embarka- 
tion of the army having arrived on the 25th 
wit. on the following cay the measures I had 
previously concerted with Lieutenant-Gene- 
yal Don for the destruction of the basin, 
arsenal, and sea-defences, of Flushing, agree- 
able to instructions from the Earl of Liver- 
pool, dated the iSth, and received on the 
47th, were begun. 
On this service §90 seamen and artificers 
from the fleet were employed, uncer the or- 
ders of Captain Moore, of his Majesty’s ship 
Béiarlborough, assisted by Captains Tomlinson 
end Henderson, of the fire ship service. The 
navy having completed the portion of work 
allotted to them, and Lieutenant-Colonel Pil- 
kington, commanding the Royal Engineers, 
liaving reported to Lieutenant General Don 
that his mines for the destruction of the gates 
and piers at the entrance of the basin were 
ready, the whole army, with the except ion 
of the rear-guards, was embarked on the af- 
ternoon of the 9th inst. 
The mines were exploded yesterday at low- 
water, and appear to have fully answered 
cee object: the whole of the east side of 
e basin had been previously completely de- 
= bat as the port of Flushing, west of 
the basin, lies censiderably below the high- 
water mark, any material injury of the west 
bank would have caused the immediate inun- 
dation of the whole town ; therefore our work 
en that side has been confined to the demo- 
Hition of the careening wharf and pits. 
It was at first intended to defer the burn- 
ing of the storehouse, and other buildings, in 
the arsenal, until our final departure 5 bat 
from the probability that with a strong east 
wind the flames might communicate tothe 
town, the whole was-set fire to yesterday, 
and is totally destroyed. 
Thus Flushing is rendered useless to the 
enemy as a naval arsenal; and the basin, 
which afforded very secure retreat for several 
shins of the line during the winter, is for the 
present effectually destroyed, and can only 
be restored by great labour, and at an im- 
mense expense. 
I cannot conclude without expressing my 
great obligations to Captain Moore, for the 
able assistance he has rendered nie in the per- 
furmance of a very complicated service; and 
Siate of Public Affairs in December. 
{ Jan. 1, 
he speaks in terms highly satisfactory of the 
conduct of Captains Tomlinson and Hender- 
son, and the other officers who Served under 
‘his orders on shore. 
I have the honour to be, &c. 
W. A. Orway, Rear-Admiral. 
Rear- Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, K.B. 
" Commander in Chief, Se. 
Clyde, in the Veer Gat, Dec. 10, 1809. 
" Srz,—Last night the enemy eos very 
hard at the battery on Woolsversdyke, not- 
withstanding the continued fire kept on it. 
At day- light this morning, it was found he 
had opened “four embrasures in it. Captain 
Carteret, therefore, pushed two divisions of 
gun-bvats forward against it, which completes 
ly succeeded in demolishing two of the en- 
brasures, and in injuring “the others mate 
tially. 
About noon three mortars were brought 
down ; and, with a field-pi-ce, opened against 
our vessels (the brigs more especially} 5 but, 
after an hour’s firing, in which their shells 
were thrown with some precision, but with- 
out effect, they were completely silenced, and 
all our vesse!s kept their ground. 
About this time the guard-boats entered 
the Cross Channel,which unites the two passes 
of Woolversdyke, to endeavour to tow ofa 
flat-boat, which was lost last night from the 
Pallas’s stern, being swamped and overset; 
they got her in tow, but she was fast a-ground, 
and could not be movec. The enemy’s troops 
were in numbers behind the dyke, anda con- 
siderable fire of musketry was exchanged with 
them, I believe without effect on either side 5 
some few shots struck our boats. 
The enemy’s advanced gun-boats appeared 
to lie close together, and I ordered two of 
Clyde’s boats to a?vance into the passage and — 
throw some rockets that way, in order that 
the occasion mignt be taken to reconnoitre 
them more closely. : 
I find the enemy’s batteries are not how so 
far in advance as I had supposed, and that 
their gun-boats are: not nearer than Cortjen. 
They are, however, erecting a dattery on a 
oint of the dyke which commands the chan- 
nel, above half-way between that piace and 
the outer battery. 
J have the honour to be, &c. 
E. W. C. R. Owen, Commodore. 
Rear-Adwiral Otway, Ge. Ge, 
GREECE. a 
The Seven Islands have been taken 
possession of by the British forces. 
Copy of a Letter from Vice- Admiral Lord Celling . 
wood, Commander in Chief of bis Majesty's 
Ships and Vessels in the Mediterranean, ad- 
dressed to the Hon. W.W. Pole, and dated 
on board his Majesty's skip Ville de Paris, off 
St. Sebastian, the SOth of October: — 
Sta,—My letter of the 4th of August, in- 
formed their Lordships of the proposal 1 had 
made Lieutenant-General Sir John Stuart, 
that the Islands of Zante, Cephalonia, &c, 
should be seized on betore’ the French couid 
turk 
