1806.]

ESCAPE OF FRENCH FRIGATES FROM CADIZ.

197

The Valeureuse made the Delaware, and is said to have been broken up at Philadelphia. The Foudroyant, when she had refitted at Havana, returned to Brest in February, 1807. As for the Cassard, she headed for Rochefort as soon as the gale had moderated, and made her port without further adventure. In the meanwhile a third British squadron, in addition to the squadrons of Warren and Strachan, had been sent to sea under Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis, Bart., in the Canopus, 80, to bar the return of Willaumez. When the news of the French disasters reached him on his station to the west of Belle Isle, Louis proceeded off Cadiz.

The escape of Willaumez and Leissègues, with the best ships of the Brest fleet in December, 1805, left but a comparatively small and ill-found force in the great French port, and materially reduced the responsibilities of the British blockading fleet, which remained under the orders of Admiral the Hon. William Cornwallis until February 22nd, 1806, when that officer struck his flag and was succeeded by Admiral Lord St. Vincent. The blockade, or observation, was continued with great effectiveness; and although, on October 5th, 1806, the Régulus, 74,1 succeeded in entering the harbour, no ship of the line, during the whole year, succeeded in quitting it.

Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood continued to maintain the blockade of Cadiz; but, in February, learning that four frigates of the fleet which had been defeated at Trafalgar, were awaiting an opportunity to put to sea, he withdrew his larger ships to a distance of about thirty miles from the port, which he left to be more closely watched by the Hydra, 38, Captain George Mundy, and the Moselle, 18, Commander John Surman Carden, his hope being that he would thus tempt the enemy to venture forth.

On February 23rd, a strong easterly wind sprang up, and, by the 26th, it had driven the blockading force as far to the westward as Cape Santa Maria. Taking advantage of this, Captain La Marre La Meillerie, in the evening of the day last named, put to sea with the frigates Hortense, Hermione, Rhin, and Thémis, and the brig Furet. The escaping squadron was sighted at 9.15 P.M. by the Hydra and Moselle, which at first steered a parallel course in order

1 After a long and successful cruise under Captain L'Hermite on the west coast of Africa, the coast of Brazil, and in the West Indies. See next chapter.

2 Of eighteen 8-prs. Collingwood says she had ports for 20 guns, and carried eighteen 9-prs.

to observe the enemy. Finding, however, that the French continued steadily to the westward, Captain Mundy, at 11 P.M., detached the Moselle to look for the Commander-in-Chief, and continued the chase alone. At about 4.30 A.M. on the 27th, he overhauled the Furet, which was some distance astern of her consorts, and which, after receiving a broadside, struck.' La Meillerie made no attempt to prevent the Hydra from carrying off her prize. His further adventures will be told in the next chapter.

But for this episode, the station under Collingwood's orders witnessed no important movement of the allied navies during the year. In Cadiz, ready for sea, lay five French and six or seven Spanish ships of the line; at Cartagena lay eight Spaniards; at Toulon were three Frenchmen, besides frigates; but Trafalgar had taught them lessons which they were loath to risk any repetition of. The Mediterranean, nevertheless, was the scene of some naval activity. By the treaty of Pressburg, signed on December 26th, 1805, Austria had renounced her claims upon the Venetian states and had assented to their annexation to the Italian kingdom, retaining only Trieste as a Mediterranean port. Prussia had also, at about the same time, made temporary peace with Napoleon, who was thus left free to devote his attention to the punishment of Ferdinand of Naples for having, in defiance of the treaty of neutrality of October 8th, 1805, allowed British and Russian troops, under Generals Sir James Craig and Lasey, to be landed in the bay of Naples, and for having begun military preparations on a considerable scale. The Emperor promptly decreed the deposition of Ferdinand and his dynasty; whereupon, doubtful of their ability to maintain themselves where they were, the Russian troops embarked for Corfu, and the British troops, about ten thousand strong, transferred themselves from Naples to Messina in Sicily. As soon as a French army began to advance, Ferdinand also abandoned Naples, and, embarking in the Excellent, 74, Captain Frank Sotheron, proceeded to Palermo. By the end of March the troops of the Emperor were in possession of the whole Neapolitan kingdom except Gaeta and the inland fortress of Civitella del Tronto.

2

To assist Ferdinand, and to impede the progress of the French,

1 Mundy to Collingwood, transmitted to Marsden on Feb. 28th, 1806.

2 Owing to the illness of Sir James Craig, they passed under the command of Sir John Stuart.

1806.]

CAPTURE OF CAPRI.

199

Rear-Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith was detached by Lord Collingwood. He reached Messina on April 21st in the Pompée, 74, and assumed command of the squadron1 there assembled. Smith at once proceeded off Gaeta, into which place, in spite of all that the French could do, he threw supplies of ammunition, and four lower-deck guns from the Excellent. He then went to Naples, in order to make a diversion there, leaving before Gaeta the Juno, 32, Captain Henry Richardson, the Neapolitan frigate Minerva, and a dozen Neapolitan gunboats. On May 12th, and again on May 15th, the British force at Gaeta was able very materially to assist the commander of the place, the Prince of Hessen-Philippsthal, in the work of defence, Captain Richardson, Lieutenant Thomas Wells (2), and Lieutenant Robert M. Mant, R.M., leading the boats on the second occasion, when the Navy lost four killed and five wounded.2

Having arrived in the bay of Naples 3 with the Pompée, 74, Excellent, 74, Athénien, 64, and Intrepid, 64, and having been reinforced by the Eagle, 74, Sir Sidney set to work to reduce the island of Capri. On May 11th, the Eagle, Captain Charles Rowley, with two Neapolitan gunboats, opened a heavy fire at short range upon the defences at the spot which had been selected as a landing place; and, when the French had been driven out, a storming party of seamen and Royal Marines was disembarked, and mounted the heights with such impetuosity that the garrison quickly agreed to capitulate. In the whole of this affair the British loss was only two killed and ten, including Lieutenant James Crawley, wounded. The storming party was led by Lieutenants John Arthur Morell (Eagle) and Edward Reding (Pompée), and by Captains Richard Bunce and John Stannus, and Lieutenant George P. Carroll, R.M.5

4

Sir Sidney, having garrisoned Capri, made his way back to Palermo, and, instigated by Ferdinand, induced General Sir John Stuart to invade Calabria. Sir John, and four thousand eight hundred infantry, were set ashore without opposition on July 1st, in the gulf of St. Eufemia, and, on the 4th, attacked about seven

1 Pompée, 74, Excellent, 74, Athénien, 64, Intrepid, 64, two or three frigates (including one Neapolitan) and a few small craft.

2 Richardson to Smith, May 14th and 16th, 1806.

3

Joseph Bonaparte had been proclaimed King of the Two Sicilies on March 30th.

* This officer with his own hand killed Captain Chervet, the French commandant. 5 Smith to Collingwood, May 24th, 1806.

The enemy,

On the

thousand French troops near the village of Maida. besides his great numerical superiority, had cavalry as well as infantry, but British bayonets completely defeated him. victorious side the loss was only forty-five killed and two hundred and eighty-two wounded. The French lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners nearly four thousand men. This action freed Sicily from immediate danger of invasion, and transferred to the victors all the

REAR-ADM. SIR HOME RIGGS POPHAM, K.C.B., F.R.S.

(From Cardon's engraving, after the painting by M. Brown, of Popham as a Post-Captain.) stores and arms which had been prepared for the attempt; but, by the end of July the British expeditionary corps was again withdrawn from the mainland, a garrison being retained, however, at Scilla, and a small detachment of the 78th Regiment being sent round to Catanzaro, under Lieut.-Colonel M'Leod, to encourage the patriots there. This detachment, supported by the Amphion, 32, Captain William Hoste, and by a few Neapolitan gunboats, distinguished itself on July 30th by the reduction of the fortress of

1806.]

CAPTURE OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

201

Cotrone and the capture there of about six hundred French troops and large quantities of stores. These successes caused the enemy to evacuate Calabria, which was thus saved for the moment by the influence of sea-power; but when, on July 12th, Gaeta was obliged to surrender, the French had force and leisure to again occupy the southern province; and, assisted by the new prestige which the capture of Gaeta had given them, they entirely reconquered all of it except Scilla before the close of the year 1806. Their position, however, was always thenceforward extremely precarious in southern Italy, seeing that the sea was persistently denied them.

The only important colonial expeditions of the year 1806 were those which are associated with the name of Sir Home Riggs Popham, who in the autumn of 1805 had been entrusted with a small squadron secretly destined for the reduction of the Dutch settlements at the Cape of Good Hope. The squadron was thus composed :

Together with a number of transports and Indiamen having on board about 5000 troops under Major-General Sir David Baird, and joined, on January 6th, 1806, by the brig Protector, Lieut. Sir George Mouat Keith, Bart.

It assembled from different points at Madeira, proceeded thence to San Salvador on the African coast, sailed again on November 26th, 1805, and on the evening of January 4th, 1806, anchored to the westward of Robben Island, Table Bay. After Blauwberg Bay had been reconnoitred overnight, and a demonstration had been made off Green Island by the Leda, and the transports containing the 24th Regiment, the troops were embarked in boats very early on the morning of the 5th, and were assembled alongside the Espoir; but, owing to the high surf which was running, it was deemed expedient to send them back to their ships. Sir Home and Sir David, in the Espoir, examined the coast for an available landing